I’ve been Everywhere Man – Canada / Mike Ford / 2011
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Rose and I were in Vancouver for a week.
Got back yesterday.
Sometimes I just gotta get away.
So I didn’t monitor my blog or any email through the week.
Apology to those by made comments or sent email in that time.
I’ll check all that out now.
We drove out from Calgary.
That’s around 930 kilometers = 605 miles. A 10 hour drive.
Heading through the Rockies.
Next time we might fly?
But then we’d miss all this.
Cascade Mountain
Castle Mountain
Unknown Mountain
Rose drives and I shoot through the window.
British Columbia is mountains. One range after another.
An avalanche waiting to happen …
To avoid the floods near Cache Creek we head on a South route.
(But anything that keeps the crowds down is OK with me.) (joke)
On the way in we spotted a herd of Elk by the roadside.
Waiting for the bus?
To be honest, when I go to Banff I don’t count
on seeing much Wildlife.
The crowds scare them off.
Jasper National Park is much better.
The first night:
Banff Park Lodge.
Nice place.
Almost empty though at this time of year.
It’s mostly skiers that are in town.
That guy standing out front already has got his ski boots on.
He’s heading over to catch the ski bus across the street.
The area was named Banff in 1884 by George Stephen, president of the Canadian Pacific Railway, recalling his birthplace near Banff, Scotland.
Spring is a somewhat of an ‘off season’ in Banff – if we can say there is one? Spring Skiing takes over as the main attraction and the Ski Hills are very busy. I never got into Skiing though. It was considered a rich persons recreation around our place.
So over the years we’ve rarely gone to the mountains in Winter.
The snow makes everything look even more spectacular.
We’re popping Champagne tonight !!!
My Oscar arrived today. Special Delivery.
Winner for Visual Effects Imaging/Editing in Film.
Visual Effects Editing is one of the minor Academy Awards
It receives no fanfare.
BUT it’s not ‘minor’ around here!
My nomination was forwarded through The Guild of American Film Arts and Artists – affiliated with the Academy of Screen Writers. It was judged “for exceptional Artwork and renderings thereof in modern still media for Film”.
This was brought to their attention mainly because of my work in improving old Movie Poster Artwork over the years.
Truthfully, I never really expected to win,
but just to nominated is an Award in itself.
Below is an example that I did recently:
Not my best example, but I think you’ll get the picture.
(no pun intended)
Over the years, I’ve done this to literally hundreds of Posters and Images
that are out there.
Salvaged and saved – and literally nobody knows that I did it.
And I’ve done a lot of other related work as well.
Like this very famous photo of Billy the Kid.
Original PhotoMy Edited Photo 1My Edited Photo 2
When I put these back out onto the Net
very few people realize it was me who did this.
But I am not an expert. Purely self taught – and there’s much I don’t know.
I just do it for fun.
It’s obvious what I’ve done to these images above.
What isn’t obvious is the many hours that it took. Sometimes days.
Edits to Resolution/Sharpening; Brightness; Gamma; Cropping; Color (balance, Hue, Tone, Selection; Colour Replacement; …) Contrast; Saturation; Tinting; Shadows; Temperature; Alignment;
Straightening; and a dozen other things.
Then I put it back out onto the internet. No fanfare.
I don’t sign it. Maybe I should because at times
some of my work has been claimed by others.
But I don’t really care
The images weren’t mine to begin with.
Here’s an example of ‘poetic license’ with my own photos:
Peggy’s Cove, Nova Scotia / 2016
Look at all those people!
But later … they just disappeared.
This is why it often takes me so long to make a Post at times. I don’t just throw something up on the board. It has to pass my standards.
Yet you can find mistakes I’ve made on nearly every Post I make.
LoL! I’m no GOD – to be certain.
Yes, at times I’ve taken ‘liberties’ with some images. But this is something I never want to do. I always want to stay true to the original Art and Artist.
My own (many photos) are the exception. I should sign those.
But pretty well EVERYTHING I post has been reworked a bit.
It’s a ‘Labour or Love’ for me. I enjoy it.
I take – nor ask – any money.
Image from The Black Swan / four images spliced together / Can you tell?
So now I await my ship to come in:
$80,000 US. Academy Award money.
BUT if it doesn’t arrive by April 1 …
It probably never really existed?
Got my Covid shot this morning. Hope it makes a difference?
This is my 3rd shot since this whole thing started.
Doubt that’s a World Record.
I should have had another one sooner than this though.
Sooo … went to a Clinic that used to do it exclusively for Covid.
They were gone.
Then went to a Medical Clinic that was close by.
They didn’t do it anymore either! Wow.
Told me I could get it done at most any Drug Store.
Really!?
Went to a Drug Store. (insert panting sound here.)
Insisted on Pfizer Vaccine.
I’ve heard bad things about the other ones.
And I don’t want any unnecessary medical adventures right now.
I think I figured it out.
It’s still Covid.
I thought I was over it, but it seems to have a lingering effect
where I’m tired much of the time –
though I don’t rest well.
So maybe I still have it to some degree?
Combined with my Diabetes 2 and a couple of my other health issues
I think this has resulted in a kind of lethargy
where I can’t focus on things very well.
Lots of fun.
Tomorrow I will go the Clinic and get another shot.
If that doesn’t make any difference
I’ll try something else.
Sometimes Life seems like a jungle where you have no machete.
And I got ‘Stuck’ on about 5 posts I’ve been working on.
After a while this just ‘Froze’ me.
Some kind of fear. ?
But hey are still there.
Staring at me.
They just got huge and exploded into something beyond
what I had in mind.
Sometimes that’s good.
Other times it’s a problem.
And it becomes a labour.
And stops me from doing anything at all.
But I can’t cheat. I have to do it Right.
I have to fight.
Or feel bad about it all.
I WILL get it done.
Occasionally something happens on the Blog – or elsewhere –
that completely mystifies me.
Yesterday on my post “Love … all there is” I posted
a song my Elton John called Love Song / Elton John / 1970.
(from Tumbleweed Connection) Or so I thought.
Turns out it was a completely different song,
but was still entitled Love Song / Elton John. The thing is, I took the song directly from my own
Song Library – and had posted it here before – a couple
of times. And it was exactly the song by Elton John.
So how did it suddenly become a completely different
song by someone else with the same title?
I have no idea ???
No Sir! I love mules. In fact, I had 2 for breakfast.
Anyway I chucked that other song away
and fixed things.
We drove out from Calgary.
Next time we might fly?
British Columbia is mountains. One range after another.
To avoid the floods near Cache Creek we head on a South route.
Splendid indeed !
Yup