What Else?

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

Valleyview Bench Seats 1

Valleyview Bench Seats 2

Valleyview Bench Seats 3

More than a passing glance, photography has you stop and see the subject, consider context and best perspective and then expose the image. Editing takes you one further step with the image; you encounter more of what comprises the image and more of what is possible for the image in its rendering. Here, are the Valleyview bench seats again, exposed in the full morning sun of a sunny, Sunday morning. Two weeks on from the exposure, I’m seeing more of the light and shadow-play in the image. I’m coming back to it to see what else it can become. The image reveals someone’s attempt to make the bench seats something more permanent with the anchoring of the base on the right. The image has me consider the weathering of the seats through yet another winter season. And, at the time of exposure I had no idea that I would be tinting the image toward red or blue, or, that I would be working the image through in black and white.

Listening to – Johnny Cash’s rendering of “God’s Going to Cut You Down.”

Quote to Inspire – “You don’t take a photograph, you make it.” – Ansel Adams

Along that Road – Repeat

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

Along the Road – Woking, Alberta

Barn – Fort Saskatchewan, Alberta 1

Barn – Fort Saskatchewan, Alberta 2

Canadian National Bridge – Edmonton, Alberta

Grain Shed – Manning, Alberta 1

Grain Shed – Manning, Alberta 2

Grain Shed – Manning, Alberta 3

Grain Shed – Near Figure 8 Lake, Alberta

Train Trestle – Sangudo, Alberta

Alone, along the road, driving home, structures from a former time and world that Alberta was age and erode with the seasons. Cared about structures are kept for their continued functionality, others for their memorial’s sake, to remember people and their time. Other structures, uncared for, decay and become derelict, awaiting demise. Each informs of their former time – what was then and what was on the go and what it was like being there (and then). Halt the car, grab camera and tripod, look around … repeat … all the way home. Snow melts. Spring takes hold.

Listening to – Joshua Redman’s ‘Stop this Train,’ and Sigur Ros’ ‘Svefn-G-Englar’ and ‘Glosoli.’

Quote to Inspire – “It’s not how a photographer looks at the world that is important. It’s their intimate relationship with it.” – Antoine D’Agata

Stretching the Hour

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

Sangudo Duo – Sangudo, Alberta

Sidelined at day’s end, looking in to the vehicles of Sangudo’s Alaska Highway Construction Museum, creating an exposure through chain-link fence using smallest depth of field during the stretch of evening’s Golden hour and liking the colour, shape and shadow-work associated with these two trucks from that former time.

Listening to – Ed Sheeran’s ‘The A Team,’ Ben E. King’s ‘Stand By Me,’ Bruce Springsteen’s ‘One Step Up’ and Bill Mallonee & The Vigilantes of Love’s ‘Resplendent’ and ‘Nothing Like a Train.’

Quote to Inspire – “The idea of photography seemed to come together with the idea that this is how I could be – someone who could have one step in the world while at the same time being one step removed from it.” – Donovan Wylie

Sitting, Waiting, Wishing …

Best Practices - Photography, Canon 60D, Canon Camera, Canon Lens, Home, Journaling, Light Intensity, Photoblog Intention, Photography & Conceptualizing Beauty, Prime Lens, Project 365 - Photo-a-day, School, Spring, Still Life

Seats – Valleyview, Alberta 1

Seats – Valleyview, Alberta 2

Around Alberta, perhaps especially in the north with its longer distances travelled to school, along the highway you’ll discover structures parents have created for their children in which to wait for the school bus. The structure might be a five by five, closed-in shack with windows on the sides to watch for buses; the shack allows students respite from wind and weather while waiting. Here, two bench seats have been pulled from a car or truck to create a place to sit and wait for the school bus; the seats may be also departure point for people waiting for a ride … perhaps when thumbing a ride. I found the pair of seats on the road between Valleyview and Grande Prairie, on my drive home with my son’s effects. He’ll be home from University today, after touring British Columbia with the University of Alberta Mixed Chorus. The colour-work of tinting images reminds of Dan Kameka and his work with farm machinery and farm structures – the Sexsmith grain elevator comes to mind, an eight foot image in Grande Prairie’s Trumpeter Hotel … the first place I encountered Dan’s work.

