We can’t help it. We’re crazy in love with small town museums. They are the most wonderful of places, repositories of local history, quaint and full of charm, allowing one to step back in time and connect with what used to be. Simply wander about taking in the exhibits, examine,...
If you’ve cruised around the Crowsnest Pass of Alberta perhaps you’ve seen that huge radio tower sitting atop a rocky promontory right above Island Lake. Yes that one, just prior to reaching the BC border…that’s the place! Well, it’s the goal for this hike. The trail, an access road used...
Here’s one of Calgary’s more unique dwellings. Located in the old and prestigious community of Mount Royal, just south of downtown, it’s known as the Castle House. It’s this strange over the top design, very kitschy and stand out-ish, and for those with eclectic tastes, it something quite drool-worthy. My...
It’s after dark one mid-winter’s evening, no snow and plenty warm. If that’s not a good excuse to get out with the camera and shoot, I don’t what is. So here we are, at a place we’ve been meaning to photograph for some time, Sunalta School. Located in the Calgary...
There’s been a real scarcity of โThen and Nowโ posts at BIGDoer.com lately. For years they’ve been a staple here, and we did a good number of them, but for the last while our output has slowed to a near trickle. Worry not, we’ve not totally forgotten about the genre....
Exploring History / Hikes And Summits / Old Things / Other Fun
by Chris Doering · Published June 7, 2018 · Last modified July 19, 2021
Our dear loyal readers, Team BIGDoer will be taking a break and this will be a our last post for a while. We’re a bit burned out. But don’t fret it’s a temporary thing and we won’t be gone permanently, just some four or five weeks. We’re taking some “us”...
We’re cruising down Deerfoot Trail, quite often, (and not always jokingly) referred to as Calgary’s answer to the Indianapolis Speedway…and what’s that we see ahead? Up there, same lane, having just merged in, a little Boler Trailer, dead ahead! At a โleisurelyโ hundred and twenty clicks, ten over the limit,...
We’ve been up to the top of Junction Hill before, but for this outing we mix it up a bit and take a different approach when compared to the previous visit. Instead of tackling the east ridge head on as we did before (and as most people seem to do)...
The adventure here never ends. Even when heading home from some assignment or outing, we like to take it slow and explore. We point ourselves in the general direction of home and we doddle. Taking random back roads as we do it’s almost guaranteed we’ll discover something interesting along the...
At a crossroads just outside the community of Drumheller, the scenic Red Deer River Valley Badlands a backdrop, stands the โLittle Churchโ. Not much bigger than a children’s playhouse, or some shed you might find in your backyard for storage of gardening tools, there’s room inside for six. Six people...
Longview Alberta is the gateway to Kananaskis. A sign as you enter town even says so! Not all that far away, a bit to the west, are the southern reaches of that vast recreational area, a most scenic place and a hiker’s paradise. Lots and lots of trails out there...
Here’s a few out of the way places we documented last fall in the far eastern reaches of Alberta. We’re hanging with a good friend, and cruising the back roads, not really caring what we find since it’s more about the socializing than it is the subject matter. Still, we...
We have this friend, a most ingenious fellow who operates an unusual niche business. His firm puts up decorative lights โ you know those elaborate Christmas displays or those โlit-up-like-a-pinballโ show homes you see? That just may be his handiwork. But it gets better since he does it in a...
So we’re watching this movie, a little known but most enjoyable flick shot in Calgary called Waydowntown (from 2000). The story is that a corporate drone who on a bet spends a full month living in the city’s extensive Plus 15 Walkway Network and never venturing outside. A dark comedy,...
Buildings like it were everywhere in rural districts across the province in the first half of the twentieth century โ there were thousands of them! A person need only travel a short distance back then, down some random backroad, to see one. Where there was a group of farms, one...
We love to walk the streets of a small town. There’s so much to discover on getting close and intimate with a place and we get to see all the cool stuff that would otherwise be missed if we simply drove by. Getting out and exploring on foot is what...
On the first day we โrode the railsโ from Climax Saskatchewan to Shaunavon. What an amazing time touring this part of the province in a little railway speeder. After all these months there’s still an afterglow. So we jump to day two, our itinerary taking us from Shaunavon to the...
We love a good hike. It matters not if we’re deep in the wilderness or in an urban setting, as long as we’re in motion and having fun. We’re so darn easy to please. Today’s outing finds us kicking about town – there’s just too much snow in the mountains...
As it sometimes happens we stumble across a random Boler Trailer parked in or around someone’s property when out for a stroll. There’s a fair number of them here in Calgary โ dozens and dozens that we know of, and many more, no doubt, we’ve yet to be introduced to....
This is becoming a tradition it seems. Simply, we wander a part of town after dark and practise our low light photography skills. It’s not so much about the subject at this point but the technical aspects, including getting a good and shape image which was the one big problem...
Flashback, September 2017! We’re in Eastern Saskatchewan, in the town of Unity (no, the โcommunity of Unityโ), a copy of a vintage postcard in hand. We’re here to shoot a trademark BIGDoer.com then and now and that old picture is the fodder. The subject of our attention, what’s seen in...
The late 1950s/early 1960s era was witness to some interesting architecture, in particular for commercial and business use. Sure there was the plain old shoe box design philosophy that’s always been there and dominated the scene, square and unimaginative, and cheap to build. But for those who dreamed it got...
A message arrives in our inbox. What’s this? An invite? โWant to join us on a speeder trip?โ Whoaaa, a speeder trip? Adventure on the rails? With not a second of hesitation…YES Please! And with that plans are made. It’s spring 2017, the trip to take place later that summer....
Standing on the very edge of the Alberta Badlands, peer down and be awestruck on seeing the scenic valley below. There’s the car way over there by the river. Hello, we just came from there. All that layered strata. Next spin around and it’s endless fields of golden grain waving...
We walk. A lot. Our neighbourhood’s a good-sized one, and sometimes we just step out, point ourselves in some random direction and start exploring (it makes the day better). Even after all these years, there’s still a fair number of streets we’ve never been down. And what happens when you...
As is often the case when out on the road heading to an assignment, we see something interesting and have to stop. And that’s what happened this day, even if it was only brief. So here, in the “sprawling metropolis” of Unity Saskatchewan, a couple large industries, one a grain...
Another instalment in the โRoam at Nightโ Series. Here, it’s not about the subject and composition so much, but rather practicing the technical aspects of night photography. You know, getting the exposure right and the challenges of focusing in those conditions, and keeping noise to a minimum. Later we can...
A message arrives. Come view some trucks it says…we have some old big rigs. That has our attention. Now to make it happen. It’s not anywhere close to us, but as we always manage to do, we’ll find away. It might just take some time. And so the months pass...
A number of factors, nagging injuries being one, have kept us in the city for some time now. Still, we get out and have fun. It really doesn’t take much to amuse us and we find adventure where ever we are. Lately, for the hiking end of things, we’ve been...
The road in is rough, more a cart track than anything. Bouncing along for many kilometres there’s nothing as far as the eye can see. Then come to the edge and look down. Way down. Drop into a valley, the track steep, narrow and precipitous. It’s something very logging road...
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