Big Difference

What a difference two months makes.....  Back in early October the water level on Abraham Lake was at its peak.  At Preachers Point, the water was right up into the trees.  Two months later, in early December and the water level has dropped significantly.  Obvsiously this lake is a reservoir, and the water is slowly released over the winter months, both for flood control and to generate electricity.  Its gotta be at least 20 feet lower than it was the last time I was here.  This is the same grove of aspen trees, almost exactly two months apart.  

Most of the lake remains open, but at Preachers Point, where these snapshots were taken, it is starting to freeze. There was about 3 or 4 inches of ice and the bubbles were starting to form.  Before you know it all the winter tourists... known locally as "Bubblers"... will be heading out to see the annual spectacle.

Hanging Around Nordegg

Ryan and Braeden were out at Nordegg for a couple of days, at the beginning of December.  I came out and joined them, on the afternoon of the day they had to go back home.  After they left, I was on my own for the week.  I'd brought along a bunch of bruised and frozen apples that had fallen off our tree back home.  I left these out for the deer, and they enjoyed them, despite their condition.  Hunting season ended at the end of November, so they will soon be a lot less skittish.

I helped out my neighbor Tom, who volunteers to look after the rink in town every year.  One day we flooded the base that he had started, with 400 gallons of water, hauled in by another neighbor, Wayne.

A day or so later four of us pitched in and cleared a couple of inches of fresh snow off the rink and then gave it a light flood with the garden hose.  Then a day later, Tom and I gave it yet another quick flood.  That evening we put our skates on and rattled around for the first time of the season.  We used scrapers and knocked some of the lumps and ridge off of the ice.  It was still a little soft, because the temperature got up to well above zero that day.

I knew the Nordegg rink was smaller than official NHL size.  Most of the rinks that I play on in the city are official.... 85 feet wide by 200 feet long.  The one at Nordegg is 55 feet wide by 115 feet long.  So only 40% the size by area, 58% by length and 65% by width.  But I get it... most of the time we only get about ten to twelve guys out to play.... and its a lot less work to clear the snow and flood.

I've been battling a bad case of sciatica all week.  I've had mild incidents in the past, but nothing like this.  Its been bad all week, and the pain is constant.  I've been hopping myself up on advil and muscle relaxants, but nothing seems to help much.  I probably overdid things.... between shoveling snow, flooding the rink, climbing around out at the ice bubbles, and then skating, I think I made it worse.  I'm resting it for a day, hoping it improves.

Margarit was going to come out for a few days, but cancelled because the road conditions turned kind of ugly on the 5th.  So I remain out by myself.  My jukebox technician was also going to head over, but he had to postpone as well.  So it is a quiet and relaxing but rather painful few days for me....

BP39.0 - Last Chance Saloon - Rosedeer Hotel - Wayne, Alberta

On Saturday November 22nd we headed over to the Last Chance Saloon.  The saloon is in the Rosedeer Hotel in Wayne, Alberta.  My oldest daughter Hailey and my youngest daughter Helena had driven down the night prior, and they joined Chis and David and myself at the Saloon.

Ever since Chris and I first initiated the Beer Parlour Project, back in 2022, people have been proudly announcing to us that they know of the perfect location.  Over and over and over again we have been told that we MUST visit the Last Chance Saloon.  We have always been reluctant to do so, and put it off for quite some time.  Finally, earlier this year, we decided that we have to get it over with and visit the Saloon, just to put and end to the suggestions.  This was not meant with any disrespect whatsoever to the establishment as it is certainly a glorious old structure with a long history.  The problem is that for much of the year it is overrun with tourists.  Our project is intended to involve meeting with the locals that have grown up with the old hotels and are regular patrons.  There is none of this at the Last Chance Saloon, at least not in the summer months.

