Edge & Sphere

Backlight, Canon 60D, Canon Camera, Canon Lens, Canon Live View, Journaling, Light Intensity, Photoblog Intention, Photography & Conceptualizing Beauty, Prime Lens, Project 365 - Photo-a-day, Spring, Still Life, Weather

Edge & Sphere – Sexsmith, Alberta 1

Edge & Sphere – Sexsmith, Alberta 2

Edge & Sphere – Sexsmith, Alberta 3

Edge & Sphere – Sexsmith, Alberta 4

Edge & Sphere – Sexsmith, Alberta 5

Early morning image editing tackles water droplets on top of a creosote covered railroad tie. A stone, one among thousands stabilizing railroad rails, surprises in its jade green colour and its irregular edge provides contrast to droplet spheres. Colour, depth, line and shape result.

Listening to – (and watching the video of) Snow Patrol’s ‘This Isn’t Everything You Are,’ U2’s ‘Vertigo’ and The Killers’ ‘When You Were Young.’

Quote to Inspire – “Photography does not create eternity, as art does; it embalms time, rescuing it simply from its proper corruption.” – Andre Bazin (1918-1958), French Film critic.

Impermeable Equation

Backlight, Canon Camera, Canon Lens, Canon Live View, Light Intensity, Photography & Conceptualizing Beauty, Prime Lens, Rail Yard, Spring, Still Life, Weather

Water & Railroad Tie – Sexsmith, Alberta 1

Water & Railroad Tie – Sexsmith, Alberta 2

Water & Railroad Tie – Sexsmith, Alberta 3

Kasia Sokulska, part of the husband and wife duo that comprises MIKSMedia Photography, presents inspired macro images on her Google + profile page, outstanding and beautiful work to view. Her work inspired me to take advantage of railroad ties, made impermeable to water yesterday in Sexsmith, Alberta. With my EOS 60D, a quarter of an inch from the railroad tie, hung upside down from my Manfrotto tripod (also a never-done) I explored water droplets.

On the weekend, Dave Brosha e-mailed to highlight upcoming workshops likely in Calgary and Grande Prairie, Alberta; these would be accessed through his facebook page.

Listening to – Shawn Colvin’s ‘Change Is On The Way.’

Quote to Inspire – “Beauty can be seen in all things, seeing and composing the beauty is what separates the snapshot from the photograph.” – Matt Hardy

North Country Cloud-work

Backlight, Barn, Best Practices - Photography, Canon 60D, Canon Camera, Canon Lens, Farm, Farmhouse, Home, Homestead, Light Intensity, Photoblog Intention, Photography & Conceptualizing Beauty, Prime Lens, Project 365 - Photo-a-day, Season, Sigma Lens - Wide Angle 10-20mm, Spring, Still Life, Sunset, Weather

Country Road Sunset – Mayerthorpe, Alberta

Farm Silo Silhouette – Mayerthorpe, Alberta

Wednesday’s travel took me from my Calgary, Camera Store stop northward on my return drive to High Level. Around dinner-time, between Mayerthorpe and Whitecourt the cloud-work and evolving sunset on the southwest of the highway were a spectacular sight among a huge and open northern Alberta sky, land less frequently frequented, something quite different from the frenetic congestion of people and land encountered between Edmonton and Calgary, an area still held in grey bleakness of winter. It was good to be traveling home in familiar North Country.

Listening to – Collective Soul and ‘Shine’, and, Sigur Ros and ‘E-bow.’

Quote to Inspire – “While there is perhaps a province in which the photograph can tell us nothing more than what we see with our own eyes, there is another in which it proves to us how little our eyes permit us to see .” – Dorothea Lange

Cold Sunrise – Spring

Best Practices - Photography, Canon 60D, Canon 70-200 mm 2.8 IS L Series Lens, Canon Camera, Canon Lens, Canon Live View, Fog, Home, Journaling, Light Intensity, Photography & Conceptualizing Beauty, Project 365 - Photo-a-day, Spring, Still Life, Sunrise, Weather, Winter

Saskatchewan Drive – Edmonton, Alberta

Edmonton – a cold sunrise, winter lingering on into spring, colours buildings and fog haze in muted and rich tones reminding of Russian narratives.

