Hopping Mesh – Forward

Best Practices - Photography, Canon 50mm, Canon 50mm Lens, Canon 60D, Canon Camera, Canon Lens, Canon Live View, Journaling, Light Intensity, Photography & Conceptualizing Beauty, Prime Lens, Project 365 - Photo-a-day, Spring, Still Life, Vehicle, Vehicle Restoration

1969-73 GMC Camper Special – High Level, Alberta 2

69-73 GMC Camper Special – High Level, Alberta

This blue GMC (1969-73) recalls a grey, overcast November winter weekend in Rimbey, Alberta and an orange GMC plain Jane half-ton, farm work truck of similar age. Starting in a pasture and working our way onto farm roads, my cousin taught me to drive in his orange GMC, a truck with a three-in-the-tree standard transmission having to be understood and engaged, letting out the clutch, adding gas and listening to and feeling where gears meshed, my cousin coaching in a truck that hopped forward occasionally as we set it in motion, movement becoming smoother in each drive between my cousin and uncle’s farms. I was twelve and away from home – good memories recalled to Life by this blue, GMC Camper Special,; it’s likely that this vehicle could have had a two-tone paint job in a previous Life (perhaps forest green and white). With the even beading of water droplets on the entire truck, it is evident that its owner knows how to detail a vehicle; it’s well preserved.

Listening to – Ray Lamontagne’s ‘Trouble’ and ‘All the Wild Horses,’ Radiohead’s ‘All I Need’ and Arcade Fire’s ‘Wake Up.’

Quote to Inspire – “Which of my photographs is my favourite? The one I’m going to take tomorrow.” – Imogen Cunningham

Rain – Opportunities

Best Practices - Photography, Canon 50mm, Canon 50mm Lens, Canon 60D, Canon Camera, Canon Lens, Journaling, Light Intensity, Photoblog Intention, Photography & Conceptualizing Beauty, Prime Lens, Project 365 - Photo-a-day, Spring, Still Life, Vehicle, Vehicle Restoration, Weather

Ford & Challenger – High Level, Alberta 1

Ford & Challenger – High Level, Alberta 2

Ford & Challenger – High Level, Alberta 3

Ford & Challenger – High Level, Alberta 4

Ford & Challenger – High Level, Alberta 5

A 1948 Ford F-100 and my neighbor’s mid-seventies Dodge Challenger sit side-by-each in the Northstar Chrysler car lot – room has been made for them. I’m interested in this Ford. With previous image edits of this truck, I have grown familiar with shape and colour – I know this vehicle visually, a modified Ford, artfully and skilfully crafted by someone who understands possibilities for shape, line and colour, someone who has been able to bring about what he envisioned accurately to a pleasing end state. This Ford is one that could easily find a home among California cars. For me, the Show and Shine has presented the opportunity to meet the owner again, even if briefly, an interaction in which I am able to direct him to older images of his truck on this blog.

Rain is the challenge for photography at this show in shine – my point of learning; rain falls and as the shutter opens and closes however briefly the result is that I’m capturing droplets of rain as they fall – the image looks excessively grainy. I’ll be thinking through how to work with rain in photography. Perhaps precision and detail are not to be aimed at in rain. Or, perhaps the learning is to recognize that rain will present white bits of contrast against darker colours in such images. Wind also featured with the rain, water droplets blowing onto the lens filter creating points of blur within images.

Listening to – U2’s ‘With or Without You’ and ‘Point of Surrender.’

Quote to Inspire – “Success is what happens when 10,000 hours of preparation meet with one moment of opportunity.” – Anonymous

Predecessor Pontiac

Best Practices - Photography, Canon 50mm, Canon 60D, Canon Camera, Canon Lens, Journaling, Light Intensity, Photoblog Intention, Photography & Conceptualizing Beauty, Prime Lens, Project 365 - Photo-a-day, Spring, Still Life, Vehicle, Vehicle Restoration, Weather

1928 Pontiac – High Level, Alberta

Saturday, a day for Northstar Dodge Chrysler to host High Level and region’s local show and shine, a day overcast with rain drizzling over each car, beading upon protected finishes of silicon and carnauba. With such weather it fits that this Northstar Dodge Chrysler dealership is situated on Rainbow Boulevard.

