Eric G. Rose – Where It's At

Crossfield Store

Not very far from Calgary, a city of over 1 million, is the quiet town of Crossfield.  Crossfield has a population of 2861 according to their official website.  Two weeks ago the population jumped by 3 as my wife and I plus one of my photo buddies Mark Bingham ventured out to enjoy this sleepy little town.

One of the things that strikes me about these small prairie towns is the quality of light.  For some reason it seems brighter and clearer than in Calgary.  This is probably true since they don’t have the pollution we suffer on a daily basis in Calgary.  I think I read somewhere Calgary is the asthma capital of North America.

Part of this clarity renders white buildings, very white and very bright.  This combined with a deep dark blue sky offers the photographer some wonderful contrasts to play with.  A person might be tempted to add a polarizer to enhance this even further.  This would be a mistake in my opinion, at least for the subject pictured above.

It’s hard to find a building in one of these towns without a half ton truck parked out front.  Since these rural residents enjoy their open spaces and it seems they don’t like to park next to each other as well.  Hence the vehicles are very well spaced down the street.  You can’t be in a rush either.  Chances are a car or truck will pull up right in front of you blocking what you are trying to photograph.  The curious passengers will either just look at you in amazement trying to figure out what you find so interesting or will actually ask you.  What a refreshing change from the city where I have had things thrown at me while photographing along busy streets.

One more thing I enjoy about these small towns are the young bucks cruising up and down the main drag, in first gear, punched out mufflers announcing their impending entrance to every young gal in town.  Reminds me of my youth in Calgary.  We use to disconnect our mufflers, or for the better off buy Thrush Mufflers, and cruise the “circuit” downtown.  Pink slip racing was the order of the day.  If you pulled up beside a Hemi Barracuda or Duster 6 Pack you knew you would be eating dust.  I use to have a 1967 Belair station wagon.  Real chick magnet!  Not.  Until I lit up the backend and took out one of those Mopar muscle cars.  Yup my wagon was a sleeper.  The 327 was totally blueprinted, all kinds of extra goodies added to the motor and cranked out over 430 hp.  I would go through two automatic transmissions a year.  It just tore them apart.  Back in those days we didn’t worry about gas mileage.  I suspect this baby got in the single digits.

Those were the days.  Road Runners, Chargers, Barracudas, GTO’s, Da Judge, Firebirds and the Camero.  Corvettes were for sissies or old guys with bad hair pieces and heavy jewelery.

I took my Linhof Technica IV out to Crossfield in addition to my Nikon D700.  Had a lot of fun setting up my shots with the Tekinator. Metering, adjusting swings and rise all those activities that allow you to drop into the “Zone”.  Apologies to Ansel for using his great system as a pun.

I made two film images that day.  Both ruined by a bad film holder.  The image above was shot as a backup with my D700.  Lucky I did.  Will this discourage me from using my LF gear in the future.  Not in your life.  It’s only a little bit about creating images and a lot about soothing my soul.  I find film photography to be very relaxing.  I love the pace, the contemplation, the excitement over getting it all right.  I still get excited about seeing my negatives for the first time after a bath in the fixer.  Watching the image emerge in the developer when printing brings me right back to working along side my dad in the darkroom.  It also reminds me of my newspaper days, teaching darkroom technique to people who themselves are seeing their images come up for the first time.  All this is missing from the run and gun digital photography most people practice.

I will be increasing the population of Crossfield by one once again in the near future.  I still want those images on film.  Digital is nice but for me at least it has no soul.

No not the TV show.  Although if Alec Baldwin wanted to hang out with me for an afternoon I am sure we could have a great time.  He could tell me all about Kim Basinger.  I still can’t get that kitchen scene from 9 1/2 weeks out of my mind.  Bad Eric!  Hey that’s why they call me BadDog!  That’s my web design company BadDog Marketing.

No the real reason I am writing this blob is to show you my “office”.  Not the one I have at home but the one I spend my afternoons at.

