Edmonton Structures

Best Practices - Photography, Canon 60D, Canon Camera, Canon Live View, Christmas, Photography & Conceptualizing Beauty, Project 365 - Photo-a-day, Winter

Muttart Conservatory – Edmonton, Alberta

Metallic Spheres Sculpture – Edmonton, Alberta 4

Metallic Spheres Sculpture – Edmonton, Alberta 3

Metallic Spheres Sculpture – Edmonton, Alberta 2

Metallic Spheres Sculpture – Edmonton, Alberta 1

Glowing green against the copper-lit reflection of city lights upon clouds, an image of Edmonton’s Muttart Conservatory moments after the world has shifted from 2012 into 2013. Other images are from the metallic, spheres structure/sculpture from the Southeast end of Edmonton’s Quesnel Bridge.

Listening to – Cheng Yu’s ‘Purple Bamboo’ and ‘Pipa 2’, Dust Devil’s ‘Liquid Lounge,’ and Alexander Kogan’s ‘Two Guitars’.

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

Last, Day-lit Images

Backlight, Best Practices - Photography, Canon 60D, Canon 70-200 mm 2.8 IS L Series Lens, Canon Lens, Christmas, Light Intensity, Night, Photoblog Intention, Photography & Conceptualizing Beauty, Project 365 - Photo-a-day, Sunset, Weather, Winter

Scotford Refinery – Fort Saskatchewan, Alberta

An image of the Scotford Refinery near Fort Saskatchewan, one of the last day-lit images shot at dusk looking east towards Edmonton after a good day of looking for and finding images.

Listening to – Simple Minds’ ‘Alive and Kicking.’

Quote to Inspire – “The marvels of daily life are exciting; no movie director can arrange the unexpected that you find in the street.” – Robert Doisneau

Blake’s Bison

Best Practices - Photography, Canon 60D, Canon 70-200 mm 2.8 IS L Series Lens, Canon Camera, Canon Lens, Christmas, Fauna, Light Intensity, Photoblog Intention, Photography & Conceptualizing Beauty, Project 365 - Photo-a-day, Season, Shuttertime with Sid and Mac, Sunset, Weather, Winter

Bison – Elk Island 1

Bison – Elk Island 4

Bison – Elk Island 3

Bison – Elk Island 2

In a day that’s been bright, yet overcast, the sun shines through broken cloud as it moves towards the horizon in late afternoon, shining directly on two Bison grazing at Astotin Lake in Elk Island National Park, images inspired by Sidney Blake’s discussion of animal/nature photography and by her extraordinary black and white images of Bison in winter.

Listening to – The Von Bondies with ‘C’mon C’mon’.

Quote to Inspire – “When people ask me what equipment I use – I tell them my eyes.” – Anonymous

Derelict House – Day’s End

Backlight, Canon 60D, Canon 70-200 mm 2.8 IS L Series Lens, Canon Camera, Canon Lens, Christmas, Farm, Farmhouse, Home, Homestead, Light Intensity, Season, Vehicle, Winter

Derelict Farmhouse 1

Derelict Farmhouse 2

Friday, following Christmas, after time away from Edmonton at Elk Island National Park photographing bison, there, we took the backway into Edmonton, leaving the park and coming into Edmonton through Fort Saskatchewan. Near Lamont we found this derelict farmhouse. I took some shots while my son read a novel in our SUV; curiously, he may have been reading Charles Dickens’ ‘Bleak House,’ a novel sorting through the estate of someone who has passed … the clarity and speed of action within Britain’s legal system at the time is slower than a snail’s pace and those to whom the estate would benefit are in some cases reduced to poverty with the waiting … that’s gone on for what seems a generation; it’s social commentary and plot. With the image, here, the sun was moving toward the horizon and gives partial corona to the roof at each leftmost edge near the eaves trough. The textures and muted tones appeal. In looking through the image, the landscape that the house is set in seems to collect the unused, as well – day’s end for a few things.

Listening to – Cold Play’s ‘Violet Hill’, ‘Yellow’ and John Farnham with ‘The Voice’.

