Coming or going?

Where to begin? Normally the rule is to begin at the beginning, thrash through the messy middle, and manufacture (or declare) a satisfactory ending, then move on.

There are several blog topics swirling in my head, each trying to write itself, without much cooperation from the others. That isn't a route to clarity, and I know you guys like reading my blog because they are a model of clarity. Or something.

Right this moment, I am listening to the distant howls of Celina, outside in the frosty morning. She wanted out and didn't believe me when I told her it was cold. The alternative is to have her howling inside, disturbing my concentration and Linda's sleep. She is all about telling the cats on Mars how brutal her life is, and to come get her please.

On the election front, all that I'll say is if you haven't voted, and the polls are still open, go vote. Vote against, if you must. Hold your nose, if you must. Don't complain about the line up. Don't give the volunteers a hard time; what they're doing is the cornerstone of having a free country.

On the COVID front, I don't know whether to spit or go blind. Speaking of clarity, the guidelines released by the UCP government are so clear and easy to follow that they are a model that all other governments should follow, and will clear up this COVID thing in no time. I'm being sarcastic, of course. And angry, and lots of other words.

The exec committee of our community association is a group of mature adults, with lots of experience being adults between us. One is a mental health professional, another is an accountant. I think I'm the only one that isn't a parent. Our questions started with, "WTELF does this mean and how does it apply to us and our tenants?" (The EL there means Ever Loving.) 

This 4th wave, thanks to the complete abdication of responsibility by the UCP, which means Premier Kenney, has nearly broken our health care system. They have begun to triage patients. It has come to battlefield triage. WTELF!

Our healthcare system typically runs nearly flat out, all the time. There is little slack in the system. During much of the COVID crisis every patient admitted to hospital with COVID is displacing one from the usual heath care patients. You know, people that had a heart attack. People experiencing the consequences of incompetent drivers. Cancer and other serious disease patients managing their illness. People that didn't think something through and are now in the running for a Darwin Award. Sick children. (CHILDREN< FFS!) Old people trying to cope with the whole getting old thing.

There are people dying all around us, mostly invisibly, because they can't get the care they need, because that bed is full of a selfish asshole who exercises their 'right' to be free and independent and act on their thorough internet research. Rather than moving the other patients out to homes or other facilities that don't exist, I'd be discharging the COVID patients that didn't get vaccinated. Discharged in a hospital gown out the front door. Grrr.

Still getting into the pool, though today I'll have to show the vaccine card. Getting it was surprisingly easy. I just need to get it printed. Library first, then pool. I'm disappointed that there already instructions how to break open that PDF and insert fake data. Someone who won't get a pair of needles because they think (insert whackadoodle theory of choice here) won't hesitate to forge a health document and put more people at risk. Rather than a fine, those people should be put to work without any PPE in a COVID ward. More Grrr.

It frosted hard last night. HARD. Linda has covered the plants, but I suspect when she goes to uncover them, they will all be wilted and frost nipped. Sigh, but it was going to happen sooner or later. Never fear, there are still many flower photos in the pipeline.

Starting with this begonia. For some reason begonia colours don't come out well on camera, at least digital cameras. I took a similar shot on film at the same time, and I'm eager to see how that turns out.

Of the Day

Driftwood

Celina

Flower

The Lady of Challotte rose. It really is that colour, I didn't do any special processing.

Peony

Lily

Eagle

Dragonfly, though you might have to look for it.

The start of the experiment

 The other day I alluded to an experiment with film photography. It has begun. First, a big thank you to Sean's generosity in lending me all this.

I bought some film (Ektar 100 and Ilford Delta B&W if you're curious) and batteries, reviewed the operator's manual (refreshingly short and to the point), loaded film, batteries, and the 50 mm f 1.4 in the FM2, and got started. A couple garden shots, then a walk in Fish Creek to bridge 2. The shot I had in mind isn't quite there yet, with the trees still mostly green.

Of course you can't see the shots. Neither can I, though I did look at the back of the camera after clicking the shutter. I'll finish off the roll in the time it takes to finish it. I've got a place to get it developed, and a scan done of the negatives so I can see it on screen. If any of them are worth it I can get a big scan of that shot to import into Lightroom and show you. Don't anybody be holding their breath.

