Calgary – Page 5 – My Second Running Life

Streaking through December

The pressure has been building for three weeks already. It’s nothing serious, mind you.

For the last few years, the arrival of December has meant the start of the Strides Run Streak, hosted by our wonderful neighbourhood running store. The parameters of the challenge are simple: run at least a mile a day for the full month. It’s wildly popular with the locals, including Deb and I.

I do have some history with this challenge. In 2012, I started running on December 1 and turned a one-month goal into a multi-year streak. That particular streak, which didn’t end well, isn’t the point of this post. You can read all about that adventure in my book, Stroke of Luck: My Life in Amateur Athletics. (By the way, if you hurry, you can still get your copy in time for Christmas, either at Owl’s Nest Books or directly from me. Thanks to all of you who picked up a copy. Much appreciated!)

This year’s streak has brought the usual mix of weather and physical challenges. Pathways have been notoriously icy. I’ve been dealing with a nagging calf issue lately, which fortunately seems to be on the mend. It’s looking promising that I will get through the month.

As has become my custom, I’ve added to the challenge with a photographic element. I look for a memorable photo during each run. That can be a tougher goal than the run itself, but equally rewarding. I’ve been giving my trusty Ricoh GR III a good workout. That camera is amazing!

I like the idea that I don’t know what I’ll see when I leave the house. I have a built-in incentive to explore other neighbourhoods (or even my own) with the idea of finding fresh photographic subjects (and good running).

If I’m totally honest… and I think my readers would want me to be… I feel that the results this year have been something less than stellar. Or maybe it’s just that my subjects haven’t been leaping out at me. I think my muse may already be on holiday. But as always, I find if I keep my eyes open and trust my instincts, I will be rewarded with some surprises.

Lines in the sky, Glenmore Athletic Park (December 2023)

I try not to fall into the trap of snapping easy targets, like excessively decorated houses. Yes, that is a small, self-imposed constraint that makes my daily task a little tougher. That said, I find that even if some light displays don’t compare with Clark W. Griswold’s, they are still worth photographing.

My 2023 SRS photos may not be totally traditional, at least as defined by seasonal expectations, but when I look at them as a whole they seem to evoke a rather pleasant feeling. Is it hopefulness? Calm? Wonder?

I’ll let you decide for yourselves. I’m keen to hear from you, so do leave a comment.

Looking slightly festive, Beltline (December 2023)

Signing off for now, I’ll say Merry Christmas. Until next time, I wish you happy running, shooting, or whatever your particular passion is.

Be well and enjoy what’s around you. Peace!

Seeing Double?

Yesterday’s run along the Bow River was nice, but for the ice. And the wind. Otherwise, it was perfect! Good company, bright sunshine, and lots of runners out. Thanks, Deb and Sherrey for getting me to 13k, which was more than I expected to do.

Given the conditions, we decided to head east from Eau Claire. Better to warm up a bit before facing the breeze. We reached the 12th St bridge in Inglewood before turning around, 3k into our run. Even after so many years, passing the confluence of the Bow and Elbow Rivers always feels special to me.

Our crossing point happens to be the location of a unique statue. Or maybe not so unique. But more on that shortly.

The statue I’m referring to is called Wolfe and the Sparrows. It was sculpted in bronze by Brandon Vickerd in 2019. Vickerd is a Hamilton-based artist and professor at York University.

General Wolfe was the commander of the British forces at the Battle of the Plains of Abraham. He led the British to a rather important victory there in 1759.

As I stepped carefully around the statue… that ice!… I stopped to admire it for a few seconds. I wondered what Vickerd had in mind when he replaced Wolfe’s upper body with a flock of sparrows.

Later, I read the city’s description of the statue, which states that the community wanted something “critical, challenging and funny”. I think Vickerd succeeded with this piece.

According to his bio, Vickerd seeks to “provoke the viewer into questioning the dominate myth of progress ingrained in Western world views.” His Wolfe statue touches on themes of indigenous reconciliation, so maybe he hit the mark there too.

Why? Apparently, in many cultures and religions, sparrows represent good fortune, happiness, and resilience. They are non-native birds in North America, which makes them a good choice for a piece meant to convey the importance of reconciliation.