Quote to Inspire – “Everything shifts as you move, and different things come into focus at different points of your life, and you try to articulate that.” Chris Steele

Dodges, Pontiac and Ford – All Start

Canon 60D, Canon 70-200 mm 2.8 IS L Series Lens, Canon Camera, Canon Lens, Canon Live View, Christmas, Light Intensity, Photography & Conceptualizing Beauty, Still Life, Sunset, Vehicle, Vehicle Restoration, Winter

38 Ford 1 – Lamont, Alberta

38 Ford 2 – Lamont, Alberta

38 Ford 3 – Lamont, Alberta

38 Ford Grill Work – Lamont, Alberta

My mind seems to be within the years tonight, thinking back to Ardrossan, out east from Edmonton, to Ivan’s country estate, an expansive, one-level home set on an acreage lot with a shop big enough to accommodate a semi-tractor unit (or perhaps two). Within the shop there’d be a mocha Chrysler New Yorker with black vinyl roof, a white Dodge 100 shortbox (his father’s) with a camper on top, a gold and brown Dodge Mirada and an old, old, blue Ford tractor with blade behind it to grade the snow and gravel.

On a Saturday or Sunday in the eighties I’d bring his daughter (now my wife) out to the acreage – she’d spend time with her mother in the house and I’d spend time out in the shop chatting – looking at the world with a sideways glance with Ivan. We’d reason our way through a few things. We’d work on the brakes for a motorbike for his son or replace a piston or piston ring on his skidoo. And, we talk all the way through it. He’d have an old, old Coke Machine in the corner stocked with eight or nine flats of beer … sodas, he called them … and in the course of an evening a chunk of a flat would disappear.

Outside his shop, one time, we ran oil or power steering fluid through the running carburetor of my father’s 69 Pontiac Parisienne. The engine coughed and coughed and sputtered; it may have died. And, then with some skilled cranking of the starter Ivan brought it back to life with a roar – the carburetor now clean and optimized. I’m sure he was having some fun with me … seeing where my worry and trust would lie.

A few years later he set me to work polishing a four-door, cream coloured Ford Gran Torino, a vehicle our family bought from our uncle in Rimbey. This was the four door version of the 76 Ford Gran Torino made more notable by the Starsky and Hutch television series in the late seventies. With our Ford and with a professional polisher, rubbing compound and glaze I worked on the car for four of five hours. Ivan had me wash down the engine in addition to washing the exterior. When it came time to drive home the Gran Torino wouldn’t start. And, when I went up to the house I found that while my girlfriend (now wife) and her mother were watching television, he was sleeping in his chair. Not wanting to disturb him, I went back down to the shop, hooked up some booster cables between the Ford and his Dodge Ram, not knowing anything about reversed polarities on the Dodges of the day.

Hmmh … Now two vehicles wouldn’t start.

I had to roust Ivan from his sleep and let him know that in addition to my not being able to start my vehicle, I now couldn’t start his. The language was colourful, yet mindful of not wanting to go too, too far. He seemed to know within minutes that water under the distributor cap of the Ford was the problem; we dried it with a rag. And where there’d be an electrical etching in the top of the distributor cap, he knew to take a pencil and draw two lines, one on each side of the etching, perpendicular to it; that limited the problem. We boosted the Ford … still using his Dodge, his way. The Ford started. I’m sure he was happy to get me on my way. And, he was certain that he’d have his truck running within moments after I left. Ivan was a Dodge man.

Ivan was one of the first people I’d heard refer to rust on a vehicle as it being cancered out or having cancer … something he knew how to remedy in an autobody shop. The Ford image presented here is one found a few miles from the southern gate of Elk Island National park; the nearest towns would probably be Lamont or Bruderheim. To some extent the Ford has its share of cancer; but, in totality there is more there of the car than not there, making it an excellent candidate for restoration. The vehicle has had me thinking back to Ivan and the early days of dating my wife. 🙂

Listening to – ‘The End of Illness’ by David B. Agus, MD, a book looking at a systems approach to good health … it’s about understanding your body’s system and how it works, for you.