The main idea is to find out what it's like to shoot film, how the image differs from digital. Try a different way of doing things. Slow down and think about each shot. In yesterdays walk, if done with digital, I might have taken several hundred shots, since there was a semi-cooperative dragonfly looking for a moment of fame, and probably edited half a dozen. I actually clicked the film shutter 5 times with the intention of making a photograph.

First impressions? Even though the body is made of metal, it's light and small compared to my main digital camera. It will fit in the pocket of my camera pants, as I think of them, though it isn't terribly practical. It's a manual focus lens, so that's taking a bit of getting used to, but that helps the composition process. Maybe if I get organized I'll get a shot with the current digital beside the film camera.

If I had another method of metering light, (such as a phone app, or a dedicated light meter, which probably does need a battery) I could take the batteries out of the camera and it would still operate. Imagine that! A portable device that doesn't need a battery.

Even though I have several lenses, I think I'm going to stick with the 50 mm for now. I've got black and white film too, that I'll put in the FE and think about what lens to carry around. That will be a challenge, to think about the world in B&W.

There is no intention of creating comparison shots between film and digital. That time has long passed, and I don't have the skills to deal with all the variables involved to create images one could compare. My intent here is to learn to do it first, and then attempt to create beautiful images using an older technology. They will almost certainly be imperfect compared to digital images, but that's part of the charm.

The digital camera will not be gathering dust. Far from it. I have two events to shoot this weekend. A buddy and I are flanging up details for the 50 shoot, and maybe a gussied up version for herself.

Of the Day

Driftwood

Celina

Flower

The dahlia enjoying the last warm days. Look for the ant.

Peony

The red one, working hard on trying to get the colour right.

Lily

Dragonfly

Eagle

I'd be damn careful about waving unprotected fingers in front of the eagle. 

Owl

They're trying to suck and blow at the same time

So there I was last night, Celina on my lap, happily researching film photography when the emergency alert siren nearly exploded my ears. Poor Celina. She was down in the basement in one giant furry spasm. I'm pretty sure she thought the end had come. 

Which it had, 'The Best Alberta Summer Ever', May 26 to Sept 15. RIP. Except it wasn't for the people that needlessly died or needed hospitalization, and all the families involved. 

Now the UCP government is trying to suck and blow, trying to not enact a vaccine passport of any kind, while forcing businesses to either require patrons to produce it or shut down their business. I've spent years trying to write instructions and procedures, and like many things it's harder than it looks. The UCP mandates make mud look like a fine example of clarity and structure, and bacterial slime look sanitary. 

I was reading it from the perspective of how it might affect our community association events and reached no firm conclusions after reading it twice. I think our outdoor events are good to go, but not so sure about indoor events. Some of the events are religious services. I'll be reading this again later today, and the exec committee will probably have to discuss it to make sure we are all on the same page. Maybe we'll have the discussion in our back patio, distanced of course, but with several bottles of wine.

This was all so avoidable. 

I blame the people who chose to not get the vaccine because they did their internet research, and chose badly. My solution to the hospital crisis is to triage based on vaccination status. All the regular stuff that hospitals and care facilities do now, they keep doing. If there's safely room for an unvaccinated person presenting with COVID symptoms, then fine. (Slightly later note, accommodate those with an actual medical reason for not being vaccinated.) If not, send them home. I'd far rather the people who have been waiting for a surgery date get it, than indulge human stupidity. 

Yeah, that's cruel, but that's been the case for most of human history. Choose badly, be in the wrong place at the wrong time, sass the wrong person, just generally be stupid, and the consequence is death.

Because that's what this 4th wave is, a testament to human stupidity. People not getting a vaccine, but then trusting the medical science to cure them. People getting all worked up about a mask, saying it's ok for a business to have a sign that says 'no shirt, no shoes, no service' because that's business freedom of choice, but not ok to have a sign requiring a mask because that's tyranny. Politicians pandering to the stupid element of their base, making the convenient, politically driven, decision. Politicians rewarding bad behaviour with the Kenney Pennies. Does he really believe that if someone won't get vaccinated because of some principle (Freedom! Tyranny! Pig-headedness! Religious principle! Whatever!) that they'll do so for $100?

