That Sedan & Professor Keating

Backlight, Best Practices - Photography, Canon 60D, Canon 70-200 mm 2.8 IS L Series Lens, Canon Camera, Canon Lens, Canon Live View, Farm, Lookback Photos - One Year Ago, Photoblog Intention, Photography & Conceptualizing Beauty, Project 365 - Photo-a-day, Still Life, Vehicle, Vehicle Restoration, Winter

Sedan Along Path – Valleyview, Alberta 1

Sedan Along Path – Valleyview, Alberta 2

Sedan Among Trees – Valleyview, Alberta 1

Sedan Among Trees – Valleyview, Alberta 2

Away from home, tasks requiring completion fly me southward to Edmonton, Alberta, Friday, one week ago today. My Sunday is a day-long, northward return trek home with my Canon 60D.

In my first years as a teacher, an elder’s coaching presented the predicament of moving through or around brush as analogy for the challenge of dealing with Life’s obstacles. If moving through brush resulted in injury, the better judgment call was that of moving around the obstacle. The key was seeing the situation for what it was. The elder was promoting the path already carved out, the natural path; for him, the established easier route ought to be the path to take. Along the road home, east from Valleyview, Alberta a fifties’ four-door sedan sits, resting and rusting, its rear window absent. It’s placement in a farmer’s field positions it along a natural path that will take it forward through trees. No longer having power to move itself, though, this sedan sits along a path that could have been.

M. Scott Peck, Robert Frost and even the Dead Poets Society’s professor Keating would all promote the road less travelled as the path to take. Perhaps the elder talking to me all those years ago was establishing reality’s balance to such assertion – the road less travelled overcomes obstacles that no one else or, at least, few have encountered. Finding one’s own way throughout one’s Life, personal navigation, is the thing in either case – avoiding the obstacles or seeking the uncommon, unique yet obstacle-laden path. It’s interesting to be referencing the Dead Poets Society again within this photoblog while associating to photos of this vehicle.

Listening to – CKUA Online and the Friday Night Blues Party, Curtis Salgado’s ‘She Didn’t Cut Me Loose’ and Andy T and Nick Nixon Band’s ‘Drink Drank Drunk.’

Quote to Inspire – “I really don’t have any idea about photography, but I take pictures.” – Alex Majoli

Sun, Wind & Weather

Best Practices - Photography, Canon 60D, Canon Camera, Canon Live View, Farm, Farmhouse, Flora, Home, Homestead, Lookback Photos - One Year Ago, Photoblog Intention, Photography & Conceptualizing Beauty, Project 365 - Photo-a-day, Sigma Lens - Wide Angle 10-20mm, Still Life, Weather, Winter

Former Farm – Sangudo, Alberta 1

Former Farm – Sangudo, Alberta 2

Former Farm – Sangudo, Alberta 3

Sangudo, Alberta – on a sunny day, closing in on spring, buildings from a former farming time continue to erode with wind and weather. Sun heats snow-laden earth and clouds begin to billow and move eastward over the horizon.

Listening to – Josef Myslivecek and Concertino in E Flat for two horns.

Quote to Inspire – “A photograph is usually looked at – seldom looked into.” – Ansel Adams

Step In

Backlight, Best Practices - Photography, Canon 60D, Canon Camera, Canon Lens, Canon Live View, Journaling, Light Intensity, Lookback Photos - One Year Ago, Night, Photoblog Intention, Photography & Conceptualizing Beauty, Project 365 - Photo-a-day, Still Life, Summer, Vehicle, Vehicle Restoration

Ford F-100 – High Level, Ab 1

Ford F-100 – High Level, Ab 2

Ford F-100 – High Level, Ab 3

Ford F-100 – High Level, Ab 4

Ford F-100 – High Level, Ab 5

I’m not sure. But, this image’s perspective looking towards this 1953 Ford F-100 is that which likely is the perspective previous owners would have walking to it, something seen regularly through the Ford’s years of service. The image orients the eye to the driver’s door becoming the glimpse the owner/driver would take as he or she thinks through next actions and destination walking to this F-100. You could almost step into the image, open the driver’s door, start the engine and drive away.

Listening to – Leonard Cohen’s ‘Hallelujah,’ played on our Heintzman Grand Piano in vertical form by my daughter.

Quote to Inspire – “The true mystery of the world is the visible, not the invisible.” – Oscar Wilde

Keens & Walkabout Fridays

Best Practices - Photography, Canon 30D, Canon Camera, Canon Live View, Lookback Photos - One Year Ago, Photoblog Intention, Photography & Conceptualizing Beauty, Project 365 - Photo-a-day, Summer, Vehicle, Vehicle Restoration

Walkabout Friday – 30s Sedan

Scott Smith, CMO of Motivation to Move, was the first person to let me and his listeners in on certain rejuvenating aspects of the secret Life of entrepreneurs, the matter of setting aside the occasional Friday for walkabout, times to reconnect with friends and colleagues, times to check-in, play, have a beer; the walkabout Friday would be a day to cruise not too far out of town on your Harley Davidson motorcycle and to arrive and explore … sort of the same way people hit Farmer’s Markets on Saturday mornings.

