The flowers of mid October

Incredibly, there are still flowers in our garden during a tour this morning though they're fading fast. I didn't see any bees, but it might have been a bit cool for them, and there isn't much for them to work with. Here's what I found.

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Of the Day

Driftwood (NZ)

Driftwood (NL)

Film

Taken mainly to see if film would pick up the fine hairy fuzz. I'm likely to try to print this in the darkroom, see how it turns out.

Linda

At the welcome to Raleigh chairs, though this was taken as we were leaving. This image made it into the book.

Newfoundland

Why ever didn't I publish this, and maybe I did

There were no elk in the lake

Much like Two Moose Lake in Yukon that we never saw any moose in, there were no elk in Upper or Lower Elk Lake. However there were reflections, and I'll take that trade.

Sean had suggested a day trip to Elk Lakes provincial park in BC. It's north of Elkford, nearly at the end of the road. That sounded like a great idea to me. I packed along maybe too much gear, including both film cameras, and the digital, plus a bunch of lenses. It made for a heavy pack walking on the nice path to the lakes. 

We followed the yellow path along the lower lake, and then to the upper lake. We ventured a little way down the red path beside the upper lake, but I don't know how far along we went. I'm thinking maybe half way? We had a happy several hours there working the amazing reflections. We think overall it was maybe 7 or 8 Km walking. My pack was feeling very heavy when we got back to the car. 

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2. The lower lake. We sighed in happiness at seeing the calm water. Then a guy fishing waded out and started creating ripples. This was during a quiet moment when he stood still.

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4. Part of the view on the upper lake. Did I mention the reflections were amazing? Maybe not quite as nice as Portal Lake, see here, but we weren't complaining. Later in the day we talked to a guy that said this was his favourite spot in the whole world, and that calm water didn't happen often.

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7. So, people. Sigh. This is an hour and a half up a gravel road north of Sparwood. Then a couple Km walk to the upper lake. We get there and find this family having a picnic. OK, they mostly kept their dogs out of the water, but later chased us down the path, the dogs growling at us. Then more people and more dogs showed up as we were working the scene. Another 8 or 10 people, some with dogs, walked past us, as we were down on a little rocky beach. All were friendly, but I had not expected to see anyone at all.

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It was a long drive, and Sean did all of it, but the photos and quiet at the lake were wonderful. I've got some film photos that I will develop anon and share if they're worth it. Oh, and yes, we stopped for a closer look at the Sparwood big truck.

Of the Day

Driftwood (NZ)

Driftwood (NL)

Film

Linda

Newfoundland

One of the images that made it into the book.

Why ever didn't I publish this, and maybe I did

September 2016, the view along one of our neighbourhood streets.

Some scrappy photos

Still with it, though the issue was in some doubt early last week. Whatever it was hit me hard for a couple days. The only real activity was the darkroom class (which has been lots of fun and learning!), a photo ramble on the weekend with Michelle (see below), and a race on Sunday (see the race tab on the other blog). In between those things I was mostly asleep.

Photos from the Newfoundland trip are starting to roll off my 'not blogged in 90 days' smart folder. That seems really quick. Here's a couple from the top of the list, before they roll off.

1. Sunset from the deck of the Cox's Cove house.

2. Cox's Cove swimming hole, as I was setting up for film photos.

3. Bottle Cove beach.

4. Linda on the Cox's Cove "beach".

I've been working through a roll of HP5 on 35mm that was bought for the dark room course. Generally the photos are, with a few exceptions, unremarkable. They were taken with the idea of seeing how that scene would look in print. That roll started with Linda in Canmore one afternoon, as we drove out to meet friends for dinner. And what a lovely time we had!

5. Linda again, posing with the Canmore bear.

6. A reflective tree scene.

7. You'd never know this was taken in the middle of a small town. 

Michelle was driving past the metal recycling scrap yard and thought the morning light might make a nice photo opportunity. It took a bit to get our schedules aligned, but we finally made it out for a ramble and coffee after. That finished the roll of HP5. I was thinking that it might have looked better on Delta 100, but that's what was in the camera. I'm liking the grungy, gritty look, and plan to print them with a bit more contrast than one might use to make a 'nice' photo.

8. We found this red telephone booth and had some fun with it. Michelle is checking it for spiders or other inhabitants.

9. We were playing with the idea of Superman changing in the phone booth thing.

10. Yes, that's me.

11. I can't wait to see this in print. I love the Linda Hamilton in T2 vibe. 

12. The scrapyard.

13. There's a similar version of this on a roll of colour film yet to be developed. In that one a couple workers were up on the conveyor belt, waving at Michelle.

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15. Michelle was actually working the scene for her photo, and was obliging to hold still while I figured out settings. I love that line of light up her leg and back, with the darkness and texture of denim.

Of the Day

Driftwood (NZ)

Driftwood (NL)

Film, during an evening stroll in Twillingate.

Linda, same evening stroll.

Newfoundland

Why ever didn't I publish this, and maybe I did

Here it is early October, and we're still getting blackberries at the market! This is from 2017.