A couple of film walks

About a month ago I went on a walk with some buddies in The Hood. You can read about it here, and you need to understand that part of today's story starts there. 

I ended up putting part of the roll of black and white film through the camera on that walk, and there it sat for a while, then a walk in Fish Creek, then into Chinatown with the same buddies to finish off that roll. Then I dropped in the Elektra again, but I haven't exposed anything yet.  I also took the big camera to finish off a roll of Lomo. 

It was a fun walk. I haven't been into Chinatown since I worked at the Amoco/BP Amoco/BP job, and the restaurant I really liked (Saigon Y2K) isn't there any more. Silver Dragon is still there, but the place on the second floor that Sophia took me to for the best hot and sour soup isn't there anymore. Things change.

The whole place looks more run down and faded. We got there a bit before lunch, which was good for empty street scenes, but lent sort of a deserted air to the experience. We went into Eau Claire market for a coffee and snack afterward, and it was dead empty. About lunchtime, and empty. No wonder they want to tear it down. The vendors must be bored out of their minds, or frantic about paying rent. I think a Green Line LRT station is supposed to go where the mall is.

This is really the only black and white photo I liked out of the Chinatown trip, with the second showing some of the detail on the back of the lion.

I suppose I should show you the Great Black Beaver of the Hood, and my buddy trying to capture it.

The one colour photo I liked is from the inside of the Chinese Cultural Centre. 

Next photo ramble? Not sure. Now that the road is open, at least that I think it's open, I'd like to get out to Sheep River Falls.

Of the Day

Driftwood (NZ)

Driftwood (BC)

Flower

Yukon (Miles Canyon)

Film (new)

A winter reflection scene.

Film (old)

I think this is somewhere along the Going to the Sun road, given later photos in the sequence.

May Image of the Month

Two thirds of the photos this month were for the community association, and thus not eligible for image of the month. Most the the rest were garden overview photos, and thus mostly here I am and this is what I saw, which are typically not of any great artistic merit. 

The medium format film photos were mostly experimental. One set being long exposures that didn't work as I had hoped, and the other were to see how that particular film emulsion reacted to bright saturated colours, as well as more subdued natural colours. Which I'm really pleased with and I'd buy more of it.

I ended up considering several photos, one of which is a spring/summer repeat of one taken in autumn that I quite like. Which is becoming a bit of a problem for me. I find it hard to capture images that I've done before, unless there's something sufficiently different about it to capture my interest. It's also hard to take repeats of well known photos, which is one of the reasons I don't go to Banff much. The world has enough photos of the Banff Springs hotel, it doesn't need any more from me.

First runner up

That purple texture!

Image of the Month

The white peony, isn't quite blooming yet, but it's working on it. While checking it's progress I found this composition. It made me think of a funky alien spaceship with a sensory organ top centre, and wings out the sides. I'm so looking forward to seeing it bloom this summer!

State of Garden, part 2

In case you missed it, yesterday was part 1 of the spring garden overview, here.

1. Actually this is from the front, I somehow missed it when selecting photos. The 3 roses are in temporary pots because they arrived way early, and needed to be brought inside overnight.

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We are a little concerned by the plum tree in the foreground not being in bloom yet. Normally by now it would be, but maybe it just wanted to sleep in this year.

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Yes, as seen in a previous photo, the lodge really is white. The orangey tint is from the smoke in the air. One of my projects here really soon is to add another layer of stain. I've done a light pressure washing to get winter gunge off, sanded down some rough spots, and I need to do a more thorough pressure wash around the bottom.

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I need to get out the ladder and repress the clematis, otherwise it will grow inside the eaves and between the eavestrough and the roof itself.

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Of the Day

Driftwood (NZ)

Driftwood (BC)

Flower

Yukon

Celina, once again playing hard to get for the camera.

Film (new)

Film (old)

State of Garden, part 1

Today you get an overall look at the state of the front and side garden beds. This is very definitely a work in progress. Linda has been working hard, but it's tough sledding, what with the abrupt change in the weather. In a matter of a few weeks we went from hard core winter, to heat wave summer. And really, it's May 20 today, and this weekend is normally considered just barely safe to start putting in outdoor plants.

I walked around to capture some overall views of the various garden beds. We've got a bit of smoke in the air so the light has a bit of yellow haze tinge. They are lightly edited to give an overall impression, as opposed to the portrait quality close ups that regular readers have seen. Stay tuned for part 2, the back gardens tomorrow.

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And iris all tangled up with a rose bush.

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The white peony.

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These two clematis plants were transplanted from our back fence in 2014 (I think) when we renovated the back patio. We weren't sure if they were going to survive, but they seem pretty happy.

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The red peony.

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This pink peony produces amazing huge blooms, and seems to be really happy here. Usually peonies take a long time to get settled in, but not this one.

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One of two tree peonies that Linda planted a couple years ago. The other didn't survive, and this one has been thinking about the whole darned thing since then, barely putting up any shoots. Looks like this will be the year it emerges, and maybe even (gasp!) puts out a bloom.

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Of the Day

Driftwood (NZ)

Which is actually also a serendipity of the peony photo below.

Driftwood (BC)

Flower

Peony

Yukon

The rocks of Miles Canyon.

Film (new)

Film (old)