Bartholomew Scott Blair misses a trade show for book publishers. Boozy Barley Blair, life on a tangent, haphazardly and unwittingly finds himself in possession of serious, sobering prose; the film of this narrative takes you from Lisbon to London to Moscow and to Boris Pasternak’s grave and Dacha in which Dr. Zhivago was written. That world is presented in much the same colours as this Edmonton image. The narrative explores the rambling of Barley’s unanchored heart navigating forward recklessly in hope and unchallenged belief at a time of life when legacy is what should concern him. Barley’s life becomes entangled – verifying story source and author, working within prescribed tradecraft and pursuing relationship. That relationship and possibility change the course of this narrative – hope and promise are honoured.

This Edmonton image looking out to Saskatchewan Drive high above the North Saskatchewan River surprises me in perspective, time of year and colour. These are the familiar tones and colours and climate of my childhood and youth cycling Edmonton city streets or walking and talking with friends. Likewise Moscow’s tones, colour and climate as featured in the film of John Le Carre’s ‘Russia House’ also surprise me because they are so strikingly familiar.

Listening to – Ernest Hemingway’s ‘A Moveable Feast.’

Quote to Inspire – “The camera is an instrument that teaches people how to see without a camera.” ― Dorothea Lange

Cable & Ice Bridge

Canon 60D, Canon Camera, Canon Lens, Light Intensity, Photography & Conceptualizing Beauty, Project 365 - Photo-a-day, Sigma Lens - Wide Angle 10-20mm, Spring, Still Life, Weather

Cable – Tompkins Landing, Alberta 1

Ice Bridge, Tompkins Landing, Alberta 1

Ice Bridge, Tompkins Landing, Alberta 2

Cable has been wound upon one of two huge snow-covered spools used to pull the Edmonton Queen ferry up and out from the Peace River at Tompkins’ Landing, Alberta. The first image, a macro shot explores light, colour and texture of cable on the spool. The other two images are of the Tompkin’s Landing ice bridge – one kilometre in length, crossing the Peace River – a solid structure between December and March, capable of holding a transport truck weighing 60 tons.

Listening to – Coldplay from the Mylo Xyloto 2012 tour beginning with ‘Major Minus,’ then ‘Yellow,’ ‘Princess of China,’ ‘Up in Flames,’ ‘Clocks’ and ‘Charlie Brown.’

Quote to Inspire – “Photography for me is not looking, it’s feeling. If you can’t feel what you’re looking at, then you’re never going to get others to feel anything when they look at your pictures.” – Don McCullin

Sun, Wind & Weather

Best Practices - Photography, Canon 60D, Canon Camera, Canon Live View, Farm, Farmhouse, Flora, Home, Homestead, Lookback Photos - One Year Ago, Photoblog Intention, Photography & Conceptualizing Beauty, Project 365 - Photo-a-day, Sigma Lens - Wide Angle 10-20mm, Still Life, Weather, Winter

Former Farm – Sangudo, Alberta 1

Former Farm – Sangudo, Alberta 2

Former Farm – Sangudo, Alberta 3

Sangudo, Alberta – on a sunny day, closing in on spring, buildings from a former farming time continue to erode with wind and weather. Sun heats snow-laden earth and clouds begin to billow and move eastward over the horizon.

Listening to – Josef Myslivecek and Concertino in E Flat for two horns.