View from my "office" desk.

When people are looking for me and I have my phone off (yes I am ignoring you) while doing some heavy duty coding or Photoshop work they usually pop into my “office” looking for me.  Chance are they will find me.  This alternate office is at The Good Earth Cafe – Creekside, Calgary AB.  It is run by the nicest family you could ever meet.  It’s a true mom and pops establishment.  They even have a daughter and son-inlaw as partners.

Over the past several months I have made so many friends here.  People even trust me to look after their babies!  I guess it’s because I am a grandpa and probably look like one.  I have met other geeks and we trade industry news and gossip.  Even help each other out with a sticky bit of code if possible.

During Christmas I organized a Christmas carol evening here at the office.  My wife an accomplished pianist, my buddy Herb Huber an amazing guitarist played for several hours.  We handed out song books and packed the place out.  Check out Herb’s website for inspirational guitar stuff.  He teaches as well.

As I write this I am at my “office” enjoying the chatter of mothers trading diaper stories, couples laughing at things they only know, and workmen coming in out of the cold for a nice warm coffee.  The food here is terrific as well.  Yummy sweet stuff and steaming soups.

Good Earth Cafe Creekside Motorcyle School vists.

A large group of motorcycle riding students just walked in.  Since it’s hovering around zero here (yes it is April, geez) and they have these safety vests on with big L’s on the back.  Not sure if that stands for learner or loser.  I shouldn’t be so mean.  Someday I will probably have to take a course from these guys if I want to start riding again.  From what I understand they drop in several times a week with their students which is great business for the cafe.  God knows they need it.  Business is down for everyone these days.  I was in the back room of a big box store the other day and noticed their sales numbers were down from 17 to 23 percent over last year depending on department.  People are wisely paying down their debt rather than pumping up their entertainment spending.

It’s funny how many of my friends are envious of my ability to work anywhere there is an internet connection.  It could be at home, here at the “office”, or on a beach in Hawaii.  Years ago an old buddy of mine and I fantasized about buying a diveshop on some beautiful beach in the South Pacific.  Now I can have all the benefits of hanging on the beach without the hassle of running a business catering to tourists.  Yuk!!

Soon I will be off to Turkey for three weeks.  My wife and I will be traveling with Dave and Lori-Lynn Brookwell.  Dave and Loo-Loo are both professional photographers who run Illusions Studio and Design here in Calgary.  I’m biased but I feel they do the best work in town.

Maybe I will open an “office” in Istanbul, somewhere with a view of the Bosporus, sipping Turkish tea, watching the gals stroll by……..

Yesterday Erna and I joined our good friends Dave and Laurie Lynn Brookwell (owners of Illusions Photographic) on a hike to Helen Lake.  Why this lake is named after this Helen person is a good question.  Maybe someone can illuminate us.

The day started off with a 7am pickup of the Brookwells followed by a 2.5 hour drive.  Getting to the parking lot to begin the hike was the easy part,  just go west on the Number One, turn north onto the 93 at Lake Louise and continue on for 32kms.

Upon entering the parking lot I was a bit disheartened to see so many cars.  I can remember the days when I would be hiking the back country by Lake Louise and might see two people all day.  Given the number of cars I estimated there had to be at least 100 people on the trail.  Since there were reports of bears in the area I guess having company on the trail might be a good thing.  Especially those doofus’s that insist on wearing those bear dinner bells.

The hike is 12kms taking you on an elevation gain of 1800 feet.  Within mere steps from the beginning the trail pitch was rather steep.  Between gasps for the ever thinning air, views across the valley to Crowfoot Glacier were spectacular.  Now I have to admit I’m not in the best shape these days.  Hey I’ve been trying, going to the gym when I can, passing up ice cream once in awhile and thinking real hard about jogging.  Well, it’s a start.  This said I figured that on this hike I better not take the 4×5.  Not even the D700 or the Leica.  No it will be the Canon Powershot A640 that gets called up.