I like Vickerd’s statue a lot. I decided that whatever he intended, it works as a thought-provoking piece of public art.

Back to our run. Continuing west along the river past 14 St, we saw many familiar faces, including some quick runners in RunCalgary‘s 12k’s of Christmas. Well done, Reinier and Mel, Matt and Jeremy!

It was a quick pace at the front of the pack

Now, what about my comment about the uniqueness of the Wolfe statue?

On the drive home, I asked Deb to make a slight detour so we could stop at Calgary’s “other” Wolfe statue. Appropriately, this one sits in Wolfe Park in Mount Royal.

This bronze statue by Scottish sculptor John Massey Rhind was completed in 1898. It was originally located in New York City and was sold to Calgary philanthropist Eric Harvie in 1966. The statue was donated as a public art piece in 2009.

You’d have to call this version of Wolfe a traditional rendering. It shows the general looking off into the distance as if contemplating the battle to come. (By the way, Wolfe didn’t survive it.)

I like this statue too, and I’ve photographed it often. It certainly is a worthy addition to the neighbourhood. I try capturing it in different lighting conditions, as it seems to change the expression on Wolfe’s face.

From chest level down, these two statues are identical. Vickerd chose to do this. Was it homage to Rhind’s statue? Maybe. We are left to wonder what message he was sending by adding the swallows. For me, while the original statue is handsome, it can’t match Vickerd’s version as a provocative piece of art.

In closing, we’re fortunate to have two very different Wolfe statues in Calgary. Both are impressive pieces, in their own way.

Luck… and Good Light

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Photography can be a curious hobby.

Sometimes pictures are everywhere. Other times you feel that you have lost the plot. Try as you might, it seems there are no worthwhile subjects at all.

The last few weeks have been tough for a variety of reasons. Time hasn’t been on my side, due to work and volunteer commitments. Cameras have been sitting idle. And it doesn’t help that my motivation has been running low. Maybe it’s a seasonal thing. With the shorter days, finding an interesting scene… just finding any light at all… is difficult.

But here’s the good news. Whatever light we have at this time of year is often stunning. Any decent sunrise or sunset can be an easy capture because you don’t have to be up at an ungodly hour to shoot it. We are blessed in Calgary to have plenty of picturesque shots, thanks to our frequent Chinook arches.

As if to remind me to snap out of my little funk, I’ve had several fortunate scenes appear before my eyes in the last week.

One day, the light in the house was suddenly and strangely pink in the late afternoon. I looked outside, and the sky was glowing a magnificent rosy shade. I almost tripped down the stairs to grab my Ricoh GR III. Quick, get out there! Shoot something!

Admittedly, the firefighter across the street at the No. 5 Fire Station was slightly surprised to be the subject of my random shot, especially as he was walking to the rubbish bin. It didn’t matter. I wasn’t looking at him but at the amazing pink clouds above his head. A firestorm above the firehall. Easy!

No. 5 Fire Station, Fiery Sunset (November 2023)

Then, a few days later, as I picked up some things at the downtown Staples, I was drawn to a scene I’d passed many times. The setting sun was dipping below a Chinook arch and casting a golden glow over the skyscrapers. More awesome light. Again, shoot something. Anything!

Looking east along the CP rail line, the tracks make natural leading lines. My challenge in the past has been in finding something to lead to… something other than a moving train, that is.

Then I spotted my subject. A guy on a cool fixed-gear bike with bright green wheels was heading north on 11th Street. Standing in the middle of the street, I felt a bit exposed. I fumbled for my iPhone 14. C’mon man… hurry! I snapped my picture at the last split second, just as he entered my scene. Then I hustled out of the reach of the oncoming cars.

Later, when I sat down with my pictures, I was more than happy with the results. With what had been snap-and-dash shots, I managed to get a couple of keepers.

Green Wheels, Golden Hour (November 2023)

Luck and good light.

Just goes to show that you have to always be ready. And never give up.

Downtown Wildlife “Photo Run”

A reminder that Stroke of Luck is now available. Click here for details.

I often feel that I’m rewarded with photo opportunities as long as I have a camera close to hand. Last week I made a rare trip into downtown. It was a day after the first blast of winter in Alberta. The snow was still falling.

