The Urban Refugee

Fidelity is for marriages, not photographs.

Attention visiting bloggers: If you want to turn me off of your blog and send me elsewhere, here are some ideas for you…

1. Stick Google Ads everywhere.

2. Fill your front page with embedded YouTube videos instead of original content.

3. Regurgitate mainstream news items with your own boring commentary added.

4. “Go pro” (e.g. Steve Janke and Heather Armstrong - both whores now, IMO).

5. Confuse their/there/they’re and its/it’s. Learn fucking English already, okay?

As you were.

I’m gratified to see that out of all the visitors to digiteyesed.com in March, nearly twice as many were using Firefox than were using Internet Explorer. Let’s hope the trend continues.

I’ve spent the last few weeks developing an antique photo action for Photoshop. My goal is to give portraits a vintage appearance. I figure if people are willing to shell out extra dosh for a “distressed” coffee table then I can probably get them to pony up more moola for virtually aged photograph. That’s the goal, anyhow.

You’ll notice that there’s some blotching in the solid areas of the images — this is intentional. I’ve been playing with the mezzotint function in Photoshop to give the pictures the look of an improperly stored and aging photograph. I’ve had mixed feedback on it so far.

• Veteran Shell Station (11 of 13)
• Veteran Shell Station (12 of 13)
• Veteran Shell Station (13 of 13)
• Cattle Pasture North of Cereal
• Row of Bales
• Antique Clouds (1 of 2)
• Antique Clouds (2 of 2)
• Antique Landscape
• Stubble In The Sky
• Speedo
• Mirror, mirror…
• Pontiac Grill

Feedback would be greatly appreciated.

This old Shell service station in Veteran (long since closed), is, to my mind at least, one of the most beautiful buildings in the Neutral Hills area. The fact that it sits unused borders on high crime. I would love to turn it into an art gallery and tea house. Of course, it would only last for a couple of months until I went bankrupt. Like I said, the building is in Veteran (home of the Blue Cat Cafe), another little hamlet that is slowly sliding into obscurity.

It’s a shame the building can’t be moved.

• Veteran Shell Station (1 of 13)
• Veteran Shell Station (2 of 13)
• Veteran Shell Station (3 of 13)
• Veteran Shell Station (4 of 13)
• Veteran Shell Station (5 of 13)
• Veteran Shell Station (6 of 13)
• Veteran Shell Station (7 of 13)
• Veteran Shell Station (8 of 13)
• Veteran Shell Station (9 of 13)
• Veteran Shell Station (10 of 13)

* Note: three more images added to this set in the next post.

The Snarge Barge and I made a flying trip down to Oyen yesterday to pick up more satellite dishes and satmodems from my supplier. The sun was out and the sky was developing some character so it seemed like a good opportunity to make a circuit down Highway 9 from Oyen over to Chinook, and back up Secondary 886 to Consort to nail down some potential images that I’ve been noting during satellite installs in the area.

The highlight of the trip for me was the old Wayside Auto Repair building in the almost gone hamlet of Chinook. Chinook is mostly empty lots now, but there are a lot of sidewalks that were laid down back in the fifties so you can tell that it was a beehive of activity back in the day. The Wayside building itself used to be a GM dealership at one time (according to a local I encountered). Also of interest: there is apparently a 1922 McCormick-Deering tractor sitting in the back of the shop. Some previous owners drove it in there, took the wheels off, and used it to power the building’s heating. It’s still in there as it was too cumbersome to remove. I didn’t try entering the building as it would have been too dangerous. The roof is at the point where all it will take is a mouse farting to make it fall in.

I wish I could have explored Wayside Auto because it appears interesting enough from the outside. It looks like a squatter was living in one of the rooms at one point from all of the candles and personal effects visible through a window. The last set of owners must have been something to meet in person if all of the little signs visible both on the outside and the inside of the windows are anything to go by.

• Wayside Auto Repair (1 of 12)
• Wayside Auto Repair (2 of 12)
• Wayside Auto Repair (3 of 12)
• Wayside Auto Repair (4 of 12)
• Wayside Auto Repair (5 of 12)
• Wayside Auto Repair (6 of 12)
• Wayside Auto Repair (7 of 12)
• Wayside Auto Repair (8 of 12)
• Wayside Auto Repair (9 of 12)
• Wayside Auto Repair (10 of 12)
• Wayside Auto Repair (11 of 12)
• Wayside Auto Repair (12 of 12)

It’s worth noting that the Wayside building has a twin in the village of Acadia Valley (another 1/2 hour drive to the south) that is in much better shape. I’ve yet to attack that one with a camera.