Quote to Inspire – “A photograph is usually looked at – seldom looked into.” – Ansel Adams

Edmonton – Freshly Green in June

Best Practices - Photography, Canon 30D, Canon Camera, Canon Lens, Journaling, Lookback Photos - One Year Ago, Photoblog Intention, Photography & Conceptualizing Beauty, Project 365 - Photo-a-day, Season, Spring, Still Life, Weather

Skyline – Edmonton, Alberta

Of all reasons to take up photography, the most significant and most poignant is to draw together memory of home. Edmonton’s Skyline from the southeast, from Strathearn Drive is the strongest memory I have of Edmonton. My grandparents’ last Edmonton home was on Strathearn Drive and my grandfather always had my brother’s and I out for a hike before a Sunday dinner with family, through this river valley, walking within this valley being a primary form of transportation for him and his (my mother’s) family, something more economical and much healthier than riding a bus or taking the family car down town. Perhaps one of my grandfather’s influences in my Life is one of appreciating the value of exercise and the achievement of exercise. Never a day would go by without my granddad getting out for a minimum of an hour’s walk wherever he was in the world. For me, Edmonton’s skyline recalls all the cycling I had done in Edmonton’s river valley through each summer listening to audiobooks and to music on a Sony Walkman.

This Edmonton skyline image recalls family history – our return to Edmonton via CN Rail and the CN Tower from Montreal in 1964, our first returned days at the Hotel MacDonald, the adventures with Scouts hiking through this valley and excursions to the top of the AGT Tower (now Telus Tower), Canada Place on the right is where we got our passports and on the left I had an Edmonton Journal paper route on 111 Avenue running from the Westbury Apartment to the Grandin Apartments. This image of Edmonton recalls the cool, fresh, wet weather of June. The photo is taken at the western most end of Strathearn drive that overlooks that part of Connor’s hill where the Edmonton Folk Festival is staged each August.

Listening to – Schubert’s Rondo in A for Violin and String, D. 438.

Quote to Inspire – “Quit trying to find beautiful objects to photograph. Find the ordinary objects so you can transform it by photographing it.” – Morley Baer

Moments You Can’t Get Out Of

Best Practices - Photography, Canon 60D, Canon 70-200 mm 2.8 IS L Series Lens, Canon Camera, Canon Lens, Canon Live View, Photoblog Intention, Photography & Conceptualizing Beauty, Project 365 - Photo-a-day, Sigma Lens - Wide Angle 10-20mm, Still Life, Weather, Winter

Jasper Alberta 1

Mountain River – McLure BC

Mount Robson BC 2

Mount Robson BC 1

Lake Okanagan – Kelowna BC

Jasper Alberta 3

Jasper Alberta 2

My wife told me that she had noticed the oil pressure indicator flashing and remaining on two weeks ago today. Hearing her words, I went outside and checked the oil dipstick and confirmed that we did have oil in the engine. Because we had a long drive to Edmonton coming I called the service technicians who advised that the issue could be an electrical problem with the sensor or an actual oil leak. They advised watching the fluid levels on the way down and to bring it in for service. I checked the oil before leaving. And, then, checked it again three hours later in Peace River … the oil pressure sensor light had come on. I pulled out the dipstick … there was no oil. What to do? Travelling on a Sunday the dealership wasn’t open. Calling roadside assistance only let me know that they would tow the vehicle to a maximum of 125 kilometres … I had 500 kilometres to go before making it to the dealership. I talked things over with a friend. The tow cost would be about $900 to get the vehicle to Edmonton. If I managed checking and adding oil as needed I might make it to Edmonton at considerably less cost. My wife and daughter got a hotel room in Peace River; they would come down with friends who would pick them up the next day. I would aim to make it to Edmonton adding four litres of oil to the engine every forty-five minutes. I made it after another seven hours, topping up the oil at -20C temperatures. At one point I lost the oil cap in one of those unreachable places of the engine compartment and had to jury-rig an alternative using sheet plastic.