So, we decided that it would be good to visit in the off season, before the hotel shuts down for the season, but after most of the tourists are gone.  We were not disappointed.  The owner Paula and her family were wonderful to us, and the most enjoyable and entertaining hosts.  The saloon was not as packed as it is in the summer, but considering it was a cold evening in late November, it was a pretty good turnout.  

I ended up visiting with a few people that I knew.  Lori used to work for Dinosaur Valley Studios and she came out with her husband Al.  Al used to live in Edmonton and went to school with my wife Margarit.  I also visited with Diana and Bouke... neighbors from East Coulee.  There were a bunch of other locals there as well and we enjoyed the evening.  We ended up staying well after closing and visiting with owner Paula and her kids, daughter Marae and son Jhett, as well as Jhett's fiancee Becca.

Tin Toy

This is a scan of another recently processed 4" x 5" negative.  This time, this is a sheet of Ilford FP4+125.  I recently ran a batch of this film on my Jobo Processor in Perceptol Developer, 1:1, for 11:45 minutes, at 24C.

The film was rated at 100 iso.  I shot this old tin toy inside one of the buildings at the Nordegg Historic Site.  Strangely, this building is rumoured to be a former brothel.  I'd been in this building numerous times in the past and never saw the toy.  I suspect some photographer found it somewhere on the site and placed it there...?  But who knows, perhaps it was there all along.

I was on one of my many tours of the mine site when I shot this.  I have permission from the County staff to photograph the site.  I am documenting all the small little details, and keeping a current record of the site, now that it has been abandoned for 70 years.  Some of my prints hang in the Discovery Center in Nordegg.

I took this shot on June 25th at about 4:00 in the afternoon.  Despite the fact that it was nearly the longest day of the year, and the sun was high in the sky, it was very dark in this corner of the building.  I shot with my Ebony view camera and a Fujinon 180mm lens.  The exposure was for 16 seconds at F22.0.  There was no motion to contend with so the long exposure worked just fine.

Grader Controls

This is a scan of a recently processed 4" x 5" negative.  This was from a batch of Ilford HP5+400 that I ran a few weeks ago.  The film was rated at 320iso and developed in 510 Pyro, 1:100, for 7:35 minutes at 24C.  

I shot the controls of this old grader up at the Nordegg Historic Site.  As usual, I was at the site with permission, and continue to document all sorts of details.  This photograph was taken on September 3rd 2025 at about 3:00 in the afternoon.  I used my Ebony view camera and a Fujinon 180mm lens.  The exposure was for 1/4 second at F36.0.

BP38.0 - Carbon Valley Hotel

On the morning of Friday November 21st, after breakfast at Whif's in Drumheller, both Greg and Wes headed home.  Later that afternoon Chris and David and I headed over to Carbon.  Chris and I had scouted here earlier in the summer and introduced ourselves to the owner, Kim.  We promised a return visit, and on this day, that came about.  The place was pretty well attended and we really enjoyed the evening.......

Some Christmas decorations were set up at one end of the Bar.  There were quite a number of locals in attendance.  We interviewed a number of them, and I managed to shoot a few portraits.  It seems there is always someone that says they have lots of stories to tell, and then when you sit down with them they draw a blank and can't think of anything.  Mike started out that way, but once we got him going, the stories just kept coming and coming.  He was most entertaining.

We ended up staying four or fives hours and came away with another great experience.  After we packed up all of our gear and said our goodbyes we made the drive back to East Coulee and crashed at the shop.  But not before staying up late and visiting for a couple of hours, over a few more beers.

David Thompson Country Calendar 2025 - December Image

This is the last of my calendar images for the year 2025.  I recently completed the 2026 version of the David Thompson Country Calendar and it is currently available to purchase at the Beehive Artisan Market in Nordegg.  I understand that a number of them sold during the recent Christmas Market.  This is the image I selected for the December page of my 2025 calendar.  It was taken a number of years ago while walking along the shores of the North Saskatchewan River on the Kootenay Plains.  This area experiences very little snow accumulation during winter months.  As a result it is a haven for wildlife during the cold months of the year.

