LAX

I'm charting largely unfamiliar waters this week, living the bachelor life while Anita's away. It's like going a week without internet... sort of liberating, yet largely boring at the same time. Mostly, I just don't know what to do with myself. I envisioned a productive week of half completed projects finally getting some attention, but the reality thus far has been a parade of beer, cheetos, and falling asleep to movies I've already watched too many times.

Enough with that. Here are some photos from our trip to LA in July, where we did nothing but eat and drink to excess.


Crab claw bloody mary from Venice Whaler, on Venice Beach.


A build your own Bloody Mary I made at The Attic in Long Beach. This was for breakfast.


I need this is my house. We went here to try a bloody mary served out of a Campbell's Soup can, but they discontinued it. Inventive bloody mary streak broken!


A selection of east and west coast oysters.


I'm always fascinated by each variety's very different and distinct shell morphology.




The closest we got to seeing a celebrity - foodies will recognize Roy Choi, celebrated food truck innovator.


The famous Kogi food truck.


Latte art in Koreatown.


Hello Kitty latte.


Coffee science.




Breakfast at the uber busy Eggslut in Grand Central Market, downtown LA.


The 'slut' - a coddled egg on top of a smooth potato purée, poached in a glass jar.


A most delicious breakfast sandwich - warm and fluffy brioche, turkey sausage, and a golden runny yolk sunny side egg bursting out after biting into it.


Grilled avocados. Why hadn't I thought of this?

Photographing the Pupils, part VIII

And here are the latest portraits of my victims... er, I mean, students. I just wrapped teaching a small DSLR class, and these folks patiently sat for me during break time for these film portraits, shot with the Rolleiflex 2.8E on Kodak Tri-X 400. Souped in rodinal at 68 deg. F for 7:00min. The negatives turned out grainy as all heck, but I love them. Some of my favourites to date, for sure.


This is probably one of my favourite portraits of a student I've ever taken. I love the stern expression.






Sadly the film advance crank wasn't cooperating, and I ended up partially double exposing this shot.

Eau Claire Distillery - Alberta's First Craft Distillery

Anita and I were looking for something different to experience this weekend, so we rounded up Amy and headed south to Turner Valley to take a tour and tasting of Alberta's first craft distillery, Eau Claire Distillery. Their Parlour Gin is pretty damn amazing! Smooth with a rich nose of juniper, coriander, and aromatics from other regional botanicals like rosehips and saskatoon berries, I could see us drinking ourselves silly way too easily. Taken straight, it was pleasant to sip, but paired with a splash of tonic, look out. My new favourite drink.

Like so much of the craft movement, Eau Claire focuses on locally sourced and hand crafted product, basing their spirits on regional flavours and ingredients. Unlike many other spirit distillers, they start with locally grown barley, and put it through their custom copper still in various stages to achieve a distinct aromatic and flavour profile for their Vodka and Gin products, while we await their whiskey to finish aging in 2017.


Parlour Gin. ABSOLUTELY DELICIOUS!


Three Point Vodka. Smooth, with a strong nose of banana and vanilla.


Gin Rummy. Aromas remniscient of Spiced Christmas Fruitcake. (I don't like Fruitcake, but this smelled amazing).


The main aromatics in Parlour Gin: Coriander, Juniper Berries, and Angelica Root.


The small batch fermentation tanks in their production room.


Tour guide explaining the process.


Custom copper stills and proofing (?) tank.






Barrel/ cask aging room for their single malt whiskey, to be ready for consumption in 2017.


The floor may look like just a patch of gravel, but it is a purposefully laid mixture of clay underneath to help with humidity control in an otherwise low humidity province.


Anita and Amy in the tasting room. Which was once home to a brothel.



And for a little history lesson: Prohibition era Alberta (1916 - 1923) meant that to legally obtain alcohol, one needed a prescription. Here's an example of a bottle of liquor that was prescribed for medicinal reasons - this one was for treatment of anemia, with the description: Especially recommended for young girls, elderly people and for all persons requiring invigorating Iron Treatment. Early 20th century medicine, yo!

Film: The next mass extinction

Film is for dinosaurs. Literally, in this case. I shot a couple rolls of Kodak Tri-x through the Rolleiflex at the Royal Tyrell Museum in Drumheller on Saturday.

















The light was so low inside that these were shot at f/ 2.8 at 1/15s. I was mildly surprised that I managed to get fairly sharp images. Film processed in Rodinal 1+24, for approx. 8:30 at 68 deg. F. The 8.5 min dev time was a guesstimate to push the Tri-X about 1/2 stop.

And because the Rolleiflex' 80mm lens wasn't quite wide enough for these Albertosauruses, I shot a couple with the Fuji X100s and the Fujinon wide conversion lens.

Mumford and Sons, live at the Saddledome

Mumford and Sons, live at the Saddledome last night, was such a great show. Photos taken from the nosebleed seats, because Ticketmaster is the most evil entity on the planet aside from ISIS and Impark. Seriously, I hate you Impark. Just because I parked DIRECTLY in front of the giant sign that said NO PARKING for transit customers, doesn't mean you need to be a total douchenozzle about it. You compassionless parking pricks. The parking lot at Sunridge Mall has 1000+ empty stalls, because let's face it, that ghetto trash mall doesn't see a thousand shoppers in an entire year. Yes, I realize I'm mildly (completely) in the wrong, but that doesn't change my opinion about your prick-ish-ness.

Anyways, on to the photos. The little point and shoot Sony RX100 (mark I) was having a wee tough time with the lighting, but these were the best I could get from way on up in the peasant seats.


Marcus Mumford, lead singer, is a ridiculously talented dude. He has an incredibly strong voice, and plays multiple instruments. Amazing.




Smartphones - the new concert "lighter in the air"...

Caskapalooza

Caskapalooza: an event wherein 16 AB and BC craft brewers created one specialty cask each of unique beer for revelers to sample at Craft Beer Market in YYC. Also known as 'That time Tytus couldn't handle his beer and yakked in the toilet before 6pm had even come and gone.'

















All photos shot with the Rolleiflex 2.8E, on Kodak Tri-X 400. Developed in Rodinal at 1+24, 68 deg. F, for 7:00min.