From Edmonton, it was a flight to Penticton via Vancouver the next day to work on assets associated with my father-in-law’s estate. With a day’s work done, there, I began the drive back to Edmonton only to find that the highway I had chosen had to be closed because of accidents occurring in the slush and snow. Doubling back, I was able to drive through Kamloops on the Yellowhead Trail and aim for Edmonton via Jasper. I stopped for the night at Kamloops and then began my drive on the Yellowhead, a bright day with dry roads. I got a meal along the way and within a couple of hours was the unwitting victim of food poisoning. With no energy and chills I decided to hunker down in Valemount, British Columbia – at 2:00 p.m.. I got a hotel room and slept my way around the clock. After many hours of sleep, weakened, but ready to aim for home, I got back in the vehicle. The mountain images presented here are those preceding food poisoning and those from the day driving from Valemount to Edmonton.

Listening to – U2’s ‘Stuck in a Moment You Can’t Get Out Of,’ ‘In a Little While,’ ‘Elevation,’ and ‘I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For.’

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

Waiting … Unused, Boarded-Up

Best Practices - Photography, Canon 60D, Canon Camera, Canon Lens, Canon Live View, Light Intensity, Lookback Photos - One Year Ago, Night, Photoblog Intention, Photography & Conceptualizing Beauty, Project 365 - Photo-a-day, Season, Weather, Winter

Hay River, NWT – Boats 1

Hay River, NWT – Boats 2

Hay River, NWT – Boats 3

Hay River, NWT – Boats 4

Hay River, NWT – Boats 5

In January’s winter, huge, huge boats – complex structures, rigged out with all kinds of equipment to make them self-reliant and useful upon the water – have been dragged to ground from the world’s largest lake – the Great Slave Lake; the boats wait, unused, boarded-up and dormant within acres and acres of Hay River’s boat yard. Canada’s Great Slave Lake is large enough to make transport of materials more efficient, faster and more direct when these boats are used than when moving materials around the perimeter of the lake by transport truck. These boats have names – Jock McNiven, Lister, Horn River, and Radium Empress – and in being named do stir curiosity about the origin of such reminiscence in each boat’s appellation. Snowy and overcast, the day yields -26C at 5:00 p.m. on a January winter day in Canada’s Hay River, Northwest Territories; overnight it will get colder. It’s the kind of day when a Hay River resident keeps an eye out for the potential of a stranded motorist, a neighbor, needing a tow from the snow bank or a boost of their car/truck’s battery. People living in Hay River know how to live in Hay River.

Listening to – Enrique Iglesias – ‘When I Fall in Love,’ with words on You Tube, a song our school’s custodian frets at this day’s end upon a Yamaha guitar … good, good schtuff!

Quote to Inspire – “I have the great privilege of being both witness and storyteller. Intimacy, trust and intuition guide my work.” – Jim Goldberg

Blessing Become

Canon 60D, Canon 70-200 mm 2.8 IS L Series Lens, Canon Camera, Canon Lens, Canon Live View, Farm, Farmhouse, Flora, Fog, Home, Homestead, Light Intensity, Lookback Photos - One Year Ago, Photography & Conceptualizing Beauty, Summer, Weather, Winter

Canola Homestead – Fort Vermilion, Alberta

Elektra Water Bomber 1

Elektra Water Bomber 2

Winter Snow 1

Winter Snow 2

At -39C steam hangs in the air almost failing to dissipate, resolving into a fog residue – vehicle exhaust, factory steam, breath from your own mouth. Cold cranking car batteries fail and must be boosted. January into February, in the North we’re rounding the cold portion of the orbital arc, pulling January’s cold with us into February. To look back, to rework and to resurrect in new ways – former photographs become blessing. Blown, compacted, heated and crusted snow is the subject of two images. Summer images include a homestead house within a field of canola as well as the Elektra water bomber from July.

Listening to – Stompin’ Tom Connors’ ‘Sudbury Saturday Night,’ Ray Wylie Hubbard’s ‘Mother Blues,’ Gurf Morlix’s ‘Gasoline’ and Buddy Miller’s ‘Does My Ring Burn Your Finger.’

Quote to Inspire – “I have to shoot three cassettes of film a day, even when not ‘photographing’, in order to keep the eye in practice.” – Josef Koudelka