The matter of looking around for potential images often happens when I am driving. And, the real work of the photograph is that of stopping my vehicle, safely, and walking the scene to determine best point of view. You need to find what it was that you glimpsed while driving. In winter this might mean walking through varying depths of snow and shooting as snow falls. In summer as this photograph demanded it means descending the river bank to find the right point to capture the image. Having a good look around and doing so through the camera lens prior to the shot help one to find the best shot.
Quote to Inspire – “Photography is more than a medium for factual communication of ideas. It is a creative art.” – Ansel Adams
Listening to – Tim Reynolds’ fretting Betrayal, a song first heard in concert with Dave Matthews.
Away from Dad’s home – a July summer’s evening looking out over the water from a favourite Parksville, BC beach, a beach both our kids shared with their grandparents. Always a family destination, this beach was the place in which my son and daughter and I perfected our sand castle engineering in the hours between the tide’s push and pull of the ocean. In early morning, while everyone slept the beach was a calm, quiet destination for fretting through intricate tangles of melody and rhythms on different guitars, Celtic rhythms in 9:8 time in DADGAD tuning or the bass and rhythm riff of a Dave Matthews tune. Where are You Goingand Crash in to Meare songs I first fretted at this beach.
Quote to Inspire – “Photography is one big scrapbook of your Life.” – Lisa Jones
Listening to: Big Jet Planeby Angus and Julia Stone
Vintage Vehicles at Ricky’s All Day Grill – Edmonton, Alberta 3
Vintage Vehicles at Ricky’s All Day Grill – Edmonton, Alberta 2
Vintage Vehicles at Ricky’s All Day Grill – Edmonton, Alberta 1
Are you someone who does this? Do you keep an idea file for photographs you’d like to try? I’ve found myself doing this at times when travel cannot afford the time to stop and snap a few photos. At other times, I will realize that the subject of a shot works but that the conditions may not work ideally. And, if I’m lucky I’ll be able to ask my daughter to write down a note in a moleskin notebook while we drive about location and subject and particulars; the moleskin stays in the vehicle and I can refer back to it. Wildlife photographer, Moose Peterson in an interview on Shutter Time with Sid and Mac (Sidney Blake and Maciek Sokulski) spoke of being encouraged to keep an idea file for photographs and to revisit the file and plan for opportunities to make the shot or shots happen. The bison at Elk Island National Park (east of Edmonton, Alberta) are subject for one set of photographs found here. The bison have been a part of my idea file since I’ve been listening to Sid and Mac’s exploits in repeated and regular photo sessions at the park. For me, in terms of the camera work the learning is about shutter speed. Within the golden hour of sunlight and with the continual movement of the bison in their grazing there is a need for a faster shutter speed in terms of capturing crisp images.
The issue I am grappling with when traveling is that I will often be days or weeks from my photos before I can edit and see images. I am still considering the value of a laptop from the perspective of allowing greater immediacy of editing while traveling. There is learning to be derived from the editing process and it may be that working with a laptop with different subjects will foster good results in second or third visits/photo sessions.
The remaining pictures are catch-all – images that have been kicking around, interesting to look at; the vintage late 30’s sedan, the T-bird and the late sixties Dodge Dart were parked outside Ricky’s All Day Grill and are the work of one person. Imagine being able to say to two of your best buddies, “Hey let’s take a few of my cars for a spin,” and then take them out to breakfast. Cool! Beyond these, there are other renderings of the fifties one-ton truck, a rusting relic.
Listening to – John Mayer’s Queen of California, a song reminding of the Doobie Brothers back in the seventies.
Quote to Inspire – “All photographs are memento mori. To take a photograph is to participate in another person’s (or thing’s) mortality, vulnerability, mutability. Precisely be slicing out this moment and freezing it, all photographs testify to time relentless melt.” – Susan Sontag
Of the renderings considered, this image of the one ton grain truck (or perhaps utility truck) from the fifties intrigues by way of its waxless reflection brought out by its being rain soaked. The image’s colours are late summer’s end-of-day colours. Night isn’t too far off, the shot taken within evening’s Golden Hour in Edmonton. John Grisham wrote A Painted House, a growing up novel written about a boy’s witnessing America’s move from the farm (a cotton plantation) to its cities in America’s fifties; this is the kind of truck that might have been found within Grisham’s narrative. I hadn’t thought his narrative (as autobiographical as it is) might be considered sibling narrative to Jack Kerouac’s On the Road until now.
Listening to – what is seemingly a rural truck reminds of Lucinda Williams’ Car Wheels on a Gravel Road.
Quote to Inspire – “The goal is not to change your subjects, but for the subject to change the photographer.” – Anonymous
Conundrum – how to manage a photo-a-day blog when away from home, computer, software and the Internet. Is it a matter of taking a computer with you? Or is it about caching photos taken during vacation for presentation later on, in look-back fashion? I’m only now sitting down at my computer to review photos, some three weeks later to discover this present gem of an image, a one-ton, late fifties truck that pops noticeably because of the wet reflective surface provided courtesy of the rain. Reflection is a neat thing for adding light to a subject and in so doing, highlighting the subject’s lines and shape. Here, an extraordinary combination of clouds, sun and rain at day’s end allows the opportunity to explore textures, shape, reflection and background. In taking this photo, there was the scramble to the scene (a reasonable distance) in order to make use of the setting, light and background. And, in this same scene while there has been that aspect of Carpe Diem, there too were the mosquitos within the wet, warm weather to contend with. But, a gem is a gem and I like each of the four renderings of this photo.
In truth, though, it has been hard to sit still at day’s end, the household asleep and to find that I’m awake without the tools for editing photos, writing a post and blogging. The issue is about workflow and what I really value doing with my/our time on vacation. Photography is intended to assist vacation recall … not what the vacation should be about. Next year, perhaps a laptop … perhaps not. Perhaps focus will remain on enjoying and capturing our vacation with my camera.
I haven’t withdrawn from my blog so much as I’ve been presented with the separation of vacation from the routines of daily life – sort of a forced withdrawal that’s likely to bring benefits with regard to energy and perspective.
Listening to – Shawn Colvin’s All Fall Down.
Quote to Inspire – “A photograph is a moral decision taken in one eighth of a second.”– Salman Rushdie, The Ground Beneath Her Feet
Sunset & Plant – Fort Vermilion Turnoff, Fort Vermilion, Alberta
On lunch break between summer tasks, I play tunes my daughter has had us download in iTunes – Smash Mouth songs, Megan & Liz songs and songs from the Glee Cast. She’s had me track down the original of The Zombies – She’s Not There, a song sung on Glee. Another song from the Glee repertoire is Tears for Fears’ Mad World; we find the Michael Andrews and Gary Jules version of the song that encapsulates the theme within the Donnie Darko movie; it contains a straightforward set of lyrics about Life’s absurdity in being there but not there, almost a ghost within a world where you can be seen but not known, recognized but not affirmed, speak but not be understood. Our listen through with iTunes two nights back brought out several songs by The Who which we download – Won’t Get Fooled Again, I Can See For Miles, Behind Blue Eyes, My Generation, Pinball Wizard and Baba O’Riley. My daughter recognizes Pinball Wizard, a song she’s heard, and I wonder where she would have heard it – questions to ask. For now she’s happy to have our downloads and to have the songs loaded on her iPod.
One lingering photo is this, taken at sunset, a plant with maroon and gold stem and shoots; it sways in the breeze as I try a macro shot. I’m liking the colours despite its movement.
Quote to Inspire – “No, the camera can’t steal the soul. But it can occasionally hold it hostage.” – author unknown
Listening to – The Who andMy Generation. Also listening to Smash Mouth’s Walkin’ on the Sun and All Star.
Early morning, time to cross-off items from my ‘did-I-do-it’ list, time to muster to the morning’s endeavor – planting Saskatoon bushes in our backyard. I gather shovel, axe, wheel barrow and raise my eyes to gaze upon a dragonfly sunning itself, drinking in sun’s early morning heat. The dragonfly doesn’t move. Rapturous in sun’s warmth, it allows me time to retrieve my camera, attach macro lens and gather images. When I move to look down the fence board to the dragonfly from above, the dragonfly having had enough parts company, flying off. This intriguing moment with camera and subject was one that recalls and reinforces the joy of discovery and pursuit within photography. Taking the moment further I photographed ripening raspberries in still life.
Listening to – The Who’s Won’t Get Fooled Again, the Donnie Darko version of Tears for Fears’ Mad World, The Who’s Boris the Spider, Walter Trout’s Blues for the Modern Daze, Shawn Colvin’s American Jerusalem, I Don’t Know You and The Neon Lights of the Saints.
Quotes to Inspire – (1) “Taking pictures is like tiptoeing into the kitchen late at night and stealing Oreo cookies.” – Diane Arbus; and, (2) “If I were just curious, it would be very hard to say to someone, ‘I want to come to your house and have you talk to me and tell me the story of your life.’ I mean people are going to say, ‘You’re crazy.’ Plus they’re going to keep mighty guarded. But the camera is a kind of license. A lot of people, they want to be paid that much attention and that’s a reasonable kind of attention to be paid.” – Diane Arbus – remarks made in class, 1971, Diane Arbus : An Aperture Monograph by Diane Arbus, Stan Grossfeld (3) “Beauty is the illumination of your soul.” – John O’Donohue, Anam Cara: A Book of Celtic Wisdom
Homestead Amongst Canola 4 – Fort Vermilion, Alberta
Canola & Stacking Clouds 3 – High Level, Alberta
Homestead Amongst Canola 3 – Fort Vermilion, Alberta
Canola & Stacking Clouds 2 – High Level, Alberta
Homestead Amongst Canola 1 – Fort Vermilion, Alberta
Canola & Stacking Clouds 1 – High Level, Alberta
Homestead Amongst Canola 2 – Fort Vermilion, Alberta
One use for photography is as a means to revisit the past, to investigate the reality of former times and to hold up to scrutiny the mind’s eye view of significant events held in memory against the reality that photography reveals. Former times often become focal point for memory; we attach meaning and narrative to what has happened to us in significant events and memorable moments. Reaching back to former times with a camera allows for the investigation of visual information within scenes and settings surrounding Life events. Distances, depth, architecture, shape, colour – the visual information within a photograph allows for extrapolation, to see more of the story that was at play. Such camera investigation with editing of images has a settling aspect to it; it establishes more of the facts surrounding events and moves past glory day’s nostalgia to clearer recognition of what comprised scene and action. In doing so, photography locks in the visual information within a scene. While I tend to think of Edmonton, the home I grew up in, and, the events and happenings of years ago, the process is the same when I consider our northern seasons. The dark of winter will bring longing for warmth and breeze of summer’s blue-sky days with clouds stacking and fields in greens, yellows and gold; intensities are there, too – heat, lightning, convection, weather. The photographs here are of such summer days and for those winter days.
Listening to – Alison Krauss/Union Station’s When You Say Nothing At All.
Quotes to Inspire – (1) “Taking pictures is savoring life intensely, every hundredth of a second.” – Marc Riboud (2) “When words become unclear, I shall focus with photographs. When images become inadequate, I shall be content with silence.” – Ansel Adams. (3) “A good snapshot keeps a moment from running away.” – Eudora Welty
Water Slinging 1 – Wilson Prairie Fire, La Crete, Alberta
Water Slinging 2 – Wilson Prairie Fire, La Crete, Alberta
Water Slinging 3 – Wilson Prairie Fire, La Crete, Alberta
Water Slinging 4 – Wilson Prairie Fire, La Crete, Alberta
Water Slinging 5 – Wilson Prairie Fire, La Crete, Alberta
Water Slinging 6 – Wilson Prairie Fire, La Crete, Alberta
Water Slinging 7 – Wilson Prairie Fire, La Crete, Alberta
Water Slinging 8 – Wilson Prairie Fire, La Crete, Alberta
Water Slinging 9 – Wilson Prairie Fire, La Crete, Alberta
Water Slinging 10 – Wilson Prairie Fire, La Crete, Alberta
Water Slinging 11 – Wilson Prairie Fire, La Crete, Alberta
Water Slinging 12 – Wilson Prairie Fire, La Crete, Alberta
Water Slinging 13 – Wilson Prairie Fire, La Crete, Alberta
Water Slinging 14 – Wilson Prairie Fire, La Crete, Alberta
Water Slinging 15 – Wilson Prairie Fire, La Crete, Alberta
Water Slinging 16 – Wilson Prairie Fire, La Crete, Alberta
Wilson Prairie Fire – Onlookers, La Crete, Alberta
Water Slinging 17 – Wilson Prairie Fire, La Crete, Alberta
Water Slinging 18 – Wilson Prairie Fire, La Crete, Alberta
Water Slinging 19 – Wilson Prairie Fire, La Crete, Alberta
Water Slinging 20 – Wilson Prairie Fire, La Crete, Alberta
Water Slinging 21 – Wilson Prairie Fire, La Crete, Alberta
Water Slinging 22 – Wilson Prairie Fire, La Crete, Alberta
Water Slinging 23 – Wilson Prairie Fire, La Crete, Alberta
Water Slinging 24 – Wilson Prairie Fire, La Crete, Alberta
Water Slinging 25 – Wilson Prairie Fire, La Crete, Alberta
Water Slinging 26 – Wilson Prairie Fire, La Crete, Alberta
Air Tanker Support 1 – Wilson Prairie Fire, La Crete, Alberta
Air Tanker Support 2 – Wilson Prairie Fire, La Crete, Alberta
Air Tanker Support 3 – Wilson Prairie Fire, La Crete, Alberta
Air Tanker Support 4 – Wilson Prairie Fire, La Crete, Alberta
Air Tanker Support 5 – Wilson Prairie Fire, La Crete, Alberta
Air Tanker Support 6 – Wilson Prairie Fire, La Crete, Alberta
Tanker Lead Plane 1 – Wilson Prairie Fire, La Crete, Alberta
Tanker Lead Plane 2 – Wilson Prairie Fire, La Crete, Alberta
Tanker Lead Plane 3 – Wilson Prairie Fire, La Crete, Alberta
Tanker Lead Plane 4 – Wilson Prairie Fire, La Crete, Alberta
Tanker Lead Plane 5 – Wilson Prairie Fire, La Crete, Alberta
Tanker Lead Plane 6 – Wilson Prairie Fire, La Crete, Alberta
Air Tanker Support 7 – Wilson Prairie Fire, La Crete, Alberta
Tanker Lead Plane 7 – Wilson Prairie Fire, La Crete, Alberta
Air Tanker Support 8 – Wilson Prairie Fire, La Crete, Alberta
Air Tanker Support 9 – Wilson Prairie Fire, La Crete, Alberta
Tanker Lead Plane 8 – Wilson Prairie Fire, La Crete, Alberta
Air Tanker Water Bombing 1 – Wilson Prairie Fire, La Crete, Alberta
Air Tanker Water Bombing 2 – Wilson Prairie Fire, La Crete, Alberta
Air Tanker Water Bombing 3 – Wilson Prairie Fire, La Crete, Alberta
Air Tanker Water Bombing 4 – Wilson Prairie Fire, La Crete, Alberta
Air Tanker Water Bombing 5 – Wilson Prairie Fire, La Crete, Alberta
Air Tanker Water Bombing 6 – Wilson Prairie Fire, La Crete, Alberta
Air Tanker Water Bombing 7 – Wilson Prairie Fire, La Crete, Alberta
Air Tanker Water Bombing 8 – Wilson Prairie Fire, La Crete, Alberta
Air Tanker Water Bombing 9 – Wilson Prairie Fire, La Crete, Alberta
Air Tanker Water Bombing 10 – Wilson Prairie Fire, La Crete, Alberta
Air Tanker Water Bombing 11 – Wilson Prairie Fire, La Crete, Alberta
Air Tanker Water Bombing 12 – Wilson Prairie Fire, La Crete, Alberta
Air Tanker Water Bombing 13 – Wilson Prairie Fire, La Crete, Alberta
Air Tanker Water Bombing 14 – Wilson Prairie Fire, La Crete, Alberta
Air Tanker Water Bombing 15 – Wilson Prairie Fire, La Crete, Alberta
Air Tanker Water Bombing 16 – Wilson Prairie Fire, La Crete, Alberta
Air Tanker Water Bombing 17 – Wilson Prairie Fire, La Crete, Alberta
Air Tanker Water Bombing 18 – Wilson Prairie Fire, La Crete, Alberta
Air Tanker Water Bombing 19 – Wilson Prairie Fire, La Crete, Alberta
Air Tanker Water Bombing 20 – Wilson Prairie Fire, La Crete, Alberta
Good day, all:
Currently, our forest region has 27 fires burning – fourteen are out of control, four are being held and nine are under control. Our temperatures have been hot this week reaching +30C and higher in our corner of Northwestern Alberta. At least two smaller communities have been evacuated, threatened by fire and smoke. One fire has a 15000 hectare involvement. The photos presented are of recent water bombing and water slinging operations in the La Crete area – the state of emergency, there, has been lifted at noon today.
Listening to – Shawn Colvin’s All Fall Down and Walter Trout’s Turn Off Your TV.
Quote to Inspire – “When I shoot a scene I often shoot a hundred frames sometimes over a few hours or days, before I begin to get a real handle on what I want in the frame and how I want it there.” – David duChemin
1 Water Bomber – Wilson Prairie Fire, La Crete, Alberta
2 Water Bomber – Wilson Prairie Fire, La Crete, Alberta
3 Water Bomber – Wilson Prairie Fire, La Crete, Alberta
4 Water Bomber – Wilson Prairie Fire, La Crete, Alberta
5 Water Bomber – Wilson Prairie Fire, La Crete, Alberta
6 Water Bomber – Wilson Prairie Fire, La Crete, Alberta
7 Water Bomber – Wilson Prairie Fire, La Crete, Alberta
8 Water Bomber – Wilson Prairie Fire, La Crete, Alberta
Savage Prairie Road Granaries – La Crete, Alberta
Wilson Prairie Homestead – La Crete, Alberta
Wilson Prairie Wildfire – La Crete, Alberta
2 Wilson Prairie Homestead – La Crete, Alberta
3 Wilson Prairie Homestead – La Crete, Alberta
Helicopter Arrival – Slinging Water – La Crete, Alberta
2 Helicopter Arrival – Slinging Water – La Crete, Alberta
Water Slinging from Dug-outs – La Crete, Alberta
2 Water Slinging from Dug-outs – La Crete, Alberta
3 Water Slinging from Dug-outs – La Crete, Alberta
4 Water Slinging from Dug-outs – La Crete, Alberta
5 Water Slinging from Dug-outs – La Crete, Alberta
6 Water Slinging from Dug-outs – La Crete, Alberta
Field Opposite Wilson Prairie Wildfire – La Crete, Alberta
Looking On – Wilson Prairie Wildfire – La Crete, Alberta
7 Water Slinging from Dug-outs – La Crete, Alberta
8 Water Slinging from Dug-outs – La Crete, Alberta
9 Water Slinging from Dug-outs – La Crete, Alberta
10 Water Slinging from Dug-outs – La Crete, Alberta
11 Water Slinging from Dug-outs – La Crete, Alberta
12 Water Slinging from Dug-outs – La Crete, Alberta
13 Water Slinging from Dug-outs – La Crete, Alberta
14 Water Slinging from Dug-outs – La Crete, Alberta
15 Water Slinging from Dug-outs – La Crete, Alberta
Keeping Dust Down – Wilson Prairie Road – La Crete, Alberta
2 Keeping Dust Down – Wilson Prairie Road – La Crete, Alberta
16 Water Slinging from Dug-outs – La Crete, Alberta
17 Water Slinging from Dug-outs – La Crete, Alberta
1 Wilson Prairie Fire (from the South) – La Crete, Alberta
2 Wilson Prairie Fire (from the South) – La Crete, Alberta
3 Wilson Prairie Fire (from the South) – La Crete, Alberta
4 Wilson Prairie Fire (from the South) – La Crete, Alberta
5 Wilson Prairie Fire (from the South) – La Crete, Alberta
Day 3 of the Wilson Prairie Wildfire – Friday, July 6th, 2012. In contrast to Thursday evening in which residents were able to move freely into the fire area, Friday saw Alberta’s Ministry of Sustainable Resource Development (SRD) controlling road access so that firefighting equipment could be moved around with greater ease on Wilson Prairie Road. I arrived in the early afternoon to find access to Wilson Prairie Road being controlled. I couldn’t use my vehicle on Wilson Prairie Road. But, I could walk in, staying to the ditches when equipment was being moved through. Two-and-a-half hours walking in and out allowed me to see more of what was going on and how the blaze was being controlled. Dozers were creating breaks/cut-lines and pushing piles of brush together so they’d burn more easily/quickly. Areas of intended burn and back-burn were being created. One home was in harm’s way and helicopters were being used to sling water (from local dug-outs) to saturate the area in the case that the fire’s path changed with the winds. Air tankers had been tasked to other fires within the region; but, lead planes and Martin Mars water bombers (or the like) were being used to keep a consistent supply of water on the fire. On dust-ridden, gravel roads water trucks moved slowly dribbling water to keep dust down for vehicles moving in close proximity to one another. Later, I was able to drive around behind the fire to two other points to catch the more dramatic perspective of hot, billowing smoke moving upward into the atmosphere and the water bombers flying into fire area to release water on flames below.
Listening to – Adele’s Set Fire to the Rain, a tune played throughout last year’s forest fire that consumed Slave Lake, Alberta (spring 2011).
Quote to Inspire – “I enjoy traveling and recording far-away places and people with my camera. But I also find it wonderfully rewarding to see what I can discover outside my own window. You only need to study the scene with the eyes of a photographer.” – Alfred Eisenstadt
In My Back Pocket - Photography 
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