It is snowing. I have driven out to La Crete, Alberta to deliver the table top of my mother and fatherâs teak dining room table to Homestead Kitchens, reputable wood workers in our region. Itâs likely that the wood needs to be refinished â I have left the job to them and their good judgment. Now, where the drive out was done carefully on roads covered with freezing rain, the return journey is done in light snow flurries. Still, in looking out for possible pictures I come across this farmerâs garage/shop near Blumenort, Alberta and collect a few photos. Iâm liking the image.
Listening to â Caiaâs âRemembrance,â and then Martyn Josephâs take on Bruce Springsteen, âBadlands,â âBlood Brothers,â âBrilliant Disguiseâ and âCautious Man.â
Quote to Inspire / Consider â âUsing a camera appeases anxiety which the work-drive feel about not working when they are on vacation.â â Susan Sontag, âOn Photographyâ
My wife points us to music tonight. At dayâs end sheâs responding to both of us, each a vortex of thoughts, moving, tumbling, clustering, dot-to-dot, aiming toward productive, tangible result â saturated with the day, not here, not in the now, needing to release the grip of endeavor, to withdraw and to settle. Time away from the pursued pace is needed, time that interrupts the cycle of âhome-work-and-back-again,â that kind of quality time that permits fresh aspect and new grasp on perspective, a good thing. Music is our choice tonight for plying away our adhesion, breaking contact with the day thatâs been. The music we turn to is longstanding legacy from BBC Radio Ulsterâs Sunday show at 8:00 p.m., âRhythm and Soulâ hosted by Steve Stockman; itâs music thatâs been on my wifeâs iPod this week in and around her classroom. David Grayâs Hammersmith concert, âLive, In Slow Motion,â is the concert video my wife chooses and with our daughter away at dance class we sit down to supper, downstairs, in front of our television and engage this concert, slowing ourselves, listening to a cellist, two guitarists, a bass player, a drummer and David Gray bring music to Life. Allowing ourselves to become vulnerable to lyric, melody, rhythm, sound and silence, we are drawn to familiar songs, songs Iâve fretted in former days â âSail Away,â âShine,â âMy Oh My,â âSilver Lining.â These songs draw us out to that part of our Lives beyond endeavor. They open-out memory and memories. We move into and travel along new melodies. Engaging with these songs orients us in terms of presence and our present â where we are needing and aiming to be, a reset of sorts.
Homestead – this October exposure is one of a handful of images taken within the golden hour near Fort Vermilion in a pre-winter sunset, winter-ready clouds billowing in regular, heavy patterns across the sky. The linear clarity of homestead lines mingles with the subtle bend in its roof and the regular, yet unique line of each board. Itâs old, yet itâs solid and well-preserved. Coloration and luminance chosen in editing work best with the available light and draw me to this photo, again and again.
I am definitely wanting to be out and about with my camera, perhaps with others seeing other ways of viewing the world. My Canon 60D has developed a hiccough, though â three years wear and tear has made the spring ejection of the SD card difficult; itâs also become difficult to set the card back in. Sending the camera for repair is likely to cost one-third to one-half the cost of replacing the camera with another 60D body or its next generation body the 70D. And, then I wonder if I should move to a pro-sumer camera the Canon 7D, 6D or 5D.
T h a n k y o u ‘ s
– My gratitude goes out to all who are a part of this blog, those of you who add your comments and engage in the dialogue about photos, photography and music.
Listening to â Tyler Batesâ âVentura,â one of those captivating songs from Emilio Estevezâ film, âThe Way.â The post reminds me of several Martyn Joseph songs – ‘The Good in Me is Dead’ from the ‘Don’t Talk About Love’ album and talking with Martyn at the Alexandra Community Hall in Edmonton, Alberta on the eve of the Iraq invasion. Other songs come to mind – ‘Wake Me Up,’ ‘Strange Kind of Friend,’ ‘Walk Down the Mountain’ and ‘Just Like the Man Said.’
Quote to Inspire: âStill images can be moving and moving images can be still. Both meet within soundscapes.â Chien-Chi Chang
1 Grain Bins – Manning, Alberta2 Leaning Grain Bin – Dixonville, Alberta 13 Leaning Grain Bin – Dixonville, Alberta 24 Former Farm – Manning, Alberta 15 Former Farm – Manning, Alberta 26 Former Farm – Manning, Alberta 37 Former Farm – Manning, Alberta 48 Rails – Keg River, Alberta 19 Rails – Keg River, Alberta 2
Imagining, remembering former times of a much younger Life when the journey taken was as much as a walk to a friendâs home â ringing the doorbell, checking to see ⌠âYou want to come out for a walk?â Not an appointed or scheduled time, not appointment, not a time with rigorous intention or time to be maximized, fully, just time to talk, to get beyond the four walls of our homes and explore the world, to see whatâs happening and to return. My friends and I were the better for it â the fresh air, the walk and the talk enriched us.