At 11:00 a.m., vintage car owners/collectors gather, cars being organized according to timeline – oldest to newest. These car buffs have had time to wake, wash and chamois their prized vehicles. The day becomes one of chatter, car-owner to car-owner, driver to driver, enthusiast to enthusiast. Within all the coffee, talk and bluster, an engine’s patter catches my ear, the sound sharp like a newly built V8, but the sound has a lighter, tubular aspect that is higher pitched – a 1928 Pontiac sedan arrives, its owner guiding it carefully into the spot allocated for the oldest vehicle at this show and shine.

I’m impressed by its colour, shape and current integrity. The radiator cap is the head of an Indian (Pontiac) and the top curve of the radiator has something that looks like two pennies, something I’ll have to research. I walk over to listen and watch as the owner demonstrates what he refers to as the vehicle’s air conditioning – he moves a crank high above the steering wheel, to the driver’s right; the crank moves the windscreen up and down to let air rush into the car, a mechanical innovation that makes sense … something that begins this day’s education about cars. I get a kick out of what this car represents – this Pontiac sedan precedes my father’s birth by four years, it precedes the second world war by eleven.

This 1928 Pontiac sedan is one of three Pontiacs at the show and shine – there’s a brown 1970 Firebird and an orange 1970 Lemans with decals (something that would have had a specialized appellation, ‘The Judge’). These latter vehicles are a year newer than the two door, green, Canadian-made, 1969 Pontiac Parisienne, the family car that my brothers and I grew up in and the car we shared in high school; the lines on each are recognizably Pontiac.

Listening to – The Verve’s ‘Lucky Man,’ Coldplay’s ‘Up in Flames,’ Snow Patrol’s ‘This Isn’t Everything You Are,’ and John Mayer’s ‘The Queen of California.’

Quote to Inspire – “The camera is an excuse to be someplace you otherwise don’t belong. It gives me both a point of connection and a point of separation.” Susan Meiselas

Edit – To Understand

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

Metal Geometry – Lac St. Anne, Alberta

A look back edit this morning, time looking to understand the appeal of this image. Again, more metal geometry attracts in the patterned strength of linear lines, the shadow play in degrees of light and shape and the trestle’s placement within context – linearity, water and foliage.

Listening to – Maroon 5’s ‘Lucky Strike,’ Roisin Murphy’s ‘Night of the Dancing Flame’ and Wang Chung’s ‘To Live and Die in L.A..’ Then it’s one of those intriguing songs of observation from all those years ago with Stocki’s ‘Rhythm and Soul’ broadcast on BBC Radio Ulster, a song to recommend – Peter Himmelman’s ‘Impermanent Things.’ Next, it’s Jane Siberry and K.D. Lang with ‘Calling All Angels.’ Finally, it’s a song from Ray Lamontagne & the Pariah Dogs that fits any of us at the end of our teaching year – ‘For the Summer.’

Quote to Inspire – “Twelve significant photographs in any one year is a good crop.” – Ansel Adams

Metal Geometry

Best Practices - Photography, Canon 60D, Canon 70-200 mm 2.8 IS L Series Lens, Canon Camera, Canon Lens, Canon Live View, Flora, Journaling, Light Intensity, Lookback Photos - One Year Ago, Photography & Conceptualizing Beauty, Podcast, Project 365 - Photo-a-day, Spring, Still Life, The Candid Frame

Train Trestle – Lac St. Anne, Alberta 1

Train Trestle – Lac St. Anne, Alberta 2

Train Trestle – Lac St. Anne, Alberta 3

High above a creek running in spring’s thaw, a train trestle’s metal geometry, angles bolted and welded together, contrasts against water’s fluid state and creek bank flora … colourful, yet still to come alive.

