The stately structure that is the focus of this “Then & Now” is buried deep within a Calgary campus and known as SAIT Heritage Hall. Earlier home to the Alberta Normal School and Provincial Institute of Technology, today it’s just one part of the sprawling Southern Alberta Institute of Technology...
Bowness Shopping Centre on Bowness Road and in the neighbourhood of (guess where) Bowness, was established before the community even became part of Calgary. The city annexed the land here part way into the ’60s, but before that time it was a town on its own. The shopping centre is...
We could only manage a quick stop at the Coronation Roadmaster’s House Museum on this extended road trip, but you can count on us paying it a revisit next time we’re in the area. We’re out in the east-central reaches of Alberta and it’s a section of flat prairie extending...
We have this thing for trains and photograph them every chance we get. Some might call it a silly obsession and looking inwards, even we think so at times. Truth be told most photos we capture on the subject are not interesting enough to post, but what ever reason they...
Yellow! Don’t you agree it’s good to colour coordinate? Here’s a nice little Boler found in the British Columbia mountain community of Revelstoke and it’s pretty close to the BIGDoer shade, so of course we approve. All around here there’s majestic mountain scenery and here we are obsessing over a...
It happens in Edgemont Ravine, Northwest Calgary, and the hike presented here a nice easy one through park and natural green spaces. You might be deep in the city but it often feels far removed from the usual hustle and bustle. Stop and breathe. To extend the fun one can...
The Team’s out in Big Valley Alberta and having stupid fun in a downpour photographing some elderly motorhomes. What’s not to like? At any rate, it was being done for a project that ultimately got shelved (long story), but at the time we didn’t know it and jumped in with...
Bustling Downtown Argenta British Columbia: well…maybe the word bustling…and downtown for that matter…don’t really apply here, but we’re definitely in Argenta BC, so the title’s at least partly right. Welcome to this little East Kootenay Community, quite remote and off the beaten path and we’re here just because. Look, it’s...
Here’s a home with a view or rather it was previously a home with a view and now just an empty shell. Everyone up and left, so it’s been abandoned for some time now, this once grand farm house on the very edge of a scenic coulee. That it’s devoid...
This Boler was spotted in a Calgary neighbourhood during one of our annual El Camino appreciation walks. We did the legendary trail in Spain in 2018 and getting out like this each year always takes us back. It’s like reliving the experience and for a day, we’re Perigrinos once again....
West Bragg Creek Snowy Owl: for the most part it takes place along the aforementioned trail, in an extensive network of trails convenient to and just a little west of Calgary. The location is the foothills of the Rockies and the loop presented here makes for a pleasant winter’s walk...
Welcome to Main Street in Trochu Alberta and today we’re presenting two photos captured from the same location, but separated by a hundred plus years. As the saying goes, some things change and some stay the same, but here it’s more of one than the other. Much of what’s seen...
Come take a look at a hair raising section of road blasted out of the rock years ago, out in the West Kootenay region of British Columbia and near the community of Slocan City. It’s a narrow winding shelf, barely wide enough for two cars to pass and right there...
Forced perspective (noun): the use of any of various techniques (as in photography…) to create the optical illusion that objects or people are smaller, larger, closer, or farther away than they really are. Credit: Merriam-Webster Dictionary. It’s often done for humorous effect – maybe you’ve seen those pictures where some...
Few Words: The Cutest Little Farm House (ever). It’s charming, cozy and so tiny you might think it’s a doll house. On the main floor there’s a bit of room to move, barely, but upstairs anyone over average height will have to stoop. Claustrophobic types will feel the walls closing...
This urban hike has a definite gritty edge and that’s not necessarily a bad thing in our world, but certain sections had us questioning our own sanity. Still, this Bow River Loop is not without its charms, and the trek thoroughly enjoyable on the return leg, but less so at...
This will be a variation on the theme and the fun happens in Three Hills Alberta, on a wickedly frigid winter’s day, early 2022. Let me tell you, we did this one in record time! Rather than the usual comparison Then & Now type shot everyone’s all used to, which...
The quaint little town of Stavely Alberta is found just over one hundred kilometres south of Calgary and to those travelling the #2, most noteworthy for its huge grain elevator there beside the highway. It can’t be missed and the tall blue/green structure looms over “downtown”, passing motorists and the...
Dateline Torrington Alberta and it’s early in 2022. Someone, and we can’t shake the feeling that it’s a person with far too much time on their hands (wink, wink) has built a mini-Stonehenge out of random blocks of concrete. Why? Wait, the big question is why not? It’s one of...
There we were returning from a little hike out in Kananaskis Country (here: Eagle Hill) and out of nowhere it’s a chance discovery. It’s a highway Surf Side, caught along the Trans-Canada and a fitting end to a great road-trip adventure. It’s like the cherry on top – a good...
A chance encounter earns us a couple wonderful minutes getting to know the locomotives of 40 Mile Rail down in Southern Alberta. Trains are something we’re more into than our readers so normally not many pics like this are shared. Emphasis on normally. With such a spectacular setting we just...
We’re in downtown Castor Alberta and armed with an old image to be used in another BIGDoer.com Then & Now comparison. Standing roughly on the same spot where the original photographer did about a 110 years ago, we’ll look into what’s the same (a little) and what’s changed (a lot)...
There were once thousands of wood grain elevators across the Canadian plains, but the numbers have thinned considerably over the years. Almost every town in the grain belt had one, or more, and long before you arrived, you’d see them off in the distance. In this post we’ll take a...
We’re taking you back to when coal was king and use of the fuel wide spread. It heated homes and powered industry, among others. The rather insignificant building seen here is hidden away in a coulee and functioned as a mine substation. Right here and on this very spot was...
There we were driving about the provincial capitol and minding our own business, when out of nowhere something catches our eye. A couple blocks ahead, a familiar form is spotted, on the move, and soon a chase ensues. Always at posted speeds that is. If it times right, we just...
Today it happens down on the waterfront in Slocan British Columbia and for your enjoyment we present two comparison photos taken eighty one years apart. The first, captured in 1940, shows a railway barge setup and the other, how the location looks in 2021. The “then” photo comes thanks to...
The Trout Lake BC Cemetery is well hidden by the forest and all but a few burials date back to the early days. It’s a lost corner in this former mining boom town and the most frequent visitors the local bear population. Peace and tranquility reign supreme, deep in this...
As long time city residents, we’ve noticed there seems be a proliferation of back alley rhubarb growing in certain 1950s-1960s era neighbourhoods throughout the city. Our community fits that time frame, and yes, we need only go a block or two to find some. They usually appear deliberately and strategically...
There’s some interesting sidewalk tiles underfoot in this British Columbia community. If you know where to look that is. They pay homage to various classes of Canadian Pacific Railway locomotives and are located on 10th Ave S Cranbrook, in downtown. From what we know they were placed fairly recently and...
We’re spending a quiet evening with Tuxedo Park School (North Calgary) simply wandering about and snapping a few photos. The faculty was built in two stages, 1920 and then expanded upon greatly in the 1956-7 before closing some years back. With the property currently in limbo, there’s uncertainty at every...
Kenopsia: "the eerie atmosphere of a place that's usually bustling with people but now vacant or abandoned."
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