Not a Harley, but a thirties sedan among other glory-days vehicle – the 64 Mercury Monterey and a 55 Chevrolet Truck (cream coloured behind the sedan). Walkabout Friday is in full swing in Nanaimo, British Columbia. My wife is indoors at the Valhalla Pure buying some Keen shoes.

Listening to – Great Lake Swimmers’ ‘The Great Exhale’ and ‘Cornflower Blue.’

Quote to Inspire – “Photography cannot do much. It provides some level of information, yet it has no pretensions about changing the world.” John Vink

From My Ford-Focused Canon 60D

Best Practices - Photography, Canon 30D, Canon 60D, Canon Camera, Canon Lens, Canon Live View, Home, Journaling, Light Intensity, Lookback Photos - One Year Ago, Photoblog Intention, Photography & Conceptualizing Beauty, Project 365 - Photo-a-day, Sigma Lens - Wide Angle 10-20mm, Still Life, Summer, Vehicle, Vehicle Restoration, Winter

Nose – 1938 Ford One Ton Tow Truck

Ford Grain Truck – Wabamun, Alberta

67 Ford Econoline Van

64 Mercury Monterey 2

64 Mercury Monterey 1

Looking up from my Ford-focused Canon 60D the highway held a semi hauling a flat-deck trailer with a Diversified Bus on it, its roof crushed – a sight as curious as it is disturbing. Diversified runs buses in northeastern Alberta. A passenger bus like this, the kind Greyhound uses, is never something anyone wishes to see in this state – the image implies rollover and injury. Hopefully, the accident was less serious than can be imagined. But, on those long, northern Alberta drives Greyhound buses do slide sideways on ice, occasionally – accidents involving such buses do occur from time to time.

Each image presented, here, has been an editing exercise exploring editing sequences other photographers have utilized to arrive at final image renderings. Ford Motor Company (FOMOCO) provides subject for these images – the nose of the 1938 Ford One Ton Tow Truck, a late sixties Ford One Ton grain truck, a 64 Mercury Monterey and a 67 Ford Econoline van.

Listening to – Gwyneth Paltrow singing ‘Country Song’ and ‘Travis.’

Quote to Inspire – “Your first 10,000 photographs are your worst.” – Henri Cartier-Bresson

Moments You Can’t Get Out Of

Best Practices - Photography, Canon 60D, Canon 70-200 mm 2.8 IS L Series Lens, Canon Camera, Canon Lens, Canon Live View, Photoblog Intention, Photography & Conceptualizing Beauty, Project 365 - Photo-a-day, Sigma Lens - Wide Angle 10-20mm, Still Life, Weather, Winter

Jasper Alberta 1

Mountain River – McLure BC

Mount Robson BC 2

Mount Robson BC 1

Lake Okanagan – Kelowna BC

Jasper Alberta 3

Jasper Alberta 2

My wife told me that she had noticed the oil pressure indicator flashing and remaining on two weeks ago today. Hearing her words, I went outside and checked the oil dipstick and confirmed that we did have oil in the engine. Because we had a long drive to Edmonton coming I called the service technicians who advised that the issue could be an electrical problem with the sensor or an actual oil leak. They advised watching the fluid levels on the way down and to bring it in for service. I checked the oil before leaving. And, then, checked it again three hours later in Peace River … the oil pressure sensor light had come on. I pulled out the dipstick … there was no oil. What to do? Travelling on a Sunday the dealership wasn’t open. Calling roadside assistance only let me know that they would tow the vehicle to a maximum of 125 kilometres … I had 500 kilometres to go before making it to the dealership. I talked things over with a friend. The tow cost would be about $900 to get the vehicle to Edmonton. If I managed checking and adding oil as needed I might make it to Edmonton at considerably less cost. My wife and daughter got a hotel room in Peace River; they would come down with friends who would pick them up the next day. I would aim to make it to Edmonton adding four litres of oil to the engine every forty-five minutes. I made it after another seven hours, topping up the oil at -20C temperatures. At one point I lost the oil cap in one of those unreachable places of the engine compartment and had to jury-rig an alternative using sheet plastic.

