The Calgary Aero Space Museum

Sunday, August 29th 2010

12/26 Usable Exposures

If you haven’t noticed by now,  occasionally flip my lens upward and catch a snap of a plane . This day, I decided to shoot some while they were on the ground….actually these ones have been on the ground for awhile.

I highly recommend museums (ones that permit photography) if you’re in a rut and want to shoot something different and creative. Spare the asa/iso and use flash, you’ll learn more and appreciate the shots that turn out.

Inglewood Bird Sanctuary

Saturday, August 28th 2010

22/26 Usable Exposures

I originally thought that this was going to by much harder than it turned out to be. Because I hadn’t been here before I suspected I wouldn’t see as many birds as I had. Not to say It wasn’t a challenge, it was.

Edworthy Park

Friday, August 27th 2010

34/37 Usable Exposures

A nice day for a walk in the park. When I get there and take my first three shots I discover my light meter is dead. See, when you leave the lens cap off an old analogue camera, it’s like leaving it “on” all the time.

After a quick trip to Walmart we were back. (the shots of the train I took without a working meter, not bad!)

I had an encounter with a massive dragon fly, which you’ll note. I’m surprised he stayed for as long as he did, waiting for me to manually focus. I thought he might have been dead, until he started grooming himself for his debut.

I set the camera down on the tracks, using it as a tripod; I wanted to blur out some locals. What passes in front of my shutter? A man on a unicycle.

Neighbourhood of Bridgeland

Thursday, August 26th 2010

22/24 Usable Exposures

When I photograph a church, I’ve noticed I’m trying to get the entire structure in the frame first, then I work on the details. It’s not always easy getting it all though. The feature photo has me lying in the grass on the curb across the street.

McDougall School Historical Site

Wednesday, August 25th, 2010

22/24 Usable Exposures

I knew at one point (possibly more) I’d want to dedicate an entire roll to a single building/site. I also figured I’d want a day or two where I’m shooting with just my prime lenses. I accomplished both here, using only my 35mm f2, 50mm f1.7 and 200mm f4.

Having nothing between 50 and 200 was my biggest issue, but I dealt by simply moving back or forward if possible and as needed. At one point, I even got into the water, camera around neck (for once) and jeans around my knees, exposing my pale hairy chicken legs to the world.

I wandered inside too, and asked if there were any photo restrictions, holding up my antique of a camera, to which the security guard responded “We don’t normall allow photography but if you want a shot of the flags or something, that’s alright.” A clear advantage of having a little ‘ol film camera is you seem harmless. Had I waltzed in with my Canon EOS 5D and a honking white telephoto things would be different. I didn’t even have to pull the “I’m a descendant of George McDougall card” I had ready in my pocket.

Neighbourhood of Marda Loop

Tuesday, August 24th, 2010

31/37 Usable Exposures

Red Roll Red Roll!! The Ilford XP2 seems to be a staple for my black & whites these days. If anyone else has any personal favourites, I’d love to hear them.

Marda Loop is a favourite I’ve never had the pleasure of visiting. It has that warm feel like Kensington and Inglewood do. Plus a few unique traits of its own. Some of the little antique houses have been converted into shops, something you see a lot more of out east. Plus a few real nice churches.

Marda Loop is where my wife and I picked up our marriage certificate, and where my father lives, so I have find memories, even before my chance to really explore the neighbourhood.

Neighbourhood of Bowness at Night

Monday, August 23rd, 2010

13/36 Usable Images (ouch)

Well, I asked for a challenge and having to purge 2/3′s of my exposures certainly shows I was challenged! Seriously, I’d have been fine, had I not realized as soon as I got out there that I left my trigger and light meter at home.

Armed only with a tripod and the cameras meter I did my best. I had a flash with me, that seemed to help somewhat in determining how far away something was and about what aperture I needed.

At one point we ended up in the park, and there was an older couple feeding some ducks…lots of em, and there was a little natural light, and combined with my flash I got one or two interesting ones.

I’m going to make it a note to practice more with night photography, but for the purpose of this 30 day exercise I may hold off

The Neighbourhood of Kensington

25/26 Usable Exposures

Sunday August 22nd 2010

I get Kensington and Inglewood mixed up all the time. In fact, I almost wrote Inglewood in this blog entry . . twice!

To let you in on a little secret, I’m not the buggest fan of Kodak film. The only thing I really like about it is the price. I had my reservations about this film type, even with my fancy red filter on my lens. Although it’s not the best type for prints, as they’ll print on colour paper and give a bit of a purple look, after I scan them at 16 bit greyscale the result is quite nice . . . not as punchy as the Ilford Xp2 400 but it has its own charm.

Kensington was once one of my old hangs. I frequented the new age shop in my ookie spookie days and admired the architecture. Twelve years later I don’t know that the neighbourhood has the same charm (maybe I’m just older) but I spent this day trying to recapture how I felt back as a teenager.

Fort Calgary

Saturday, August 21st 2010

32/37 Usable Exposures

My wife and I considered having our ceremony here, but you’re not aloud to take anything off the walls and figured the rifles wouldn’t be the best accessory for our decor. I still think I was slightly more into the idea than she was

I made sure to experiment more here, especially since half my shots were using flash. It became a methodical process. Focus on my subject . . . check the distance . . . view the chart on the back of my flash to see what aperture for that distance, compensate by an f-stop for my red filter.

To be honest, I haven’t even touched my digital equipment. I can only imagine it’ll make my life much easier. I believe educating yourself on the basics and experiencing the fundamentals.

That’s why I love the Pentax k1000. It was known as the students camera. Everything is mechanical & manual, except a battery which powers the light meter, a quaint little bar on the right side of my viewfinder.

Another thing: If I could shoot black & white for the rest of this adventure, I would. Even though most of it has been c41 black & white film, I enjoy the end results. I will have some true back & white shots coming up but I have to time it right, as it takes a few days to get the roll back until I submit it on developing day. Paul Stack is an incredible contributor to the film shooting community. There aren’t many places left where you can ensure your work is only touched by professional hands from start to finish. At WalMart, it’s not even hands, it’s a machine. A foolproof, stick this end in here type thing. . . hard to flub that.

On this day, things are still hazy from forest fires, as you’ll see on a few outdoors shots.

The West LRT Project at 9th, 10th and 17th Avenue SW

Friday, August 20th, 2010

25/26 Usable Exposures

Easily my hardest day yet, as I know I couldn’t take all the exposures from the same location to represent the subject matter. In addition to that, we have the smoke of 270 BC forest fires rolling into town, issuing an air quality warning, though most (including myself seem to be ignoring it.

A longer lens would have come in handy today. I’ll admit, most of my shots look like snaps. But that’s why I’m doing this, to throw myself out of my comfort zone. So even though these aren’t my best shots, I learned more here than days where I nailed it. After today I decided I’d start taking more risks with exposure, as I seem to be posting most of the roll, I’m not doing enough experimental stuff.