Time’s Relentless Melt

Best Practices - Photography, Canon Camera, Canon Lens, Canon Live View, High Dynamic Range (HDR), Homestead, Light Intensity, Photoblog Intention, Photography & Conceptualizing Beauty, Project 365 - Photo-a-day, Still Life, Vehicle, Winter

Plymouth Savoy – McNaught Homestead, Beaverlodge, Alberta 1

Plymouth Savoy – McNaught Homestead, Beaverlodge, Alberta 2

Plymouth Savoy – McNaught Homestead, Beaverlodge, Alberta 3

Wagon Wheels – McNaught Homestead, Beaverlodge, Alberta 1

Wagon Wheels – McNaught Homestead, Beaverlodge, Alberta 2

Wagon Wheel – McNaught Homestead, Beaverlodge, Alberta 3

Wagon Wheel – McNaught Homestead, Beaverlodge, Alberta 4

Wagon Wheel – McNaught Homestead, Beaverlodge, Alberta 5

Last weekend, on walkabout with my camera, I stopped in at the McNaught Homestead, near Beaverlodge, Alberta, an anchor in my growth as a photographer, a place where I had taken one of two photoplayshops with two instructors calling themselves the Ditch Divas, likely in reference to their stopping for photos alongside roadways. The homestead, as with any farm, is an extraordinarily good place to look at how light, colour, shape and background work together as you consider and make a photograph. On my iPod, I was listening to Susan Sontag’s collection of essays entitled ‘On Photography,’ a good text to listening to at different points in your photographic growth. The photos that follow are taken at the McNaught Homestead. I enjoyed the time with camera and subjects.

Listening to – Krista Tippett’s interview with Eve Ensler of ‘Vagina Monologues’ fame; the interview focused somewhat on sexual violence toward women and later focused on moving on or through cancer treatment. Also, listening to Jack Johnson’s & G. Loves’ song ‘Jungle Gym,’ Tyler Bates’ ‘Ventura’ and ‘Mad World’ by Michael Andrews and Gary Jules.

Quote to Inspire / Consider – “To take a photograph is to participate in another person’s (or thing’s) mortality, vulnerability, mutability … [all] photographs testify to time’s relentless melt.” – Susan Sontag, On Photography.

Field – Selling Point

Canon 60D, Canon Camera, Canon Lens, Canon Live View, Fall, High Dynamic Range (HDR), Photography & Conceptualizing Beauty, Season, Still Life, Vehicle, Vehicle Restoration

R E O Speedwagon – Manning, Alberta 1

R E O Speedwagon – Manning, Alberta 2

In an open field, displayed for sale, parked next to a 1969 GMC grey and white one-tonne cab and chassis and a dented, yet intact retro green with white, 1957 Chevrolet sedan, sits an REO Speedwagon one-tonne cab and chassis. Further up this same field is a fenced-in area with large storage shed for large farm equipment and a farmer’s mechanic’s shop for working on equipment. Spray-painted on three sides of a smaller building closer to the road is the phone number needed for making contact with the seller of these implements and vehicles. Not a junk yard and not a used car lot, the field does serve as selling point for these vehicles that may be of interest to travellers driving by. This image is the badging as found on the REO Speedwagon with colour and with some desaturation.

Listening to – Ashley MacIsaac’s ‘She’s a Rare One’ performed with Jackie Robitaille.

Quote to Inspire – “A photograph is the pause button on life.” – Ty Holland

REO Speedwagon – Manning, Alberta

Best Practices - Photography, Canon 60D, Canon Camera, Canon Lens, Canon Live View, Fall, Farm, High Dynamic Range (HDR), Photoblog Intention, Photography & Conceptualizing Beauty, Project 365 - Photo-a-day, Vehicle, Vehicle Restoration

REO Speedwagon – Manning, Alberta 1

REO Speedwagon – Manning, Alberta 2

REO Speedwagon – Manning, Alberta 3

REO Speedwagon – Manning, Alberta 5

REO 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

Four-be-Ford

Best Practices - Photography, Canon 60D, Canon 70-200 mm 2.8 IS L Series Lens, Canon Camera, Canon Live View, High Dynamic Range (HDR), Journaling, Photoblog Intention, Photography & Conceptualizing Beauty, Project 365 - Photo-a-day, Summer, Vehicle, Vehicle Restoration

1947 Ford 4 x 4 – Sangudo, Alberta 1

1947 Ford 4 x 4 – Sangudo, Alberta 2

1947 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

Under the Shed

Best Practices - Photography, Canon 60D, Canon 70-200 mm 2.8 IS L Series Lens, Canon Camera, Canon Lens, Canon Live View, Fall, High Dynamic Range (HDR), Journaling, Photoblog Intention, Photography & Conceptualizing Beauty, Project 365 - Photo-a-day, Summer, Vehicle, Vehicle Restoration