Meanwhile the rest of us, the ones that got vaccinated, wore the mask, made the adjustments to our lives often at great inconvenience, especially with the poor example of the UCP taking a Christmas getaway vacation, now have to put up with the consequences of the 4th wave. We have to figure out from the UCP bafflegab if the yoga studio will be open next week, if we can go for as swim, if our workplace will declare our presence to be essential, if that life-altering medical procedure will happen, if a long planned and paid for event can go forward, and on and on. All so unnecessary.

I'm so mad, and so tired, I could just ________________. (You fill in the blank in the comments.)

Sorry, no of the day feature today. I have no photo that will cheer you up after this.

Lately a trip, and the start of an experiment

Photography is one of those hobbies where the participants can easily fall victim to GAS. No, not flatulence from sniffing developer fluids, but Gear Acquisition Syndrome. Actually, people doing any hobby that requires a thing or things to do it, can be subject to GAS. It's the idea that you need better equipment to be able to do the hobby 'better', whatever better means.

Now, in many cases new, better equipment can make a difference, but often it's small. The cost benefit ratio is very poor, like a unfit triathlete buying an expensive tri bike. Yes, they might be a bit faster, but they aren't fit enough to get full advantage. They would be better off getting faster on the bike they have.

That thought applies to many hobbies. Get better with the gear you have, rather than lust after new gear. In the photography world, one would have to be an expert to tell the difference between a photograph taken with today's nearly top of line camera and one nearly top of line from say, 10 years ago. Most times, the platform it's viewed on, like Facebook or Instagram, will erase the differences. (Yes, there are circumstances where it would be easy to tell, but let's not get pedantic here.)

However, gear does break or wear out. There's an adage in the photography world, never buy a pro's old gear. Why? They use it till it is on the very cusp of not working any more and sometimes till it actually stops working for good. I've seen pro camera equipment. Parts are held on by tape. The focus mechanism grinds. Some non-essential parts of the camera don't work any more. Sometimes they have to do things just so for them to work. Only then do they go buy new equipment. Often they would rather use their skill and experience on older equipment that they thoroughly understand, than buy some expensive new thing.

Hobbyists are in a different place. We typically don't use our gear as hard. We aren't competing with other people to get a shot that might make the difference making money or not. But eventually we get to a place where the current gear really isn't cutting it anymore.

Something that was a surprise for me to learn when I got into photography is that camera bodies are the disposable element in the gear. One expects to replace camera bodies periodically. But the glass lenses go on and on. The glass I have would be loosely described as Canon EF. If you don't know what that means, don't worry. It just mean that any camera body I buy that takes EF lenses will work with my current lenses. Which essentially limits my choices to the cameras that Canon sells. Going to another manufacturer means buying not just a camera, but new glass as well. That can get expensive really fast. Sometimes there are adaptors, but we need not get into the limitations involved there.

So this has all been a long-winded way of saying that a friend of mine is looking at changing camera ecosystems. He's currently a Nikon guy, shooting a crop sensor camera. Which, if he wants to replace that camera body limits his choices. He did lots of looking and research, and finally picked out a Sony full frame mirrorless camera to try out. He rented that from The Camera Store, along with a nice matching lens, and invited me along for a road trip. 

Now, I suppose if we were writing a formal gear review, we would have had him take a shot with the Sony, and take the equivalent shot with his Nikon gear, and me with my Canon gear. Except I had no intention of carrying around my behemoth lens to make such a comparison. Plus it's an apple and oranges thing anyway, given the differences in how the sensors handle light coming through the different lenses, and then there's how it's edited in the different versions of Lightroom, to say nothing of how the light can change in an instant.

Suffice to say that trying all that would have led to a bunch of frustration. So he signed out the camera, we went for a drive, he shot his shots, I shot my shots, we sometimes compared the images on the back of the camera, we discussed many things (shoes and ships and sealing wax did not come up), and thoroughly enjoyed the day. 

