Imagine yourself sixty or seventy years ago and living somewhere on the expansive Canadian Plains. Think of a place remote and lonely. It’s winter and while there’s still a need to travel, the roads are blocked with drifts and anything with wheels useless till spring. A horse might do the...
It’s of beastly proportions and sitting in a building barely larger than itself means it’s difficult to photograph. It’s just too big and the space too cramped. Anyway, it’s not at its best all naked and vulnerable while being restored, so those type of photos can wait. You know, roll...
Today it’s a visit to little Ben’s Hill, just east of Prairie Mountain. It’s a straightforward hike and the only complication is a minor cliff band two-thirds of the way up. Should the conditions be slippery as they were this day, there is a steep bypass route, but even it...
It’s estimated close to forty years separates the two photos seen in this comparison post. It’s a strange subject we’ve picked, an obscure little corner of our city, but we like out of the way places. Anyway, it looked like it had the potential for some silly fun, so for...
Today, it’s a look at the Bluebird Motel Claresholm Alberta, charming old school accommodations in the motor court style and with tons of character. It’s a mom and pop kind of place, decidedly retro and delightful in every way. Up on the sign: “Old Fashioned Hospitality Since 1947” and a...
Unexpected finds like this are the best. We’ve spoken of them before on this channel and it plays out like this. We might be driving around in search of who knows what with Boler spotting the last thing on our minds, we round a corner and there in front of...
We love exploring little towns (who knew!), especially in the evening when their unique character and personality seems to really shine. There’s no one about, no cars in the way, the light’s nice and it’s just us wandering aimlessly. Whatever comes our way is fine and it’s always an enjoyable...
Today we’ll be looking at Pella Mennonite Church found along a dusty Saskatchewan backroad. It’s just over a century old and for more than half that time has stood abandoned. During an oddly warm and snow-free March of 2021, we pay this modest little building a visit and get to...
On arriving point yourself in a direction of the compass – any will do. No matter, what will lay before is the never ending Saskatchewan Plains, field after field and that’s about it. There’s a farm here and many clicks distance, another there, some dusty old roads and somewhere in...
This easy jaunt in the woods takes place at little Brown-Lowery Provincial Park not far from Calgary and using a series of interconnecting trails makes a fun and pleasant loop. It pretty much covers all four corners of the park (it’s not a big piece of land). If you do...
You can still find many former one room schools out on the vast Canadian Plains. Surviving for any number of reasons, some were simply abandoned but left standing where as others were reused (and sometimes moved) to serve as farm out buildings or granaries. A few have been fixed up...
Before you venture in too deep, this is a nonsensical time wasting post and the amount of work to that went into it will make you chuckle. Our subject scene comes from the epic film Superman 1978 and it’s such brief one, you’ll be questioning our motivations. You wasted that...
They may look like a series of little lakes (maybe do some fishing, eh?) but instead are former coal mine workings that filled with water after the operation closed. These many pits, just outside the little town of Tofield Alberta date back to the 1910s-’50s period and remind us just...
We had ten minutes to kill in little Andrew Alberta, before a tight schedule had us back on the road. There’s certainly more to see in the community than the time allowed us, but you take what you can get. I’m sure we’ll be back to take a more immersive...
Here’s an easy one for those days when aspirations are wanting. It’s a simple loop, mostly in the trees and takes in the west facing slope of Ole Buck Mountain. Well graded, the route is K-Country official, so marked and well maintained. Easy stuff! You’re talking Ole Buck Loop in...
We didn’t know at the time, but when these nothing photos of little Irricana Alberta were captured in early 2020, the world was about to change. Maybe forever. We all felt the rumblings and knew trouble was on the horizon, but to what extent and the magnitude, could not predict....
It’s not exactly the most common family name, so for us to see it out in the wild is both unexpected and a rare occurrence. Once in a while, we’ll notice the name on some random headstone, but instances of that can be counted on one hand. In the Bulwark...
Our subject is not terribly old and while less than photogenic it is abandoned and there in lies the appeal. There’s something haunting about a place like this, a former business in this instance, closed down and forgotten. Call it strange, yet here were are. This is Highway Gas, a...
General Motors once made transit buses and lots of them too. In the 1940s-1980s period they were a dominate player and at times appeared to literally own the market. Their “New Look” model is perhaps most iconic of all and we’ve chatted about them before at this website, but today...
There’s something magic about wandering a small town come evening and on road trips we do it every chance we get. Late in the day, the community’s charm and character is at its best and it’s a peaceful way to wind down. We lead such busy lives – go-go-go –...
If you’re into things like gritty industrial parks and little used railway tracks (and who isn’t?), then this post is for you! Tag along with us to wander a strange domain, that of warehouses and factories where infrequent trains, often nocturnal, roam rusty backtracks. Here’s it’s an evening in Calgary’s...
It seems the further we get from the mountains the less we get to play the Boler Spotting Game. By the time we go as far east as Medicine Hat, seeing a little fibreglass trailer of any make is rare and so an event. That’s our experience anyway and with...
We dodged another bullet with this random pick and had we been one frame to the left, you’d be viewing a less than flattering image of a certain photographer’s feet. Oops, pressed the shutter by mistake! I don’t even want to talk about the frame to the right. Anyway, these...
We’re not sure where it was hiding all this time. Unknowingly misplaced years ago and recently rediscovered, it’s a Then & Now looking down 2nd Street West in Brooks Alberta. The Hotel Newell (or Newell Hotel, depending) is most prominent and sits at a (once) important spot right down by...
The trail up Eagle Hill, in the foothills of Kananaskis, is a pleasant romp in the woods leading to a nice little viewpoint. From there take in surrounding ridges and mountains, the reward coming at a reasonable price. All it takes is some hiking boots, a little time, a little...
by Chris Doering · Published September 17, 2021 · Last modified September 20, 2021
Until recently we didn’t pay much attention to old water towers. Sure, there’s lots out there and we’ve even casually photographed a few, but always preoccupied with other things seemed to look right past the majority. Then it happened, a click moment (thanks Johnnie) and now they’re another obsession here...
The inner-city community of (East) Victoria Park in Calgary, just north of the Stampede Grounds, has literally been wiped off the map. Once a working-class neighbourhood, and within sight of downtown, now there’s empty parking lots with nothing going on. Well, that’s unless there’s an event at the Dome or...
Sitting along the highway in the little rural community of Ryley Alberta, it’s a most curious structure. Could that be an old…railway station? Indeed, or so it used to be, and while still looking the part the trains don’t stop anymore. It’s not even beside the tracks. Last home to...
It’s only taken us about two years to post this. Say it with me…dear Lord, they’re slow! Sometimes there’s so much on the go at BIGDoer.com that a huge backlog builds and so this glacial pace is not all that odd. A week or two before shooting this piece, way...
Time for another silly little post and here it’s a few random photos captured at the Red Deer Airport in Central Alberta. We came to document a vintage transit bus (teaser photo below) but in the end, found the background to our subject so interesting that we kept on shooting...
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