Dorothy, Alberta

Many of you are likely familiar with this image already, but it’s going to be part of the exhibit and so want to include it here. This photo was made some years ago in a the very tiny hamlet of Dorothy. Population about 10 including dogs! It is in the Red Deer River badlands downstream from Drumheller. Many old relics like this get vandalized badly but this one seems to have been spared although it was not fairing so well when I made this image due, simply, to old age. Once the focal point for scores of area weddings and christenings, the last service was performed here in 1961. The church has been featured in music videos and advertising as well and so has become somewhat famous in it’s own right after the intended purpose of worship has completely disappeared.  Lately someone has made a project out of the building and have reshingled and cleaned it all up, unfortunately losing it’s aged charm.

[Linhof 617, 90mm lens, Kodak TMax 100]

East Coulee Bridge

Another image from East Coulee. This bridge had been recently replaced by a much more modern and boring bridge, you can just see a tiny bit of it on the extreme right edge of the image, that could allow two vehicles to cross in opposing directions at one time. The older much more attractive bridge allowed for a more neighbourly attitude by drivers because you had to pull to the side and yield to oncoming traffic. This bridge also serviced trains as it had an embedded track. The thick wood planks that make up the driving lanes were perfect for doing brake stands as your tires would really howl and squeal and of course the wood would burn creating a lot of smoke. A lot of good memories with the old bridges – my brother and I used to hang out from the support beams and stare down when the river ice would break up in spring. If you stared at the moving ice long enough, without so much as a sideways glance, the sense of the ice standing still and us flying over it was truly great!! I recall one other time we were out quite awhile after dark when we heard a very alien sound coming closer and closer. We were a bit freaked out until we discovered it was just a bunch of Common Goldeneye ducks which make a very distinctive and eerie sound as the winds whistles through their wings. Our hearts eventually went back down to their normal rhythm! I talk like I lived here in East Coulee, when in fact I lived upstream in Rosedale which had an almost exact duplicate of this bridge. At least East Coulee had the smarts enough to preserve the beautiful old structure. Rosedale totally demolished theirs, but they can move traffic soooo much faster. Honestly the traffic jams in Rosedale (pop. 325) were an almost unbearable 15 -20 seconds, can you imagine the frustration!!

[Linhof 617, 90mm lens, Kodak TMax 100)

East Coulee, Alberta

I am going to start a new series of B&W images which I made over a period of a few days in the spring of 1988 using my Linhof 6×17 panorama camera. As I was working at the time and because it got dark early and I needed to travel between 20-30 kilometers, I was forced to make very long time exposures for most of these images. Anywhere from a few seconds to well over a minute was normal. Some of the structures in this series of images no longer appear anywhere close to what is shown in these images. In fact, this garage in East Coulee, was renovated and clad with steel paneling and painted. I like the older look better, but it is now, at least it was a few years ago when I last visited the area,  run as a proper filling station with it’s new look and new pumps too. I will be showing these images (6 anyway) at the Fine Photography Gallery in Drumheller later this spring.

[Linhof 617, 90mm lens, Kodak TMax 100]

Mountainview, Alberta

[Fuji GX617, 90mm lens, Fuji Provia 100F]

Sauble Falls, Ontario

The Sauble River is a river in Bruce County, Ontario which flows from headwaters in Chatsworth County to empty into Lake Huron at Sauble Beach, Ontario.

Sauble Falls Provincial Park is located at a waterfall close to where the Sauble is joined by its tributary, the Rankin River. Despite its low height this is a very popular waterfall. It serves as a natural water slide and an excellent fishing spot.

The river was originally called Riviere aux Saubles, or sandy river, by the French. It was named the River aux Saubles in 1759 and became the Sauble River in 1859.

In the spring, rainbow trout make their way from Lake Huron up the fishing ladder at Sauble Falls to spawn in the tributaries of the Sauble River. Huge fish can be seen leaping and thrashing their way up the falls. In the autumn, salmon make the same journey up the Sauble River for spawning.

The day we visited Sauble Falls, the temperature hit 36C and there were a lot of people sliding down the falls. I set up my Fuji panorama camera for my shot, and waited and waited, hoping to find even a couple of seconds when there was nobody in the photo. Unfortunately, after waiting for what seemed like forever, I almost gave up thinking it wasn’t going to happen. Just then a thunderstorm opened up and started to downpour and people were scrambling to leave. I quickly covered my camera and within about a minute or so I had my chance at a clear shot. I purposely chose a very small aperture, which in turn allowed me to use a long shutter speed of about 1 second, which renders the flowing water beautifully. I then quickly packed up my camera and stashed all my gear under a large tree to keep it from getting soaked by the rain. Just as quick as the rain started, it stopped, and back came all the kids again to continue in their fun, and I had my shot!!

I envisioned it at the time in b&w and so I transformed the original colour image into b&w using Photoshop. The colour version just doesn’t have the impact of b&w in this case.

[Fuji GX617, 90mm lens, Fuji Provia 100]

Relief on the Prairies

This storm was photographed in 2002 near Coronation, Alberta. Central Alberta was in the midst of a severe drought and this storm brought some relief, unfortunately it was too little too late for that year’s crops.

[Fuji GX617, 90mm lens, Fuji Provia 100]

Kneehills, Alberta

The “Knee Hills” as named by the Cree and Stoney indians because of their shape, are a group of hills which rise to approximately 1000m above sea level, and are located approximately 20 kilometers west of Three Hills, Alberta extending southeast through Kneehills  County.

[Fuji GX617, 90mm lens, Fuji Provia 100F]

Cathedral Grove

[Linhof 617, 90mm lens, Fuji RFP]

Horseshoe Canyon, Alberta

I grew up in and around the badlands near Drumheller and very seldom did I see them completely blanketed with snow. Usually the sun would come up and, even when it is well below zero, the warmth of the sun would start melting the snow on the south facing slopes leaving patches of the darker soil showing. This was a day that never got above -33C so there was no melting to done.  The shutter on my panorama camera stopped working properly and I needed to fire it numerous times to get an image that wasn’t over-exposed due to the shutter firing very slowly in the cold.

[Linhof 617, 90mm lens, Fuji RFP]

Calgary, Alberta

[Linhof 617, 90mm lens, Fuji transparency converted to b&w]