I’ve always like the A640.  When it was the latest and greatest I recommended it to my photography students if a solid P&S was what they were looking for.  Funny thing was I never got around to buying one myself.  This situation was remedied when I spotted one in a pawn shop for $98.  I eventually walked out of there with the camera for $50.  It certainly had seen some miles in it’s short life but everything worked.  The optics are great, the 10M byte images sharp and clean.  All this in a very small and light package.  Perfect for this hike.

During this hike we were treated to bright sunny warm conditions, blustery cold winds, and to finish the day off, snow.  Fortunately all the good weather was during the assent.  Below you will find some of the images I came away with using the A640.  Not bad for an out of date, bruised, battered last years technology picture maker.  Oh ya the camera did fine too.

Corn Lilies

More Corn Lilies

Rebirth

Helen Creek

Laurie Lynn by Lake Helen

One Last Corn Lily

These web images do not do the A640 justice.  I could easily make tack sharp 11×14 prints from the JPG files the camera generates.  Now I will let you in on a little secret. Canon doesn’t want you to know this but you can get 12M byte RAW files from the A640.  Yes RAW files.  There is a lot this little camera will do but you will never know unless you  download a little firmware package called CHDK.  Do a quick google search and you will find it.  You can not only upgrade your camera to give you RAW files but you can now see histograms and a very useful battery strength indicator.  Why doesn’t Canon build this functionality into the Powershot right from the factory?

My sweetie and I took a trip to The Black Hills in South Dakota with a visit to Yellowstone National Park on the way home.  The trip had a two fold objective, one to photograph some of the most beautiful landscape in North America and secondly to show Erna my old stomping grounds in the Black Hills.

From birth until the age of 19 I spent all my summers and any other time the family could get away in the Black Hills.  My uncle and aunt built a cabin and named it the Antlers.  One of my uncles businesses was guiding hunters and fishermen.  Many famous people stayed at the “cabin” including one US President.

I learned to walk, shoot, fish, hunt, track, survival, haul/split wood and how to enjoy silence.  My first adventures in photography began in the Black Hills as well.

This photo of me taking my first steps in the front yard of the cabin was taken by my father with a Rolleiflex TLR.  I now have that camera and use it fairly regularly.

Back in the 60’s my father took me out and taught me how to shoot a single shot Winchester Model 67 .22 caliber rifle.  Up until I could pull the cocking mechanism back myself I was not allowed to touch the rifle.  Once I had enough strength in my fingers and hands to cock this rifle, that was the turning point, it was one step closer to manhood in my young eyes.  These first shots at tin cans went on to become a love of target shooting and eventually earning a place on the Canadian National Rifle Team.  I also set records in the US during competitions I attended there.  Yes I was a member of the NRA and am considered a Life Time Master in smallbore prone shooting.

The closest town, if you want to call it that, to the cabin is Rochford.

This little mining town grew to over a 1000 in the mid 1800’s but by the 1885 it was all but a ghost town.  My earliest memories of Rochford were some old shacks, what was left of the stamping mill and a corner store and a bar.  There were a few folks still living there as well as a few ranchers in the area.  Every time I came to the little corner store the owners made me feel special and always remembered my name.  I have no idea what happened to them.  Today it’s a private home across the street from a tourist type store.  The owner of the curio shop told me the store went out of business about 10 years ago.

This trip down memory lane was an emotional one for me.  Remembering all the good times with family and friends and how it will never happen again.  Both of my parents have passed on, my aunt and uncle passed on but before my aunt died she sold the cabin to strangers.  I wish I could have shared this special place with my children when they were growing up.

