Grist & Blue

Canon Camera, Farm, High Dynamic Range (HDR), Journaling, Photography & Conceptualizing Beauty, Still Life, Vehicle, Vehicle Restoration, Weather, Winter

Dormant Rusting Relics – Manning, Alberta 1

Dormant Rusting Relics – Manning, Alberta 2

It’s March. Two weeks ago we were at -28C, here in High Level, Alberta. Yesterday and today Spring’s warmth melts snow. Returning to High Level from Edmonton on a Saturday afternoon, two weeks ago, a Tamron telephoto lens allowed for this high dynamic range (HDR) image capture of these three dormant, rusting relics – trucks not quite ready for salvage, more grist for custom renovation, nostalgic celebration or for parts. The clarity of the Tamron lens is excellent and at 400 metres distance from the vehicles distortion is limited. I’m liking the image yielded, its blues and textures – they remind of childhood play amongst cars next to the shop at my cousins’ farm.

Quote to Inspire – “To photograph: it is to put on the same line of sight the head, the eye and the heart.” – Henri Cartier-Bresson

Quote to Inspire – A story first heard in an interview with Rosanne Cash, last June … interesting. “I had a dream once about confronting art, personified, as a human being, and him telling me that he didn’t respect dilettantes. This dream was about eight years ago and it changed my life. I knew that I had to strengthen my concentration and really focus on what I was doing and commit to this work in a really deep way or else give it up. There’s no in-between. That presence is still with me. I want to please him. It’s off the wall, but it was really powerful.” – ‘Rosanne Cash by David Byrne,’ ‘BOMB – Artists in Conversation.’

Listening to – Bruce Springsteen’s ‘Walk like a Man,’ ‘Tunnel of Love’ and ‘Two Faces;’ then it’s ‘Radio Nowhere.’ The Verve’s ‘Bittersweet Symphony’ has shown in different playlists a couple of times in the past week.

Treed Hallway

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Walterdale House Green – Edmonton, Alberta – Canada

Southward, under Edmonton’s 105th Street bridge, just steps to its west are three sturdy houses from Edmonton’s early nineteen hundreds, houses that comprised what was then known as Walterdale. Each is a two storey structure; two are white and another that has become subject for this image is more ornate in its presentation – white or cream on teal or perhaps a turquoise green. An image from memory coaxes me along this early morning photo ramble – an autumnal scene, a photo of my father’s in which he’s framed one of the white Walterdale houses with fall yellows of birch and aspen along a treed path, an open-ended hallway opening out and arriving at that white house. That photo hangs downstairs, on a wall outside my study where it can receive morning sunlight on sunlit days. Until this photograph, I had not set foot in Walterdale for perhaps thirty years.

Colour, composition and lighting attract me to this image.

Listening to – Marco Beltrami & The Giver Cast perform ‘End Credits’ to ‘The Giver (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack);’ it’s also a piece my daughter is playing on our Heintzman piano (it’s just been tuned … good); I’ve been playing Casting Crowns’ ‘Broken Together’ on it last night – something beautiful.

Quote to Inspire – “If your pictures aren’t good enough, you’re not close enough.” – Robert Capa

From Under, Looking Up

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High Level Bridge – HDR 1a

High Level Bridge – HDR 2a

High Level Bridge – HDR 2b

High Level Bridge – HDR 2c

Away from home, an early hour when wife and daughter sleep, I am away from our hotel, outside in Edmonton (home of my youth) and under the High Level Bridge looking up at angles of grid iron, iron work – liking this image as edited. The second image (with different versions) shifts northward in view, again from under the bridge, looking across the North Saskatchewan River to our Alberta Legislature, built on the historical site of Fort Edmonton.

Listening to – Dan Mangan and Jesse Zubot’s ‘Cumulonimbus (Newport, 63) and Parov Stelar’s ‘Room Service.’

Quote to Inspire – “I never question what to do, it tells me what to do. The photographs make themselves with my help.” – Ruth Berland

Photography’s Rules & Rebellion

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Cattails – Watt Mountain 1

Cattails – Watt Mountain 2

Afternoon Sun – Watt Mountain 1

Afternoon Sun – Watt Mountain 2

Watt Mountain Roads 1

Watt Mountain Roads 2

I have been listening to an interview with Parker Palmer and Courtney Martin, this morning. The interview is presented as a podcast by Krista Tippett in her ‘On Being’ podcast/broadcast and is entitled ‘The Inner Life of Rebellion.’ The extrapolation as it relates to photography is to consider how photography is an act of rebellion … likely such a question has been fodder for Susan Sontag in her book, ‘On Photography.’ Susan Sontag’s book and this ‘On Being’ podcast are both worth attention.

Images – A Sunday afternoon’s photos in January, toward Watt Mountain.

Listening to: Hang Massive’s ‘Once Again;’ the week has also brought some time travel in terms of music – ‘At the River’ by Groove Armada, ‘Friday I’m in Love’ by The Cure and ‘Push the Button’ by the Sugababes. I’ve also had a go at Zoe Keating’s ‘Into the Trees’ album – ‘Seven League Boots’ often adds transition in ‘On Being’ podcasts.