A brief digression. I was astonished to recently discover that Canon made film cameras that take my lenses. I had been thinking about experimenting with 35mm film cameras for reasons that I might blog about later. Since meeting up at The Camera Store was convenient, I checked out what they had for used film cameras. They did. There was affordable temptation. Plus unaffordable temptation by the name of Leica and Hasselblad, but not going there.

But the other choice was to ask if any of my photo buddies had an old, but still functional film camera, and if they'd be willing to lend it for the experiment. It turns out my friend has not one, but two such cameras, and several lenses for them. All I need to do is buy film and put batteries in them, which is cheap. So stay tuned, as the saying goes.

Back to the ranch, as the story narrator says. We drove out to Horseshoe Canyon, then took the scenic route home, stopping wherever we felt the photographic possibilities existed. Here is a selection of my photos from the day. I don't know if my friend will publish any of his photos. 

1. The entire time I was here, I was thinking of a previous road trip with similar geography. Similar, but not the same. It turns out I was thinking of Horse Thief Canyon, which is maybe a half hour drive from Horseshoe Canyon.

2.

3. Southern Alberta is full, absolutely full to overflowing of wide open landscapes with gently rolling hills, scenic vistas with interesting equipment. Get the right light happening, or dramatic clouds, and you aren't going to be on time if you have a photographer in the car.

4. We had to wait for the light.

5.

6.

7.

8. I felt sorry for this poor little flower, trying to grow up to the light through the floor grating, and getting stepped on by inconsiderate humans. 

9. The mighty metropolis of Dorothy.

10

11. Yes, we drove up that road. Good thing we were in a truck. My little car probably would have made it, but would have bounced around a lot more.

12. Windmills are a big part of some Alberta landscapes. They can be interesting, and sometimes they point to things. I had to keep moving because the wind speed and direction kept changing, and so did the orientation of the blades. Yes, I'm still thinking about the dramatic skies during the windmill visit near Lethbridge last month.

13.

14.

15. Old sheds are a popular photographer attraction.

16. On the way home. I'm glad I wasn't driving. This is shot through the filthy windshield of the truck, and that's what I wanted, that old timey feel of a vintage road trip.

17.

18. Calgary skyline is visible from an astonishing distance, and the sky was wonderful! How could we not pull off onto a side road and shoot this?

Of the Day

Driftwood

Flower

Peony, but first a serendipity. Some of my readers know I sometimes make a comment like, "I just wanted to boop that nose!" Here is the source of that comment. She was on my first trip to Yukon. During the visit to the wildlife centre we almost had to physically restrain her from 'booping' the noes of the deer-like critters pressing up against the fence because they thought we were going to feed them.

Lily

Dragonfly

Eagle

Owl

Nuance, a political rant

Imagine a strip of paper, purest white. As white as white can be, through and through. Look at one end of the strip, either end, take your pick. As you travel along the strip you notice a faint grey dot, then another. As you travel along the dots gradually get bigger and darker. It isn't just an ink stain on the white paper, the paper itself is that colour. Then you realize it isn't just grey but actually black, and there's more and more of it. Then you realize its white dots getting smaller and fainter, till the paper is as black as black can get, through and through.

What colour is this strip? You could label one end white and the other black.

Or, yes and no.

Or, us and them.

Or, for and against.

Or, left and right.

You get the idea.

Mostly it's shades of grey, and that's mostly what the real world is like. There are few cases where it's absolutely one or the other. Typically making a rule based on such extreme cases makes for a bad rule for the rest of the world. 

When you hear someone arguing for that absolute position, your first thought ought to be they are a demagogue trying to recruit followers into their cult. They are trying to get you to take a simplistic view of the world to enhance their own position. Don't fall for it. The world is more complicated than a tweet. There is always nuance.

Then we come to politicians. These guys are masters at spinning and simplifying a situation to gain votes, and that's the best view of it. Often what they say are outright fabrications and lies designed to push your buttons and suspend thought. Their purpose is much like the priesthood; to get and keep a job where all they have to do is talk, and hang in long enough to reap that sweet pension. The rule is to recruit your base and pander shamelessly to them. It's that or get a real job. Look at Jason Kenney, he is a perfect example of this. He left Jesuit school because they weren't hard-core enough on abortion for him. He's never had a real job.