Open-Air Shed – Sangudo, Alberta

In the week prior to their auction, several old-time pick-ups and cab and chassis reside beneath an open-air shed at Sangudo’s Alaska Highway Construction Equipment Museum, a favourite place to photograph within the last year. These vehicles were auctioned off on September 7th and 8th; doing so, made way for a land sale. Quite possibly had I been at the auction I could have brought home one of these vehicles for as little as $3000 – $4000. Then, it would have been about gathering friends to help restore and add Life to one of these well-kept vintage vehicles.

Listening to – several songs my daughter has downloaded: Dexy’s Midnight Runners’ ‘Too-Rye-Ay’ and ‘Come On Eileen,’ Miley Cyrus’ ‘Wrecking Ball,’ Jack Johnson’s ‘Banana Pancakes,’ Ed Sheeran’s ‘Drunk’ and Emblem 3’s ‘Chloe.’ There is also The Fray’s ‘You Found Me.’

Quote to Inspire – “Ultimately photography is about who you are. It’s the truth in relation to yourself. And seeking truth becomes a habit.” – Leonard Freed

Sharing the Field

Best Practices - Photography, Canon 60D, Canon 70-200 mm 2.8 IS L Series Lens, Canon Camera, Canon Live View, Fall, Farm, Flora, High Dynamic Range (HDR), Home, Homestead, Photoblog Intention, Photography & Conceptualizing Beauty, Project 365 - Photo-a-day, Still Life, Summer, Vehicle, Vehicle Restoration

Field Shared – Greencourt, Alberta 1

Field Shared – Greencourt, Alberta 2

On the drive between Fort Vermilion and High Level, Alberta the clean, stubble-free fields were noteworthy … more indications that harvest is nearing completion. In addition to grain being gathered and hay bales being removed, the fields did look like someone had vacuumed each field, leaving no trace of the summer’s activity. In this image from a few weeks back, at Greencourt, Alberta alongside the highway north farming implements – a Mercury, two Chevrolets, a Massey Ferguson and John Deere – share a field with round hay bales waiting to be cleared off and stored. The older farming implements are on display … perhaps even for sale … perhaps memorial to farming years.

Listening to – Tyrone Wells’ ‘Time of Our Lives.’

Quote to Inspire – “All the technique in the world doesn’t compensate for the inability to notice.” – Elliott Erwitt

Harvest

Best Practices - Photography, Canon 60D, Canon 70-200 mm 2.8 IS L Series Lens, Canon Camera, Canon Lens, Canon Live View, Fall, Flora, High Dynamic Range (HDR), Light Intensity, Photoblog Intention, Photography & Conceptualizing Beauty, Project 365 - Photo-a-day, Still Life, Summer, Sunset, Vehicle

Harvest – Nampa, Alberta 1

Harvest – Nampa, Alberta 2

Harvesting Implement – Nampa, Alberta 2

Farmers are harvesting in northern Alberta. A season’s few warm months, with regular rainfall, have allowed northern farmland to produce and this year’s harvest holds promise … something extraordinary in terms of quality and quantity. In the year, we are at that point where the concept of harvest illustrates something of life and lives. Here, the ‘parable of the weeds’ being used to describe the kingdom of heaven in Matthew 13:24-30; 36-43 stands out; what captivates is that while the farmer has sown good seed and while he and his family sleep, an enemy intentionally sows weeds among the farmer’s wheat – a premeditated, vicious act aimed at dismantling a farmer’s livelihood. For the farmer, the end-state of harvesting the wheat he’s sown presents challenge because doing so will require that he allow the weeds to grow alongside the wheat until harvest, the weeds sharing the land’s nutrients, the weeds sharing the rain, and, the weeds sharing the sun. At harvest, this careful and patient farmer gathers each weed first, burns the weeds together and then harvests the wheat. This parable is used to describe the kingdom of heaven. That kingdom, the world we presently live in, contains those moving along in Life committed to God’s purposes and those opposing God’s purposes. This kingdom parable becomes example of the lives that live alongside each other, the reality of the good and evil that is at play and the farmer’s careful harvesting hands. It points to each Life being lived out and the farmer discerning what each life has been about as each reaches the harvest.

Listening to – the Tragically Hip’s ‘Wheat Kings,’ Murray McLaughlin’s ‘Farmer’s Song’ and Ray LaMontagne & the Pariah Dogs ‘Beg, Steal or Borrow.’

