Kits Pool Swimmers

Shot with my FM2n and the 50mm 1.8 on Kodak T-Max.

You've made it this far, now see it the way it's meant to be seen

Cascades 2

Larger and On Black

Cascade Pines

From Jerry and my trip in July 2008



Seriously better large

After Sunset

Taken on Burnaby mountain. All the other 'photographers' had packed up. I was still freezing and waited.

And tried very hard not to blow out my red channel.

:)



Oh and if you don't like red, you probably won't like this very much ;)

This one you really should see large and on black.

Poplars 3

Another shot from when I was in Horsefly in September

The other side of the tracks

I'm really enjoying the look I'm getting with the FM2n and the expired Kodak Tmax.



The move away from the 'perfect image' towards accepting the flaws in each of the B&W images, is somehow very liberating.

Sounds very artsy. But happens to be true non-the-less.

Shoot with what you got

Sometimes it's more important to have something that can take a photo, than it is to have expensive gear.

I shot the following out the side window of the car with my cell phone while waiting at a light.



... and I'm actually happy with the outcome :)

Bjorn

Expired Film

I had a roll of expired 'Black Photography' given to me and I tried to make the most of it (it had only been expired since 2001 ... ;) )

"A sign of the times?"


I just love the tones on this...

"Urban Sunflowers"



"Tall Grass"



"Fall"



"One more or less"



Untitled



"? It's not our election..."



"Fountain 1"



"Fountain 2"



"Afternoon paddle"



Thanks for looking :)

Bjorn

Some more film

Nelson, BC - Abandoned rail-yard

Finally

Paul and I got together on Saturday to develop some more film and to print.

I'm hoping to be able to get the negatives scanned in sometime soon. In the meantime I was able to borrow a scanner (thanks Michelle!) and scan the prints. Both are from Jerry and my road trip this summer.

The Cascades 1



The Cascades 2



both shot on expired Kodak T-Max 100.

The process of making the pints was quite interesting and I did enjoy it. I'm not sure that I would have the patience to develop my own prints consistently, but every now and then is definitely fun.

Hope you are having a good weekend.

Bjorn

Lunch Ride

Took the opportunity to go for a little ride at lunch.

November-noon Sun



At the end of the day, what matters is that you have a camera with you.

Army & Navy walk

OK, so really Army & Navy wasn't the initial destination (and there are no photos of it here, so don't get too excited), but I did end up there and bought the cheapest pair of jeans ever ($9.99!). But that's neither here nor there so on with the photos.

Tasty?



Still Fall



Bland in the most vivid way



Drops



Gender-Bender West-Ender?



JapaDog



Two left legs



Creepy dude in window checking out the girl next to me (at least I hope that's what it was... Yikes)



Two cameras



Did I mention I don't like hair



C-R-E-E-P-Y!



Protest



Floating in space



Still not too cold



Princess Leia hair -- strike that -- Ears!



Toes on the nose!



Quite a productive little walk :)

Hope you had a good Saturday.

Bjorn

The beach in November

Did I mention that I'm not a huge fan of November?

Anyways, we took a little walk along the beach and I shot a bit of film and the odd digital.

Just one to post for right now:



Bjorn

November

It's my least favourite month.

















Lets hope for some snow or something soon. If it's going to be dark, we might as well get something out of it.

Bjorn

Home is where the bike is - Day 9

A certain someone has been yelling "Day 9, Day 9" at me for too long. I've been rather late in finishing off the ride report.

I'm not sure why, perhaps I didn't want it to stop then. Or perhaps I wanted to keep a bit for myself. Can't hold off forever, so I thought I'd finally write the last chapter. And so without further delay:

Day 9

I had been debating which way to go home as a straight shot on the highways seemed much too boring. There was what looked like a windy gravel road north of Manson and I thought I'd check it out. I was on the road at a reasonable time again and made my way north. The morning was quite chilly and I was glad that I'd worn an extra layer today (note: full length spandex cycling tights may look .. wrong, but worn under a pair of dual-sport pants on a cold day, they rock!).

I cruised along the north side of Lake Chelan and found myself in Manson around 9 am. What I couldn't find was the turn off to the gravel road. It looked easy on the map: Just drive till you hit the gravel. Real life was a bit more of a challenge. I did a number of loops through the orchards.



Eventually I stopped at a Firehouse where the guys and girls were rolling up some hoses. Sure enough, they were able to point me in the right direction. I asked if the road was in good condition and was told it was, just drive along and turn towards Gold Creek. Easy.

Things started extremely washboarded but beautiful. I played tag with a little VW rabbit as I was stopping to talk photos and he'd pass me. As soon as I got back on the road, I'd end up passing him.



The climb was fairly gentle and the road got smaller.



I had a bit of a wobble on the other side of this valley a few minutes earlier. And it had gotten pretty lonely. To the point where I was starting to see how many tire tracks I could see. At this point, there were still a couple of fresh ones, so I wasn't too concerned.

But it got more and more remote. I'd been riding for over an hour and started to make some rough calculations for when I would have to turn around based on the amount of gas I had. I'd estimated about 1 hour off road. This was going to take a lot longer and I wasn't entirely sure that I was going the right way...

And the road got smaller. And steeper.



_This_ was on the state map?! They must not have much to put on the map for this area of WA state...

The views were great though.



I wanted to go and push and keep the speed up, but I kept reminding myself that I was on a loaded KLR soloing ... and that I hadn't seen anyone besides some guys in a pickup about 40 minutes ago, and they didn't look all that friendly. Eventually I saw a 4x4 van, so at least there were people around. Not that I actually saw any.

At this point there was a single vehicle track. It had rained the previous morning, so this wasn't all that well travelled.

But it was nice and remote. And I didn't have to fight for road position.





I'd definitely climbed a bunch. What I mean is, I could pretty much see the summit. And then I saw some hikers. I stopped and they confirmed that I was headed the right way, and where to turn. We chatted for a bit. Their first words where "You came _that_ way?!"

Nice couple, they were getting ready to hike a bit.



The girl even offered to take a photo of me :)


Hey, I said they were nice, not that they were great photographers ;)

I was pretty happy to know I wouldn't have to retrace my tracks all the way back to Manson!

The 'road' ran along the ridgeline for a while longer and I enjoyed the views. If you look careful you can see the road I came from below.





I was headed roughly that-a-way



And there wasn't much around that was higher than I was :)



The descent got a bit sandy and I had one moment. Damn glad I didn't have metal side cases as I had to dab a foot at speed and my leg bounced off my soft bags. Not a big deal, but it would have been if they'd been metal. And then, I was at the bottom. And encountered the first signs of civilization



... such as it was.

From here it was all pretty simple. Hop on the highway. Go through the cascades. Pass a bunch of cars in the corners. Basic stuff.

The border. Canada. Familiar sights.

Home?

Well, for what it is.

As I sit here, on a dark November evening and write about the end of the trip, I sure wish I could go back to that deserted mountain trail. But then, there is always next year. Who knows what it will bring :)

I'll leave you with one final image from this trip from a few days previous.



I wish I could find some amazing, inspiring and life affirming insights to end this trip report with. But in the end, you have to have these experiences and find those things for yourself. You can't get them from a computer screen. And you can't let someone else have the adventures for you.

Of course, Mark Twain expressed it in a significantly more elegant way:

"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover."

Maybe that's all the wrap up this trip really needs.

Yours

Bjorn