Listening to – Ibarionex Perello interview Walter Plotnick on ‘The Candid Frame,’ a discussion of wet photography and digital process – check out episode #189 http://thecandidframe.blogspot.ca/ (you’ll find this as a podcast through iTunes).

Quote to Inspire – “Everything shifts as you move, and different things come into focus at different points of your life, and you try to articulate that.” Chris Steele – Perkins

Witness Early

Best Practices - Photography, Canon 60D, Canon 70-200 mm 2.8 IS L Series Lens, Canon Camera, Canon Lens, Canon Live View, Farm, Home, Homestead, Journaling, Photoblog Intention, Photography & Conceptualizing Beauty, Project 365 - Photo-a-day, Spring, Still Life, Sunrise

Cattails – Near Fort Vermilion Turnoff

Homestead – Fort Vermilion, Alberta 1

Homestead – Fort Vermilion, Alberta 2

Homestead – Fort Vermilion, Alberta 3

Peace River – Fort Vermilion, Alberta

Peace River Beaver – Fort Vermilion, Alberta 1

Peace River Beaver – Fort Vermilion, Alberta 2

Peace River Beaver – Fort Vermilion, Alberta 3

Peace River Sunrise – Fort Vermilion, Alberta

Up, earlier than sunrise, traveling, from High Level to Fort Vermilion … early, early morning to witness all that comprises sunrise – the Peace River looking east from Fort Vermilion at the newly risen sun, a beaver marking territory, a Buttertown homestead and cattails coloured in spring splendor.

Listening to – Robbie Robertson’s ‘Sweet Fire of Love,’ Lucinda William’s ‘Concrete and Barbed Wire,’ Melissa McClelland’s ‘Brake,’ Bryan Ferry’s ‘Just Like Tom Thumb’s Blues’ and Ryan Adams’ ‘Hotel Chelsea Nights.’

Quote to Inspire – “Taking an image, freezing a moment, reveals how rich reality truly is.” – Anonymous

Photos’ Manipulation

Best Practices - Photography, Canon 50mm, Canon 60D, Canon 70-200 mm 2.8 IS L Series Lens, Canon Camera, Canon Lens, Canon Live View, Farm, Home, Homestead, Journaling, Light Intensity, Night, Photoblog Intention, Photography & Conceptualizing Beauty, Project 365 - Photo-a-day, Spring, Still Life, Sunset, Vehicle, Weather

Buttertown Homestead – Fort Vermilion, Alberta

Sunset Above the Peace River – Fort Vermilion, Alberta

Store Shed – St. Louis Catholic Church – Fort Vermilion, Alberta

Derelict Vehicle – A Former Time – Buttertown, Fort Vermilion, Alberta

A weeklong endeavor involving our junior high students saw Alberta’s Trickster Theater group work with them to create and perform a handful of short dramas dealing with human rights around the world. Students engaged in this learning by doing, many came out from shells they’d been cloistered into through our long, long winter; all enjoyed the fun of team performance. My role was to collect images for presentation within an Animoto slideshow. In pre-screening the slideshow the phrase photo manipulation was used favourably to refer to presenting an image in new and interesting ways to draw the viewer to the action or happening within the image or to draw the viewer into the image’s feeling, mood or atmosphere. Saturation and desaturation, focus, detail and blur, tinting, vignette and cropping – all are manipulations of the photograph allowing amplification of image narrative or feeling, mood and atmosphere. The images presented here have each received photo manipulation, the editing that follows image capture and moves them to rendering.

Listening to – Tyler Bates’ ‘Pamplona’ and ‘Ventura,’ Tyrone Wells’ ‘Time of Our Lives,’ and Rascal Flatts’ ‘My Wish.’

