Beaver County and most of Alberta inundated with smoke

BY JOHN MATHER

Smoke from wildfires in B.C. and Alberta have been impacting air quality in the Lamont and Beaver County areas for the past week and during the second quarter of the year according to the Fort Air Partnership.

In a report issued last week, the Partnership indicated there were 544 exceedences of the Alberta Ambient Air Quality Objectives (AAAQO) and 88 exceedences of the 24-hour objective.

The increased number of high and very-highrisk AQHI hours resulted from wildfire smoke and summertime smog in the FAP airshed, the report stated.

“Wildfire smoke increased the amount of fine particulate matter in our airshed, especially from May 16-25 and June 8-14, but also on June 2-3 and June 16. Regional meteorological conditions (which led to smog formation) resulted in a 24-hour fine particulate matter exceedance on April 1.

There were 494 onehour exceedances of fine particulate matter caused by wildfire smoke. There were also 46 one-hour exceedances of ozone levels caused by wildfire smoke and/or summertime smog, three one-hour exceedances of benzene with an undetermined source, and one one-hour exceedance of hydrogen sulphide with an unde- termined source.

Meanwhile during the past week smoke again rolled into the area on July 13,

On July 16 smoke levels were at a high risk level and on July 17 they had dropped to a lower 4 to 6 level according to a stateent issued by Environment Canada.

It further added, “People with lung disease (such as asthma) or heart disease, older adults, children, pregnant people, and people who work outdoors are at higher risk of experiencing health effects caused by wildfire smoke.

Stop outdoor activities and contact your health care provider if you or someone in your care experiences shortness of breath, wheezing (including asthma attacks), severe cough, dizziness or chest pains.

Stay inside if you are feeling unwell and experiencing symptoms.”

The smoke levels were expected to drop by July 18 as rain was expected to fall across the area.

BY KARI JANZEN

Carla Lehman, a local professional photographer born and raised in Tofield, has recently received her accreditation from the Professional Photographers of Canada (PPOC) in the Wedding Story genre.

On Lehman’s blog she wrote, “For Wedding Story, ten images must be submitted that tell the story of a couple’s wedding.”

Lehman said when she first heard the news, “I was actually completely shocked and then I was overjoyed. I actually bounced up out of my seat and did a little happy dance. It is very difficult to get accreditation on your first submission. I received a grade of very good, which is amazing. So I was very, very happy.

“The accreditation process is actually quite stringent. You're judged by a group of your peers who are master level photographers, or higher level photographers, and they have been trained in the judging process and they know what to look for. And so when you're submitting your work for accreditation, you want to be submitting your best work. And it's all about attention to detail

Story” from Professional Photographers of Canada

and making sure the images are above average quality.”

While receiving accreditation in Wedding Story is a huge honour, Lehman has been accredited in other genres as well. “I've been accredited for a while in different genres but for this wedding portrait, I just have never submitted and I've been a wedding photographer for 20 years and I thought this is ridiculous. This is something that's on my heart and I love telling wedding stories, and I need to actually submit one of my weddings for accreditation and so I decided in early spring 2023 that I was going to choose one of my weddings from last year and submit it.”

Lehman used photos from Riley and Delanie Ferguson’s wedding in 2022. In Lehman’s blog she said, “I don’t photograph weddings, I document love, connections, moments, memories.”

Expanding on that, Lehman said that “everything that I photograph I am photographing at the best of my ability to create a legacy for my clients. One of my clients said to me once, ‘I don't see what your photos look like, I see what they feel like.’ And that was the greatest compliment I could ever get. Because that's why I do what I do.”

Through the accreditation process and Lehman’s experience with being a note taker for the PPOC, she says

“it's taught me to be more particular about my compositions and about lighting and about staging my photos. They judge very strictly and they are very particular and so spending that year as a note taker, I really learned about what the judges are looking for. That more than the accreditation process actually changed my thoughts about how to photograph something. And it makes a