Dented, Worn, Pitted

Best Practices - Photography, Canon 60D, Canon Camera, Canon Lens, Canon Live View, High Dynamic Range (HDR), Journaling, Photography & Conceptualizing Beauty, Project 365 - Photo-a-day, Summer, Vehicle, Vehicle Restoration

1949 Chevrolet Grain Truck – Donnelly, Alberta 1

1949 Chevrolet Grain Truck – Donnelly, Alberta 2

1949 Chevrolet Grain Truck – Donnelly, Alberta 3

1949 Chevrolet Grain Truck – Donnelly, Alberta 4

1949 Chevrolet Grain Truck – Donnelly, Alberta 5

Dented and worn, pitted and cancered (rusting), the hood of a 1949 Chevrolet grain truck continues to hold its shape – lines and curves created some sixty-four years ago.

Listening to: Imagine Dragons’ ‘Radioactive.’

Quote to Inspire: “Take a moment. What was it you saw when you were moved to pick up the camera? I’m going to pretend I didn’t hear you mutter something about thinking “it looked cool.” Dig deeper. Was it a thought, a feeling, a simple moment when your eyes did a double-take at the intersection of two lines? Was it a lick of light, two blocks of color?” ― David duChemin, Vision & Voice: Refining Your Vision in Adobe Photoshop Lightroom

Manning, Dixonville & Blue Sky HDR

Canon 60D, Canon Camera, Canon Live View, Farm, High Dynamic Range (HDR), Journaling, Light Intensity, Photography & Conceptualizing Beauty, Project 365 - Photo-a-day, Summer, The Candid Frame, Vehicle

Grain Bins – Dixonville, Alberta 1

Grain Bins – Dixonville, Alberta 2

Grain Truck Box – Manning, Alberta 1

Grain Truck Box – Manning, Alberta 2

Grain Truck Box – Manning, Alberta 3

Grain Truck Cab – Manning, Alberta 1

Grain Truck Cab – Manning, Alberta 2

Mercury Grain Truck – Manning, Alberta 1

Mercury Grain Truck – Manning, Alberta 2

Mercury Grain Truck – Manning, Alberta 3

Mercury Grain Truck Badge – Manning, Alberta 1

Mercury Grain Truck Badge – Manning, Alberta 2

Mercury Grain Truck Badge – Manning, Alberta 3

Mercury Grain Truck Badge – Manning, Alberta 4

Images this morning are from a farming community in the region that lies between Manning, Dixonville and Blue Sky, Alberta. Grain bins done in HDR with swirling, heavy clouds above and a set of HDR photos of an early fifties grain truck at the pioneer museum minutes north of Manning.

Listening to the Candid Frame – an interview of Niel and Susan Silverman, a husband and wife photographer duo who provide photography workshops around the world; also, Sheryl Crow’s ‘Riverwide,’ U2’s ‘Wire’ and ‘Promenade,’ Roxy Music’s ‘India’ and Christine by Siouxsie & the Banshees.

Quote to Inspire – “On the odd days Auto Tone gets it right I assume it’s using some kind of voodoo.” ― David duChemin, Vision & Voice: Refining Your Vision in Adobe Photoshop Lightroom

That Thought, Complete

Best Practices - Photography, Canon 60D, Canon Camera, Canon Lens, Canon Live View, Farm, High Dynamic Range (HDR), Home, Journaling, Light Intensity, Night, Photoblog Intention, Photography & Conceptualizing Beauty, Project 365 - Photo-a-day, Sigma Lens - Wide Angle 10-20mm, Spring, Still Life, Sunset, The Candid Frame, Vehicle, Vehicle Restoration

Alberta Reflection – Grande Prairie 1

Alberta Reflection – Grande Prairie 2

Alberta Reflection – Grande Prairie 3

Alberta’s Big Sky – 1

Alberta’s Big Sky – 2

Along Northern Roads – Grande Cache, Alberta

HDR – Subject Revisited 1

HDR – Subject Revisited 2

Trestle Bridge – Grande Cache, Alberta

Wet Rock – Banff, Alberta

Wooded Reflection – Jasper, Alberta 1

Wooded Reflection – Jasper, Alberta 2

Wooded Reflection – Jasper, Alberta 3

The following text is excerpt, core invitation to a cousin to interact with me through my photo blog and exposes intentions for the blog and posting.

