Steveschwarz Photography – Instagram Page

Posted on January 19, 2025 by Steve

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steveschwarzphoto

Retired and enjoying life, parenting, photographing, endless house renovations and collecting really old and rusty Landcruisers.

It’s that time of year again. Mosquitoes are out

It’s that time of year again. Mosquitoes are out, trees are starting to bud new leaves and forest fires are threatening lives and communities. The sight and sound of these 1960’s vintage Canadair Cl-215 waterbombers is truly eye catching and deafening. The person in the boat seems to be enjoying watching this fully loaded Cl-215 heading towards them. #canadaircl215 #waterbombers

Throwback Thursday in Uranium City. The truck and

Throwback Thursday in Uranium City. The truck and house are from a bygone time. The truck, a Chevy S-10 is mid 1980s vintage, and the house was probably built in the 1940s at Goldfields mine, then moved to Uranium City. Uranium City was once a booming mining town, until 1982 when the nearby Lorado processing mill closed. Within a year, the population had plummeted. People moved elsewhere for jobs leaving behind their homes, furniture, and vehicles. #uraniumcity #watercolor

When you live in a town with no roads in or out, a

When you live in a town with no roads in or out, airplanes are the lifeline. Groceries, mail, people, assorted freight, it all gets to town by airplane. Two days ago, the airline circled the airport but didn’t land. It was too windy. Maybe the flight will arrive in a few days?.
Thinking about how dependent this town (and many others) is on airplanes, my creative efforts are biased towards airplanes. These are made from paper, wood and the smallest from metal. These models represent the same type of airplane that currently to (or previously) delivered groceries, mail, people and assorted freight to Uranium City. The largest model represents a Waterbomber that would have flown in the area to help extinguish forest fires.
#uraniumcity #airplane #hobby #scalemodelsworld #flyincommunity

Dog days of Spring. Out on the now closed Lake Ath

Dog days of Spring. Out on the now closed Lake Athabasca ice road, with the dog, bike and drone. Crystal clear ice, endless landscape, and blue sky.
#iceroad #saskatchewan #uraniumcity #dogsofinstagram

Road trip on the most crystal clear ice, and stunn

Road trip on the most crystal clear ice, and stunning sunset over Beaverlodge Lake. #uraniumcity #lakeathabasca #iceroad

Wing Wednesday. A couple of projects on the table;

Wing Wednesday. A couple of projects on the table; all aviation related. Made from paper, wood and metal. Alternating from a 15 year backlog on photo editing, and uploading to stock photo sites, and writing computer code (Nerd…Nerd stuff) to use satellite data to identify long term (approx 40 year) vegetation regrowth in a once booming uranium mining town.

Road trip: Uranium City to Fond-du-Lac on the Mill

Road trip: Uranium City to Fond-du-Lac on the Millikan road and Lake Athabasca ice road. At the time - a wind blown single lane track. #uraniumcity #iceroad #3rdgen4runner

Santa Barbara Roman Catholic Church in Uranium Cit

Santa Barbara Roman Catholic Church in Uranium City, Saskatchewan. #uraniumcity #auroraborealis

Flying to Uranium City. There is no road access t

Flying to Uranium City. There is no road access to Uranium City, except in March when the ice is thick enough for an ice road connecting Fond- du -Lac (FDL) and Uranium City (UC) to Stoney Rapids at the eastern side of Lake Athabasca. From Saskatoon it is a short two part flight, first to FDL then Stoney Rapids, change planes then to UC. Driving from Saskatoon to UC is at least two days. I drove that route last March. As I post this, the ice road is still 2 or 3 days from completion. #uraniumcity #saskatchewan #iceroad #canada

First post of 2026. Farewell to Seattle, Washingto

First post of 2026. Farewell to Seattle, Washington State. #pikeplacemarket #museumofflightseattle #chihulygardenandglass #urbansketch #urbansketchseattle

Christmas Time Art created by my family and myself

Christmas Time Art created by my family and myself. The joy of a few hours together, drawing or painting. Conversation, and moments of silence. Short uninterrupted times together, mental memories and creative artwork.

