Planning

For much of the last two years, planning an event was an exercise in futility. The rules could change at any time. The result might be benign, a bit of inconvenience and nothing more. Or maybe the food you bought is going to spoil, or maybe you get stuck in quarantine for a while. Even though we're retired, we don't want to go someplace and have to spend part of it stuck in quarantine.

We are talking about travel plans again. Cautiously. I signed up for a September trip to Yukon. Several plane rides, a helicopter ride, and a boat ride, this is gonna be fun! Most of it is based in Dawson City. Maybe this time I'll get to see the dancers at Diamond Tooth Gerties. Previous trips we've been out shooting the northern lights, or collapsed in bed. Which reminds me, I should start training now, so when trip day 47 rolls around and people are starting to flag, I can still pick up the camera and get that shot.

A friend is getting married this summer, and I'm beginning to flesh out a trip to visit the celebrations by taking the scenic route to Vancouver Island in a rental vehicle. Except rentals are tough to find now, and I've no idea if that situation will improve closer to the date. I've never been to Prince Rupert or along the road to get there, and Haida Gwaii is right there, and a lovely ferry ride along the coast to Port Hardy. Note to self, bring lots of film.

I've been wanting to get out to the east coast to do a fall colours road trip with my buddies there. I've been saying this for several years now. I used to live in Ontario, and still miss the rich colours. Southern Alberta is awash with golds and yellows and oranges, but red is rare. Plus Nova Scotia in general is amazing.

In more local news, I'm hoping I can do a Foothills road trip this week with a stop in Longview to pick up my camera and more film.

On the project front, now that people are willing to meet face to face, and actually see those faces, I want to restart the 50/50/50 portraits project. And the hands project. I'm not sure how or if the film camera will come into these.

How much of that will happen? Stay tuned.

Of the Day

Driftwood

Peony

Lily

A slightly different view of these dark lilies. I think they're called Nightrider. The lily supply is running low, there's a pink one for the next blog, about a dozen white ones, and that's it. Enjoy while they last.

Film (35mm)

This is the last of the Inglewood walk back in February. Next up are some 6x9 photos that didn't quite make the cut for this post.

Is it over?

COVID. Our provincial governments certainly seem to think so. Most people I see around seem to think so. I wore a mask into Coop the other day. There were a few other people doing so, but not many. And one of them at least, I've seen her every now and then over a period of many years, wearing a mask and white cotton gloves. Nobody at the pool is wearing a mask. I think on public transit we're supposed to be wearing mask. But then, I haven't taken public transit in more than two years, and don't anticipate doing so any time soon.

And yet there's still more than a thousand people in hospital with COVID, and six more died yesterday. According to CBC 3,992 Albertans have died from COVID. For a while they were including a comparison between normal hospital capacity, and the so-called surge capacity, but I can't find it now. I believe normal capacity was about 1100 or 1200. Every bed taken up by a COVID patient is one denied to someone else who needs hospital care, like ongoing cancer treatments, or heart attack/stroke victims, just to name a few examples. There's lots more.

When the restrictions were lifted I was looking for the hospitalizations to start picking up again about now, and so far it hasn't happened. So far. I am cautiously hopeful.

So where do we go from here? Supply chains are snarled from hell to breakfast. Nobody knows if a particular thing will be available, or how long it will take to get it delivered. Rental cars are hard to find, who knew? Even the new car market is messed up. Every week we get an email from one of the Honda dealers wanted to buy our car. The latest offer was 110% of book value. Turns out the Fit isn't being made and it's really popular. Which raises the question of why we'd sell it.

International air travel is still a bit of a gong show, with nobody quite knowing what the rules are, or what they will be. New Zealand is still closed to tourists.

Plus the whole working from home thing. It sounds like people are supposed to go back to the office, and from the little I hear, that's a deal killer for some people. They like working from home. It gives them lots of flexibility. Others like going into the office for whatever reason. Maybe they're social butterflies, or are in a job where it's best done face to face. Or maybe the boss is a control freak and want's the workers under their thumb. I feel for the people that bought a house out in the boonies because they thought WFH would last forever.

Pandemics have a way of changing the game. The Black Death brought an end to feudalism. Spanish Flu changed how health care is delivered. It's a pretty safe bet that things will change this time to. Best be prepared. 

Of the Day

Driftwood

Peony

Same plant, just different light. Neither is quite right.

Lily

But first an artsy serendipity.

Film (35mm) From a walk in Inglewood.

The people of the S Alberta road trip

Last August Neil and an amiable group of photographers headed south for a several day road trip. I've blogged about parts of it before, look here for an overview. For me one of the fun parts of such trips is catching photos of my fellow travellers as they do their thing. Neil takes us to interesting places and interesting things, but sometimes the people are the interesting bit. With one exception, none of these are posed shots; they are all taken on the fly, no do-overs. And yes, given that everyone else has cameras I'm probably in some of their shots.

I'm sure looking forward to taking more of these. Neil does a great job organizing them, and even on trips that cover similar ground there will be new things to see. The last two years have been brutal on everybody, what with not being able to make firm plans. All too often events have had to be cancelled at nearly the last moment. Now that we can go, he is having trouble rounding up the appropriate vehicle.

