Grain Field – Donnelly, AlbertaGrain Field – Valleyview, Alberta
In other years, the mounting harvest of grain and canola, as seen from our vehicle’s window has revealed a field’s failure and a farmer’s disappointment. Summer drought in other years has been something limiting a field’s growth; a field of grain that started off well will grow only to a certain point, and, without moisture remain stunted, something we’ve 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 summer’s end would likely be disked, the soil turned over in readiness for next year’s 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 farmers’ care for their crops; insecticides have been sprayed against grasshopper inundation.
Listening to – Black Rebel Motorcycle Club’s ‘In Like the Rose’ and the Eagles’ ‘Seven Bridges Road.’
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
Colourful streams of cloud cluster around the moon framed by Buttertown trees – a good end to a long day, a reward for taking a couple of extraordinary tasks through their next steps. The work of the evening was to move my thoughts away from an expedient drive and to a relaxed and searching drive investigating all that was happening around me. This photo was the result of seeing what else was around me in my 360 degree survey of the landscape following a photo of a Fort Vermilion homestead cabin. The colours have been amplified somewhat and the image is an HDR image. I’m liking the result.
Listening to – U2’s Bad … and a lecture on U2’s ‘Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For,’ an enigmatic idea on many levels.
Quote to Inspire – “If your pictures aren’t good enough, you aren’t close enough” – Robert Capa
At our house, we have needed a shed, or so I think, for a couple of years. We’re needing a place, separate from our home and garage to store and organize things we use seasonally and non-regularly so the squeeze of their possession does not limit action, nor become obstacles to intention. We have space to reclaim because the state of our space is beginning to shape our actions (and quite possibly is limiting possibility).
David Allen, in his book ‘Getting Things Done,’ calls what our awareness has before it our psychic RAM (Random Access Memory drawing from computers as analogy). And, cluttered psychic RAM slows us down because it becomes more and more difficult to take-on new information, ideas and actions – a limitation to imagination and possibility. So, in a sense a shed would allow us a place for long-term storage (like a hard drive) and allow us to direct psychic RAM to its contents on an as needed basis.
Perhaps there is still time for this to happen – build and locate a storage shed on our property to handle those things in our way from snow tires, bicycles, lawn care machines and tools; furniture and unused fitness equipment could be stored until needed. The exercise would be about de-cluttering, about organizing and about determining what needs keeping and what can be given or thrown away. It does seem worth it. But, in three or four weeks snow will be on the ground. We’ll have to get to it.
Another Shed – Along the road home, travelling north, homeward from Edmonton, I looked in on these two sheds just beyond Valleyview on the last bit of farmland crammed atop the Smoky River valley that cuts into the land, the road descending to the Smoky River and the bridge crossing it. Retro-teal, a bright energizing colour from Canada’s fifties and sixties draws the eye to the shed door’s post and lintel, reminding of another post and lintel painted in lamb’s blood as protection from an Egyptian death all those years ago. This shed, now in dis-use, has once been a structure thought-of and to be built, then a building allowing a farmer to store and shelter equipment and supplies, and, it’s been a place people have worked in, a place allowing possibility.
Listening to – a song from last year first heard of the Sirius Coffee House station on a Sunday morning, Shawn Colvin’s ‘All Fall Down,’ a song about many things including humility’s stumbles and tumbles and the grace involved in picking ourselves up, dusting ourselves off and taking next steps.
