Antlers – High Level, Alberta 1Antlers – High Level, Alberta 2Antlers – High Level, Alberta 3
Sunday, morning sun illuminates an autumn backdrop for antlers of moose and deer, trophies located on the roof of the neighbor’s shed next door, a collection of shape, colour and texture.
Listening to – The Candid Frame and an interview with Dan Steinhardt, an Epson printer marketer as amateur photographer; key ideas ‘in-between meeting shots’ and Malcolm Gladwell’s conception of 10,000 hours working one toward becoming an expert in something. Jay Maisel’s assertion of doing the one-eighty because that is where you might find the better shot – the idea is look around from your vantage point for what else is going on.
Quote to Inspire – “I love the people I photograph. I mean, they’re my friends. I’ve never met most of them or I don’t know them at all, yet through my images I live with them.” – Bruce Gilden
Kananaskis Country – Kananaskis, Alberta 1Kananaskis Country – Kananaskis, Alberta 2Kananaskis Country – Kananaskis, Alberta 3Kananaskis Country – Kananaskis, Alberta 4Kananaskis Country – Kananaskis, Alberta 5Kananaskis Country – Kananaskis, Alberta 6Kananaskis Country – Kananaskis, Alberta 7Kananaskis Country – Kananaskis, Alberta 8
Gardner Hamilton was interviewed by Edmonton photographers Carey Nash and Kelly Redinger, who have created the ‘Lonely Photographers’ podcast. While talking essentially about street photography, Gardner provided distillation about what photography is and about the key attribute making one a photographer – a [photographer] is someone who does not necessarily go out with a mission, but someone who is [or becomes] mentally aware of when they have walked into a photograph. Gardner goes on to articulate the process of framing the shot, composition, about the need to be stealthy, about timing and moment – all skills needed for taking and making the shot. You make yourself vulnerable to a shot. You stop yourself and with your camera move into the shot and work the shot. The photograph becomes a gift of ‘seeing something’ for the first time.
In a drive to Kananaskis two weeks ago, there were many points of ‘recognizing a shot,’ those shots that could be taken, those points of becoming mentally aware of photographs that were available – frost covered, harvested farm fields at sunrise south from Peace River as shadows stretched across land, something not usually accessed by me in my usual travel times; bright yellows of hay bales and patterned swaths on farm fields west of Calgary; cattle ranches along rolling foothills in autumn colour moving into the Rocky mountains; shadows cutting into forested Kananaskis mountains along snowy ski trails high above in the last hour before sunset. These images were available in that drive – the choice really became about whether or not to pursue photography along the way versus waiting for the photography that could occur at destination. The images that follow are Kananaskis images, photography at destination – the three final ones are shot at night during full moon.
Listening to – ‘Crash’ and ‘Way Behind Me’ by the Primitives; then it’s on to the Kingsmen’s ‘Louie Louie’ and Bruce Springsteen’s ‘Pink Cadillac’ and ‘Radio Nowhere.’
Quote to Inspire – “The Pictures are there, and you just take them” – Robert Capa
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 friend’s home – ringing the doorbell, checking to see … ‘You want to come out for a walk?’ 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 what’s happening and to return. My friends and I were the better for it – 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 ‘seeing’ 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 day’s drive has taken me south and back and photographs record fall’s early morning colours. And, my wife will be the first to recognize the association to my cousins’ Rimbey farm with the farming imagery.
Listening to – Martyn Joseph’s take on many Bruce Springsteen songs; standing out are ‘The Rising,’ ‘Walk Like a Man,’ ‘Thunder Road,’ ‘If I Should Fall Behind’ and ‘One Step Up.’
Quote to Inspire – “I love photographing. It’s that simple.” – 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 – 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
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
In My Back Pocket - Photography 
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