The character in the sky developed into a really impressive looking storm system that seemed to skirt around Oyen to the northeast. I imagine there are some pretty wet farms in Saskatchewan this morning. Unfortunately, the storm was fast moving and I couldn’t find a vantage point I was happy with. This was the best I could do before the bulk of the storm rampaged into Ratland:

• Storm to the East (1 of 5)
• Storm to the East (2 of 5)
• Storm to the East (3 of 5)
• Storm to the East (4 of 5)
• Storm to the East (5 of 5)

I also managed to squeeze in some more reflection photos. I realize that not all are terribly original, but it just feels good to be using my camera again and I’m going for any shots that I see.

• Clouds Reflected
• Clouds in the Ice (1 of 2)
• Clouds in the Ice (2 of 2)
• Slough Reflection (1 of 2)
• Slough Reflection (2 of 2)

Another highlight of the trip was the Gray Homestead. According to a small plaque on the side it was built in 1913, and it’s primary resident was Marion Edith Dahl (Gray). She was born June 19, 1909 and moved into the area at the age of 3. She passed away on August 7, 2000. Like so many pioneer buildings in this area, the Gray Homestead now sits in the middle of a cattle pasture. The cattle are slowly destroying it by using it as an over-sized back scratcher. Photographing the building is challenging because it literally sits about 12 feet away from a barbed wire fence, right by the side of Secondary 886 just north of Cereal. I had to use my Sigma 12-24 to fit the building in and keep the fence out.

• Gray Homestead (1 of 4)
• Gray Homestead (2 of 4)
• Gray Homestead (3 of 4)
• Gray Homestead (4 of 4)

Here are a few more shots that I’ve been experimenting with. I’m not sure whether I like them enough to keep them in the portfolio. House On The Hillside is one that I’m struggling with. I saw something in the original scene, but it just doesn’t translate over to the final image. The complete lack of colour in the countryside right now doesn’t help, either.

• House On The Hillside
• You Can Never Have Too Many Grass Pictures
• Clouds
• Looking Skyward

And that’s it. We’ll see what today brings.

It’s challenging to revisit an area you’re familar with and manage to come up with some new photos of the same old, same old. It’s even more challenging when you’ve been working the same spot over and over again for nigh on seven years. That being said, I went back to a previous subject — in this case an old grain truck (#1 / #2) — and looked for details that I glossed over before.

Another thing I did differently on this outing was to pre-visualize how I’d post-process the images (most of my on-site previsualization is limited to working around exposure and lighting issues) . I found myself looking at the ignition key on the dashboard of the truck and wishing I had my Holga loaded with some expired film and a large magnifying glass for the closeups. Photoshop being what it is, however, all you really need to imagine is the end result. Faking Holga and Lomo cameras is pretty easy. With that inspiration in mind, I started shooting.

I worried less about technical perfection than I did about capturing an overall feeling (tip of the hat to Gayla Trail here). Sometimes the why is more important than the how when you’re creating an image.

• Exposed Coil Springs In Truck Seat
• Low Gear
• Ford Emblem
• Window Crank Knob
• Ranch
• Ford Truck Floor Pedals
• Cranks
• Ford Truck Ignition
• Bolt On Box Of Old Ford Grain Truck

Now that spring is easing its foot in the door that means plenty of melting ice, runoff, and, of course, reflection shots. I did my best to take advantage of that this afternoon.

• Just A Bit Of Ice Left On The Slough
• Grass In Spring Melt Water
• Slough Grass, Reflected & Submerged
• Trees Reflected (1 of 7)
• Trees Reflected (2 of 7)
• Trees Reflected (3 of 7)
• Trees Reflected (4 of 7)
• Trees Reflected (5 of 7)
• Trees Reflected (6 of 7)
• Trees Reflected (7 of 7)

Last, but not least, are two images that don’t really fit either of the above themes, but which fell out of my camera when I arrived home.

• Farmer Droppings On The Hill Side
• Willows & Ice

• Gussying Up The Yard
• Don’t Over Shoot The Corner
• Old School House In Bodo
• Pontiac Meets Lomo
• Pontiac, Trunk Detail
• Abstract Interior
• Now THAT’S a hood ornament
• Pontiac Hood & Grill
• Underemployed
• Only The Mice Are Left To Tickle The Ivories
• Forlorn FarmHouse
• Abandoned Catholic Church, Holgarized
• Abandoned Catholic Church, Front View

This afternoon it was so warm out that I would have gone for a walk if it weren’t for the fact that sunshine and migraines mix about as well as politics and ethics.

This evening, on the way home from a service call, I was treated to the dual spectre of light snow combined with a frenetic electrical storm. Then it rained. Then I drove through hail so thick that I couldn’t get above 40 kph between Monitor Hill and Deleff’s Hill. Now it’s snowing like a bugger and there’s at least 4 cm on the ground in the yard so far. We’ll probably hit plus ten tomorrow afternoon and the yard will become one ginormous mud bog again.

Bleh.