Listening to – Chris Whitley … ‘Dust Radio’ still captivates my hearing lyrically and in terms of its sound structure; I’ve heard two versions, one unplugged and one from the ‘Living with the Law’ album – liking both … unplugged is what drew my attention.

Quote to Inspire – “Quit trying to find beautiful objects to photograph. Find the ordinary objects so you can transform it by photographing it.” – Morley Baer

Necessary Prop

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, Project 365 - Photo-a-day, Spring, Still Life, Vehicle, Vehicle Restoration

47 Ford Among Trucks – Sangudo, Alberta

Chevrolet – Sangudo, Alberta

Fargo – Sangudo, Alberta 2

Fargo – Sangudo, Alberta

Waiting – Looking On, Sangudo, Alberta

MacKenzie Highway trucks recall the scheming of Mack and the boys read about in John Steinbeck’s novel, ‘Cannery Row.’ A Ford truck is borrowed from Lee Chong. With some effort one of the boys with a talent for ‘fixin’ gets the truck going and everyone departs to retrieve frogs for Doc, somewhere up the California coast. In the midst of their travels a carburetor gives out …. Within hours one of the boys with the talent for ‘fixin’ and another for theft has thieved a carburetor from another Ford. Once attached the boys continue on in their adventure heading to an ideal frog gathering spot, a pond of a congress woman and her husband, the husband protects the property as guard. Their conversation, shifts from protector and trespasser to pet owner and vet as Mack doctors the man’s dog, a sickly bitch suffering with a tick embedded in its fur. The bond of friendship grows and the man invites all in for a drink … during prohibition … the happy hour becomes a middle-of-the-night, rollicking, drunken, frog gathering party that leaves the pond owner, congress woman’s husband sleeping on his floor as Mack and the boys get back in the Ford truck and return home. A Ford truck is necessary prop within the narrative (revised after yesterday’s writing in haste …) 😉

Listening to Chris Whitley – ‘Living with the Law,’ ‘Big Sky Country,’ ‘Kick the Stones,’ ‘Make the Dirt Stick’ and ‘Poison Girl.’

Quote to Inspire – “A photograph has picked up a fact of life, and that fact will live forever.” Raghu Rai

Sangudo Ford

Backlight, 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, Project 365 - Photo-a-day, Spring, Still Life, Vehicle, Vehicle Restoration

1938 Ford Two Ton Cab and Chassis – Sangudo, Alberta

A chain-link fence surrounds Sangudo, Alberta’s MacKenzie Highway Construction Truck Museum, a tribute to people and equipment that built the highway. The museum, its vehicles and equipment sit idle. You can look from the fence in; but, you cannot physically interact with the vehicles within the museum compound. The vehicles that are sixty-years or more old are in good shape; they have been kept well. Last spring I searched for the owner of the museum to see if he’d permit access to the compound and allow me to photograph the vehicles; I will need to do my homework if I am to find his contact information and try again for better images of those trucks. It’s a shame only to see them from the sidelines.

A black and red 1938 two ton cab and chassis sits waiting for further use.

Listening to – The Congregation’s ‘Don’t Pay No Mind,’ Chris Whitley’s ‘Dust Radio’ and the Eagles’ ‘Seven Bridges Road.’ Coldplay’s ‘Yellow’ has been in my hearing this weekend at my daughter’s dance festival; the story behind ‘Yellow’ is a heart-warming, mother-son, story … something to be understood and not to be missed.

Quote to Inspire – “Photography is the only language that can be understood anywhere in the world.” – Bruno Barbey

Sideline Shot

Barn, 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, Light Intensity, Photoblog Intention, Photography & Conceptualizing Beauty, Project 365 - Photo-a-day, Spring

CN Caboose – Edmonton, Alberta

City of Edmonton Skyline

Cab & Chassis – Sangudo, Alberta

Barn – Fort Saskatchewan, Alberta

Sometimes a fence, sometimes physical distance, sometimes a line to be respected and not crossed – in each case a barrier stands between the subject and your camera. When you cannot interact directly with your photo’s subject, you shoot from the sidelines … and can still get the shot. You see the situation for what it is and work with what ‘is’. Each of these photos were shot from the sidelines – the CN caboose, the Fort Saskatchewan barn, the city of Edmonton Skyline and the windshields of the truck cabs.

Listening to – Ben E. King’s ‘Stand by Me’ and Toby Keith’s ‘Red Solo Cup.’

