Fleming Elevator

When I was looking for a location to build my gallery, I was certain I wanted to have some other structure(s) nearby that would tie me to the prairie. I wanted a spot where tourists could stop, learn a bit about the prairies and hopefully take a piece of prairie art home with them as they crossed our province.

When I found the land in Fleming, it was like a dream come true. Here was a piece of property located right across the highway from the oldest elevator in Canada. How amazing would that be. Our plans called for having a nice covered deck out front where people could relax with a coffee and see this amazing old elevator.

In fact, the town was in the process of restoring the elevator to its original state. I made several trips to Fleming last year and held off photographing the building because it was not quite restored. A small amount of tin needed to be installed on the upper part of the building. So I waited looking forward to the grand opening this coming summer.

I was anxious to see it finished. The towns people were anxious. They had invested many hours of sweat equity and actual dollars into preserving the edifice with hopes to open a gift shop and attract tourists to the tiny town. It was going to be a grand thing.

Well in early February, someone decided to rob the town and myself of this dream. Fleming's heritage structure was reduced to a pile of glowing coals by an arsonist. A crushing blow for a small town wanting to re-invent itself. A crushing blow to me since I truly looked forward myself to looking out upon the grand restoration.

The truly sad thing though was my reluctance to photograph the elevator before the restoration was complete, means I do not have a piece of art that celebrates my soon to be home town. BUT... I did indeed shoot one photograph last summer that showed the nearly complete building. It was so close in fact that with a little Photoshop help, I was able to clone some of the finished lower building onto the upper part in such a manner that the elvator looks as it would have if the arsonist had not dashed our hopes and dreams.

It's not the normal artsy shot I would have attempted with the finished building. It was just a snap for myself to remember how it looked before the restoration was complete. However with the Photoshop assistence, at least now there is one photo that shows what we might have had. So enjoy it, there will never be another image of the Fleming elevator.

Brent

Beating Winter Boredom

Many years ago some friends of mine out east in Ontario began referring to me as a weather wimp. It's sad really, but I can not deny it. I left the relative comfort of Southern Ontario in the late 1990's when I moved to Regina, SK. That first year, I got up for work one morning and discovered that the windchill had reduced the temperature to a bone chilling -53C. When I went outside and took a breath of air, it actually hurt. Imagine that... it hurt to breathe. Why would anyone want to live where that happens?

So the weather wimp became even more wimpy and as I have aged, I find that I spend less and less time outside when it is cold. I do go out on occasion as you may have noticed in my previous post, but I admit it is rare compared to how much I shoot in the warmer months.

Well, what does one do when the shutter finger begins to itch and the siren call of my camera begins to make me crazy? Obviously the answer is to find something to shoot indoors. Well, the siren got to me and I decided that I would shoot something inside where it was safe and warm. I have always admired Edward Weston's photography. If you do not know of Weston, that's OK. He was born in 1886 and died in 1958 as arguably the most influential photographer of the 20th century.

One of his most famous pictures was a simple photograph of a Nautilus sea shell. It has always been a favorite of mine. So I decided that I would obtain one of these shells and produce my own version of his famous photograph. It seemed like it would be fun and the end result would be something I could add to my own collection of work along with a note of course that gives credit to his idea.

So here are the results of making indoor photographs when the weather outside is... frightful.
I called it "Ode To Weston". But I didn't stop there, I also obtained a Nautilus shell that had been cut in half so that one could see the magical chambers within the shell. The chambers are a stunning example of math in nature. The spiral is perfect in every specimen. Absolutely amazing and beautiful to boot.

Weston also shot a shell sectioned much like this one. I had never seen the image until after I created my own called "Nautilus Transect".

So if the weather is bad, stay inside, grab a cup of coffee and photograph something like a sea shell, it certainly was a rewarding way to spend an afternoon when stuck in the house.

Brent

The Northern Lights Cafe

Well progress continues on getting the gallery built. I have found some contractors and they are reviewing the drawings. Well wouldn't you know it the engineer designing the foundation decided that larger than normal footings were going to be needed. It would seem that most of the people that get involved find ways to spend more of my money.

Now if the bids would only come back so we can award someone the contract to build the place!
But on a good note, we have settled on the basics for the first road sign that will go up to advertise the coffee part of the gallery. Look for this sign on the highway next year!!