Quote to Inspire – “Taking an image, freezing a moment, reveals how rich reality truly is.” – Anonymous

Former Edmonton Sights

Canon 60D, Canon Camera, Home, Night, Sigma Lens - Wide Angle 10-20mm, Vehicle, Winter

Edmonton’s Low Level Bridge 1

Edmonton’s Low Level Bridge 2

Edmonton’s Low Level Bridge 3

Former Volkswagen Shop – Edmonton 1

Former Volkswagen Shop – Edmonton 2

Former Volkswagen Shop – Edmonton 3

As a child growing up in Edmonton’s Ottewell community in the sixties and seventies walking and cycling were my chief means of getting around our community. Travel in Dad’s Beaumont or Pontiac Parisienne would take us to the Bonnie Doon Mall each week for groceries, a place we could explore while our parents shopped. Longer excursions would perhaps take us downtown to shop at The Bay or Eatons or Woodwards. And, there were times when a cold or flu bug would direct us towards a visit with the family pediatrician, Dr. Selby, at the Allin Clinic. Needles, minor surgeries, vaccinations and prescriptions were given to my brothers and me by Dr. Selby.

Travel was a longer affair.

There would be traffic lights we’d encounter on 75th Street as we travelled west on 90th Avenue. We’d move past Bonnie Doon High School to the traffic circle taking the second exit towards Connor’s Hill and downtown. Descending Connor’s Hill we’d drive under a ski jump that would hurl out skiers onto the Connor’s Hill ski area; the hill is where the Edmonton Folk Festival now sets up each August. On our right, roughly where the Muttart Conservatory is now situated we’d move past the City of Edmonton incinerator with its tall, tall brick chimney and garbage trucks moving about. We’d cross the North Saskatchewan River on the Low Level Bridge and then climb Grierson Hill under the Chateau Lacombe and the Hotel MacDonald. We’d travel west on Jasper Avenue and make a right on 120th Street finding a parking space on the street or within the clinic parking lot.

Travel was a family affair; much was discussed within the car … questions could be asked and digested and concerns diluted.

The images presented here are current view of Edmonton’s former Volkswagen shop near the James MacDonald Bridge and of the Low Level Bridge from its northwest corner – both were sights to be taken in during our longer family excursions across Edmonton.

Listening to – Led Zeppelin’s ‘When the Levee Breaks, U2’s ‘Where the Streets Have No Name’ and ‘Sunday Bloody Sunday,’ The White Stripes’ ‘Icky Thump’ and the Raconteurs’ ‘Steady As She Goes” – all are part of the DVD, ‘It Might Get Loud.’

Quote to Inspire – “I think good dreaming is what leads to good photographs.” – Wayne Miller

Summerland – Sleepless Slumber

Backlight, Canon 60D, Canon Camera, Christmas, Light Intensity, Night, Winter

Summerland Boat Launch 1

Summerland Boat Launch 2

Summerland Day Use Area 1

Summerland Day Use Area 2

Sleepless after our second daylong endeavor of sorting through the personal effects and estate of my wife’s father, Ivan, prompts the opportunity for night photography in Summerland along Lake Okanagon. Quietly stealing away, I leave my wife to her slumber. With camera, tripod, cold-weather gear and Ivan’s Hyundai Tucson I tour through Summerland for image opportunities.

My drive toward Summerland’s centre begins in finding two RCMP cruisers outside the Summerland Daycare; they are responding to something. Later, I find Christmas decorations are still all aglow on many Summerland homes – houses worthy of becoming part of any city’s Candy Cane Lane; a week beyond New Years’ day people are not wanting to let go of season – Christmas stretches on into 2013. Beyond the Summerland roundabout a church designed by Italian architects reflects style in the currency of the 1920’s in its use of timber and stone – a photograph, here, will be something better in daylight … an image to postpone. Several homes interest me in terms of structure and in how they are perched on vistas that take advantage of mountain heights and view high above Lake Okanagon.

