The past week presented the opportunity to move around Edmonton and to look at skylines from different vantage points.
Listening to – Mozart’s ‘Requiem, K. 626’ performed by La Grande Ecurie et la Chambre du Roy, Jean-Claude Malgoire, Dominique Visse, Choeur Regional Nord-Pas-De-Calais, Odile Bailleux, Martin Hill, Colette Alliot-Lugaz & Gregory Reihart.
Quote to Inspire – “I am forever chasing light. Light turns the ordinary into the magical.” – Trent Parke
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
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
Four Butler tin grain bins are placed on the crest of a field near Blue Hills and Tompkins Landing, Alberta, positioned near a range road for ease of access, away from water, able to take advantage of the sun’s heat to dry grain stored within. The bins remind of Egypt and Joseph, a pharaoh’s dream that disturbs and Joseph’s dream reading – seven abundant years followed by seven famine-filled years; at pharaoh’s request, Joseph undertakes and manages Egypt’s grain collection (in grain bins) in the abundant years and oversees grain distribution in Egypt’s lean years. Joseph is a name meaning ‘he who removes my shame,’ a name Rachel gives this first born son of hers following barren years with Jacob (Israel). Joseph is the dreamer whose father, Jacob, gives a coat of many colours. It’s Joseph’s ability to interpret dreams (and to see what’s happening as a visionary) that allows him to serve others throughout his life. Josephs, those who remove shame, feature elsewhere in the Bible story. The Joseph who marries Mary, mother of Jesus is stepfather who extends grace to Mary when she’s found to be pregnant prior to their marriage. The story grows ever-bigger and Mary’s Joseph often guided by dream revelation has a role to play in the lives of Jesus and Mary. Then, there’s the Joseph of Arimathea who provides tomb for Jesus and who removes Jesus’ body from the cross becoming unclean in touching a dead body as the Sabbath begins. Each Joseph removes shame and extends grace into the situation.
Listening to – Chris Whitley’s ‘Dust Radio,’ the Lumineers’ ‘Ho Hey’ and ‘Stubborn Love,’ John Trudell’s ‘Rockin the Res (Live)’ and Congregation’s ‘Don’t Pay No Mind.’
Quote to Inspire – It should be the aim of every photographer to make a single exposure that shows everything about the subject. I have been told that my portrait of Churchill is an example of this. – Yousuf Karsh
I’m liking these cattails and the lengthening curves of the snow in which they are set.
Listening to – Tim Reynolds fret a number from the Live at Radio City concert with Dave Matthews, ‘You Are My Sanity’; then it’s Dave Matthews and Tim Reynolds with a Neil Young tune, ‘Down by the River.’
Quote to Inspire – “I really don’t have any idea about photography, but I take pictures.” – Alex Majoli
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
In Spring wind skims over sun-warmed snow, blowing and lifting moisture laden air sky high. A blue sky day can become cloud-ridden in hours. Alberta skies feature in images along the southward drive to Edmonton in Spring.
Listening to – Coldplay’s ‘Mylo Xyloto,’ ‘Hurts Like Heaven,’ and ‘In My Place.’
Quote to Inspire – “I’m very open to any visual conceits and any possibilities at my disposal to be better explain to people the ideas I’m exploring.” – Tim Hetherington
Sunset, nearing home in last year’s spring thaw – more Alberta skies.
Listening to – enjoyed much of the Boy On Bridge album from Great Big Sea’s Alan Doyle; ‘Testify’ is a song that stands out as does ‘Where I Belong.’
Quote to Inspire – “I don’t believe a person has a style. What people have is a way of photographing what is inside them. What is there comes out.” – Sebastiao Salgado
Here we go … SwittersB suggests trying a crop of this photo for its effect … looks like we’re in the mountains. Have a look. 😉
Listening to: Dido’s ‘Thank you.’
Quote to Inspire – “A photographer strives to be fully aware of every moment, and to be one with all others every moment.” – Anonymous
A cluster of B-side photos remain – Fort Vermilion’s former times Buttertown homes, winter farming scenes (equipment and buildings, deposited in their last left locations, ‘medias res’), icicle lens edits and former MacKenzie highway construction vehicles. It’s this winter’s tail-end, a time to close winter out … and get-on with spring.
Listening to – Edie Brickell & the New Bohemians’ ‘What I am,’ U2’s ‘All Because of You,’ Cat Stevens’ ‘Morning Has Broken,’ Depeche Mode’s ‘Policy of Truth,’ T. Rex’s ‘Bang a Gong,’ Wang Chung’s ‘Dance Hall Days’ and Neil Young’s ‘Cinnamon Girl.’
Quote to Inspire – “Success is what happens when 10,000 hours of preparation meet with one moment of opportunity.” – Anonymous
In My Back Pocket - Photography 
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