Quote to Consider – “Skill in photography is acquired by practice and not by purchase.” – Percy W. Harris; “I am not interested in rules or conventions. Photography is not a sport.” – Bill Brandt

Its Next Turn

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Sunset Cloudburst – Valleyview, Alberta – Canada

Vermillion Lakes – Banff, Alberta – Canada

2015 is here. It has arrived. Christmas has come and been, presents have been shared and received, family has been enjoyed, rest has been had. An emphasis on creating images has been more absent during this time.

The time has offered the chance to explore/research the photography of others and Google Circles has been a key venue for doing so. It has been an excellent venue for sharing images. What I am impressed by is the speed and rapidity by which new images are added to one’s home stream. And, it is entirely too easy to reach out and access the camaraderie of other photographers and genres of photography that you or I define. Google Circles is a marvelous means of gathering inspiration for photography by way of witnessing what others manage to create – ideas for what I or anyone might try are right there, in front of you. With Google Circles it has been necessary to pare down distracting and unintended kinds of images; but, it can be done in an easy way that can serve your photographic interests. What I did not anticipate was that it would surface significant interests for next steps in photography.

What this exploration has also surfaced is that good photographers are always in touch with their world; they are familiar with current affairs; they have a good sense of what’s going on in terms of the Arts; they are current with literature and the intentions behind such narrative. They are in step and in sync with their world. And, they create images with intention.

So, this blog, takes its next turn. What will I photograph next? What skills will I aim to grow? What influences will I find in this next year? These are likely your questions too. Good! Let’s see what images we can bring into being.

Gratitude – thank you, to all who have been a part of these three years of ‘In My Back Pocket – Photography;’ thank you for your interest and encouragement; thank you for those times when you’ve steered me to a next idea or skill; thank you for the camaraderie (or, perhaps better stated, solidarity) associated with a common pursuit. It ‘all’ counts and I am grateful.

The images presented here are some fun with black and white and selective colorization, images from this summer’s travels.

Listening to – Chopin’s Nocturne No. 14 in F Sharp minor, Opus 9, No. 1; a recording by Amir Katz.

Quote to Consider – “The best images are the ones that retain their strength and impact over the years, regardless of the number of times they are viewed.” – Anne Geddes

Watt Mountain Story Holder

Canon 70-200 mm 2.8 IS L Series Lens, Canon Camera, Canon Lens, Canon Live View, High Dynamic Range (HDR), Journaling, Light Intensity, Photography & Conceptualizing Beauty, Project 365 - Photo-a-day, Weather, Winter

Watt Mountain, Hutch Lake, Alberta

On a spring day eighteen years ago, good friends had taken my son, my wife and I out exploring north from High Level; it was the spring of our first year in High Level and they had taken us to Hutch Lake for a Sunday afternoon picnic. We had done some hiking. Then, being at the base of Watt Mountain we decided to see if we could ascend the mountain’s mucky, dirt road through the twelve kilometre climb in our four-door, red Nissan Sentra. Higher and higher we climbed, the nimble, front wheel drive Nissan never losing traction.

First, we got to a lookout vista partway up Watt Mountain; we stopped, there, to view the world we had just travelled through. At that point, we opted to make the rest of climb to the crest of Watt Mountain where the local Alberta Fire Service fire tower is located. There, we met the wildfire lookout observer. We asked and received permission to climb the tower and to survey the world from there – my wife, my friend’s wife and my son stayed below.

What an experience making the climb! And what a view, something giving us a sense for the terrain comprising the Mackenzie Municipal District. The climb is one that I’ve made only that once – a never-done experience, one in which the opportunity of the moment was seized and paid dividends. That day, a photo was taken of my son, my wife and I along one of the Hutch Lake hiking trails. It has remained on our piano since that time. Besides the reminiscence of family and friends, that photo is a story holder of all that comprised that day.

Here, within this image, the same Watt Mountain fire tower is dormant, residing in winter’s weather.

Listening to – Haydn Symphony #76 in E Flat, H 1/76 – 2 Adagio, Ma Non Troppo.

Quote to Consider – “Strictly speaking, one never understands anything from a photograph … [only] that which narrates can make us understand.” – Susan Sontag, ‘On Photography’

Ragamuffin Remembering

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Chevrolet Truck – Arizona 2

Chevrolet Truck – Arizona 1

It’s Sunday, and it’s a colder kind of Sunday in early November. I’m downstairs with the computer, editing summer photos – our travels through Utah. I show my wife the following image of an early 30’s Chevrolet truck. It sits alongside the highway within a Navajo reservation. For my wife, the vehicle has personality, the kind you’d find personified in the Disney movie, ‘Cars.’ I’m liking its colour, shape and integrity. Paint peels from its fenders and body. Rust in its colour seems very close to the colour of the rocks within the landscape.

