Visions in reflections

I'll tell you right up front, this is going to be a messy blog. If dust spots in photos drive you crazy, bail out now. This is not particularly a film review, since the photo environment are nothing close to optimal. The film does not show to advantage, but to be fair, I'm not sure any film would.

There's been a couple rolls of Visions 3 250D in my fridge for a while. My lab has a two roll minimum for developing ECN2 film, so I was looking for something where I could go through 2 rolls all at once. For that reason alone I won't buy any more of it. I've done another batch of this film, mostly outdoor garden photos. The colour is pretty good, though some photos have a faint orangey red tint. I think this is a film that likes lots of light, and the outside photos kind of remind me of Ektar.

Some friends had been thinking about doing a photo ramble but it was seriously winter again. Someone suggested it had been a while since they had been in Calgary's +15 system. If you don't know, it's a series of bridges connecting many downtown buildings. The bridges are nominally 15 feet above street level, thus the name. There are some +30 and even +45 levels. There are any number of shops spread through the system. Last I looked it took up about 16Km of walkways. They are very popular in Calgary winters. It might, or might not be, a bit further to walk to your destination, but you don't need a coat. 

Almost all have windows giving a variety of views. As soon as it was suggested, I was in. I love reflection photos, and with all the glass fronted buildings, and filthy +15 windows, and interior views, would give lots of composition fun. I deliberately aimed for a bit of a funky muddy look, wanting the interior reflections to be a ghost of the outside view. I wasn't going to get fussed about perfect focus of the outside, given the distortions in filthy window glass. Did I mention that after a long Calgary winter the windows are filthy?

There are typically some dust spots anyways, and there are some rem jet layer artifacts. I don't care. They add a layer. Dust spots and rem jet artifacts on the film. The filthy window with reflections inside and out. The outside subject and the reflections in it, and sometimes, the reflections in the reflections. Some might say not removing the dust spots makes me lazy, and I wouldn't argue a lot. I think the spots give a bit of a nostalgic air to the photos. Plus even after going to the effort of removing the spots, the photos are still not pristine, clear, sharp. Even if they were, they're still not going to be image of the year. 

Normally I'm pretty deliberate when shooting film, but this time I treated it almost like digital. I had 72 exposures and by golly I was going to get them all so I could drop the film at the lab on the way home. And I did.

I worked downtown off and on from the early 90's up to COVID. I liked walking through the +15 system. There's always something different, new art, new connections to explore, and always a chance to bump into colleagues. I'm pretty sure I've been in every corner of it over the years, and looking at the map I don't think they've added anything new. I'd been looking forward to the hanging glass sculptures in 8th Ave Place, but they're gone, as is the stack of coal sculpture in Western Canadian Place. The spherical fountain is still there, but needs maintenance.

Up till 2015 or so, it was a busy, happening place. Lots of little shops offering an endless variety of goods and services for the office worker crowd. The food courts were full at lunch time. Everybody had a place to get a favourite treat. People walked like they had a place to be, and knew the route. No dithering about whether this was the place to turn or not. Even the people chatting to buddies would move to the side or into an alcove.

We were there just before lunch on a Tuesday. It was almost sad. There was hardly anyone there. No lineups. There were places we could fire a cannon down the halls and not hit anyone. So many closed retail spaces. I had a really polite security guard ask me not to take photos in Western Canadian Place and she even said please. Unlike the brutes in Brookfield Place. Don't get me started on that. Still, I enjoyed the walk with Ann, Kelly, and Sean joined us later. I didn't see anyone I knew, but Ann did.

My runmeter app says I walked 14K, but I don't believe that. I parked in the Gulf Canada lot, navigated a complicated route (construction) to get to the Core to meet Kelly and Ann. From there we walked the long loop west. They called it a day, but I still had film to expose. I made it all the way to the Harry Hays building at the north east end of downtown. 

For the camera gear people, I'm using an EOS-3, with a 50mm f1.8 lens. No flash. No tripod. Developed at the bespoke lab I've mentioned. Digitized using a Canon T6i with Canon 100mm F2.8L macro and lightly edited in Negative Lab Pro and Lightroom.

There are 55 photos edited from the day. That's too many for a blog, so I've picked out some of the photos I found interesting for one reason or another. Like I said, last chance to bail out re: dust spots.

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2. The +15 was retrofitted into older buildings, and that sometimes means inside corridors and tight spaces. Interesting views to be had, from a little alley, to an expansive view.

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4. An inside parking structure and reflected windows outside.

5. The walkway past the parking structure, home to many cows. This is actually pretty close to the actual colours. 

6. Ann was patient as I figured out the exposure.

7. A selfie.

8. Just before I got asked not to take photos. 

9. One of the many views outside, with a hit of colour on a cold drab day, and a hint of interior reflections.

10. The inside atriums can offer interesting compositions.

11. So many building reflections!

12. We all think panes of glass are flat, but clearly not so here. It's fun, if distracting during a boring meeting, to watch the reflections ripple as the wind changes the air pressure.

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14. I'm actually amazed this turned out as well as it did. That sun reflection was really bright, but I still wanted to get a hint of the building details, and the sky is a happy bonus.

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16. Yes, there's a real airplane hanging in the Sun Life atrium. At Christmas time they put a Santa in there, waving. This colour isn't quite right. Both the yellow and red look a little dull, but that could be the interior lighting, not the film. 

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22. This is a 45 degree angle, with the reflection looking down the actual hallway, but with a space under construction on the other side.

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There's other photos from this ramble, with some stories to be told. They will probably show up on my other blog over the next little while. Stay tuned, and get out there to expose film!