From Edmonton, it was a flight to Penticton via Vancouver the next day to work on assets associated with my father-in-law’s estate. With a day’s work done, there, I began the drive back to Edmonton only to find that the highway I had chosen had to be closed because of accidents occurring in the slush and snow. Doubling back, I was able to drive through Kamloops on the Yellowhead Trail and aim for Edmonton via Jasper. I stopped for the night at Kamloops and then began my drive on the Yellowhead, a bright day with dry roads. I got a meal along the way and within a couple of hours was the unwitting victim of food poisoning. With no energy and chills I decided to hunker down in Valemount, British Columbia – at 2:00 p.m.. I got a hotel room and slept my way around the clock. After many hours of sleep, weakened, but ready to aim for home, I got back in the vehicle. The mountain images presented here are those preceding food poisoning and those from the day driving from Valemount to Edmonton.

Listening to – U2’s ‘Stuck in a Moment You Can’t Get Out Of,’ ‘In a Little While,’ ‘Elevation,’ and ‘I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For.’

Quote to Inspire – “A photograph is the pause button on life.” – Ty Holland

At the Ready

Backlight, Barn, Best Practices - Photography, Canon 60D, Canon Camera, Canon Live View, Farm, Farmhouse, Gas Station, Homestead, Journaling, Light Intensity, Photoblog Intention, Photography & Conceptualizing Beauty, Project 365 - Photo-a-day, Sigma Lens - Wide Angle 10-20mm, Still Life, Vehicle, Vehicle Restoration, Winter

Ford One Ton Tow Truck – McLure BC 1

Ford One Ton Tow Truck – McLure BC 11

Ford One Ton Tow Truck – McLure BC 10

Ford One Ton Tow Truck – McLure BC 9

Ford One Ton Tow Truck – McLure BC 8

Ford One Ton Tow Truck – McLure BC 7

Ford One Ton Tow Truck – McLure BC 6

Ford One Ton Tow Truck – McLure BC 5

Ford One Ton Tow Truck – McLure BC 4

Ford One Ton Tow Truck – McLure BC 3

Ford One Ton Tow Truck – McLure BC 2

A 1938 Ford one-ton tow truck sits, seemingly at the ready, gazing out to the highway. Yet, at the ready, looks a lot like ready to sell.

Static, the Ford’s paint flakes away and metal beneath oxidizes into rust, colourfully. Curves are the thing, in the shape and detail of the cab, in each window, throughout the length and nose of the hood, in the catch-all of the fenders and in the perfect circles of the lights; straight lines add contrast to these curves with the verticals and horizontals of the running boards, bumper and grill; and then there are the diagonals associated with the structure for leverage, towing and pulling other vehicles. There’s remarkable engineering, here, both in the original build of the Ford and in the impromptu innovation of the towing structure … someone has the knack for towing vehicles. The whole vehicle is architecture, engineering, shape and detail from a former time, a time that preceded me, a time that was my father’s – all pull my interest to this Ford. And, there’s anticipation of how it would drive and how it would ride … the finding of gears, the getting it to move and remain moving … there’d be the unique bounce and shift of weight as the truck moves over terrain … there’d be the rhythm of engine combustion idling and working, pacing out each mile … and there’d be the view from within while piloting this vehicle – all intrigue me.

Automobiles that have left the road have been set back on the road surface by this Ford. Remnants of collisions – damaged vehicles, damaged people and damaged egos, their aftermath has needed transfer to homes, autobody shops and junk yards, something this Ford has provided regularly. In extreme and extraordinary winter weather this Ford has been one to venture out on uncertain roads and perhaps there would be no safer place than in an outfitted Ford one-ton tow truck with a rested driver who understands people, the road and his machine. This Ford one-ton tow truck is for sale down around McLure, British Columbia; the first person with $2000 or so dollars takes it.

Listening to – Tom Cochrane’s ‘Big League’.

Quote to Inspire – “Buy a good pair of comfortable shoes, have a camera around your neck at all times, keep your elbows in, be patient, optimistic and don’t forget to smile.” – Matt Stuart

Inuksuk GPS

Best Practices - Photography, Canon 60D, Canon 70-200 mm 2.8 IS L Series Lens, Canon Camera, Canon Live View, Journaling, Light Intensity, Lookback Photos - One Year Ago, Project 365 - Photo-a-day, Still Life, Winter

Inuksuk 1

Inuksuk 2

Inuksuk 3

Inuksuk 4

Semblance of human existence, an inuksuk serves as landmark and waypoint on one’s unknown path or journey. Its surprise guides you along your way when you’re alone with map and compass, scanning the horizon, considering the course you’ll take; its message – “you are on the right path, keep going … you’ll get there.” With an inuksuk, another human being has taken the time to gather stone and rock to create a representation of the human form only to encourage you and others, letting all know that others have been right where you now stand/sit. At that point where they experienced indecision in navigation, they came back to this point to guide you forward.

Navigation – some of my week has been about travel in unknown territory. I’ve been driving using my global positioning satellite unit, my Tom Tom GPS to direct me to my destination. At one point the mountain road I was on was closed down owing to slush and snow. I had to double back to find another route – a four hour correction in the middle of the night. While there were lines on the road and tire tracks of vehicles preceding me, there were no inuksuks along the way.