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
Derelict Service Station – Southern Alberta 2Derelict Service Station – Southern Alberta 3Derelict Service Station – Southern Alberta 4Derelict Service Station – Southern Alberta 6Derelict Service Station – Southern Alberta 10Derelict Service Station – Southern Alberta 11Derelict Service Station – Southern Alberta 12Derelict Service Station – Southern Alberta 14
Beyond the Banff National Park gates, moving east toward Calgary, near the Stoney Reserve a service station with restaurant that had been a thriving business in the sixties, seventies and even eighties is now dormant. An abandoned structure, without windows and gyprocked walls, it now provides temporary and limited shelter from the elements to travellers or hitchhikers or people seeking ‘off-the-grid’ status. The building reminds of characters, scenes and happenings within the ramble of Jack Kerouac’s novel, ‘On the Road,’ of people driven and on the move, of stories shared between travellers that may or may never meet again, of place and places where seedier things can occur. On an adjacent theme, the building reminds of the Life of Chris McCandless in Jon Krakauer’s non-fiction work, ‘Into the Wild,’ and any would-be traveller who aims to explore and take-on the world on their own terms – that traveller could find refuge in this building. Graffiti tags tattoo this building, the building paper to the quill of the traveller’s spray paint. Expressed, here, are the dominant issues confronting each traveller, assertions about justice denied, of perspective not being valued and rejected, of the irony within all that makes the world tick. In all, graffiti’s colour, shape and form pull the witness to the resilient voice of the traveller expressed upon these walls. Here, ‘the writing is on the wall’ about the state of their/our world. Most telling about these travellers and their living so close to the land is the assertion ‘The Desperate Came’.
Listening to – Eddie Vedder’s ‘Hard Sun’ from the soundtrack to ‘Into the Wild.’ Then it’s Ray Lamontagne’s ‘Hold You In My Arms,’ Radiohead’s ‘All I Need,’ the Counting Crows with ‘Omaha’ and Jack Johnson’s ‘Rodeo Clowns.’
Quote to Inspire – “I don’t care so much anymore about ‘good photography’; I am gathering evidence for history.” – Gilles Peress
Years on, chrome lines and badging still highlight and brighten detail work on an early fifties Mercury M-155 grain truck at the Manning Pioneer Museum in Manning, Alberta.
Listening to: my daughter skillfully work Adele’s ‘Someone Like You’ on our piano upstairs.
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
1949 Chevrolet Grain Truck – Donnelly, Alberta 11949 Chevrolet Grain Truck – Donnelly, Alberta 21949 Chevrolet Grain Truck – Donnelly, Alberta 31949 Chevrolet Grain Truck – Donnelly, Alberta 41949 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
Grain Bins – Dixonville, Alberta 1Grain Bins – Dixonville, Alberta 2Grain Truck Box – Manning, Alberta 1Grain Truck Box – Manning, Alberta 2Grain Truck Box – Manning, Alberta 3Grain Truck Cab – Manning, Alberta 1Grain Truck Cab – Manning, Alberta 2Mercury Grain Truck – Manning, Alberta 1Mercury Grain Truck – Manning, Alberta 2Mercury Grain Truck – Manning, Alberta 3Mercury Grain Truck Badge – Manning, Alberta 1Mercury Grain Truck Badge – Manning, Alberta 2Mercury Grain Truck Badge – Manning, Alberta 3Mercury 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
Hawk – Valleyview, Alberta 1Hawk – Valleyview, Alberta 2Hawk – Valleyview, Alberta 3
On the long drive home to High Level from Southern Alberta I chanced upon a hawk, sitting on an aged farm fence post alongside the highway north, the hawk gazing out to the road – resting and surveying. I drove further, doubled back and parked my truck twenty metres from the hawk. Outside my truck, I was able to get several shots. Because the hawk had not moved and was not disturbed by me snapping photos at the truck I took a few steps toward the hawk, aiming for close-up. At five steps in, the hawk lifted from its perch and flew by me and across the road. These images were taken perhaps ten minutes north from Valleyview, Alberta near the old Valleyview road.
Listening to – the Imagine Dragons’ song ‘Radioactive’ with my daughter, driving her to her dance workshop this morning.
Quote to Inspire – “The cliché comes not in what you shoot but in how you shoot it.” ― David duChemin, Within the Frame: The Journey of Photographic Vision
In My Back Pocket - Photography 
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