jeromemartin.ca

Autumn in Alberta

It's the last day of November, 2008. Usually at this time of year we have several inches of snow, but this year we've enjoyed above average temperatures, with almost every day being significantly above freezing.

I live on the edge of what my sister referred to, when she was very young, as the bewilderness. It's a great area for walking, photographing, and viewing wildlife.

The temperature today is five degrees C and the sun is warm.

Digital Black and White

These images were not made in my darkroom. They were created with a small digital camera a few minutes ago in my back yard.

While I prefer film and silver prints I cannot ignore the ease and reasonable quality of digital work which can be posted on a blog immediately after exposure.

I also used a film camera to create images similar to these. I'm looking forward to working with them in the darkroom: but in the meantime you and I are able to see these photographs.

Depth of Field on a Sunday Morning

I've been writing about photography this morning and have also been reading a chapter on Paul Strand in one of my favourite books on photography, Why People Photograph by Robert Adams. Both activities encouraged me to grab a camera loaded with black and white film and walk to the woods which are only half a block from my home.

The camera I chose was a Nikon F2 with a 35mm lens. It's a SLR from the early 1970s and is arguably the best Nikon ever made. I've used it and two other Nikons for many years and will continue to use them. The F2 has a centre-weighted, match-needle, light meter which allows me to control exposure. The camera has a depth of field preview button and each lens has a depth of field scale. I use these to determine depth of field and to maximize it in some images and minimize it in others.

High quality vintage film SLRs – Nikons, Canons, Minoltas etc. – are available at very low prices, due to the proliferation of digital cameras. Buy one or three and a couple of lenses for each. They don't make them anymore.

I exposed perhaps half of the 36 exposure film and enjoyed the sunshine and the crisp early winter day. I'll process the film when the snow flies – which could be this week or next month.

photography

Remembrance Day: The Photographs Remain

F/O Bernhard W. Martin, RCAF 419 Squadron, flew his Lancaster bomber into Germany on Feb. 3, 1945 and, like so many of his colleagues in Bomber Command, never returned.

Every Remembrance Day (Veterans' Day if you're from the USA) my parents would open one of the family photo albums, the one with the photos of my Uncle Ben, and they would talk about him: how clever he was, how he loved to dance, and how much they missed him.

My father kept my Uncle's small suitcase in a closet. The suitcase, which was sent to my family after my Uncle was killed, contained his medals, his log book, a group photo from his training period, German currency that was given to Canadian pilots in case they were shot down – and the telegram that was sent to my Grandmother saying that my Uncle was missing in action.

I now have the suitcase, the medals and the telegram.

I also have the photographs of my Uncle. There are only six photographs but they are the most significant links I have to him. Photographs continue to connect us to our families and help us to understand them. They are an integral part of our cultural history.

David Francey's song Flowers of Saskatchewan (from his album Far End of Summer) was written as a tribute to my Uncle and the other Saskatchewan men and women who did not return from the Second World War. It says far more than could ever be communicated by the speeches, the marching and the guns we will see and hear on November 11. Buy the album or buy the song on iTunes.

History, Saskatchewan

Photographing the Familiar

Many of us use our cameras mostly when we travel or when there is a special family occasion. However, we often forget to photograph what is near to us each day.

My garden and yard, for example.