Working Close to Home

Ostrander Point

The world seems a little smaller these days. We are adjusting to our new reality. Sometimes limits can enhance creativity. Keith Richards once said about open G tuning on his 5-string Telecaster – “5 strings, 3 notes, 2 hands and 1 asshole”. One of the first songs he used this tuning on is the brilliant “Street Fighting Man” from Beggars Banquet. Limits sometimes create a box that forces you to work differently.

I love reducing images to black and white or at least monotone. About 7 years ago, I started using an aging process to “rough up” my images.

Old Shed

Vegetable Stand in the County

This process starts with a colour image. I convert it to black and white and add layers of texture and blur parts of the image. The result is a photo that looks damaged and worn.

Old Trucks

Nude in Nature

Sometimes I will leave a bit of colour.

Red Doors, Yellow Flowers

The resulting images become more of an illustration than photograph.

Tree in the Fog

Engine 1095, Kingston, ON

Steam Engine

With all that is going on in the world, I find I’m escaping into my own world of creativity. The world around us is as big as we make it, even if we are confined.

Endangered

Three endangered species, 2 days, one flat tire. We spent 4 days in southern Saskatchewan.

Old Church Saskatchewan

We camped for 2 nights in Val Marie. Grasslands National Park is nearby and a wonderful place for photography.

Grasslands National Park, Saskatchewan

We sat by the Prairie Dog Town looking for Burrowing Owls. We could spot up to 5 at any given time. Looked like 2 adults and 3 young. They kept to the far back of the dog town. I spotted an adult on a rock and drove down to get as close as I could. Still too far away. Sat for another 30 min. It finally flew to a closer rock and I was able to get a descent shot in nice light.

Burrowing Owl

I have always had trouble photographing Loggerhead Shrikes. Never seem to get them to stay put. I started seeing them at the road-side as we drove into south Saskatchewan. Tried several times to get a shot. They would always fly away just as I picked up the camera. Finally one stayed long enough for a few shots. Not the nicest scene but, it’s the best one I have so far. Just have to keep trying.

Loggerhead Shrike

As we drove out of Val Marie, the van indicated a low tire. We pulled off the road. I could hear the air leaking from the rear passenger side. We pack a full size spare so we changed the tire and drove on. We passed a rattlesnake in the middle of the road. I was careful not to hit it. Unfortunately, someone had already run it over. It was still moving so it had just happened. Sad to see it like that.

Prairie Rattlesnake

We will head west to Waterton National Park, Alberta next.

Projects

I have been putting off a few projects, letting them percolate and fester until the itch to finish them is too great to ignore. Often I put something off because I don't know where it is going yet. I don't know how to finish some projects or even if they can ever be complete. Recently I started playing with old images making them look even older. When I was trying to find a term for this process Lori suggested "Antiqued," the process of aging and weathering something to look old. That fit perfectly.

Old Trucks (antiqued) - Click for larger

Once I started this process I realized I could use it to complete two projects still on my back burner: Nudes in Nature and Abandoned.

Nude with Canoe (antiqued) - Click for larger

The "Antiqued" process made me think of a Dolly Parton quote, "It costs a lot money to look this cheap." I have spent my entire photographic career trying to make perfect images. That is the goal: sharp, well-exposed, clean and beautiful images. So the process of messing them up was a definite change of direction: perfect for a fine art project. But the project will not really be complete until I get the images out there somehow. I could do another gallery show but I don't think I'm up to that right now. It's so much work. Instead, I'm thinking of producing these series as posters. Let me know what you think.

Abandoned Poster - Click for larger

Nude with Canoe (antiqued) - Click for larger

One Million Kilometers

Road Across Reed Lake - Click for larger

That's how many I figure we have driven so far in our lives. If you calculate mileage for the average vehicle we've driven, it costs about $10 for every 100 kilometers for gas. So let's do the math... that's $100,000 spent in gas. I have spent another $100,000 or so for the purchase of the vehicles. Add in the service, insurance and upkeep and we are probably looking at $250,000 so far. How about the cost of flying, ferries, train rides etc?

Old Truck - Click for larger

It costs a lot to travel. Time, money and wear and tear on your body add up over the years.

We make our decisions about how we travel based on costs and practicality. Could we afford an RV or a truck camper?

RV at Summit Lake - Click for larger

Yes we probably could. Would we be more comfortable with something like this? Of course we would. But it would triple the fuel used. All this weighs heavy on my mind. I don’t know a better way to do what I do: making photographic images of Canada. We drive and camp in a van sacrificing a bit of comfort for the sake of gas mileage. But is that enough? I love to visit the wild out of the way places we find in Canada. I wonder though at the impact we are having on the earth. My images, so I’m told, encourage and inspire people to travel.

Highway 60 - Click for larger

But do my images inspire them to preserve and protect the environment? We all want to have our cake and eat it too. I hope someday soon there will be a solar powered 4X4 pickup truck capable of hauling a camper while rolling down the highway at 120 kph. Until then we will need to make the best choices we can.

Muncho Lake Campsite - Click for larger

So what else can we do? My vegan friends tell me that reducing the amount of meat I eat will reduce my negative effect on the environment much more than driving less. But after giving up meat for a few years I found myself craving steak. I don’t want to eliminate meat altogether again but certainly could cut back.

Cattle - Click for larger

We have made changes at home. Our new high efficiency furnace uses much less natural gas and with a tankless water heater we only heat water when we need it. New widows in the basement and second floor have also improved the energy efficiency of our house.

Abandoned House - Click for larger

Maybe we should go back to travelling by bike. I could get a trailer to carry the camera gear although it might be tough on mountain roads.

Nanjing, China Street - Click for larger

We will continue to travel and work. It’s what we do. At the same time, we need to find new more efficient ways to get to where we need to go.

Change

Old abandoned house in Ontario - Click for larger

I guess I think too much. Sometimes it keeps me awake at night. Not because I’m unhappy and full of angst but because of all the possibilities in my life. They are endless and I find that exciting. But if you listen to the news, you will think our society and way of life is in decay. Fear is such a powerful way to control a human mind. If we listen to just one side of things we will make conclusions such as crime is rampant and the murder rate is skyrocketing in our society. I don’t think that’s the case. In fact statistics show crime has been declining overall in Canada over the last decade. So why are we so afraid? When some people experience change, they feel negative about it. They want the world to stay just as they perceive it for all time to come. I like to think that change is all we really have. I came across a quote recently. It ties in well with something I have been working on.

"The most important question you'll ever ask is whether the Universe is a friendly place."

Albert Einstein

I think, how you answer the above question influences your overall outlook and affects how you embrace change. The project I'm working on is called Decay. It is about old abandoned places that are on their last legs.

Haunted House - Click for larger

When photographing these sites, I hear the voices and sounds of the past: a screen door slamming; a kid running out to hop on a bike; workers coming and going over the years to work and earn a living. They are places and things that represent our history.

Old Truck - Click for larger

They are in decay. They will soon be gone. With every fallen building or forest fire, there is first decay and then renewal. Change. It’s all we have. It’s all we are. Enjoy it.

Abandoned House and Canola - Click for larger