Listening to – War’s ‘Low Rider,’ Bo Diddley’s ‘Ride on Josephine,’ Moby’s ‘Flower,’ The Crystal Method’s ‘Busy Child,’ Lori Carson’s ‘You Won’t Fall’ and Johnny Cash’s ‘Folsom Prison Blues.’

Quote to Inspire – “Photography is about finding out what can happen in the frame. When you put four edges around some facts, you change those facts.” – Garry Winogrand

No Through Road

Backlight, Best Practices - Photography, Canon 60D, Canon Camera, Canon Lens, Canon Live View, Farm, Homestead, Light Intensity, Lookback Photos - One Year Ago, Photoblog Intention, Photography & Conceptualizing Beauty, Project 365 - Photo-a-day, Still Life, Winter

No Through Road 1

No Through Road 2

No Through Road 3

No Through Road 4

No Through Road 5

In Alberta’s northwest, a backroad highway connects the town of Grimshaw with the town of Fairview; halfway between the two this road runs north one kilometre from the connector into muskeg and bush, a place where a family has made their home. At this intersection, heart-shaped wreaths are attached to two signs – this one, ‘No Through Road’ leading into this homestead; and, another is attached to the stop sign as the road rejoins traffic along the connector highway. The words ‘no through road’ within a setting in which a farmer would have a tough go in producing crops or raising livestock provoke ideas about Life’s journey needing to be carved out, step following step, day-by-day with eyes upon one’s goal – our path being something we construct each day of our Life. Life becomes journey, Life holds endeavor and endeavor is about recognizing potential, engaging in work, and celebrating/acknowledging achievement.

Thinking through this No Through Road sign first surfaced ideas about settling and moving no further, recalling mediocrity, a term derived from medias (middle) and ocrus (mountain), settling having to do with the climb of a journey up a mountain and finding oneself getting comfortable at the halfway point so much so that no further movement along the climb is undertaken. The narrative within this image is not about mediocrity, however. Life’s endeavor or Life’s challenge is more significant, that act of choosing to plant yourself where you are, looking to what you can achieve, using all that you know – skills and abilities – to embrace Life’s challenge in order to add something into the world. That’s what goes on at the end of this road. The through road that is yet to come will associate to the Life or Lives beyond the present endeavor at this road’s end.

Wreaths tied to signs caused me to stop and look around; the wreaths are inviting and suggest love and care and concern for others; the wreaths also serve to landmark one family’s location on their portion of the frontier for others to find.

Listening to – The Cinematic Orchestra and ‘Ma Fleur’.

Quote to Inspire – “A tear contains an ocean. A photographer is aware of the tiny moments in a person’s life that reveal greater truths.” – Anonymous

Thelwell Ponies

Backlight, Best Practices - Photography, Canon 60D, Canon 70-200 mm 2.8 IS L Series Lens, Canon Camera, Canon Lens, Canon Live View, Farm, Fauna, Light Intensity, Lookback Photos - One Year Ago, Photoblog Intention, Photography & Conceptualizing Beauty, Project 365 - Photo-a-day, Winter

Fairview Horses, Fairview, Alberta 1

Fairview Horses, Fairview, Alberta 2

Fairview Horses, Fairview, Alberta 3

Fairview Horses, Fairview, Alberta 4

I am able to recall my first year of school and one of those Life-changing events, that of taking my father to the Edmonton International Airport – Mom, Grandma and me. Something new for me and my brothers, this same event was rejoinder for my father – he was getting back to the globetrotting that was so much of his career prior to the arrival of my two brothers and me. Business trips took Dad often to the United Kingdom to stay current with practices/methods in plastics development/technologies. Beyond the United Kingdom, Dad moved around the globe in a chemist’s technician’s capacity dealing with the technical side of plastics use; the customer was always right – if the plastic produced didn’t work for the customer, the company Dad worked for always solved the problem and worked to create the plastic needed by each customer-manufacturer. Dad’s globetrotting in the sixties, seventies, eighties and nineties had the ceremony of preparation and departure; and, homecoming also became ceremony – gifts for the family let us know that we were thought of even when he was away from us.

Horses – the images of horses, here, were photographed just north of Fairview, Alberta. Their shapes remind of a British cartoonist who drew so many cartoons of the British countryside – Norman Thelwell often drew images of ponies … cartoons that these photographs recall. Check out Norman Thelwell at http://www.thelwell.org.uk/ . One of the gifts my father brought back for me when I was twelve was a small paperback of Thelwell’s pony cartoons – something I can remember reading in my room on a rainy day in June in Edmonton.

Listening to – Los Lobos and ‘Two Janes.’

Quote to Inspire – “Ultimately photography is about who you are. It’s the truth in relation to yourself. And seeking truth becomes a habit.” – Leonard Freed