Critique Welcomed Grain Elevators

[Brian Moore]

Drove from Vancouver east to Calgary then south to Montana last week. Along the way, in Southern Alberta, passed through the town of Nanton, where I had to stop to get a few pictures of the grain elevators there. Alberta is plagued at the moment with many wildfires and I think this photo gives a good idea of how the smoke colored the sky and the scenery. (Our terminal destination in Montana was the Little Bighorn Battlefield, which is in Southern Montana, toward the east of the state and almost 900 kilometers from Nanton. Thought we'd drive out of the smoke going south but never did. It wasn't until we drove back to the west, almost to Idaho, that we started seeing clear skies.)

(Sigma DP1 Merrill)

 

[Pete Askew]

I do like grain elevators although they are quite rare here in the UK, although Lower Saxony has a fair few. These are an especially fine pair and when I first saw the image I thought it must be cross-processed. I do like the effect of the smoke filter though although you shouldn't have lit it just for me!

 

[Brian Moore]

I do like grain elevators although they are quite rare here in the UK, although Lower Saxony has a fair few. These are an especially fine pair and when I first saw the image I thought it must be cross-processed. I do like the effect of the smoke filter though although you shouldn't have lit it just for me!

Anything for you, Pete! I had I intended to get more pictures of grain elevators on this journey but it never worked out. Thanks, Pete.

 

[Steve Boykin]

Drove from Vancouver east to Calgary then south to Montana last week. Along the way, in Southern Alberta, passed through the town of Nanton, where I had to stop to get a few pictures of the grain elevators there. Alberta is plagued at the moment with many wildfires and I think this photo gives a good idea of how the smoke colored the sky and the scenery. (Our terminal destination in Montana was the Little Bighorn Battlefield, which is in Southern Montana, toward the east of the state and almost 900 kilometers from Nanton. Thought we'd drive out of the smoke going south but never did. It wasn't until we drove back to the west, almost to Idaho, that we started seeing clear skies.)

(Sigma DP1 Merrill)

That's very nice Brian. Did you do all the processing in Sigma Photo Pro? The composition is great and I really like the colors.

If you are interested I have an SD1 I am going to sell with a couple of lenses. I am going through the herd culling again....sigh..... Every time I do this I swear it will be the last time.

 

[Brian Moore]

That's very nice Brian. Did you do all the processing in Sigma Photo Pro? The composition is great and I really like the colors.

If you are interested I have an SD1 I am going to sell with a couple of lenses. I am going through the herd culling again....sigh..... Every time I do this I swear it will be the last time.

Thanks Steve. Much appreciated. I did the initial processing in Sigma Photo Pro. Actually I just turned the X3F images into TIFFs with SPP, then into Lr for further processing. Thanks for mentioning the SD1. I'm not looking at the moment but if I were I'd have been interested.

 

[Dave Farnes]

Most interesting subject, those colors give a strange feel to the scene.

 

[Brian Moore]

Most interesting subject, those colors give a strange feel to the scene.

Thanks Dave. I think the smoke was thickest in this region of our drive and so it was a bit surreal.

 

[Chris Bennett]

I love grain elevators! And these ones are great.
We flew to Calgary in 2005, drove east through Alberta and a bit of Saskatchewan, then down into Montana, photographing the elevators we passed. The best ones were the decayed and abandoned examples at Malta and west of there

 

[Brian Moore]

I love grain elevators! And these ones are great.
We flew to Calgary in 2005, drove east through Alberta and a bit of Saskatchewan, then down into Montana, photographing the elevators we passed. The best ones were the decayed and abandoned examples at Malta and west of there

Why do you love grain elevators, Chris? No answer required; I only pose the question because its similar to a question my wife posed to me: "I'm wondering what you see in those things?" I had no answer in the moment.

Thanks for your comment Chris. Appreciated.

 

[Pete Askew]

Were you on the way to Burma-Shave, @Chris Bennett ?

 

[Chris Bennett]

Why do you love grain elevators, Chris? No answer required; I only pose the question because its similar to a question my wife posed to me: "I'm wondering what you see in those things?" I had no answer in the moment.

Thanks for your comment Chris. Appreciated.

It is a very good question, Brian. I think it stems from the anticipation of reaching a 'somewhere' in such a flat and otherwise empty landscape. They aren't really all that tall, but you can see them from an extremely long way before you reach them. Apart them, there's not much else to see!
We enjoyed photographing the one at Climax Saskatchewan, along with the name sign that marked the city limit, upon which, some wag had painted "Thanks for coming".

 

[Chris Bennett]

Were you on the way to Burma-Shave, @Chris Bennett ?

Ha! No, sadly, no Burma Shave signs were spotted, no matter how long we Waited

 

[Brian Moore]

It is a very good question, Brian. I think it stems from the anticipation of reaching a 'somewhere' in such a flat and otherwise empty landscape. They aren't really all that tall, but you can see them from an extremely long way before you reach them. Apart them, there's not much else to see!
We enjoyed photographing the one at Climax Saskatchewan, along with the name sign that marked the city limit, upon which, some wag had painted "Thanks for coming".

Yeah I think you're right that there's something special about them poking up out of the surrounding flatness. And concrete ones often reflect the light in a special way.