Once we finished touring the Black Hills it was off to Yellowstone.  The weather was inclement for most of our trip and this portion was no different.  Rain, snow and low clouds greeted us in Yellowstone.  Once there and setup it was off to the geysers and thermal hot springs.  Old Faithful still does his thing every 90 minutes + or – 10 minutes.  While not the most spectacular or frequent geyser in Yellowstone, Old Faithful is the most famous.  The park service has setup an expansive viewing area which is easily accessible.  I have to admit I was quite under whelmed by the rest of the attractions in Yellowstone.  Understandably it is a geological wonder and as such is breath taking in many respects, but and this is a big but, the opportunities to get anything beyond the average tourist shots is almost impossible.  For the visitors safety everyone is confined to boardwalks.  This hamstrings the photographer looking for something out of the ordinary.  Many of the shots you see in books and government publications have been taken either by helicopter or with special permission to get off the boardwalk.  Many of the more colourful water features have either dried up or have turned murky. Some of this is just due to the natural ebb and flow of the hot springs but increasingly this problem is caused by careless humans throwing garbage or coins into the pools.

Erna got some excellent shots of the Bison and a baby Antelope using her 300mm f2.8 L series lens attached to her Canon Rebel XTi.   Check out her website at www.ernasplace.com .

On this latest trek I took my newly purchased Nikon D700 full frame DSLR.  For some time I have been using a Nikon D70s for my colour work.  I have used the D70s to make stunning 11×14 colour prints.  It may only be 6 Mega pixels, but I found that a well exposed image from this camera was technically very good.  The only thing that was a short coming in my eyes was the 1.5 crop factor.  I shoot a lot of wide angle images and this camera turned my wonderful Sigma 17mm lens into a 25.5mm lens.  Not wide enough.  On the other end of the spectrum it made my 300mm a 450mm which for wildlife photography would be a bonus.  The only problem is I can count the number of animal pictures I have taken in the past 30 years without taking off my shoes.  In the middle range my Nikkor 60mm AF macro lens becomes a great portrait lens.  If it’s a little too sharp this can be taken care of with Adobe Photoshop or Lightroom.  I use both programs and couldn’t live without them.

The Nikon D700 is a very well built camera, right up there with my Nikon F5.  I considered the Nikon D3 because it had some added features that appealed to me.  In the end the flip up flash on the D700 clenched it.  I use the flip up flash built into my D70s a lot for outdoor portraits.  It’s perfect for taking out the shadows under chins and eyebrows.  If I need more flash horsepower I us my Nikon SB 600.

The Nikon D700 was purchased from KEH.com.  Over the years I have purchased both cameras and lenses from them.  In every instance they have exceeded my expectations in both service and quality of product.  I highly recommend them.  Over the past couple of years I have become very wary of auction sites.  Seems there are an every increasing number of bad transactions taking place if complaints on photo forums I frequent are any indication.

Since I have been a Nikon guy ever since my newspaper days I have quite a collection of old Nikkor lenses.  These old warriors are tack sharp and just as contrasty as they day I purchased them.  Using them on the D70s was a bit changing as it did not have an AI coupling ring.  It was still worth the effort to use them because being the old Scotsman I am I refuse to spend money on newer AF lenses if I already have that focal length in an old lens.  I can usually estimate my exposure to within ¾’rs of a stop so a quick review of the histogram allows me to zero in very quickly.  The D700 has an AI coupling ring so metering is dead easy.  Some of my really old lenses are pre AI so I will have to convert them.  I’m not a big fan of auto everything so shooting this way is not a hindrance for me.  My digital cameras are usually on manual mode and non AF even if the lens has that ability.

For black and white I took my Leica M5, 50mm Summicron, 90mm Summicron and 35mm Voigtlander Color Skopar. I just love the M5.  A true shooters camera.  The film of choice is Ilford FP4 processed in PyroCat-HD.  A fellow sent me a 100 ft. roll of Tmax 100 and I’m looking forward to trying it out.  But in all honesty I love Ilford products and want to support a company that is actively supporting film photographers.

Check out my Yellowstone and Black Hills gallery for my keepers from this trip.