Quote to Inspire – “A photo is a small voice, at best, but sometimes – just sometimes – one photograph or a group of them can lure our senses into awareness. Much depends upon the viewer; in some, photographs can summon enough emotion to be a catalyst to thought.” – W. Eugene Smith

Russet World

Best Practices - Photography, Canon 60D, Canon 70-200 mm 2.8 IS L Series Lens, Canon Camera, Canon Lens, Canon Live View, Farm, Farmhouse, Flora, Home, Homestead, Journaling, Light Intensity, Photoblog Intention, Photography & Conceptualizing Beauty, Project 365 - Photo-a-day, Spring, Still Life, Sunset

Russet Buds – Buttertown, Alberta

Day’s end reveals a world of colour within a longer, spring sunset. Russet orange dominates the backdrop for new spring buds and their companion, a century old homestead home in Buttertown across the river from Fort Vermilion, Alberta. Out-of doors movement occurs easily and remains novelty following a seemingly never-ending winter that saw so much darkness and snow – so good to be outside and in the world.

Listening to – Chris Whitley’s ‘Big Sky Country.’ The playlist has also held the Ozark Mountain Daredevils and ‘If You Wanna Get to Heaven,’ and the Rolling Stones with ‘Can’t You Hear Me Knocking.’

Quote to Inspire – “Emotion or feeling is really the only thing about pictures I find interesting. Beyond that it is just a trick.” – Christopher Anderson

Entity Realized

Best Practices - Photography, Canon 60D, Canon 70-200 mm 2.8 IS L Series Lens, Canon Camera, Canon Lens, Canon Live View, Journaling, Light Intensity, Photoblog Intention, Photography & Conceptualizing Beauty, Prime Lens, Project 365 - Photo-a-day, Spring, Still Life, Vehicle, Vehicle Restoration

Bull Dozer and GMC Cab and Chassis

Cab and Chassis and Panel Van 1

Cab and Chassis and Panel Van 2

Cab and Chassis and Panel Van 3

Cab and Chassis and Panel Van 4

Fargo and Other – Sangudo, Alberta

Fargo Dump Truck 1

Fargo Dump Truck 2

Fargo Dump Truck 3

Fargo Dump Truck 4

“It will grow on you,” describes the growing appreciation for something that comes about through regular interaction with that entity over time. Books and music ‘grow on us.’ Styles come and go, and, they grow upon us – we acclimate to them. Friendships, perhaps even relationships subtly grow on us without our knowing it – we realize their entity at a certain point, perhaps in their first absence. Gathering museum machinery images associated with the Alaska Highway construction has had several images grow on me, me seeing and appreciating more of what they are about over time. This equipment has been kept up, maintained in working order over two or perhaps three generations. Function, style, colour and form have each been preserved. That’s something that someone has had a hand in doing, perhaps many hands have shared in doing.

Listening to – Nick Drake’s ‘Pink Moon’ and Tyler Bates’ rendering of ‘Ventura.’

Quote to Inspire – “I think good dreaming is what leads to good photographs.” – Wayne Miller

The River at Dusk

Best Practices - Photography, Canon 60D, Canon 70-200 mm 2.8 IS L Series Lens, Canon Camera, Canon Lens, Canon Live View, Journaling, Light Intensity, Night, Photoblog Intention, Photography & Conceptualizing Beauty, Project 365 - Photo-a-day, Spring, Still Life, Sunset

Peace River Sunset – Fort Vermilion, Alberta 1

Peace River Sunset – Fort Vermilion, Alberta 2

Sunday evening, on my own, at Fort Vermilion’s boat launch I witnessed the sun drop below the horizon and the dusky, rich colours and lengthening shadows produced – day’s end in the land of the Midnight Sun. The event recalls (and was perhaps inspired by) redjim99’s poem, his 200th, on his ‘notyethere’ wordpress blog, ‘The Road at Sunset’ and his discussion of the illusion of horizon; accurate and cleanly worked – it is worth checking out.

http://notyethere.wordpress.com/2013/05/15/200-posts-on-notyethere-the-road-at-sunset/

Listening to – ‘Thank U’ by Alanis Morissette and David Gray’s ‘My Oh My.’

Quote to Inspire – “I am not an artist. I am an image maker.” – Thomas Hoepker