Air travel in December!. Delayed flights, missed c

Air travel in December!. Delayed flights, missed connections, cancelled flights, sleeping in airport waiting lounges, over priced airport food, lost luggage and ridiculously long lines at Customer Service counters. As the plane flies towards home, familiar landmarks can be seen through the window. Places I’d flown over on other flights, places I’d visited, roads that I’d driven. That feeling of “heading home “, mixed in with the memories of the landmarks down below. Drawing and painting the view from the airplane, at 35,000 feet adds a new layer of memories to those familiar landmarks. #traveling #memories #sketch #watercolor #urbansketch

Inspired by my Mom. She asks “How many vehicles

Inspired by my Mom. She asks “How many vehicles do I have?” and “What they look like?”. “There is a two door, a four door, a four door turned into a two door…”. They are all Toyota Landcruisers. It is quick sketch- Anyone up for a guess which model they are ?. #toyotalandcruiser

Canadian War Museum. Free admission, free parking

Canadian War Museum. Free admission, free parking and free lunch. Why ?. Nearly 40 years ago I joined the Naval Reserve of the Canadian Armed Forces and really enjoyed and benefited from the couple of years part time service with highly trained Reserve and Regular force personnel. All these years later, the Canadian War Museum acknowledges this. All those years later the Dutch government and Dutch citizens still thank Canadian servicemen and women for their efforts and sacrifices for the liberation of The Netherlands. My mom was in occupied Netherlands, and liberated by Canadians.

Hobbies- big and small. One day I am designing and

Hobbies- big and small. One day I am designing and building cranes to move 660 pound vehicle engines, and the next day pulling out paint brushes to finish off a plane or two. These are Canadair Cl-215 Waterbombers, wood model by Osbornmodelkits, and a watercolour version. #builtnotbought #canadair215 #osbornmodelkits #hobbies

When you don’t have a concrete pad, and the grav

When you don’t have a concrete pad, and the gravel driveway is sloped - this modified engine hoist to the rescue. That’s a 1981 BJ60 Toyota Landcruiser converted into a pickup, moving the engine from a 1985 BJ60 Toyota Landcruiser. Garage envy… #toyotalandcruiser #bj60 #landcruiser60

Leaving Uranium City, for the fourth time. When t

Leaving Uranium City, for the fourth time. When the mill closed in 1982, most people left- and never came back. Almost overnight, the population dropped from 3000 to around 70. The rapid drop in population gave rise to the expression “Would the last person out PLEASE turn off the lights “. There are no roads leaving town, only a barge during the summer or an ice road across Lake Athabasca. I’ve driven the ice road, and on different trips have flown out to Fort Smith, Stoney Rapids, and to Fort McMurray. I know there is still at least one person there - and my dog !. #uraniumcity #turnoffthelightsplease #lakeathabasca #uranium #nuclear #eldoradomining #saskatchewan

Uranium City has been called a “Boom & Bust town

Uranium City has been called a “Boom & Bust town “, and a “Ghost town”. Most people the visit come to photograph the abandoned buildings and 1950-1960’s vintage vehicles. Initially- I did that too. Now, after staying in Uranium City and Camsell Portage for extended periods during the past year, the beauty of Uranium City and surrounding areas is definitely the abundance of nature and the people. Generous and welcoming. I’ve been invited to wedding anniversaries, dinner, community events, fishing trips, friday night pool, had the use of their cabins, and more. Most of all - felt welcome by the community. #lakeathabasca #uraniumcity #camsellportage #saskatchewan

Lake Athabaska, northern Saskatchewan. The fish we

Lake Athabaska, northern Saskatchewan. The fish were plentiful (northern pike, trout, whitefish, and pickerel), the geology (absolutely photogenic - even to non-geologists), and scenery is stunningly gorgeous. That was yesterday. Today with a 35km/hr wind, a couple of hours on the lake would certainly be less enjoyable…. #lakeathabasca #saskatchewan #uraniumcity #saskphotographer #saskatchewan #fish #beautifuldestinations

Melville morning commute. Early morning paddle ac

Melville morning commute. Early morning paddle across the perfectly calm lake to the truck, drop off a passenger and head back to coffee brewing on the woodstove in the cabin. Paradise!. #uraniumcity #commuting

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