“My photoblog’s URL is http://www.lumensborealis.com , written from the point of pseudonym, also most often written at day’s end … a mind saturated, releasing the day; sometimes this can seem very close to the poignant remark made by an Auschwitz inmate in Schindler’s List … ‘I had a complete thought, today.’ Sometimes my posts are good and flow and cohere. But, I’m also editing what I write to limit consequence along parameters suggested by William Stafford in his book, ‘Crossing Unmarked Snow:’

1. The things you do not have to say make you rich.
2. Saying the things you do not have to say weakens your talk.
3. Hearing the things you do not need to hear dulls your hearing.
4. The things you know before you hear them, those are you and this is the reason you’re in the world.

A compelling set of assertions, for any of us, that aims at honourable and integrated Life … a good thing – it’s how I’m aiming to write the blog. Still, in my reading of it there often is opportunity to add more Art within my writing.

The Photoblog – Photography is what the photoblog is about – a photo-a-day kind of thing as intention and as means to grapple with photography and enhance skills; but, at almost two years in I’m only on post 271 and not beyond a year’s 365 posts. The blog is also about responding to each photo or set of photos as starting point to engage the rabbit trail of memory associating to family and times.” And, it often leads my thought to a set of Rimbey farms and my cousins, there.

Listening to – the Candid Frame with Ibarionex Perello in an interview with Will Jax about his Juke Joint photography in the French Quarter of New Orleans; part of the discussion that intrigued was the matter of consent, of giving back, contributing – all parts of what grants access within the exchange that is photography.

Quote to Inspire – “You yourself are unique–you have ways of seeing your world that are unlike those of anyone else–so find ways to more faithfully express that, and your style will emerge.” ― David duChemin, Vision & Voice: Refining Your Vision in Adobe Photoshop Lightroom

HDR – Image Subjects, Revisited

Best Practices - Photography, Canon 50mm Lens, Canon 60D, Canon Camera, Canon Live View, High Dynamic Range (HDR), Journaling, Light Intensity, Photoblog Intention, Photography & Conceptualizing Beauty, Prime Lens, Project 365 - Photo-a-day, Sigma Lens - Wide Angle 10-20mm, Spring, Still Life

HDR – 1947 Ford One Tonne Tow Truck, McLure, British Columbia

HDR – North of 60 Bus Shelter Seats, Valleyview, Alberta

I have had a go at creating two High Dynamic Range (HDR) images in the last while. In landscape images my practice is to shoot with Automatic Exposure Bracketing (creating 3 images in succession -1, 0 & +1) and explore how the images will turn out in HDR. The images are of subjects I have shot before; but, they are not the original image shots included in previous posts. They are ‘also-ran’ images of the 1947 Ford One-tonne Tow Truck from McLure, British Columbia and the ‘would-be’ bus shelter seat, North of 60 style. In both the detail, lines and range of light are enhanced (or at least different).

Listening to – today it’s been the conclusion of Ken Follett’s ‘Pillars of the Earth’ on the long drive home from Edmonton to High Level. The narrative provides glimpse of Monarchy, Ecclesiastical ambition and all that was behind building cathedrals and parishes; the story moves from Life at the local/village level all the way to Thomas Beckett and King Henry and those who contested the throne.

