A Frosty Promise?

It's another frosty morning in the pond; temperatures are well below normal. But despite the cold, the snow has begun to recede, and here the last remnants of last year's roses has been revealed. Perhaps a little hope for what's to come.

Later

Visions of Days Past

Flashback Fridays. That's my theme.

I spend a lot of time looking back. I love old buildings. Ruins. Cemetaries. Books. Photographs. Old stuff in general. It fascinates me. The stories that are held within - these are my ghosts; the memories that are imprinted in a palce or object's history.

Today I've got a photo from a building in Ste. Elizabeth, Manitoba.

Ste. Elizabeth is a ghost town; and a few years back, one could have owned the remaining three homes for under $30,000 canadian. Southern Manitoba is dotted with ghost towns and the remnants of settlers dreams. Ste. Elizabeth sprung up along the banks of the Marsh River in the late 1800's. What remains is the church and the three derelict flood damaged homes and out buildings that are now home to swallows and small rodents.

Take care,
Craig

Then and Now

I guess that the groundhog was right; just as it appeared that winter was waning, the mercury has dipped to accompany a fresh carpet of snow. I feel a little like Charlie Brown trying to kick the football only to have Lucy yank it away once again. Now don't get me wrong, I love winter as much as and probably more than most, but when you get a taste of what's to come, you can't help feel a little resentment towards Mother nature's fickle treatment. All I can say is "Good grief".


On to the photos.


Today I've got two shots of the same stretch of highway taken about two months apart (October and December).




Then

Now

Later

Wednesday's Wanderings

There is no map. No goal or destination to be reached. That is Wednesday. Whatever and wherever I end up is fine with me. Random, chaotic; perhaps. Whatever tickles my fancy rules the roost today. Any semblence to a plan is purely accidental. So here's to Whatever Wednedsay.


I've got three photos today.


Vulture Silhouette

Marsh Grass Up Close

Fountains at Night

Enjoy your journey,
Craig

Two For Tuesday, Act I

I'm a little behind today. Actually I'm a lot behind today. I'm not sure how that happened, but that's just how it is.

I thought I'd start something new today. Rather than just randomly posting photos from my corner of the pond I'd have a loose theme (and I do stress the looseness of my themes) to organize my posting. So for the foreseeable future Tuesday will be Two For Tuesday's (I know, oh so original, but it works for me) in which I'll post two related photos to accompany my ramblings.

Today I've got two sepia toned prints for your viewing.





The photo above was shot just north of Winnipeg, in the R.M of Rockwood, Manitoba; while the photo below was shot at Fort Whyte Alive nature center in Winnipeg.

Thanks for indulging me,
Craig

By Hand and Then Some

This is me at work. I'm hand tinting a photograph. I love photoshop, I really do, but there is a cetrtain satisfaction I get from doing thing by hand. I like the feel of the pen or brush in my hand.



Here are the results. The picture itself was shot on Ilford hp400 film using my Minolta Maxxum 7, and developed and printed by hand on Agfa multi contrast glossy b&w paper (which is sadly no longer available). The colour was applied using a Spotpen photographic hand coloring pen #39 (yellow).



And here's what happens when one begins to play with photoshop. I'm by no means an expert, when it comes to photoshop, far from it. But essentially this is a collage effect combining the two above photos. For a far better explanation of the process than I could ever give: http://www.alibony.com/pse/022108collage.html



Have a great week,
Craig

A Day of Rest?

Sunday is supposed to be a day of rest. We'll see how long that lasts (I figure I've got about ten minutes before the circus starts back up). In the meantime I thought that I'd quickly share a shot that I took last week.

Have a great day,

Craig