That brings us to the current Canadian elections. For me in Alberta just now, that's a federal election and a civic election. Let's start with the federal, just because.

You need to know my riding is one of the safest Conservative seats in Canada. Stephen Harper (Remember him, former Prime Minister?) was my MP. Not that we got anything out of it. Never saw him here, though for a while I worked down the hall from his brother.

There are 7 candidates.

Bob Benzen, Conservative, incumbent (Duh! I don't know how he lucked into this.)

Scott Forsyth, Liberal

Kathleen Johnson, NDP

Malka Labell, Green

Bailey Berdard, PPC

Mark Dejewski, Rhino, (yes, really)

Annelise Freeman, Maverick

I'm actually a little surprised we don't have a Libertarian candidate running. They'd be sure to get a few votes here.

Now, it would be extraordinary, country-wide headline news if Benzen didn't win. That is certainly the way to bet. He could rape a sheep on the steps of City Hall and not lose a vote. Why? Alberta loves beef. (You only think I'm joking.) He could lose a third of his votes to PPC and Maverick and still win. Not that he's ever shown up here.

There's lots of people here who can't pronounce Liberal (capital L or lower case) without spitting. They flat out don't believe the Liberals under Chretien/Martin not only balanced the budget but produced a surplus to pay down the debt for 10 years running. Don't ask how they feel about Trudeau unless you're wearing a hazmat suit.

I'm not a big fan of the left / right political model (see above). Traditionally the Conservatives are considered centre right, the Liberals centre left, the NDP left (ranging from overlapping the Liberal position out to whackadoodle left territory. Those are the main parties, two big ones and one smaller one. While the NDP say they want to form government, their best outcome is to hold the balance of power in a minority government, like they have since the last election.

The Greens take an environmental approach. They currently hold 2 seats and have internal troubles. They may not get elected again. I've voted for them in the past because there was a subsidy paid to all parties based on the number of votes they got. I almost wish parties weren't allowed to accept contributions, and got paid for the number of votes they get. Their position is a little harder to map left to right, but most place them in the Liberal to NDP area.

PPC stands for People's Party of Canada, which sounds like many Communist states, but these guys think that the Conservatives are much too far left. The leader is Max Bernier, a disaffected former Conservative. His nickname is Mad Max, and he is anti-mask, anti-vaccine, anti-immigration, and a climate change denier. I'm not sure if that's the party's official position, but it might as well be. One of his party posted and deleted a tweet saying Trudeau should be assassinated. That person is still a candidate.

Maverick is really a provincial party, and this is their first election. They aim to emulate the Bloc Quebecois, touting western separatism to try to gain power. These people cannot count. Even if all 29 candidates get elected (as if!) That's 29 seats out of 308. They say they want the best for western Canada without any consideration of, or to appease voters in the rest of Canada. On a parallel track they want to pursue separation from Canada. That does not sound like a good negotiating position. The best analogy I can think of is a child threatening to hold it's breath till it turns blue or explodes. These people are breathing a different kind of air than the rest of us. A seat for them is one fewer for the Conservatives and is essentially a vote for the Liberals. Any of them that do get elected will be the lepers of the House. In followup news, they booked our community association hall the night of our Board meeting. Nobody showed up.

The Rhinos are a joke party, the closest thing we have to None Of The Above. 

Those are my choices, like it or not. Now, I'm not thrilled about any of them for one reason or another. I think the Liberal as a person would be the least damaging. He's educated (a doctor by profession) and a professional photographer, which makes him my kind of person. As a Liberal though, I'm not best pleased with them. Trudeau bailed on a promise to reform our electoral system by bringing in some form of proportional representation. The rumour is that both Liberals and Conservatives know they would never hold majority power under any form of proportional representation. He also handed out billions of dollars to Canadians in the form of CERB and related programs as a GIFT not a LOAN to be repaid when possible. He's also had problematic relations with some of his female ministers.