I’d walked by the Harley Hotchkiss Plaza next to the courthouse many times, and I’ve always admired the Joe Fafard sculpture (Do, Re, Mi, Fa, Sol, La, Si, Do). It is a special installation… large, dynamic and colourful.

Fafard (1942-2019) is known for his large sculptures, which often feature animals and play with perspective. Many of his works are humorous and they always show his keen wit.

Fafard produced the eight horses that comprise this work from powder-coated 5/8” steel plate in 2010. There is a duplicate of the piece installed in le parc Notre-Dame-de-la-Garde in Quebec City. Apparently, Fafard used laser-cut steel pieces salvaged from his other works to create the horses. Up close or at a distance, they are fantastic.

I’ve taken pictures of Fafard’s sculpture a few times, but each time I found the size and breadth of the piece (not to mention an often busy background) made it hard to photograph. On this day, though, the snowy scene was a perfect monochromatic backdrop. I stopped for a few shots with my Ricoh GR III.

When I edited my photo, I made use of the latest masking features in Lightroom. Adobe says these are based on AI. Whatever they did, they made the process quite intuitive. It saved me a lot of time in this case, because I visualized the photo with the intricate figures separated from the background. To make the horses stand out even more, I reduced the saturation in the background.

Here is the result. I hope you like it. (Yes, it is a slight cheat, but I figure that since the horses are running, I can officially call this session a “photo run”.)

*Do, Re, Mi, Fa, Sol, La, Si, Do* by Joe Fafard (2010)

A little further north on 4th Street, I stopped again. This time, it was to admire the massive mural of a peregrine falcon on the south side of the building at 441 5th Avenue SW. The piece is by Jerry Rugg, who is known in the world of muralism as birdO. Rugg is a multidisciplinary artist based in Toronto. His beautiful mural was done for the Beltline Urban Mural Project (BUMP) in 2021.

birdO works on canvas, in digital print, and installation, but he may be best known for his large-scale mural work on walls and buildings around the world. This is a great example. I love this piece, and I especially like the way it brightened up an otherwise cold, grey day.

As in the previous photo, I toned down the saturation in the background, which was admittedly already desaturated. This let the brilliant colours in birdO’s mural shine.

Peregrine Falcon, BUMP mural by birdO (2021)

Speaking of Joe Fafard, I can’t resist including a closing word about him. There are several impressive Fafard pieces around Calgary. My favourite is Van Gogh Observes, a monumental piece which can be found outside Masters Gallery on 4th Street SW in Mission. According to the gallery’s description, it is one of Fafard’s largest pieces.

This shot is from my archives. I was lucky to capture Van Gogh, apparently engaged in conversation with a passing couple in 2020.

*Van Gogh Observes* by Joe Fafard (2018)

What a Difference a Week Makes

As anyone who has lived here can tell you, Calgary doesn’t do fall very well. Sure, it can be nice one day, but we know not to be fooled. It’s only a matter of time before the weather turns into a demon.

This past week was a good case in point.

The First Responders races are hosted by Multisports Canada, in support of all first responders – police, fire, EMS and military. Races are held across Western Canada. This year, the Calgary race was held on October 22, on beautiful St. Patrick’s Island.

It was a cool day… a perfect day for racing. A good turnout for the 5k, 10k and half marathon races provided lots of opportunities for runners and spectators. Deb and I were there to cheer on some young athletes from our club. We were also fortunate to have Dan in town for the weekend. He was with members of his Cold Lake squadron, to compete in the 10k.

Overcast skies and the scenic backdrop of the island also promised some great photo opportunities. I got myself ready in a few strategic locations, with my Leica M10 and the excellent Voigtlander 75mm Heliar f1.8 lens in hand.

Competitors in the Half Marathon make their way across the George C. King Bridge

The racers didn’t disappoint. There was plenty of excitement and some terrific performances. You can find the results for all the races here. The ageless Maria Zambrano, who has been a fixture in the Calgary race scene for decades, won the 10k outright, in a sparkling time of 36:09. She isn’t getting older, she is getting faster. Amazing!