Quote to Inspire – “Vision is that original spark that was ignited within you and made you pick up a camera to capture whatever it is you saw, that made you turn to shout “Did you see that!” only to find no one there–so you created an image to do the telling.” ― David duChemin, Vision & Voice: Refining Your Vision in Adobe Photoshop Lightroom

Accommodated – Photos

Canon 60D, Canon 70-200 mm 2.8 IS L Series Lens, Canon Camera, Canon Lens, Canon Live View, High Dynamic Range (HDR), Journaling, Photography & Conceptualizing Beauty, Project 365 - Photo-a-day, Summer, Vehicle Restoration

1 North Shore Surfing 1

2 North Shore Surfing 2

3 Along the Way – North Shore 1

4 Along the Way – North Shore 2

5 North Shore – Highway

6 Strong Current – Haleiwa, Oahu 1

7 Strong Current – Haleiwa, Oahu 2

8 Surfing – Across from Diamond Head

9 52 Ford Panel Van – Haleiwa, Oahu

10 Waves – Sandy Beach, Oahu

11 Surfer – Sandy Beach, Oahu

My wife and daughter are very gracious about accommodating me and the opportunity of a photograph. On my side, what is balanced is seeing a possible photo from the vehicle against the need to proceed onward with the journey with my family. My daughter and wife are avid readers. So, in stopping for a photograph, they usually have had a book going that they are eager to delve into. Over two weeks on Oahu my daughter read ten books (at the beach, in restaurants, in the car and late at night) – something you’d not have caught me doing at her age; I’d be out doing … something. Over the two weeks, we circumnavigated Oahu perhaps three or four times seeing the island fresh and then growing more and more familiar with the landscape and getting out for a few photographs. The following images are from Oahu’s North Shore and from southern Oahu at Sandy Beach and Diamond Head.

Listening to: John O’Donohue’s Greenbelt interview with Martin Rowe (August 2007).

Quote to Inspire – “Photographers deal in things which are continually vanishing and when they have vanished there is no contrivance on earth which can make them come back again.” – Henri Cartier Bresson

Bumped, Never-done

Canon 60D, Canon Camera, Canon Lens, High Dynamic Range (HDR), Journaling, Photoblog Intention, Photography & Conceptualizing Beauty, Project 365 - Photo-a-day, Summer

Catholic Church – Waikiki

Waikiki Beach At Night

Waikiki Strip 2

My wife, my daughter and I chased-down a never-done in July. On the road, with our out-of-town doctor’s visits complete, bags packed – a task from several days before, and no pressing obligations, the challenge set before me by my wife was to get my daughter, my wife and me to Hawaii (any of the five islands), to gather some summer rest, to explore new sites/sights, to try out some new things and to photograph the visual treasure among the islands; the challenge broadly – rejuvenate. Honolulu on Oahu is where we landed after being bumped flights and arriving five hours later than intended (it’s totally interesting that United Airlines found us new flights and provided us tickets for another flight to use within the next year … as we entered our plane we were later than planned, but ahead financially); we stayed at a Waikiki hotel, minutes away from the Waikiki beach, surfing and lazing in the sun. The images, here, are starting point images Waikiki, in the evening.

Listening to: Dave Matthews and Tim Reynolds work through several tunes from their Live at Radio City Music Hall recording (2007) – Daniel Lanois’ ‘The Maker,’ ‘Sister,’ ‘Old Dirt Hill,’ and ‘Crush’.

“To me, photography is an art of observation. It’s about finding something interesting in an ordinary place… I’ve found it has little to do with the things you see and everything to do with the way you see them.” — Elliott Erwitt

HDR – Details, Paint & Upholstery

Best Practices - Photography, Canon 60D, Canon Camera, Canon Live View, High Dynamic Range (HDR), Light Intensity, Photography & Conceptualizing Beauty, Podcast, Project 365 - Photo-a-day, Shuttertime with Sid and Mac, Still Life, Summer, Vehicle, Vehicle Restoration, Weather

Chevrolet Grain Truck – Edmonton, Alberta

The late forties-early fifties Chevrolet half-tonne grain truck is subject for this image and with Automatic Exposure Bracketing moving toward a final image becomes an exercise in creating a high dynamic range (HDR) shot. For me, unless shooting people within an event, my practice in creating most photos is to work with a tripod in manual (M) mode and to set the camera for the three settings of Automatic Exposure Bracketing (AEB) – the regular or average exposure, an exposure a stop down (a darker, low key exposure) and an exposure a stop above average (a lighter, high key exposure).

