This is the first in a series I’ve been thinking about for a while: small Alberta hamlets. The kind of places you drive past on the way to somewhere else. I want to slow down and actually see them. For now the goal isn’t really to document each hamlet. It’s just to have a place to practice. At some point I’ll go back and tell each of their stories properly, but that’s a later chapter.
Winfield seemed like a natural first stop given it’s less than 30 minutes from home.
As a side quest, I’m also on the hunt for something to submit to the Frameline September assignment: #40 Monochrome: show us your best monochrome street photo.
Part of what I’m working on right now is exposing for the highlights. The idea is simple: meter for the brightest part of the scene you care about and let the shadows fall where they may. Digital sensors are unforgiving with blown highlights, but shadows still hold a surprising amount of information. In black and white it also leans into the look I’m chasing, deep blacks, bright whites, and a lot of contrast in between. It takes some rewiring though. My instinct is still to protect the shadows, so I’m training myself to trust it and just ignore them.