Maria Zambrano heads for home in the 10k

Providing more evidence that age is really just a number, Andrew Brown took home top honours in the half marathon, running 1:26:35. By the way, Andrew is in the 50-59 age group.

I was wearing two hats (well maybe three, given the temperature.) As an assistant coach, I was rooting for two young runners in our Adrenaline Rush club, Alison and Owen MacPherson. Both raced their plans to perfection, chalking up negative splits and looking far too comfortable at the finish. Dad Gord was there to cheer them on!

The MacPherson family celebrates two fine performances in the 5k

Now, what about the demon, you ask?

Our time ran out on Monday, with the arrival of a cold front. It was the first blast of winter. By the time it was done, 15cm of snow had fallen on Calgary, and our pleasant fall was a distant memory. We are still digging out! And running on treadmills for the most part.

Proving the resilience of the Calgary running community, a small army of volunteers picked up their shovels and headed for the track at the Glenmore Athletic Park.

As Deb and I worked to clear a couple of lanes on the back straight, I did some math to take my mind off my aching back. It took us an hour of hard work to clear about 200m of one lane. Did you know that one lane on a standard track is 4 feet (1.2m) wide? That means each of us did about 250 square metres of shovelling.

I also had time to figure out that the total surface area of a 400m track is about 4,300 square metres. So, between Deb and I, we managed to clear about 12 percent of the total surface area of the track. Thank goodness we had a lot of help.

No wonder I’m sore today.

Deb, Reinier Paauwe and Jeremy Deere work on the first corner

It all goes to show that Calgarians are adaptable, resilient and community-minded. We runners in the southwest will have a few lanes to train in, at least until the next snowfall.

Stay warm!

Fall Photo Run

It’s been a busy couple of months for your blog host. Between work and travel, there hasn’t been much time for a simple photo run in and around the neighbourhood. Knowing how short our autumn is here in Alberta, it looked like I might miss the whole season.

It was a pleasure to have a short window of opportunity a couple of weeks ago. So I grabbed the trusty Ricoh GR III, left my watch at home, and headed out on a perfect fall day.

Fall splendour was everywhere. Yellow leaves and green grass were on vivid display against the clear blue sky. Magical.

I ran by an elm tree in the corner of Wolfe Park, not far from home. I had to stop. The yellow leaves were glowing in the afternoon sunlight. Then, a minute later and only a few feet away, I came across a vintage trailer parked on the street. I snapped my pictures and finished my run, hoping that I had captured the feeling of the day.

The photos sat in the camera until this morning, when I finally got a few minutes to open them up in Lightroom.

The rich colour palette and stately profile of the elm tree did make for a nice photo. It was a classic fall shot of a fine-looking tree.

Elm tree in full sunlight, as we usually see it

But something seemed to be missing. My picture of the elm tree didn’t grab me as much as I had hoped. After all, the way it looked on that warm September afternoon had made me stop and reach for my camera.

I thought I would try the same shot in an infrared (IR) simulation mode that Lightroom conveniently offers. What’s that about, you may ask?

Well, the short answer is that IR shots respond to different wavelengths than the human eye. Here’s how it works. The human eye sees light in the 400-700 nanometre (nm) range, covering the colour spectrum from purple to red. IR light is in the range of 700-1200 nm; that is, beyond the visible spectrum. We can’t see IR light, but it can be captured (or as in this case, simulated) in photographs. Because the leaves of the elm tree emit light in the IR range, the yellow foliage is recorded as bright white. It can make for surreal images.

Here’s what the infrared version of the same photo looks like.

Same elm tree, simulated IR filter, as we can’t see it

I’m not sure which image I prefer. I like them both. I would never want to overuse the IR effect, given its other worldly look. Seeing the images side-by-side made me realize that there can never be anything that matches seeing nature in person. I am curious which image of the elm tree you prefer. Please let me know in the comments section, below.

As for the picture of the trailer, it was more straightforward to edit. I like the way that the blue of the trailer matches the sky. It’s a bonus that the curtains in the window of the trailer give the picture a distinct fall vibe, picking up the foliage in the background. But that’s just my opinion. What do you think?

I hope wherever you are, you are experiencing good weather and capturing lots of memorable photographs.

Enjoy.