Benzen is a nothing personally, just a spouter of the party platform, a reliable vote. The Conservatives are straying from centre right off towards right wing whackadoodle territory to placate their Trump-sniffing base. Look at what Jason Kenney has done to Alberta, and that's what you'll get if the Conservatives gain power. Them and their buddies get the gold mine, the rest of us get the shaft, to quote an old song. 

Federally, the goal is to form a majority government, that is, to gain 170 seats. Because of how voters and seats are distributed it's not only possible to gain that seat count with less than 40% of the overall votes, it's happened several times. Vote splitting and huge vote surpluses for Conservatives in Alberta are the biggest culprits. Once a candidate has one more vote than their closest rival, they are in, and every further vote is a waste. Proportional representation tries to fix this in various ways, but this is not about that.

So, for example, it's theoretically possible in my riding for the Conservative, PPC, and Maverick party to split the right wing votes, have some bleed off to Rhino, and NDP voters hold their nose to vote for the Liberal, and he sneaks up the middle to win with about 30% of the vote. Highly unlikely, even more so than hell freezing over, but theoretically possible. I'd love to see it happen, mainly to see Conservatives totally lose their shit. Just about everybody that loses an election in Canada blames vote splitting. 

And no, as I write this I don't know who I'm going to vote for. My usual tactic of voting against only goes so far. I've got a couple weeks to think about it. 

I did the CBC vote compass thing. I ended up kind of between the Liberals and Greens, which isn't a big surprise. But lots of the poll questions are more than a little dubious. One in particular caught my eye, referencing Indigenous influence on resource development, should there be less or more? Well, it depends on if the proposed development is on treaty or otherwise un-ceded land. Which, to be honest, describes at least most of Western Canada.

This post has been brewing (festering) for several days. Today was the first day for advance voting, and we went and did so. There were always about 30 people in line, and things stalled a little while for an undisclosed reason, but we got it done. And so should you.

If you are eligible to vote, get your butt out there and do it! 

Whoever you vote for, I don't care, though I'm generally in favour of voting the rascals out. And the diaper rule, don't forget that. One term is usually enough. Hold your nose if you must. If politicians get the idea we aren't going to vote them out, we'll get even worse behaviour.

At the municipal level there are 3 candidates for councillor.

Diane Colley-Urquhart, incumbent. 

Dan McLean

Jay Unsworth

I've met all three in person, and chatted with them. DCU has been our councillor for about 20 years, and my personal opinion is that it's time for her to retire. I have not yet seen a lawn sign for her.

DM is a UCP (the current provincial conservative government) shill. He's part of a movement to "Take Back City Hall.) I really dislike that slogan, as it implies that his group used to control it, and should again. He has a ton of signs up, and if you go by that, will win. Sigh.

JU sounds like a change candidate and says council should work for the citizens. I need to look into his platform in more detail, but he seems like a plausible vote. He has lots of signs up, but not so many as DM.

Mayor.

I shake my head. Last I looked there are 27 candidates for mayor. 27. The incumbent is not running, and probably just as well. I'm not going to list and discuss them here. There's a few with name recognition, both for good and bad. Some are former councillors, with a reputation for good and bad depending on how you look at things. Most candidates are riff-raff, running with no relevant experience, no relevant education, and essentially no platform other than their bleat about their issue. Maybe they think adding mayor candidate to their resume is a good thing. One of them has pleaded guilty to criminal harassment and been found guilty of contempt of court in Ontario. One of them runs for every elected office and is a religious lunatic. Such is life in the modern world.

I will have to go through the plausible looking ones, but that's probably a dozen or so. I'll almost certainly need to shower after.

There isn't a related photo today, even though I've been photographically busy having fun.

Of the Day

Driftwood

Flower

Peony

Lily

Dragonfly

Eagle

Owl, but first a serendipity bird from 2017. No idea what it is, or where I was at the time.

Random trip photo

This was shot near the Carmangay railway bridge. The opposite sides of coulees can be interesting, especially when something is in it. Even more so if it's old, semi-destroyed, or unfathomable somehow. None of us had any idea what that really was. At first I thought it was a canoe but the scale is all wrong.

You can tell me what you think it is, if you like, but there are no prizes.