The age of the vehicle also holds my attention. As a marker of time, the vehicle would have been around in world war II, it would have been around when that war ended, it would have been witness to all that Jack Kerouac’s novel, ‘On the Road,’ would have been about. And, as I think about it, the truck would also have been around when Rich Mullins made his treks out to this Navajo reservation to minister to children and youth with his music. In music ministry, ‘Awesome God,’ is the song Rich Mullins is most recognized for writing, along with many songs recorded by Amy Grant.

This past fall, over a couple of days, I went through a DVD drama called ‘Ragamuffin’ which is an inspired chronicle of Rich Mullins’ life in which the viewer witnesses Rich’s transformation (struggles, consequences and transformation) from successful Christian musician to a life lived more and more honestly by the tenets of God set out in the Bible. 78 Eatonwood Green is a place where Rich and the Ragamuffin Band were staying in Ireland and 78 Eatonwood Green is title to another song worth the hearing, an instrumental with a dulcimer featuring within the song.

Listening to – Rich Mullins’ ‘78 Eatonwood Green’ from ‘A Liturgy, a Legacy and a Ragamuffin Band.’

Quote to Consider – ‘Photography, though not an art form in itself, has the peculiar capacity to turn all its subjects into works of art.’ – Susan Sontag, ‘On Photography’

Song from My Youth

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Fire Tower, Watt Mountain – High Level, Alberta 1

Fire Tower, Watt Mountain – High Level, Alberta 2

Fire Tower, Watt Mountain – High Level, Alberta 3

Watt Mountain 2 – High Level, Alberta 1

Watt Mountain Ice – High Level, Alberta 1

Watt Mountain Ice – High Level, Alberta 2

A quiet Saturday, one spent mostly at home comes to a close. The Ozark Mountain Daredevils play from my iTunes account through computer speakers, ‘If You Wanna Get To Heaven’ – muted strings on a guitar are percussive, a harmonica brings in melody and other instruments, the sound preceding lyrics that consider getting to heaven – song and lyrics attract my ear, a song from my youth. The evening has involved editing images from Watt Mountain.

Listening to – Bruce Springsteen’s ‘Highway Patrolman,’ ‘One Step Up,’ and ‘Last to Die.’ There’s been ‘Rumble’ by Link Wray and the Wraymen. The Who have played ‘Boris the Spider,’ ‘I Can See for Miles’ and ‘Magic Bus.’ The Kingsmen have played ‘Louie Louie.’ Green Day have played ‘East Jesus Nowhere.’ The playlist has rounded out with Bruce Springsteen singing Pete Seeger’s Civil Rights anthem, ‘We Shall Overcome.’

Quote to Consider – “Picture-taking has been interpreted in two entirely different ways: either as a lucid and precise act of knowing, of conscious intelligence or as a pre-intellectual, intuitive mode of encounter.” – Susan Sontag, ‘On Photography’

Remembering on Watt Mountain

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Watt Mountain – High Level, Alberta 1

Watt Mountain – High Level, Alberta 2

Watt Mountain – High Level, Alberta 3

Watt Mountain – High Level, Alberta 4

Watt Mountain – High Level, Alberta 5

Watt Mountain – High Level, Alberta 6

For Bobby, a cousin and Canadian veteran, who passed away last Wednesday and whose funeral occurs today in Grande Prairie, Alberta. Thank you for the friend you’ve always been to my wife and me. Thank you for the family you’ve been a part of. Thank you for your service to Canada – wounded, but accomplishing what very few others could have. Very well done!

Listening to – ‘William’s Lullaby,’ ‘The Gairlock and Loch Duich’ and ‘Amazing Grace’ offered by the Canadian Scottish Regiment Pipes and Drums.

Quote to Consider – “‘A photograph is not an accident – it is a concept.’ To take a good photograph, runs the common claim, one must already see it. That is, the image must exist in the photographer’s mind at or just before [it is taken].” Susan Sontag (working with an Ansel Adams quote and taking it further) in ‘On Photography.’

Rattling Warmth

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Courtyard Melt – High Level, Alberta 1

Courtyard Melt – High Level, Alberta 2

Directed to our school courtyard, these images bear witness to a curiosity of weather. In twenty-four hours our boreal winter temperatures have moved from -35C to 0C, a change most noticed by way of intense wind rattling houses. There has been melting that has occurred at night in the wind’s warmth. Remarkably, this same weather system has stretched eight-hundred kilometres from us in northern Alberta all the way to Edmonton in central Alberta, the wind, there, breaking railroad traffic arms and causing the LRT not to run. For us, at school, in our courtyard this extraordinary night melt has produced the following sculptures.

Listening to – a friend of Brian Turner (Bachman Turner Overdrive) play a self-sculpted tune in my office at school, the end of a parent meeting establishing goodwill – this parent, playing upon my Larrivee L-05 and our special needs students enjoying the show immensely … a good, good moment, the best kind.

Quote to Inspire – “… photographs alter and enlarge our notions of what is worth looking at and what we have a right to observe.” – Susan Sontag, ‘On Photography’