Almost Forgot - BP37.0

I almost forgot about this one....  This is a shot of my brothers and I, posed in front of one of the murals at the Roadhouse Bed & BBQ at the Rosedale Hotel.  This is Greg on the left, me in the center and Wes on the right.  I can't remember which member of our group took this snapshot for us during the Beer Parlour Project outing in October.

BP37.0 - Roadhouse Bed and BBQ - Rosedale Hotel

We dragged a rather large entourage into the Rosedale Hotel for Episode 37.0 of the Beer Parlour Project.  This included my colleague Chris, my brothers Greg and Wes, and my friend Frank and his wife Chris.  Chris Doering brought along his inlaw David Clarke as a guest photographer.  This ragtaggle entourage joined the collection of locals that were hanging out there.

New owners of the establishment, Dave and April were most hospitable.  We really felt at home, and enjoyed the evening we spent with them.  Kudos to them for re-opening his historical old establishment, after it had been closed for a around a decade.  The locals really seem to have latched on, and support them in their endeavor... as we do.

We met up with one of our followers at this outing.  Ken is an instructor at SAIT in Calgary, but also has a part time residence in nearby Cambria.  We thank him for coming out, and to supporting both us, and more importantly, the Roadhouse.  We hope to reconnect with him and explore some of the mine workings near his residence.

Local resident Todd did a great job entertaining the locals with his music.  I understand that some refer to him not as Todd, but as Toddler.  My brother Wes also took the stage and played a couple of songs.  A great time was had by all.

As we were leaving we saw a poster up at the bar that advertised Monte.... one of the outlaws from the train holdup at Big Valley.  This one featured an image from our previous Beer Parlour Project outing... I think one of Chris'

It was great to get out again on one of our outings.  We have experienced a bit of of a break since our most recent outing at Ferintosh, and it was good to get back into the groove.

December Calendar Image

I post this as I am frantically working on putting together my 2026 calendar.  This is the final image from my 2025 Calendar.  It's hard to believe that this image was taken in December.  It was back in 2023, when I went out on a day trip with my friend Steve and we explored the old abandoned Russian Monastery.  It was an abnormally mild fall and there was no snow, and warm temperatures.... much like this year.

I don't think this poor old piano will hang on much longer.  It was left at the monastery a few years ago, presumably as some sort of offering.  It has fallen into very poor condition suffering through the elements.  Sure makes for a great photo though...!

Apple Tree

I was driving backroads, exploring with my camera, in April of 1999.  I saw this solitary tree out in a field north of Warburg.  So I ended up taking a couple of photographs of it.  In those days I was using a very bulky and heavy Sinar monorail view camera.

This shot was taken on a sheet of Kodak High Speed Infrared film, on April 11th 1999 at about noon.  I used my Sinar camera and a wide Nikkor 75mm lens.  The use of infrared film dictated that I had to use a #25 Red Filter.  The film was processed in Kodak T-Max Developer, 1:6, for 7:00 minutes at 20C.  The exposure was for 1/15 second at F25.0.

Fast forward years later and I learned that this Apple Tree was once in the farm yard of a friend of ours.  Brenda grew up here, until the land was taken over for a coal mine for the Genesee power plant.  We became friends with Brenda and her husband Mike when our daughters ended up in school together.  Hailey and Emily are still friends, over twenty years later.  At the time that I took this photo, the girls weren't even born yet.

Some years ago I framed a large print of this same tree, from a different negative, taken at the same time.  That one hangs at Brenda and Mike's house.  Recently Brenda asked me to make three smaller 8x10 prints of this second negative.  She is going to gift them to her siblings this Christmas.

I managed to finish them up and get them mounted and matted before I took off to Nordegg.  Brenda will pick them up from our house while I am away.

