Solid turnout for this morning’s Alberta Teachers’ Association rally in Edmonton.

Good morning, Edmonton!

Damn it, this one hits *really* hard. Rest in peace, Doc. Thank you for all of your hard work. You’ll be remembered, and missed.

Helena Georgiou

Logan isn’t the unstoppable force that he used to be, but he still loves going after ruffed grouse. He flushed two today, but neither presented a good shot. (I doubt I would have taken them anyway, as the population here has been dwindling due to heavy hunting pressure.) Days like this are PFM*.

Wait, a LOTR remake starring characters from an adaptation of Shakespeare’s Hamlet?

“You see us as you want to see us… In the simplest terms, in the most convenient definitions. But what we found out is that each one of us is a brain, and an athlete, and a basket case, a princess, and a criminal…” (In other words: we all listened to all of these artists.)

It’s a beautiful day for a ride in central Alberta (so no, “beachside” doesn’t refer to an ocean beach).

Hey Albertans, If you’re hoping to get a covid booster this fall, you’ll need to pre-order your vaccine by Sept. 30. You can do so here:

At long last, I’ll now be able to use all of my large-format lenses on both my Toyo 45AII field camera and my Horseman L45 monorail, without swapping lensboards. I bought this Horseman when film cameras were at rock-bottom value; I think I paid $200 for it.

I’m in the workshop, taking a bastard file to a beautifully machined Toyo Field-to-Horseman lensboard adapter. Unfortunately, the radius used for the adapter’s opening was too large to accommodate the raised light trap cast into the back of the Toyo lensboards.

Well, that cracking thunderstorm was a refreshing way to wrap up today’s motorcycle ride. I wish I owned an Insta360 (or similar) camera so all y’all could see just how hard the rain was throwing down - it was like being the target of an infinite bucket brigade.

I don’t know how a song can so perfectly capture the promise of a sunny August morning, but Kenny Garrett’s “Sing a Song of Song” nails it.

I was able to bring my LF camera up onto the Wapta Icefield and Bow Glacier for my recent fieldwork. It's been nearly 20 years since I've exposed any 4x5" sheets of film - far too long! I can't wait to develop and print the small number of images I was able to capture. (Add'l info in alt text.)

Like everyone else in Edmonton, I’m listening to Mark Connolly wrap up his final regular appearance with CBC Edmonton AM. I’ve been fortunate enough to join Mark and the rest of the amazing Edmonton AM crew a few times to talk about icy things. Each time was a real pleasure, and always good fun.

There was a bit of an ostensible corvid re-creation of the classic 1986 film “Stand By Me” in the neighbourhood yesterday morning, as a number of magpie (Pica hudsonia) juveniles were checking out a deceased bird.

I’ve played bass for nearly 40 years. Still, sometimes I get pianist envy - especially when watching Adam Maness’ Open Studio video shorts. Here’s one on cush chords. Just gorgeous:

Okay, this is very cool.

Well, if you can read this...

It’s always good to see my hometown live oaks!

Inversion layers never disappoint when viewed from above.

I’ve just loaded up ten 4x5 film holders, five with Ilford FP4+ (ISO 125), five with Ilford HP5+ (ISO 400). I should probably weigh my camera gear pile, but am working on the principle of “what you don’t know can’t kill you.” I’m pretty sure it’s going to hurt me, however.

Some quick scans (using a Nikon Coolscan 5000ED) of the test roll of Ilford XP2 Super I ran through the 1956 Leica iiif w/Elmar 5cm f/2.8 lens I recently picked up. It did not disappoint! This is not (and won’t be) a film I shoot regularly, but it’s pretty great. Two Bridges.

_______ had those two looking for their __________.

Now I regret disassembling the seismometer I'd been testing in my garage.

what have i done to deserve this ad

Continuing my 4x5 kick, here’s an iPhone picture of a 16” x 20” darkroom print I made in the mid-‘90s. This is the beautiful copper brewing vessel (or mash tun) at San Francisco’s now-defunct Anchor Brewing Company. As you might imagine, this doesn’t do justice to the original silver halide print.

Checking over my 4x5 field camera kit in advance of a trip to Bow Glacier (Banff National Park) next week. As you can see, it doesn’t pack small; nor does it pack light. I’ll be loading up sheets of Ilford HP5+ (ISO 400) and FP4+ (ISO 125) black and white film for the trip. (No colour this time.)

I’m enjoying Steve Kimock’s 2017 album “Satellite City” this evening. The track “Careless Love” is a standout, but then again I’m a sucker for fretless bass.

Heard LLMs called “enterprise-grade Lorem Ipsum”

Getting my large-format images scanned has boosted my interest in shooting colour film. To save money, I’m going to try developing it myself - which requires much tighter control on temperature than does developing B&W film. Looking forward to seeing how this sous vide cooker does in that regard.

There are very few rules in life that I adhere to more strictly than "stop whatever you're doing to revel in Mel Gaynor's end-of-bridge drum fill in 'Don't You Forget About Me.'"

I've received the drum scans from the 4x5 images I took back in 2004 in Antarctica's Dry Valleys. I'll tweak the files a bit before printing, but here's a miniature version of the first of the ~320 megapixel images. Sentinal boulder, Taylor Glacier, Antarctica.

NEW STUDY: A new study “confirms what many riders already know—cycling to work makes you healthier, more productive, and even reduces sick days.” “The most active cyclists chalked up 531 fewer sick days per 100 person-years compared to non-cyclists.” Via @momentummag.bsky.social

Damn.

When you can’t get a GPS signal in your lab or office on campus, you get to configure and test your seismic station from the comfort of your own home.

I’ve finally managed to deliver some E-6 4x5 images that I shot in Antarctica’s Dry Valleys more than 20 years ago to a photo lab for drum scanning. Each of the 4000 dpi scans will yield a 320 megapixel (and ~2GB) image - and I can’t wait to see the results printed in a suitably large format.

Colour me disappointed that this packet of moisture waited until after passing over Edmonton to blow up into a cumulonimbus cloud.

Carrying my beautiful 1963 Nippon Kogaku (a.k.a. Nikon) F 35mm SLR camera today - another great example of “they don’t make ‘em like they used to.” It’s so smooth! It’s wearing a standard (non-metering) prism and a 1960 Nikkor-H 2.8cm f/3.5 lens, and is snug and safe in its leather ever-ready case.

Update: the beautiful house has been demolished.

IYKYK.

It’s a fine day for a motorcycle ride here in central Alberta.

Logan is asking for me to take him on another walk this gorgeous evening, but the Dead’s 5/28/77 rendition of “Brown-Eyed Women” just came on. Logan is going to have to wait for the next six minutes and eleven seconds.

Is this really the world you want your children to live in, and your children's children?

Just saw my first bat of the season flitting around above my back yard.

Worth a watch: Head of Signal, Meredith Whittaker, on so-called "agentic AI" and the difference between how it's described in the marketing and what access and control it would actually require to work as advertised.

Credit where credit is due: @entobiologist.bsky.social‬, @koparjan.bsky.social‬, and @jessicalwarelab.bsky.social‬ have been kind enough to correct my misidentification: this is an Ophiogomphus sp. Also, I'm sad to report that 'Maverick' has decided to go solo.

Edmonton generally gets a bad rap from, well, pretty much everyone - but scenes like this one are pretty easy to find. Even in the very heart of this city of more than a million people.

GO ERNMENT HOUSE

Just spotted this weird-looking cat on campus. I’m going to check to see whether it’s wearing a collar - I’m sure its owner is concerned.