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 – all are HDR shots. The 1947 Ford Tow Truck and a cousin’s farm feature visually in this blog post.
Listening to – U2’s ‘Always,’ David Gray’s ‘As I’m Leaving,’ Ryan Adams’ ‘Hallelujah,’ Mazzy Star’s ‘Into Dust,’ Snow Patrol’s ‘Life Boats,’ The Perishers’ ‘Trouble Sleeping’ and U2’s ‘Last Night On Earth.’
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
Storehouse, St. Louis Mission – Buttertown, Fort Vermilion, Ab 1Storehouse, St. Louis Mission – Buttertown, Fort Vermilion, Ab 2
The northern lights were out this morning in my pre-dawn walk around High Level – ice crystals are in the air; with last night’s heavy billowing clouds we’re nearing our first snowfall. Here, an image contains two end-points of high dynamic range editing; curiously, I’m liking the colour (tinted) version of the old, old store house at the St. Louis Roman Catholic mission in Buttertown – Fort Vermilion, Alberta. The image has me thinking to former priest, John O’Donohue and different parts of four lectures he’s presented and a journaling exercise he has people work through. The first question to work from is to articulate the seven things that are controlling ideas/elements in your Life – premises upon which your Life is founded.
Listening to – an investigation of the ‘Primitives,’ a group recommended with the ‘iambead.com’ photoblog; ‘Crash’ is the first tune I come across. Then it’s ‘All the Way Down’ and ‘Earth Thing.’
Quote to Inspire – “If your pictures aren’t good enough, you aren’t close enough” – Robert Capa
Valley – McLure, British Columbia 1Valley – McLure, British Columbia 2Valley – McLure, British Columbia 3Valley – McLure, British Columbia 4Valley – McLure, British Columbia 5Valley – McLure, British Columbia 6
This high dynamic range image is a final outlook over the valley that leads north and east into McLure, British Columbia. Depth within the image is created overlapping elements within the composition, the mountain forming the background is overlapped by the central mountain, then the mountain on the left (middle ground) and finally the mountain on the right (closest – foreground). The train track leads the eye into the photo and you explore your way from foreground to background. Colouration versus black and white in the images also helps accentuate depth.
Listening to – U2’s ‘Vertigo’ and ‘Miracle Drug’.
Quote to Inspire – “I have to shoot three cassettes of film a day, even when not ‘photographing’, in order to keep the eye in practice.” – Josef Koudelka
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 bin’s 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 farmer’s field. This well-constructed grain bin has caught my eye regularly; caught at the time of harvest amid ready and ripe grain wood’s texture and lines appeal as does colour and context.
Listening to – Kacey Musgrave’s ‘Keep It to Yourself’ and David Gray’s ‘Flame Turns Blue.’
Quote to Inspire – “What I did, anybody can do.” – 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 – an old rusting relic; but, it’s more … its badging sports the name of a Rock and Roll band that achieved notoriety in the late 70s and early 80s … REO Speedwagon – the revelation, here, is that the band’s 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 that’s 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. It’s 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 – Imagine Dragons’ ‘Radioactive’ and Cheap Trick’s ‘Ain’t that a Shame.’ Then to recall the band it’s REO Speedwagon’s ‘Can’t Fight This Feeling’ and ‘Take It On the Run.’
Quote to Inspire – “For me, photography has become a way of attempting to make sense of the strange world that I see around me. I don’t ever expect to achieve that understanding, but the fact that I am trying comforts me.” – 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 – Allstar Weekend’s ‘Mr. Wonderful’ and ‘Not Your Birthday.’ ‘Blame it on September’ another Allstar Weekend tune follows. I’m listening to my daughter’s tunes pulled from iTunes.
Quote to Inspire – “Looking and seeing are two different things. What matters is the relationship with the subject.” – Christophe Agou
1a McLure, British Columbia – HDR 11b McLure, British Columbia – HDR 21c McLure, British Columbia – HDR 31d McLure, British Columbia – HDR Raw -1 Stop2 McLure, British Columbia – HDR Raw Average3 McLure, British Columbia – HDR Raw +1 Stop
The images above are examples of the high dynamic range (HDR) images that can be achieved in end state for comparison with the three original photos of -1 stop, average and +1 stop exposures, HDR being something allowing the photographer (image taker) to deal with landscapes/images of extreme contrast. For these photos Adobe Lightroom was the starting program into which Google’s NiK Software was used for handling HDR (HDR Efex), for sharpening and editing (Viveza) and for colour adjustment (Color Efex); Silver Efex was used to work with Black and White. I could have used Trey Ratcliff’s HDR presets in Lightroom to move more rapidly to end state; but, there would not have been control of sharpening, editing or colouration.
Question – How did everyone do with yesterday’s World-wide Photo Walk?
Quote to Inspire – “I only know how to approach a place by walking. For what does a street photographer do but walk and watch and wait and talk, and then watch and wait some more, trying to remain confident that the unexpected, the unknown, or the secret heat of the known awaits just around the corner.” – Alex Webb
Listening to – U2 & Paul McCartney perform ‘Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band,’ Richard Ashcroft & Coldplay perform ‘Bittersweet Symphony,’ the Brian Jonestown Massacre’s ‘Open Heart Surgery,’ the Devlin’s ‘Love is Blindness’ and the Fray’s ‘You Found Me.’
1947 Ford 4 x 4 – Sangudo, Alberta 11947 Ford 4 x 4 – Sangudo, Alberta 21947 Ford 4 x 4 – Sangudo, Alberta 3
Again, at the Alaska Highway Construction Equipment Museum, another truck, a 1947 Ford captivates – perhaps a three-ton truck and a truck with original four-wheel drive produced by the Ford Motor Company.
Listening to – Luka Bloom’s version of a U2 tune, ‘Bad.’
Quote to Inspire – “I only know how to approach a place by walking. For what does a street photographer do but walk and watch and wait and talk, and then watch and wait some more, trying to remain confident that the unexpected, the unknown, or the secret heat of the known awaits just around the corner.” – Alex Webb
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 we’ve had a lot of rain some fields’ 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 – the brightest I’ve 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 – Robbie Robertson’s ‘Sweet Fire of Love,’ Shawn Colvin’s ‘I Don’t Know Why’ and Peter Himmelman’s ‘Impermanent Things.’
Quote to Inspire – “When people ask me what equipment I use – I tell them my eyes.” – Anonymous
In the week prior to their auction, several old-time pick-ups and cab and chassis reside beneath an open-air shed at Sangudo’s Alaska Highway Construction Equipment Museum, a favourite place to photograph within the last year. These vehicles were auctioned off on September 7th and 8th; doing so, made way for a land sale. Quite possibly had I been at the auction I could have brought home one of these vehicles for as little as $3000 – $4000. Then, it would have been about gathering friends to help restore and add Life to one of these well-kept vintage vehicles.
Listening to – several songs my daughter has downloaded: Dexy’s Midnight Runners’ ‘Too-Rye-Ay’ and ‘Come On Eileen,’ Miley Cyrus’ ‘Wrecking Ball,’ Jack Johnson’s ‘Banana Pancakes,’ Ed Sheeran’s ‘Drunk’ and Emblem 3’s ‘Chloe.’ There is also The Fray’s ‘You Found Me.’
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
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