Now, at my present age time and times are planned with others and very rarely do they involve shared journey. Getting out, photographing the world, paying attention to surroundings now involves the disciplined journey of getting away, most times alone, and the work involved is in âseeingâ the world. Talk and exploration occurs with photographs and now holds narrative about what each photographer has seen and experienced. Meeting and narrative rather than journey have become focal point. Here, a dayâs drive has taken me south and back and photographs record fallâs early morning colours. And, my wife will be the first to recognize the association to my cousinsâ Rimbey farm with the farming imagery.
Listening to â Martyn Josephâs take on many Bruce Springsteen songs; standing out are âThe Rising,â âWalk Like a Man,â âThunder Road,â âIf I Should Fall Behindâ and âOne Step Up.â
Quote to Inspire â âI love photographing. Itâs that simple.â â Stuart Franklin
47 Ford Tow Truck – McLure, BCFarm Buildings – Valleyview, Alberta 1Field, Combine & Buildings – Nampa, Alberta 1Harvestor Silos – Rimbey, Alberta 1Harvestor Silos – Rimbey, Alberta 2Hay Harvest – Keg River, AlbertaMorning Colours – Keg River, Alberta 1Morning Colours – Keg River, Alberta 2Summer Cloudwork – Greencourt, AlbertaTelus Tower – Edmonton, Alberta
Remnants of spring, summer and autumn, a cluster of HDR photos populate my photo folder. Farm buildings, fields ripe with grain ready for harvest, trees with autumn leaves desaturating from green toward bright yellows and reds, summer cloudwork and a final shot of Edmonton in green July splendor â all are HDR shots. The 1947 Ford Tow Truck and a cousinâs farm feature visually in this blog post.
Listening to â U2âs âAlways,â David Grayâs âAs Iâm Leaving,â Ryan Adamsâ âHallelujah,â Mazzy Starâs âInto Dust,â Snow Patrolâs âLife Boats,â The Perishersâ âTrouble Sleepingâ and U2âs âLast Night On Earth.â
Quote to Inspire â âThere is nothing as mysterious as a fact clearly described. I photograph to see what something will look like photographed.â â Garry Winogrand
Grain Bin – Dixonville, Alberta 1Grain Bin – Dixonville, Alberta 2Grain Bin – Dixonville, Alberta 3
On the back road between Manning and Fairview old, wooden grain bins are found and are located within large fields as deposit points for grain in harvest. Well-constructed wooden grain bins still stand while those that were constructed hastily erode, leaning and falling over. Those made with plywood walls sometimes have a wall missing leaving only the frame and exposing the binâs interior. Wood grain bins are more a thing of the past with corrugated metal grain bins made by Butler, Westeel or Roscoe now being used, bins set on cement pads, often clustered at highest dry points on a farmerâs field. This well-constructed grain bin has caught my eye regularly; caught at the time of harvest amid ready and ripe grain woodâs texture and lines appeal as does colour and context.
Listening to â Kacey Musgraveâs âKeep It to Yourselfâ and David Grayâs âFlame Turns Blue.â
Quote to Inspire â âWhat I did, anybody can do.â â Weegee
REO Speedwagon – Manning, Alberta 1REO Speedwagon – Manning, Alberta 2REO Speedwagon – Manning, Alberta 3REO Speedwagon – Manning, Alberta 3REO Speedwagon – Manning, Alberta 5REO Speedwagon – Manning, Alberta 6
My drive south allows a stop just north of Manning, Alberta. A La Crete, Alberta auctioned vehicle draws attention â an old rusting relic; but, itâs more ⌠its badging sports the name of a Rock and Roll band that achieved notoriety in the late 70s and early 80s ⌠REO Speedwagon â the revelation, here, is that the bandâs name links to a truck, something similar to an International Harvester, a one tonne truck designed for heavy use such as is found in farming communities. I have stumbled across an REO Speedwagon one tonne, a rarity, a vehicle thatâs been sold from a La Crete, Alberta auction (a neighboring community to us in High Level) and this truck now resides without a grain box and without headlights along the highway that takes me south in my travels. Itâs the kind of vehicle that might be made good use of by the owner and vehicle-restorer of Deanz Garage in Vulcan, Alberta.