Focus counts – the manual focus on my Canon EOS 60D allows me to focus upon that part of the image needing clarity, but it does so allowing me to focus upon that portion of the subject in three magnifications using the display on the back of the camera: first, what I would see through the viewfinder – normal magnification, next at 10 x optical zoom and then at 15 x optical zoom. Each level of displayed magnification allows me to adjust focus with greater and greater and greater precision. Stability also counts in focusing on the subject; the camera fixed to a tripod ensures that the camera does not move and that resulting images are tack sharp, free from blur.

Creating the exposure, creates not one, but, the three AEB exposures in succession ( – , 0 , + ) when the shutter button is pressed. After the exposures are brought into Adobe Lightroom, I am able to use HDR Efex to combine the three exposures into one image that allows the combined exposure to become an image accommodating greater range of light – more similar to what the human eye can see. I like the way Photomatix does HDR; but, NiK Software’s HDR Efex is a more stable and flexible program.

So, today’s image is an HDR shot. In the next few days my intention will be to try an HDR image that combines a larger number of exposures and to see what happens along the way. I’m reminded that the Shutter Time with Sid and Mac podcast has a couple of excellent pointers for HDR shots (somewhere between episodes 15 and 23). Mac and his wife Kasia would most likely have me using HDR for shots combining landscape, cloud-work and sunsets/sunrises. As well, Trey Ratcliff is the photographer who seems to have done most with HDR or at least has written most substantially (perhaps most helpfully) about HDR; two weeks ago he was in Vancouver and aiming to take on someone as protégé for an evening photographing the city, the water, the landscape and the sky from the top of a well-situated, tall skyscraper. It would definitely have been fun to hang out together for an evening creating HDR images – watch out for him on Twitter at @TreyRatcliff .

Listening to – Peter Himmelmann’s ‘Mission of My Soul.’

Quotes to Inspire – (1) “[…] That’s what HDR does. It adds details, paint, and upholstery to the Photograph. It’s still a photograph, but now enhanced [….] — GusDoeMatik (2) “To me, it is better to “guess” at how something works, experiment, fail, guess again, fail, and keep repeating that process over and over again until you either figure it out or you discover a multiplicity of other cool tricks along the way.” ― Trey Ratcliff

Fenced Barbed-wire – This Side

Best Practices - Photography, Canon 60D, Canon Camera, Canon Lens, Canon Live View, High Dynamic Range (HDR), Journaling, Light Intensity, Photoblog Intention, Photography & Conceptualizing Beauty, Project 365 - Photo-a-day, Season, Still Life, Summer, Vehicle, Vehicle Restoration, Weather

In the week following school year-end and the beginning of summer school break, my wife, my daughter and I find ourselves in Edmonton. A Sunday afternoon becomes opportunity for me to look around Edmonton with fresh eyes, this city I knew as child and youth, this city I grew up in. In my travels, parts of the city receive spitting of rain from moisture-laden skies, stacking cumulus clouds pushed across Edmonton by substantial summer winds. Less windy and wet moments provide opportunity to use clouded skies as backdrop to architecture and landscape. I’m needing to fall into sync with the opportunity of/for photos and the cadence of parking and getting out of the vehicle for possible photos.

Alongside the Anthony Henday roadway near Callingwood Avenue in Edmonton’s west-end, in a farmer’s field, on the other side of fenced, barbed-wire an older truck is parked, a truck that is likely to be a 1949 Chevrolet half-tonne with grain box, a vehicle that if rehabilitated could become vintage and a classic. The intention, as I’ve watched through these ten years, had been to use the retro look of this vintage truck with the side panels of the grain box to advertise location of a knick-knacks store in this west-end community. That store no longer exists and no one has set about moving the truck or dismantling the grain box and advertising. Erosion – rain, sun, snow and wind – has brought the grain box down and rusting to the truck’s body and cab has added deep, rough, orange peel texture to this truck’s exterior … all becoming fodder for photos.