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

Desperate Tattoo

Best Practices - Photography, Canon 60D, Canon Camera, Canon Lens, Canon Live View, High Dynamic Range (HDR), Journaling, Photoblog Intention, Photography & Conceptualizing Beauty, Project 365 - Photo-a-day, Service Station, Summer, Weather

Derelict Service Station – Southern Alberta 2

Derelict Service Station – Southern Alberta 3

Derelict Service Station – Southern Alberta 4

Derelict Service Station – Southern Alberta 6

Derelict Service Station – Southern Alberta 10

Derelict Service Station – Southern Alberta 11

Derelict Service Station – Southern Alberta 12

Derelict Service Station – Southern Alberta 14

Beyond the Banff National Park gates, moving east toward Calgary, near the Stoney Reserve a service station with restaurant that had been a thriving business in the sixties, seventies and even eighties is now dormant. An abandoned structure, without windows and gyprocked walls, it now provides temporary and limited shelter from the elements to travellers or hitchhikers or people seeking ‘off-the-grid’ status. The building reminds of characters, scenes and happenings within the ramble of Jack Kerouac’s novel, ‘On the Road,’ of people driven and on the move, of stories shared between travellers that may or may never meet again, of place and places where seedier things can occur. On an adjacent theme, the building reminds of the Life of Chris McCandless in Jon Krakauer’s non-fiction work, ‘Into the Wild,’ and any would-be traveller who aims to explore and take-on the world on their own terms – that traveller could find refuge in this building. Graffiti tags tattoo this building, the building paper to the quill of the traveller’s spray paint. Expressed, here, are the dominant issues confronting each traveller, assertions about justice denied, of perspective not being valued and rejected, of the irony within all that makes the world tick. In all, graffiti’s colour, shape and form pull the witness to the resilient voice of the traveller expressed upon these walls. Here, ‘the writing is on the wall’ about the state of their/our world. Most telling about these travellers and their living so close to the land is the assertion ‘The Desperate Came’.

Listening to – Eddie Vedder’s ‘Hard Sun’ from the soundtrack to ‘Into the Wild.’ Then it’s Ray Lamontagne’s ‘Hold You In My Arms,’ Radiohead’s ‘All I Need,’ the Counting Crows with ‘Omaha’ and Jack Johnson’s ‘Rodeo Clowns.’

Quote to Inspire – “I don’t care so much anymore about ‘good photography’; I am gathering evidence for history.” – Gilles Peress

Chrome Brightening

Best Practices - Photography, Canon 60D, Canon Camera, Canon Live View, Farm, High Dynamic Range (HDR), Photoblog Intention, Photography & Conceptualizing Beauty, Project 365 - Photo-a-day, Still Life, Summer, Vehicle, Vehicle Restoration

Mercury 155 Grain Truck – Manning, Alberta

Years on, chrome lines and badging still highlight and brighten detail work on an early fifties Mercury M-155 grain truck at the Manning Pioneer Museum in Manning, Alberta.

Listening to: my daughter skillfully work Adele’s ‘Someone Like You’ on our piano upstairs.

Quote to Inspire – “It’s not how a photographer looks at the world that is important. It’s their intimate relationship with it.” – Antoine D’Agata

Dented, Worn, Pitted

Best Practices - Photography, Canon 60D, Canon Camera, Canon Lens, Canon Live View, High Dynamic Range (HDR), Journaling, Photography & Conceptualizing Beauty, Project 365 - Photo-a-day, Summer, Vehicle, Vehicle Restoration

1949 Chevrolet Grain Truck – Donnelly, Alberta 1

1949 Chevrolet Grain Truck – Donnelly, Alberta 2

1949 Chevrolet Grain Truck – Donnelly, Alberta 3

1949 Chevrolet Grain Truck – Donnelly, Alberta 4

1949 Chevrolet Grain Truck – Donnelly, Alberta 5

Dented and worn, pitted and cancered (rusting), the hood of a 1949 Chevrolet grain truck continues to hold its shape – lines and curves created some sixty-four years ago.

Listening to: Imagine Dragons’ ‘Radioactive.’

Quote to Inspire: “Take a moment. What was it you saw when you were moved to pick up the camera? I’m going to pretend I didn’t hear you mutter something about thinking “it looked cool.” Dig deeper. Was it a thought, a feeling, a simple moment when your eyes did a double-take at the intersection of two lines? Was it a lick of light, two blocks of color?” ― David duChemin, Vision & Voice: Refining Your Vision in Adobe Photoshop Lightroom