As an aside, it's going to take a long time for supply chains to get over this disruption. We're used to being able to order something and have it delivered next day, or within a couple days. Even if it hadn't been made yet and has to come from China. There was no slack in the system, and as soon as some of the links are broken or delayed, the delays ripple out. Remember that ship that got stuck in the Suez Canal? That was just the beginning.

1.

One of the things photographers are not supposed to do is 'chimping'. That is, taking a photo and then looking at the back of the camera saying 'ooh, ooh!'. Except we all do it. Every single one of us and if you say you don't you're a liar. Unless you've put tape over the camera view screen. Even people shooting film will look at the back of the camera after a shot. I'm not sure what Bart has here, but Ann is interested.

2.

Reading the info on the Sundial Medicine Wheel before walking up the hill. 

3.

Monica is the subject here, but until today I'd never noticed Neil giving me a bit of side-eye.

4.

A buddy of Neil's showed up at the full moon rise over Cottonwood Park in Medicine Hat. This is the closest thing to an actual portrait photo in this series.

5.

I still don't know what was so interesting about that sign.

6.

Neil and many other people have a thing about trains. We pulled into a side road to catch this train rumbling past the grain elevators north of Warner, I think. It was near a facility unloading those giant windmill blades.

7.

Getting ready for our tour of Writing on Stone park. It was pretty amazing, even if many of my photos of the actual stone were kind of disappointing.

8.

9. One of our guides telling the story.

10.

Neil and I had been wandering through the hoodoos together. This is the posed shot, and no, I didn't do anything in processing to create that halo. It's just there.

11.

Another of our guides. 

12.

The herd trudging up the hill back to the van.

13.

Ann working on a shot out the window as the van is zooming to the next place. This was a bit of surprise to us all, that photos taken this way could be so good. Just to save you the math, a vehicle moving at 100 Kph moves about 7 mm in 1/4000 of a second. Not going to see much motion blur from that. The bigger question is how clean are the windows.

14.

Birds of prey sanctuary. All of us are fascinated by George the owl.

15.

Coffee and lunch along the way. It was windy. I think this is Champion, and I can't remember how many toilet paper rolls were assigned to the washroom in the background. Yes, this is a subject of discussion along the way. Some people think that Neil knows where every public washroom is along a trip route. Sometimes that's really important.

16. Heather, someplace.

Of the Day

Driftwood

Peony

Lily

Film (35mm) During a walk in Inglewood.

A foggy frost walk in the garden

 If you haven't been keeping up with the story, check here for part one. Once back from a wander around the neighbourhood I checked out our own garden. I was surprised to find some of the ground a bit soft and squishy. Once again the rose hips did not cooperate. For some reason I have a tough time getting rose hips in focus.

It's still frosty and a bit foggy this morning. I was looking out the front window while doing obligatory morning cat worship, thinking that the one tree would make a nice photo. The problem being that I'd have to either shoot through filthy glass, or mount the tripod on a stepladder outside. In the end I just enjoyed the view.

Much as I enjoy taking and editing photos, sometimes I know the camera won't see what my brain sees, and I just enjoy it. One of the reminders given to us on photo tours is to enjoy the view with our eyes. We'll remember it better. If you only look at the sights through the view finder, you'll only remember the photo of the view, not the view itself.

1. The back yard garden. It's even snowier now. 

2. Lattice decoration.

3. Decorative grass.

4. A peony leaf.

5. A rose leaf.

6. Another.

7. And another.

8. Part of the seasonal decorations. I don't know if it's a real thing or a made thing.

9. Clematis.

10. More of the grass.

Of the Day

Driftwood

Peony

Lily, but first a serendipity from Nov 2016.

Film (35mm) From a walk in Inglewood with buddies, liking how the light was playing on the building, but thinking the image doesn't quiet capture what I was seeing.

Two foggy frosty walks

We don't get a lot of fog in Calgary. It can make for interesting and evocative photos. A buddy of mine did several of an LRT station shrouded in fog and the result was wonderful. It took a utilitarian concrete structure and made it beautiful.

On Tuesday I was driving downtown to meet up with some photo buddies for a film ramble. There were patches of fog, but it was rapidly clearing. By the time I got parked downtown it was essentially gone. From there the day got progressively brighter. This was all film for me, so watch for it on my photoblog page.

I was driving home from a community association meeting on Tuesday night, loving how the fog, streetlights, and trees interacted. Once home I grabbed the camera gear and headed out again. For a while I thought I'd missed my chance, then the fog rolled in again. I scurried from place to place, sometimes having to wait as the fog lifted or blew again, then came back again.

1. This is the one that caught my eye.

2.

3.

Then Wednesday I was trying to figure out a walk to capture the frost on the trees. What made it tricky is that often the frost was only on the east half of the trees, with a white sky, white ground, and some white fog obscuring houses and other background dark things that would provide contrast. Here's what I came up with, in two parts. Today is out and about, next time is in our garden. I was carrying both digital and 35mm film, and there were several cases where I was wishing I'd brought different lenses.

4.

5.

6.

7. I was loving the light on this tree. I've walked past it lots, and never really noticed it. Pity about all the fencing in the background.

8. Pity about not having the 70-200 lens to hand.

9.

Of the Day

Driftwood

Peony

Lily

Film (35m) A walk in Weaselhead park with Sean.