Getting Loaded

My brothers Wes and Greg and I spent the weekend of November 15th and 16th loading up a bunch of woodworking equipment from Mom's shop.  Due to Mom's declining mental health, she will no longer be able to use this stuff.  I brought my little trailer home from Nordegg a few weeks back.  We spent the weekend going through all the tools in the shop and loading this stuff up.  On November 20th we all met in East Coulee and we unloaded it all, and put it away in the shop down there.  It will all stay in the family, we will just have to go to the shop down in East Coulee to use it, whenever the need arises.

After we were done with the unloading, my brothers stayed for the night at the shop.  My colleague Chris from the Beer Parlour Project, and an inlaw of his, met us down there, and they stayed at the shop as well.  We headed over to the Roadhouse in the Rosedale Hotel for something to eat, and also for episode 37 of the Beer Parlour Project.  Frank and Chris joined us there as well, so it was a big crowd.  Later we all headed back over to the shop and played some music and stayed up until the wee hours drinking beer.  Sadly Frank's PA system broke down so we were unable to have the jam session we had hoped for.

Rowley Hospital

This is another shot from the ghost town of Rowley.  I'm told that this building was once the hospital, and then later an apartment.  I'm not sure if that's true, as it seems to be a rather large hospital for a town of this size.

This shot actually belongs to my daughter Helena, who was along on the Monochrome Guild's Fall trip back in October.  I thought she was rather bold to want to go on a five day photo trip with four old guys, all well over 60.  Helena is 17, and despite the age difference, seemed to really enjoy the trip.  The school teachers were on strike at the time and there were no classes, so this afforded her the opportunity for a getaway.

I helped her to set up the camera and meter the scene for this shot, but she came up with composition.  This one was taken on October 20th 2025, at about 5:00 in the evening.  It was a sheet of Ilford FP4+ 125, rated at 100 iso and developed in Perceptol.

Helena used my Ebony view camera and my Fujinon 125mm lens, with no filter.  The exposure that I came up with for her was 1/4 second at F32.0.  There was a road sign right in front of the building that really detracted from the composition.  We managed to pull it out of the ground for the shot, and then put it back afterwards.  No one was the wiser... until now....

Bank

This is another shot from the Monochrome Guild fall trip.  But unlike some of the previously posted images, this one was shot on 4x5 film... not 8x10.  This is the bank building in the tourist/ghost town of Rowley.  I'm not certain, but this one may have been constructed, or at least modified, as a movie set.  The 1980's film Bye Bye Blues was filmed here, as well as in Edmonton.

This scan is a sheet of Ilford FP4+ 125, rated at 100 iso and given normal development.  I processed on Jobo Processor in Ilford Perceptol developer, 1:1, for 11:45 minutes.  In the past I found that the anti halation dye on this film stock did not wash out very well. Since I switched to running it on my Jobo, with constant agitation, the problem seems to be resolved.

I shot this on October 20th 2025 at about 4:15 in the afternoon.  I used my Ebony view camera and a Fujinon 125mm lens, with no filter.  The exposure was for 1/8 second at F29.0.

Shrine

This is the last 8x10 scan that I will be posting for the next little while.  I have to develop and scan some additional images before I can post anything else.  This one was taken on the recent fall trip by the Monochrome Guild.  I shot this at the end of our morning drive on October 22nd, when Helena, Gord and I went out exploring.

A local resident has erected this shrine on the banks of the Red Deer River, near East Coulee.  It changes all the time as he seems to be constantly adding stuff and moving things around.  I spoke to him at one point a couple of years ago and he said it was a memorial to his parents, who passed on some time before.  Many social media posts refer to this as a native burial ground.  Nothing could be further from the truth as this is actually ground zero of a couple of old coal mines.

This is a scan of a sheet of Ilford HP5+ 400 8x10 film, rated at 320 iso and developed in 510 Pyro.  I shot this on October 22nd 2025, at about 11:45AM.  I used my Chamonix810V view camera and a Nikkor 240mm lens.  The exposure was for 1/30 second at F41.0.