Later, I come back down to the shoreline of Lake Okanagon – there’s an S-curve of a road surrounding one side of a day-use area; the lake itself surrounding the grounds on the other side. Lighting within the park colours snow in gold and reflects across the unfrozen Okanagon Lake. A boat launch reaches out into the lake to that unseen point of embarkation – eerily, with my father-in-law’s passing the image recalls Dylan Thomas verse ‘Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night,’ … “Rage, rage against the dying of the light.”

Listening to Peter Gabriel – ‘Come Talk to Me’, ‘Steam’, ‘Across the River’, ‘Blood of Eden’ and ‘Sledgehammer’; tonight, v-tuner’s tuned to Electronica – Radio One and “Blueless Invidia”.

Quote to Inspire – “A photo is a small voice, at best, but sometimes – just sometimes – one photograph or a group of them can lure our senses into awareness. Much depends upon the viewer; in some, photographs can summon enough emotion to be a catalyst to thought.” – W. Eugene Smith

Recollecting – Molson’s Brewery

Canon 60D, Canon 70-200 mm 2.8 IS L Series Lens, Canon Camera, Christmas, Photography & Conceptualizing Beauty, Winter

Molson’s Edmonton Site 1

Molson’s Edmonton Site 2

Molson’s Edmonton Site 3

Molson’s Edmonton Site 4

Molson’s Edmonton Site 5

Few Edmonton buildings call to mind New York’s projects, rugged and raw, half-formed, partially dismantled buildings of a not too distant era left behind and left derelict – home to those few or many down-on-their luck. The site of Edmonton’s former Molson Brewery in its semi-dismantled, unfinished and unconcluded state reminds me of the sights and sounds, the cadences and dialects of the English being spoken as I travelled by Greyhound from Toronto to Buffalo to New York City and then to Convent Station New Jersey in August of 1989 – a trip far away it seems in time, yet surprisingly near within imagination’s recollection. The priest who’d had his tonsils taken out at the kitchen table, the orthodox Jew in black taking daughters from Buffalo to New York, the Nun who led us in chant and harmony, the writing, writing and writing, Grand Central Station, Broadway, twenty-foot sidewalks populated with policemen, train travel and a Greyhound Strike – all were part of that five day trip.

Listening to and fretting Rickie Lee Jones’ Sailor Song, finding the sound and the rhythmic rhythm of a boat’s rolling on waves.

Quote to Inspire – “The whole point of taking pictures is so that you don’t have to explain things in words.” – Elliott Erwitt

Spherical Pile

Canon 60D, Canon Camera, Canon Live View, Light Intensity, Still Life, Winter

Spherical Pile – Edmonton, Alberta

Metallic spheres are jumbled into a pile in an architectural or sculptural masterpiece on the east side of the southern end of Edmonton’s Quesnel bridge, a marvel … the kind you would expect to find near or under Seattle’s Space Needle.

What surprised me in my work photographing the structure is that each sphere reflects you back from whatever standpoint you are at. You cannot be out of the picture unless you leave your camera atop your tripod and move 100 feet from the scene. “No matter where you go there you are.”

Listening to and fretting David Gray’s Sail Away and Dar Williams’ The Beauty of the Rain.

Quote to Inspire – “I am forever chasing light. Light turns the ordinary into the magical.” – Trent Parke

Cattails – Eastern lakeshore

Canon 60D, Canon Camera, Canon Lens, Canon Live View, Christmas, Flora, Photography & Conceptualizing Beauty, Still Life, Winter

Eastern Lakeshore – Cattails

A day or two after Christmas 2012, my brother and I got our families outside snowshoeing at Chickahoo Lake. In fresh air, our group got themselves tromping around the lake; I did so with my camera finding these cattails along the eastern lakeshore.

Listening to much of Jack Johnson this morning – Banana Pancakes, Sleep Through the Static, Bubble Toes and Staple It Together.

Quote to Inspire – “A photograph has picked up a fact of life, and that fact will live forever.” Raghu Rai