on all pages
Harvesting the Past
Alberta, Canada
Although I live just one hour away from the beautiful Canadian Rocky Mountains to the west, I spend a surprising amount of my time exploring the vast Canadian prairies to the east. My fascination with the prairies lies in the old abandoned homesteads, a testament to a strength and fortitude of people willing to take a chance on a new beginning nearly a century ago.
These days, the number of these homesteads that remain continues to shrink and I must travel farther and farther to find them. Some finally succumb to decades of exposure to the elements and simply collapse. But more and more these days, their demise is at the blade of a bulldozer, removing an unnecessary obstacle for autonomous, GPS-guided, large-scale farming machinery.
I found this old homestead one day in early spring with snow still falling. It was a dreary overcast day but I immediately saw the potential of this west-facing house. What I envisioned was a sunrise photo with the sun positioned between the house and the first outbuilding. However, using an ephemeris app on my phone, I quickly discovered that the only time the sun would rise where I wanted it was during just 5 days in October. So, I began a six-month wait to take this photo.
When early October finally arrived, I rose before dawn and travelled to this location on four consecutive mornings. Each visit involved hiking out to this house in the darkness and setting up the special equipment I needed to create a VAST photo. The sunrise was obscured for the first three attempts, but on the fourth day my vision was finally realized and the sun rose exactly where I wanted it.
The fields surrounding the house had already been harvested. The old house sitting next to empty fields had me thinking of how much work must have been involved in the harvest a hundred years ago and how a successful harvest must have been an annual make-or-break event for the occupants of this house.
I have since returned to this location and all that remains is the house itself. The other buildings have been removed and it is only a matter of time until the house will also vanish, leaving no clues to the first settlers that worked this land in the past.
| Date & Time | October 5, 2012: 7:58am |
| Location | Alberta, Canada |
| Coordinates | 50.403924, -113.261377 |
| Focal Length | 24mm |
| Aperture | f11 |
| Shutter | 1/80 |
| ISO | 200 |
| Num of Exposures | 140 |
VAST photos are the highest resolution photos ever made.
Learn more
This is not an ordinary photograph.
Its resolution is 552% greater than a typical photo. Click on the boxes below to zoom in.
Our ready-to-hang canvas prints are created using a specialty printer that carefully lays pigment inks down onto archival-quality fine art canvas material. The canvas is then stretched around a 1.5-inch-deep wood support structure to provide depth and elegance. Our canvas material has a delightfully matte finish that looks spectacular in any lighting conditions while retaining maximum vibrancy and contrast. Click here to learn more.
A VAST Print™ represents the pinnacle of the photographic medium. Each print is a true photograph created specifically for you using light-sensitive paper exposed in a darkroom with the industry's highest precision exposure technique. Your print is then sealed with a shine-enhancing protective glossy coating*, adhered to a sturdy aluminum composite backing, and finished in one of two ready-to-hang formats:
- Frameless floating display: A hidden mounting brace on the rear gracefully "floats" the print off the wall for a sleek, modern look.
- Framed display: The print is mounted inside one of our handcrafted 100% wood frames with a decorative separation between the print and the frame so that the print appears to be floating within the frame, providing depth and elegance to the finished photo.
*Note: a non-glossy, satin matte coating is alternatively available on request.
with artist signature
affixed to the back
Mounting brace floats the display
off the wall by 3/4 inch
protective coating
Due to their record-setting resolutions, VAST photos are the most versatile images ever created, with the quality necessary to look great at any size and in any project. Purchasing one of our standard royalty-free licenses provides you with the digital file at your choice of resolution and a permit to use it for most types of projects. Click here to learn more.
For a premium license that gives exclusivity, glass-related use in North America, or use in merchandise for sale, contact us.
| Total Pixels | 136,877,622 px |
| Width | 18,966 px |
| Height | 7,217 px |
| Aspect Ratio | 2.63 : 1 |
| Date & Time | October 5, 2012: 7:58am |
| Location | Alberta, Canada |
| Coordinates | 50.403924, -113.261377 |
| Focal Length | 24mm |
| Aperture | f11 |
| Shutter | 1/80 |
| ISO | 200 |
| Num of Exposures | 140 |
How much resolution do I need?
Here are some rough guidelines for this specific photo:
