Watt Mountain Weather

Best Practices - Photography, Canon Lens, High Dynamic Range (HDR), Journaling, Photoblog Intention, Photography & Conceptualizing Beauty, Still Life, Weather, Winter

Watt Mountain Weather – High Level, Ab Canada 1

Watt Mountain Weather – High Level, Ab Canada 2

Watt Mountain Weather – High Level, Ab Canada 3

After a late winter snow, my truck brought me up the 12 kilometre climb to the top of Watt Mountain and its weather.

Listening to – Agnes Obel’s ‘Fivefold,’ Junip’s ‘Don’t Let It Pass,’ Coldplay’s ‘Another’s Arms’ and U2’s ‘Song for Someone.’

Quote to Consider – “Photography is for me, a spontaneous impulse that comes from an ever-attentive eye, which captures the moment and its eternity.” – Henri Cartier Bresson

Newman’s HBC

Canon 70-200 mm 2.8 IS L Series Lens, Canon Camera, Canon Live View, Journaling, Photography & Conceptualizing Beauty, Project 365 - Photo-a-day, Winter

Hudson’s Bay Company Crest – Edmonton, Ab Canada 1

Hudson’s Bay Company Crest – Edmonton, Ab Canada 2

Hudson’s Bay Company Crest – Edmonton, Ab Canada 3

Hudson’s Bay Company Crest – Edmonton, Ab Canada 4

Hudson’s Bay Company Crest – Edmonton, Ab Canada 5

The crest of the Hudson’s Bay Company is affixed to the southeast corner of the Bay store on Edmonton’s Jasper Avenue. The crest recalls Peter C. Newman’s book, ‘Company of Adventurers,’ a history of the Hudson’s Bay Company in North America.

A decade ago, as a home education coordinator, I travelled within our school division boundaries helping parents provide their children with an education within their homes. The area of our school division encompasses an area equivalent to that of three small European countries. In one day, I might work with four to eight students and have driven as much as four to six-hundred kilometres. Windshield time was a part of the job. In one month, during my travels, I worked my way through an unabridged audiobook of ‘Company of Adventurers’. What was extraordinary was the fact that some of our northwestern Alberta territory featured within the book. What also was intriguing was that many of the stories about Life working for the Hudson’s Bay Company remained true.

In Meander River, for instance, an old Hudson’s Bay trading post was still in use. It had had its title transferred to a Church and a thrift store serving the Dene Tha’ people was being operated within the building. Part of Newman’s book highlighted the fact that the temperature in a Hudson’s Bay post was often kept close to zero as a means to encourage departure of customers after they’d made their purchases. This was the case in this building; heated by a wood stove the family tended to congregate close to the fire through the winter and were always dressed in layers of clothing. The family operating the thrift store chose home education as the means to educate their child.

Quote to Consider – “Unless you photograph what you love, you are not going to make good art.” – Sally Mann

Listening to – The Primitives’ ‘Crash,’ Bruce Springsteen’s ‘Radio Nowhere,’ The Who’s ‘I Can See for Miles,’ Link Wray and the Wraymen’s ‘Rumble’ and Green Day’s ‘East Jesus Nowhere.’

Fire Fought

Weather, Winter

Hotel Fire - High Level, Ab Canada — Hotel Fire – High Level, Ab Canada

Hotel Fire – High Level, Ab Canada

Early morning, two Saturdays ago, one of the High Level hotels burned to the ground; thank you’s go out to the High Level Fire Department for bringing the blaze under control and limiting its scope.

Listening to – Bruce Springsteen’s ‘Radio Nowhere,’The Who’s ‘I Can See For Miles’ and the Primitives’ ‘Crash.’

Quote to Consider – “The camera is an instrument that teaches people how to see without a camera.’ – Dorothea Lange

Borrowed Rendering

Canon Camera, Canon Lens, Canon Live View, High Dynamic Range (HDR), Home, Journaling, Photography & Conceptualizing Beauty, Project 365 - Photo-a-day, Still Life, Winter

Edmonton Skyline from Connor’s Hill – Edmonton, Ab Canada 2

Edmonton Skyline from Connor’s Hill – Edmonton, Ab Canada 1

My first look with my camera is technical – ‘Will this vantage point work to create an image?’ I try it out. I gather an Edmonton image, one of several in climbing Connor’s hill. The hour is late on a Monday evening in February. Editing provides second look at the image, back home days later. There, I work through High Dynamic Range (HDR) image creation. Rendering holds choices – sharpening, colour, black and white, cropping. I try them out. Almost a month later, my look at this image is more settled and recalls memory – events and people through time. A fight and a chase occurred in this landscape. Among friends, before I was a teen an altercation occurred. We had ridden bikes perhaps five miles further than we should have, without parents knowing. We stumbled onto turf, that of someone older than us. We came out okay. But, that was way back in time. Connor’s hill, the part seen here is just below Edmonton’s Strathearn Drive. It is close to my grandparent’s home. My grandfather, my brothers and I hiked trails in the treed ravine in front of this part of Connor’s hill. Through the sixties, seventies and eighties Connor’s hill was Edmonton’s ski hill. The Edmonton Folk Festival occurs on this site, now. I have seen and listened to Fred Eaglesmith, the Blind Boys of Alabama, Martyn Joseph and Great Big Sea play on this hill. Five or six musical offerings are easily undertaken all at any one time. For me, the festival has been a place to reconnect with friends, a place to enjoy a glass of wine or beer through a warm August weekend. The festival has become a place to catch-up, settle-in and enjoy.

Listening to – Fred Eaglesmith’s ‘Wilder than Her,’ the Blind Boys of Alabama’s ‘Way Down the Hole,’ Martyn Joseph’s version of Springsteen’s ‘The River’ and Great Big Sea’s ‘General Taylor.’ Then, it’s Cat Stevens’ ‘Pop Star,’ Peter Gabriel’s ‘The Family and Fishing Net,’ then Joan Baez & Dirk Powell’s take on ‘House of the Rising Sun’and finally Billy Bragg with Wilco’s ‘Hot Rod Hotel.’ David Gray’s ‘First Chance’ is up, then it’s Cat Steven’s ‘Bitterblue,’ Gillian Welch with ‘Revelator’ and ‘The Way It Goes’ from Gillian Welch and Dave Rawlings Machine.

Quote to Consider – “You don’t take a photograph. You ask quietly to borrow it.” – Unknown

Pencilled Rendering

Journaling, Night, Photography & Conceptualizing Beauty, Still Life, Winter

Pencilled – Early Morning Walk, High Level, Ab – Canada 1

Pencilled – Early Morning Walk, High Level, Ab – Canada 2

Pencilled – Early Morning Walk, High Level, Ab – Canada 3

Pencilled – Early Morning Walk, High Level, Ab – Canada 4

I like this look of pencilled shadow and light as one means of rendering photographs. The week has allowed me to replace failing office equipment, to clear things that have been on my desk far too long and to remove former prints from my walls (decluttering toward what’s next, physically and inspirationally). I have had time for reading Dave Brosha’s e-book, ‘Illuminated;’ it contains thought process and the practical considerations along the way in creating each photograph within the book. Yesterday, I got my truck stuck in snow and need to be pulled out – a gift in many ways and humbling. This, after a friend disclosed that he has cancer. In our discussion, yesterday, he concluded with ‘Give our love to my wife and kids,’ and ‘The Lord bless you.’ He’s been one who by his example has helped me navigate through rough times. Now, he’s got treatments once a week in Edmonton, 700km away.

Listening to – Leem Lubany’s rendering of ‘Wild World,’ ‘Peace Train’ and ‘Trouble;’ Bob Dylan’s ‘Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door.’

Quote to Consider – “Look and think before opening the shutter. The heart and mind are the true lens of the camera.” – Yousef Karsh

Rolling Canvas

Home, Journaling, Light Intensity, Photography & Conceptualizing Beauty, Project 365 - Photo-a-day, Rail Yard, Still Life, Sunset, Winter

Grain Car Tattoo – High Level, Ab – Canada 1

Grain Car Tattoo – High Level, Ab – Canada 2

Grain Car Tattoo – High Level, Ab – Canada 3

Grain Car Tattoo – High Level, Ab – Canada 4

Grain Car Tattoo – High Level, Ab – Canada 5

Grain Car Tattoo – High Level, Ab – Canada 6

Grain Car Tattoo – High Level, Ab – Canada 7

Grain Car Tattoo – High Level, Ab – Canada 7a

Grain Car Tattoo – High Level, Ab – Canada 8

Tattooed with graffiti, two hopper cars await loading and transport at High Level’s grain terminal, late on a Sunday afternoon, as the sun sets.

Listening to – Neil Young’s ‘The Needle and the Damage Done,’ Steve Miller’s ‘Take the Money and Run,’ Aerosmith’s ‘Living on the Edge,’ The Who’s ‘Magic Bus,’ The Beatles’ ‘Across the Universe,’ Bruce Springsteen’s ‘Brilliant Disguise,’ Alice in Chains’ ‘Heaven Beside You’ and The Black Crowes’ ‘Twice as Hard.’

Quotes to Consider – (1) “When I photograph someone, what it really means is that I’d like to know them. Anyone I know I photograph.” – Annie Liebovitz; (2) “Let death be what takes us, not lack of imagination.” – Dr. B. J. Miller (palliative care physician); (3) “You can look at a picture for a week and never think of it again. You can also look at a picture for a second and think of it all your life.” – Joan Miro

Perpendicularity

Backlight, Night, Photography & Conceptualizing Beauty, Weather, Winter

Perpendicularity – High Level, Ab – Canada 1

Perpendicularity – High Level, Ab – Canada 2

Perpendicularity – High Level, Ab – Canada 3

Perpendicularity – High Level, Ab – Canada 4

Perpendicularity – High Level, Ab – Canada 7

Perpendicularity – High Level, Ab – Canada 8

Perpendicularity – High Level, Ab – Canada 9

Perpendicularity – High Level, Ab – Canada 10

A quieter hour, long before winter’s sunrise in a landscape usually populated by students in daylight hours, in spring, summer and fall. Liking the interplay of shadow and light, perpendicularity and depth within these images.

Listening to – Edie Brickell’s ‘What I am,’ Concrete Blonde’s ‘Joey,’ Alanis Morissette ‘You Learn,’ Depeche Mode’s ‘Policy of Truth’ and The Dream Academy’s ‘Life in a Northern Town.’

Quote to Consider – “It is more important to click with people than to click with the shutter.” – Alfred Eisenstadt

Looking Up & Forward

Barn, Canon 70-200 mm 2.8 IS L Series Lens, Canon Camera, Canon Live View, Combine (Farming), Farm, Home, Homestead, Journaling, Light Intensity, Photography & Conceptualizing Beauty, Still Life, Vehicle, Vehicle Restoration, Weather, Winter

Fifties Ford – Fort Vermilion, Ab – Canada

The day held a meeting and rather than a team of colleagues going, I would attend the meeting alone. I took camera gear with me. I hoped that the day would yield photographs, that I would find myself within the situation of a photograph. Having left early enough, I could scout out possible images; there was no need for haste through the morning’s seventy-eight kilometre drive.

The day held different gifts.

A year ago, a friend related an experience. He’d needed to take a call and had parked his service truck in a farmer’s farm entrance to be off the highway. He’d needed to turn his vehicle around, backing it onto the highway. Before he moved too far, he looked up, forward to find an old truck, perhaps a Ford, from the fifties or sixties. He captured the image with his smartphone. On this day, traveling to a meeting, I was in his neck of the woods, perhaps no more than three or four kilometres from Fort Vermilion and I saw the vehicle he was referring to from the highway. At day’s end, I would return and see if a photograph was possible. With less than an hour of daylight left I was able stop and take a series of shots.

The image above was the image photographed.

Shed – Buttertown, Ab – Canada 1

Shed – Buttertown, Ab – Canada 2

Shed – Buttertown, Ab – Canada 3

Windrow – Buttertown, Ab – Canada

Combine – Buttertown, Ab – Canada

I intended to travel from Fort Vermilion to the north settlement after the meeting. At the meeting I asked a friend and colleague about the north settlement. “Would I be able to access or walk in to the St. Louis Catholic Mission church?” She didn’t know. But, the revelation was to find that she lived in the north settlement. Her and her husband’s families had lived in the north settlement through generations. She is someone who knows the stories of the north settlement, of Buttertown. That’s something.

These images are Buttertown, north settlement images.

Listening to – Kate Bush’s ‘Running Up That Hill,’ Peter Gabriel’s ‘Mercy Street’ and Roxy Music’s ‘More Than This.’

Quote to Consider – “The picture that you took with your camera is the imagination you want to create with reality.” Scott Lorenzo

Meandering, Stumbles & Tumbles

Home, Journaling, Light Intensity, Night, Photography & Conceptualizing Beauty, Project 365 - Photo-a-day, Still Life, Weather, Winter

Hoar Frost Morning – High Level, Ab – Canada 1

Hoar Frost Morning – High Level, Ab – Canada 2

Hoar Frost Morning – High Level, Ab – Canada 2a

Hoar Frost Morning – High Level, Ab – Canada 3a

Hoar Frost Morning – High Level, Ab – Canada 4

High Level Hospital – High Level, Ab – Canada

Hoar Frost Morning – High Level, Ab – Canada 6

Hoar Frost Morning – High Level, Ab – Canada 6a

Hoar Frost Morning – High Level, Ab – Canada 6b

Hoar Frost Morning – High Level, Ab – Canada 7

Hoar Frost Morning – High Level, Ab – Canada 7a

Hoar Frost Morning – High Level, Ab – Canada 8

Hoar Frost Morning – High Level, Ab – Canada 9

Hoar Frost Morning – High Level, Ab – Canada 10

Hoar Frost Morning – High Level, Ab – Canada 10a

Hoar Frost Morning – High Level, Ab – Canada 10b

Hoar Frost Morning – High Level, Ab – Canada 10c

Hoar Frost Morning – High Level, Ab – Canada 11a

Hoar Frost Morning – High Level, Ab – Canada 11b

Hoar Frost Morning – High Level, Ab – Canada 11c

Hoar Frost Morning – High Level, Ab – Canada 11d

Hoar Frost Morning – High Level, Ab – Canada 11f

Hoar Frost Morning – High Level, Ab – Canada 13

Hoar Frost Morning – High Level, Ab – Canada 13a

Hoar Frost Morning – High Level, Ab – Canada 13b

Hoar Frost Morning – High Level, Ab – Canada 13c

Hoar Frost Morning – High Level, Ab – Canada 13d

Hoar Frost Morning – High Level, Ab – Canada 14

Hoar Frost Morning – High Level, Ab – Canada 15

Our weather has been warm for January. In a portion of the year when we are accustomed to -40C and colder, last night rain fell upon our world. A thick slippery mat of ice coated all – vehicles moved with success while our biped selves slipped, slid, stumbled and tumbled. This set of images holds more meandering with a camera. Walking before school, white hoar frost dazzles. We may not see this weather outcome again this winter.

Listening to – Ray LaMontagne and the Pariah Dogs’ ‘Beg, Steal or Borrow,’ David Gray’s ‘Fugitive’ and ‘Kathleen,’ John Mayer’s ‘Queen of California’ and the Avett Brothers’ ‘Head Full of Doubt/Road Full of Promise.’

Quote to Consider – “Photography is a way of feeling, of touching, of loving. What you have caught on film is captured forever … It remembers little things, long after you have forgotten everything.” – Aaron Siskind

Flatiron Dreamcatcher

Canon Camera, Canon Lens, Christmas, High Dynamic Range (HDR), Home, Journaling, Light Intensity, Photography & Conceptualizing Beauty, Project 365 - Photo-a-day, Still Life, Weather, Winter

Gibson Block Building – Edmonton, Ab – Canada 1

https://lumensborealis.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/gibson-block-building-edmonton-ab-canada-4.jpg

Gibson Block Building – Edmonton, Ab – Canada 3

Gibson Block Building – Edmonton, Ab – Canada 2

This building is likely the only building in Edmonton in the Flatiron architectural style – triangular in shape with curved windows at its toe. One would find this building in the twentieth century and it would reflect Edmonton opulence. The Gibson Block building, built in 1913, precedes many things. It precedes Canada’s involvement in World War I. It precedes the roaring twenties. It precedes the era of Al Capone, the American prohibition and a Canadian connection. It precedes the Great Depression. The Gibson Block building associates Edmonton to being Metropolitan. One would find a similar building in Montreal, Toronto or Vancouver. Its Canadian, older metropolitan style works well as possible landscape to Morley Callaghan’s novel ‘Such is My Beloved.’ One can imagine the Great Depression and the lives of Father Dowling, Ronnie and Midge intersecting in such a building, a building with ground level retail space, apartments upstairs and Turkish baths below. Neglected, the Gibson Block building faced possible destruction in the 1990’s. The Edmonton City Centre Church Corporation recognized possibility and repurposed the building. The Gibson Block building is now home to the Women’s Emergency Accommodation Centre and provides refuge to those in need – homeless and transient women. At Christmas, the building’s curved glass toe held a huge dreamcatcher, one, in size, able to encompass a person.

Listening to – Bruce Springsteen’s ‘One Step Up’ and ‘If I Should Fall Behind,’ The Black Crowes’ ‘Twice as Hard,’ Neil Young’s ‘The Needle and the Damage Done,’ Alison Krauss’ ‘Lay My Burden Down,’ Hank Williams’ ‘My Heart Would Know,’ Willie Nelson’s version of Coldplay’s ‘Scientist,’ Lucinda Williams’ ‘East Side of Town,’ Shawn Colvin’s ‘All Fall Down,’ Peter Himmelman’s ‘Impermanent Things’ and Ryan Adams’ ‘Chains of Love.’

Quote to Consider – “To me, photography is an art of observation. It’s about finding something interesting in an ordinary place … I’ve found it has little to do with the things you see and everything to do with the way you see them.” – Elliott Erwitt