Racing time

Photo Randy Vanderveen Grande Prairie, AB Farmers in the Peace Country race against the daylight and calendar as they work at getting this year's crop off.Farming has to be one of the most challenging jobs in the world.

Thankless, for the most part, as people complain about the price of food, the slow-moving equipment, and in rural areas encroached upon by suburbia, the noise.

Stop and take a moment to think of where we would be without those who toil against the weather, time, rising input costs and commodity prices that fluctuate depending on what is happening in other parts of the world.

It is after Canadian Thanksgiving but the American holiday is still on the way. Why not take the time to be thankful for the work put in by farmers to help ensure the Canadian (and other nations') food supply.

 Photo Randy Vanderveen, Grande Prairie, AB A combine unloads a hopper full of canola into a waiting grain truck.

Photo Randy Vanderveen, Grande Prairie, AB Farmers work combining a canola field as darkness descends on the Peace Country early on a late October evening.

Abstract thoughts

Photo Randy Vanderveen, Seattle, Washington, A Spring Street scene is changed into an abstract sight as it is reflected in the windows of Seattle Public Library's Central Library in the city's downtown.

While photography is often the art form with the most realism, the photographer can make things a little more abstract forcing his or her audience to slow down and think about what is pictured.

This can be done in camera without resorting to filters in Photoshop .

One of the simplest ways is to shoot tight using reflections. Here are some examples taken during a recent holiday with my wife, Cheryl, while in Seattle, WA.

Photo Randy Vanderveen, Seattle, WA Reflections of other office towers in the windows of a downtown building in Seattle.

Photo Randy Vanderveen Seattle, WA A tight crop of windows without any sense of their surroundings provides a different view.

Photo Randy Vanderveen, near Kelowna, B.C. A tight shot of the trestles on a bridge on the former Kettle Valley Railroad KVR through Myra Canyon part of the Trans Canada Trail that runs through the Okanagan in B.C.'s southern interior.

Light show

Photo Randy Vanderveen Cutbank Lake, north of Lake Saskatoon, Alberta The northern lights dance over the barn on the Monkman homestead on the shores of Cutbank Lake in northern Alberta. Alex Monkman was a an early pioneer in the Peace Country who was known as a rancher and farmer in the early 1900s.

Here are a few photos from a recent display of northern lights. The contrast on the photos has been bumped up slightly. I hope you enjoy them.

Photo Randy Vanderveen near Buffalo Lakes east of LaGlace, Alberta The northern lights dancing across the night sky frame a combine parked for the night in a field east of Buffalo Lakes. Harvest is underway across the Prairies.Photo Randy Vanderveen Sexsmith, Alberta The northern lights fill the skies above one of the elevators standing in the town of Sexsmith. The "Prairie Sentinels" are rapidly disappearing across the west as they are replaced by concrete and metal terminals.

For everything...there is a season

Photo Randy Vanderveen, Saskatoon Island Provincial Park Despite its early appearance, these coloured leaves serve as a reminder for area residents that autumn arrives in less than a month.

This is the time of year when things begin to change more rapidly than any other time.

It seems that once late summer hits the Peace Country, autumn unsheaths its claws and takes hold of the area.

Fields begin to turn ripe ready for harvest, leaves turn colours and fall and birds begin gathering in preparation for their southern migration.

While some of that is beginning to happen, this summer's wet cool stretch has also resulted in delays.

For example some berries and wild flowers are still out in abundance this year, despite usually being gone by early August.

Many area farmers are still working on taking down their hay crops and may be forced to move from haying to harvesting within a short time period if the warm weather holds and the usual September rains hold off.

Photo Randy Vanderveen, Saskatoon Island Provinicial Park Saskatoon berries wait to be harvested by birds, bears, berry pickers or coyotes as they hang heavy on the shrubs in the provincial park named for the berry bushes.It is always a time that can make for dramatic photos, although in the plains of the Peace Country the burst of colour from trees is usually short-lived.

It is also a time for people in the area to get back to the busy hustle and bustle of life whether that is school, harvest, yard work or readying the house and RV for the return to cooler days.

Take the time to enjoy the view and the fruits of the season.

Photo Randy Vanderveen, north of Debolt A barley field is getting close to being harvest ready. This year many farmers who are raising barley will have their work cut out for them as the crops in many areas of the Peace are extremely lodged. Photo Randy Vanderveen Saskatoon Island Provincial Park A snowshoe hare appears unhurried as he grazes by the road side in Saskatoon Island Provincial Park. •••

You will probably notice updates coming a little sporadic in the next few weeks as we undergo some changes.

Various aspects of life seem to run neck and neck and often one takes precedence by a nose.

Please be patient, I will try and get back to a routine of posting regularly in a month or two. Thanks for dropping by.

Photo Randy Vanderveen, Grande Prairie, Alberta Sometimes priorities in life seem to run neck and neck with one having to take precedence by a close margin.

Back to the Dark(room) Ages

An interesting read. (Warning language is a colourful). This is how I started my career. I'm trying to recapture some of that by trying my hand at shooting some film again. Not doing the darkroom deal as looking for equipment and dealing with chemicals which in the past were dealt with in a cavalier attitude would be a major pain in the butt.

How soon we forget? How about you? If you worked in the paper business do you remember the hot wax machine, editing with a blade and line gauge, double rolling film onto spools and printing half tones direct from the enlarger? What about the smell of fix?

http://journoterrorist.com/2011/08/02/paperball2/