Listening to – Jack White’s version of a U2 tune, ‘Love is Blindness,’ and the Tijuana Brass – ‘Lonely Bull,’ ‘Spanish Flea,’ ‘Taste of Honey,’ and ‘Tijuana Taxi.’

Quote to Inspire – “We try to grab pieces of our lives as they speed past us. Photographs freeze those pieces and help us remember how we were. We don’t know these lost people but if you look around, you’ll find someone just like them.” – Gene McSweeney

Step Into Line

Barn, Best Practices - Photography, Canon 60D, Canon 70-200 mm 2.8 IS L Series Lens, Canon Camera, Combine (Farming), Farm, Farmhouse, Flora, High Dynamic Range (HDR), Prime Lens, Spring, Still Life

Homestead 1 - Grimshaw, Alberta — Homestead 1 – Grimshaw, Alberta

Homestead 2 - Grimshaw, Alberta — Homestead 2 – Grimshaw, Alberta

Homestead 3 - Grimshaw, Alberta — Homestead 3 – Grimshaw, Alberta

Homestead 4 – Grimshaw, Alberta

Homestead 5 – Grimshaw, Alberta

Homestead 6 - Grimshaw, Alberta — Homestead 6 – Grimshaw, Alberta

Homestead 7 - Grimshaw, Alberta — Homestead 7 – Grimshaw, Alberta

Granaries 1 - Sexsmith, Alberta — Granaries 1 – Sexsmith, Alberta

Granaries 2 - Sexsmith, Alberta — Granaries 2 – Sexsmith, Alberta

Granaries 3 - Sexsmith, Alberta — Granaries 3 – Sexsmith, Alberta

Granaries 4 - Sexsmith, Alberta — Granaries 4 – Sexsmith, Alberta

Lone Farm Building - Sexsmith, Alberta — Lone Farm Building – Sexsmith, Alberta

Lone Farm Building 2 - Sexsmith, Alberta — Lone Farm Building 2 – Sexsmith, Alberta

Lone Farm Building 3 - Sexsmith, Alberta — Lone Farm Building 3 – Sexsmith, Alberta

Lone Farm Building 4 - Sexsmith, Alberta — Lone Farm Building 4 – Sexsmith, Alberta

Granaries 5 - Sexmith, Alberta — Granaries 5 – Sexmith, Alberta

Lone Farm Building 5 - Sexsmith, Alberta — Lone Farm Building 5 – Sexsmith, Alberta

Lone Farm Building 6 - Sexsmith, Alberta — Lone Farm Building 6 – Sexsmith, Alberta

Lone Farm Building 7 - Sexsmith, Alberta — Lone Farm Building 7 – Sexsmith, Alberta

Ray LaMontagne’s song ‘Beg, Steal or Borrow’ plays, a tune I’m drawn to lyrically and melodiously. It’s a tune that says as much about the creation of a song – “you beg, you steal, you borrow” – as it does about the act of settling into Life and working through disillusionments, “Are you gonna step into line like your daddy done, punchin the time and climbin life’s long ladder?” It’s a tune that looks at the cost of pursuing individuality (or greatness) versus conforming to Life’s norms (mediocrity). It seems also to be the tune of the man further along the road looking toward a younger one, perhaps hoping to help him avoid Life’s misteps, perhaps gauging the outcomes of the younger man’s choices and responses to Life events. In this, there’s the sideline vicarious living out of life through the actions of another, a younger man who aims to make his stand and put his footprint on the world. The song’s really about that twofold look at oneself – the you that pursues passions coming against that wiser part of self that looks critically at actions, outcomes and costs. There’s wrestling with truth and wrestling towards truth. In content the lyrics associate well to much of what Tom Cochrane sings about (e.g. Boy Inside the Man) … more good tunes.

