Night Patrol

Blessed Snow Pile

There was no clapping of a perky tour director’s hands or cheery exhortations for us to line up. Just a nod between everybody and a quiet “Well, let's get at it.” Beers finished, tabs settled and like a platoon going on patrol we prepare our cameras, hoisting bags of equipment onto our shoulders and form up outside.

We spread out into the night, photonic warriors hunting for images. Point, flank and drag: we patrol the streets – cameras nosing back and forth, looking, sniffing. An image? Perhaps. Work it. Shutters snicking like automatic fire and then silence. Further into the night, through the deserted streets we wander. Suddenly a flash illuminates the dark. More images found and captured.

Then, as quickly as we formed up, we are at the next encampment. Bags are unslung, field jackets are removed and beer is ordered. The conversation drifts to the images captured, what gear crapped out, what worked, what didn’t. Shots not taken as important as those that were. We share our photonic prisoners held captive on our memory cards.

Another The Camera Store “Beer & Cameras” is over until the next time. Luckily, it was relatively warm that night considering the next day the overnight temperatures went to -20 or so and stayed there until mid-March.  I was glad of the chance to make some images before having to hibernate, yet again.

With the exception of “Street Corner” all of these are all straight OOC with only minor lens adjustments and crops to my two preferred formats, 8x10 and 1x1. “Street Corner” was processed in NIK dFine and NIK Silver Efex.

When I made the “Blessed Snow Pile” and “Calgary Tower, Circle K” images I wasn't expecting to see any lens flare at all; both were made with my Leica so I didn't see anything in the viewfinder. I'm glad it's there as the flare has added some interest to what are perhaps bland images.

Street Corner

Calgary Tower, Circle K

Making Sandwiches BW

Making Sandwiches

A splendid evening. And, in keeping with the night, two videos about the night

(always did like Steely Dan)

Coffee & Cameras & Beers! Oh My!

Back in the day when I was a code slinger on DEC Vaxen and later on PCs with Borland product I always enjoyed the local user groups (LUGs). We’d invade a bar, order copious amounts of beer and if there were free snacks we’d devour those like a plague of locusts. We’d then compalin about DEC, complain about Borland (or its later incarnations, usually as Borprise). We’d swap hard won knowledge into the acrana of VMS and Delphi’s Object Pascal. Backup tapes (for VAXen) and floppies filled with code would change hands spreading “the knowledge”. The lucky ones with an ARPAnet connection would share print-outs of the latest episode of the “Bastard Operator From Hell”.

When I saw The Camera Store was starting a thing called “Beer and Cameras” I said to myself: “Ah-ha! These are two of my favourite things! This could be just like the LUGs of old!” The way it works is you meet at a venue (brewery or coffee house) have a beer or coffee and then have a photo walk to the next venue. What could possibly go wrong?

Here’s the thing: I don’t do camera clubs. I don’t know why. I’ve been to the odd meeting or two but they never did anything for me and I really don’t like competitive aspects. I wrestle with their philosophy and aesthetics of photography. Submission requirements that require sharpness and focus and minimal cropping and post processing just don’t do it for me. When I make an image in the field I have already visualized how that image will look in print. The raw image is a base canvas for me: a starting off point if you will. Once in the digital darkroom I take that canvas and realize my vision.

I didn’t go for a long time due to scheduling issues (work, family, yada yada yada) but last month the planets aligned and I was able to go for the very first time. Hot Damn! Just like a LUG! And the best thing? Young Photographers with their energy, their ideas, their aesthetic, their fresh way of looking at the world!

So what is the big difference between ‘Cameras & Beer|Coffee” and a “camera club”? No competition, minimal structure and the enthusiasm of The Camera Store event coordinators. The venues make all the difference too. Good beer, decent eats, and for the Coffee and Cameras sessions good coffee. Can’t ask for anything more than that.

Kudos to The Camera Store and the staff; they make this work. If you’re in Calgary when they’re hosting one, make a point of signing up and showing up.