Judah Homestead

Homestead, Journaling, Winter

The weather was that of early spring – a day grey and overcast, later filling with snow flurries, then shifting to bright sunlight among clouds as I drove south from Peace River, Alberta. I was taking time … to look around, to explore, to learn more about a region I drive through regularly but through decades had not yet investigated.

Back in December 2022, interested in the terrain of the Peace River’s river valley, I asked a farmer from the region about possible vantage points for viewing the river. The river that is from one kilometre to a kilometre and a half wide as it moves through a region I teach in has intrigued me since my wife, and I flew into a fly-in teaching community three decades ago. Two locations were recommended to look over the town of Peace River and along the river valley.  The Twelve Foot Davis gravesite was high above the town on its east side. The second recommendation caught my attention – the Sagitowa Friendship lookout point had been described as being along the road to Judah, the hamlet of Judah … perhaps forty minutes south and west of Peace River along a road that follows the southern river bank. This lookout point allows the eye to travel west and south following the river; it allows for a look down and north to the town of Peace River’s south end, up to its north end; it allows, for a look across the river to the Shaftesbury Estates, the West Peace area, Saddleback Ridge and the Pines.

I was at the Sagitowa lookout working with my camera. After several shots, it began to snow. I packed up and began a drive toward Judah. In the early afternoon, the sun came out, somewhat harsh in terms of the contrast of light and shadows. Within the hamlet of Judah, I found treasure – this homestead.

Quotes to Inspire – two quotes have found me this week; both have value for a photographer.  First, ‘We don’t see things as they are. We see them as we are (Anais Nin).’ The second is one that seems related, ‘People only see what they are prepared to see (Ralph Waldo Emerson).’ This quote highlights a photographer’s readiness to see a given subject and perhaps maturation in terms of seeing that subject. It attaches to a follow-up statement, ‘If you look for what is good and what you can be grateful for, you will find it everywhere.’ So, perhaps Emerson’s quote is a nudge out-of-context but still has import as we use it.

Listening to: Motorhead’s version of David Bowie’s ‘Heroes,’ Fred Eaglesmith’s ‘Can’t Dance,’ Pickin’ On U2 – A Bluegrass Tribute’s version of ‘One,’ and Bono’s ‘Surrender: 40 Songs, One Story’ audiobook reading.

Framed to Edit

Project 365 - Photo-a-day

Three weeks back, in the midst of mileage and a COVID pivot, on a road west in Southern Alberta I was able to stop, get out of my truck, frame this image and two others, return to my truck and motor on. Many elements make this image come together, not the least of which is the encounter of colour within what is largely a monochromatic image. Liking it.

Quote to Consider / Inspire – “One should not only photograph things for what they are, but for what else they are.” – Minor White, Frames Magazine, February 2021.

Listening to – Kathleen Edwards’ ‘Take It With You When You Go’ and Appalachian Road Show’s ‘Don’t Want to Die in the Storm.’

Foothills Pivot

Project 365 - Photo-a-day

A COVID pivot provides minimalist moments among the modulation and ramble of foothills roads in southernmost Alberta.

Quote to Consider / Inspire – “Photography, as we all know, is not real at all. It is an illusion of reality with which we create our own private world.” – Arnold Newman, Frames Magazine, January 2021

Listening to – Jools Holland & Kylie Minogue’s take on the Clash’s ‘Should I Stay or Should I Go’

Looking South – near Fort MacLeod, Alberta

January Homestead

Project 365 - Photo-a-day

Liking this bit of winter morning light, directional light, side-light – intensity and shadows – falling on snow and an Alberta homestead, a first image in a long while.

Quote to Consider / Inspire – “… I believe that the real challenge of photography lies not in finding something or someplace exotic and beautiful to photograph, but in revealing the hidden beauty in what most people would consider mundane.” – Howard Grill, The Challenge of Photography, Frames Magazine, February 2021.

Listening to – Ian Tyson’s ‘Yellowhead to Yellowstone,’ Galen Huckins’ ‘The Kennicott,’ Roo Panes’ ‘A Message to Myself,’ and Hollow Coves’ ‘Adrift.’

Homestead – near Fairview, Alberta

Solitary Return

Best Practices - Photography, Canon 60D, Canon 70-200 mm 2.8 IS L Series Lens, Canon Camera, Canon Lens, Canon Live View, Home, Light Intensity, Photoblog Intention, Photography & Conceptualizing Beauty, Project 365 - Photo-a-day, Spring, Vehicle, Weather

Aways Down the Twin Lakes Hill - Twin Lakes, Alberta

Aways Down the Twin Lakes Hill – Twin Lakes, Alberta

Solitary, a Sunday afternoon motorist returns home northward along northern Alberta roads, descending down the five kilometres that comprise the Twin Lakes hill.

Listening to – Sigur Ros’ ‘Glosoli,’ the Lumineers’ ‘Stubborn Love’ and Ed Sheeran’s ‘Firefly.’

Quote to Inspire – “There is only you and your camera. The limitations in your photography are in yourself, for what we see is what we are.”

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

Country Road Sunset – Mayerthorpe, Alberta

Farm Silo Silhouette - 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

Cattails & Snow Curves

Best Practices - Photography, Canon 60D, Canon 70-200 mm 2.8 IS L Series Lens, Canon Camera, Canon Lens, Canon Live View, Journaling, Light Intensity, Lookback Photos - One Year Ago, Photoblog Intention, Photography & Conceptualizing Beauty, Project 365 - Photo-a-day, Spring

Cattails and Snow, High Level, Alberta 1

Cattails and Snow, High Level, Alberta 1

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 & 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

Cable – Tompkins Landing, Alberta 1

Ice Bridge, Tompkins Landing, Alberta 1

Ice Bridge, Tompkins Landing, Alberta 1

Ice Bridge, Tompkins Landing, Alberta 2

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

Snow – Warmed

Backlight, Best Practices - Photography, Canon 60D, Canon Camera, Canon Lens, Journaling, Lookback Photos - One Year Ago, Photoblog Intention, Photography & Conceptualizing Beauty, Project 365 - Photo-a-day, Spring

Alberta Skies - High Level, Alberta 1

Alberta Skies – High Level, Alberta 1

Alberta Skies - High Level, Alberta 2

Alberta Skies – High Level, Alberta 2

Alberta Skies - High Level, Alberta 3

Alberta Skies – High Level, Alberta 3

Alberta Skies - High Level, Alberta 4

Alberta Skies – High Level, Alberta 4

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

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 1

Former Farm - Sangudo, Alberta 2

Former Farm – Sangudo, Alberta 2

Former Farm - Sangudo, Alberta 3

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