Quote to Inspire – “All the technique in the world doesn’t compensate for the inability to notice.” – Elliott Erwitt

“Treasure, Jim … Treasure”

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

Rusting Relics – Manning, Alberta

Treasure is a term coined twice this week – in one instance within a John Le Carre novel it is taken to mean the secret that if possessed would turn the tables on your enemy (as in Control’s discussion with Jim Prideaux regarding ‘treasure’ before embarking to Budapest, ‘Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy’); in a second instance within Robert Louis Stevenson’s novel, ‘Treasure Island,’ it refers to the ill-gotten gains that in the getting you seem to have a right to – but irony can play disasterously with you, here. Beyond this, treasure, if possessed, puts you to advantage and gives you power. It is taken to mean something that guarantees a future free from want. A second, perhaps more poignant irony is that treasure once in one’s possession requires care so that no one takes it away … work is involved. Here, within this image, the term treasure can be taken to mean the opportunity of possibility, the rusting relic that has potential in its restoration, in its possession and use. As a photographer, the treasure is perhaps in the image and the narrative that surrounds the image. Point of connection – I learned to drive in a 1969 GMC half-ton pick-up (transmission – three-the-tree-standard), similar to the white GMC cab three vehicles from the right of the image and the GMC on the left.

Listening to – Johnny Cash’s ‘Gods Gonna Cut You Down,’ a song first heard on Steve Stockman’s Rhythm and Soul broadcast, as rendered by the Five Blind Boys of Alabama.

Quote to Inspire – “… the most grandiose result of the photographic enterprise is to give us the sense that we hold the whole world in our heads – as an anthology of images.” – Susan Sontag, ‘On Photography’

Solitary Return

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

Aways Down the Twin Lakes Hill – Twin Lakes, Alberta

Solitary, a Sunday afternoon motorist returns home northward along northern Alberta roads, descending down the five kilometres that comprise the Twin Lakes hill.

Listening to – Sigur Ros’ ‘Glosoli,’ the Lumineers’ ‘Stubborn Love’ and Ed Sheeran’s ‘Firefly.’

Quote to Inspire – “There is only you and your camera. The limitations in your photography are in yourself, for what we see is what we are.”

Shop Studio

Best Practices - Photography, Canon 60D, Canon Camera, Canon Live View, Journaling, Light Intensity, Photoblog Intention, Photography & Conceptualizing Beauty, Project 365 - Photo-a-day, Sigma Lens - Wide Angle 10-20mm, Spring, Vehicle, Vehicle Restoration

Chevrolet Pickup – Reynolds-Alberta Museum – Wetaskiwin, Alberta

One never-done project I hope to undertake is to photograph a vehicle indoors and to control context and lighting and to create a cluster of images from various perspectives. The vehicle could be a sports car, a restored relic or a project vehicle about to undergo rehabilitation – each will reveal character in its grillwork, lights, repetition of shape, door handles, badge-work and interior. The task will be to explore pattern, shape, design and colour. This 1940 Chevrolet pick-up truck has me thinking about the project because museum lighting is a fixed entity, something not within my control; multiple lights reflect at several points on the pick-up’s glossy sheen – the hood, cab, windscreen, fenders, grill and bumper. In a controlled, albeit impromptu shop as studio, limiting light in terms of source versus sources, controlling light intensity and in terms of directing light to the vehicle – all will allow freedom to photograph the indoor vehicle with intent. Key, here, would be having light that can be intense enough to allow work at lower ISO. Some of the work will be about context – borrowing shop space, ensuring that it’s tidy and setting/planning how to light the vehicle. It will also be about coordinating invitations and times to shoot. And, once each vehicle arrives the matter becomes that of seeing the shot, discovering the vehicle through the lens and then keeping the vehicle clean – lint-free, dust-free and smudge free.

Other News – Dave Brosha is offering a workshop in Fort Vermilion, Alberta, an event sponsored by the Fort Vermilion Community Library – +1 (780) 927-4279; a friend called and encouraged me to lock-in my spot with a deposit; check out Dave Brosha’s photography and website – http://www.davebrosha.com/ .

Listening to – Sigur Ros’ ‘Glosoli’ and ‘Hoppipolla.’

Quote to Inspire – “There is nothing as mysterious as a fact clearly described. I photograph to see what something will look like photographed.” – Garry Winogrand