Listening to â Imagine Dragonsâ âRadioactiveâ and Cheap Trickâs âAinât that a Shame.â Then to recall the band itâs REO Speedwagonâs âCanât Fight This Feelingâ and âTake It On the Run.â
Quote to Inspire â âFor me, photography has become a way of attempting to make sense of the strange world that I see around me. I donât ever expect to achieve that understanding, but the fact that I am trying comforts me.â â Mikhael Subotzky
High dynamic range results in this fused image combining three images (-1 stop, average and +1 stop) creating an image representing early summer cloud work in north-central Alberta, a farm within kilometres of Greencourt, Alberta.
Listening to â Allstar Weekendâs âMr. Wonderfulâ and âNot Your Birthday.â âBlame it on Septemberâ another Allstar Weekend tune follows. Iâm listening to my daughterâs tunes pulled from iTunes.
Quote to Inspire – âLooking and seeing are two different things. What matters is the relationship with the subject.â â Christophe Agou
Round Bales – Sangudo, Alberta 1Round Bales – Sangudo, Alberta 2Round Bales – Sangudo, Alberta 3Round Bales – Sangudo, Alberta 4Round Bales – Sangudo, Alberta 5Round Bales – Sangudo, Alberta 6
More round bales indicate that grains have been taken off a field in harvest and that hay is ready to be gathered for winter cattle feed. These images remind of my cousin baling this summer and his waiting for the right equation of temperature and humidity to produce useful, nutrient rich bales for cattle feed. In the north, where weâve had a lot of rain some fieldsâ bales are blackened with hay that been damp either while on the ground or at the time of gathering. Such bales often do not hold shape and erode while still on the field. Bright mustard-copper coloured bales signal perhaps the healthiest bales â the brightest Iâve seen have been on the north approach to the Dunvegan bridge (west side of the highway) in the fields preceding the descent to the bridge that crosses the Peace River. What captivates in these images is bale-within-field colour, the quantity of bales that one field produces and the irregular and, at times, patterned placement of bales within a field.
Listening to â Robbie Robertsonâs âSweet Fire of Love,â Shawn Colvinâs âI Donât Know Whyâ and Peter Himmelmanâs âImpermanent Things.â
Quote to Inspire – âWhen people ask me what equipment I use â I tell them my eyes.â â Anonymous
Field Shared – Greencourt, Alberta 1Field Shared – Greencourt, Alberta 2
On the drive between Fort Vermilion and High Level, Alberta the clean, stubble-free fields were noteworthy ⌠more indications that harvest is nearing completion. In addition to grain being gathered and hay bales being removed, the fields did look like someone had vacuumed each field, leaving no trace of the summerâs activity. In this image from a few weeks back, at Greencourt, Alberta alongside the highway north farming implements â a Mercury, two Chevrolets, a Massey Ferguson and John Deere â share a field with round hay bales waiting to be cleared off and stored. The older farming implements are on display ⌠perhaps even for sale ⌠perhaps memorial to farming years.
Listening to â Tyrone Wellsâ âTime of Our Lives.â
Quote to Inspire â âAll the technique in the world doesnât compensate for the inability to notice.â â Elliott Erwitt
Grain Field – Donnelly, AlbertaGrain Field – Valleyview, Alberta
In other years, the mounting harvest of grain and canola, as seen from our vehicleâs window has revealed a fieldâs failure and a farmerâs disappointment. Summer drought in other years has been something limiting a fieldâs growth; a field of grain that started off well will grow only to a certain point, and, without moisture remain stunted, something weâve seen on our return journey from summer holidays. In drought, Canola becomes patchy, dying off, growing here and there ⌠nothing that would yield income or return on investment. Such crops at summerâs end would likely be disked, the soil turned over in readiness for next yearâs planting. There would be no harvest. In contrast, and perhaps in the second or third year running, northern crops are bountiful. Fields are heavy with grain. And, tracks through fields reveal farmersâ care for their crops; insecticides have been sprayed against grasshopper inundation.
Listening to â Black Rebel Motorcycle Clubâs âIn Like the Roseâ and the Eaglesâ âSeven Bridges Road.â
Quote to Inspire â âUltimately photography is about who you are. Itâs the truth in relation to yourself. And seeking truth becomes a habit.â â Leonard Freed
In My Back Pocket - Photography 
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