Photos – out and away on a Saturday morning that extends longways through most of the day returning me home in the wee hours of Sunday morning. Old-time farm buildings and homes feature in these photos amongst Alberta spring weather, a mixture of moisture laden air rising as the sun heats the earth, the air rippling in mirage fashion in convection’s warmth. Clouds billow and stack throughout the day becoming backdrop to earthly structures – land, trees, buildings and roads.

Listening to – David Gray’s Fugitive, Ray LaMontagne’s I Still Care For You and Ryan Adams’ Oh My Sweet Carolina.

Quote to Inspire – “For me the printing process is part of the magic of photography. It’s that magic that can be exciting, disappointing, rewarding and frustrating all in the same few moments in the darkroom.” – John Sexton

Perspective – Where to Stand

Backlight, Best Practices - Photography, Canon 60D, Canon 70-200 mm 2.8 IS L Series Lens, Canon Camera, Canon Lens, Canon Live View, Fauna, High Dynamic Range (HDR), Light Intensity, Photoblog Intention, Photography & Conceptualizing Beauty, Project 365 - Photo-a-day, Spring, Still Life

Cattails 1 - High Level, Alberta — Cattails 1 – High Level, Alberta

Cattails 2 - High Level, Alberta — Cattails 2 – High Level, Alberta

Cattails 3 - High Level, Alberta — Cattails 3 – High Level, Alberta

Cattails 4 - High Level, Alberta — Cattails 4 – High Level, Alberta

Cattails 5 - High Level, Alberta — Cattails 5 – High Level, Alberta

Cattails 6 - High Level, Alberta — Cattails 6 – High Level, Alberta

Cattails 7 - High Level, Alberta — Cattails 7 – High Level, Alberta

Cattails 8 - High Level, Alberta — Cattails 8 – High Level, Alberta

Cattails 9 - High Level, Alberta — Cattails 9 – High Level, Alberta

Cattails 10 - High Level, Alberta — Cattails 10 – High Level, Alberta

Cattails 11 - High Level, Alberta — Cattails 11 – High Level, Alberta

Cattails 12 - High Level, Alberta — Cattails 12 – High Level, Alberta

Cattails 13 - High Level, Alberta — Cattails 13 – High Level, Alberta

Cattails 14 - High Level, Alberta — Cattails 14 – High Level, Alberta

Cattails 15 - High Level, Alberta — Cattails 15 – High Level, Alberta

Cattails 16 - High Level, Alberta — Cattails 16 – High Level, Alberta

Cattails 17 - High Level, Alberta — Cattails 17 – High Level, Alberta

Cattails 18 - High Level, Alberta — Cattails 18 – High Level, Alberta

Cattails 19 - High Level, Alberta — Cattails 19 – High Level, Alberta

A cube or a box – the physical structure of the spaces we tend to inhabit for the majority of our days are cubes or boxes. There’s the cube or box of home. There’s the cube or box of work. As human beings it’s important that we find the third and fourth cubes beyond our work environment and beyond the home, the third and fourth elements of our day that balance out contact with work and withdrawal from endeavor. The analogy works forward in terms of thinking outside the box, breaking from routine and locating yourself in activities in the world to gain perspective on your world. Add a camera to the equation and the analogy drills down a step – you’re gaining perspective on the world you live in in much more concrete terms. Photography allows for that look at your broader context. Photography orients you to the beauty you’ll find that’s only minutes away. In fifteen minutes, I’d driven east and found these cattails at day’s end on a warmer spring day well into melt.

Listening to – The Five Blind Boys of Alabama and their rendition of Run On For A Long Time, Feed A Man by Billy Bragg & Wilco, Shakedown on 9^th Street by Ryan Adams, Buffalo by Kathleen Edwards, Fully Completely by The Tragically Hip, Wonderwall by Ryan Adams, Eh Hee by Dave Matthews & Tim Reynolds, You Might Die Trying by the Dave Matthews Band, U2’s Wake Up Dead Man and Jack Johnson’s Rodeo Clowns.