The life blood of Upper Canada was the St. Lawrence River, long before it was the mighty seaway we know today it was just a river, often times areas of rapids and flowed past several loyalist settlements that were established following the American Revolution. The river was a link to the major centers of the colonies of British North American, the mighty fortress and administrative capital of Quebec City and the major seaport of Halifax to the smaller settlements in Upper Canada. It was also the weak point, cut off access to the river at either end and you could choke Upper Canada. In factRead More →

It finally happened, we’ve gone and branched into the wonderful world of large format photography! So what is large format, well for the most part we’ve been discussing cameras that take roll film, that is 35mm and medium format, large format cameras for the most part take sheet film, measured in inches rather than millimeters or centimeters. Cameras featured on Today’s Show… Speed Graphic: the classic press camera the Speed Graphic has a focal plane shutter that allows for press photographers to shoot quickly using a film magazine. Crown Graphic: the cousin of the Speed Graphic, the only real difference is that the Crowns doRead More →

A hero in his home state of North Carolina and bane to the British supply lines along the St. Lawrence River there isn’t much known about the early life of Benjamin Forsyth. What is known is passed down as family legend by his ancestors. Born around 1760 to James and Elizabeth Forsyth in either Hanover, Virginia or Stokes County, North Carolina lost his father at a young age. By 1794 Benjamin was beginning to establish himself with the purchase of some land in Stokes County near Germantown, North Carolina. He married in 1797 to Bethemia Ladd with whom he had six children. He joined theRead More →

If there is a single camera out there that most people will associate with professional film photographers, it is the Hasselblad V-System. Designed and built in Sweeden, the Hasselblad is the luxury camera of the medium format market. While the 500c is the original model to use a leaf shutter, it is a good entry point into the Hasselblad system if you can find one at the right price. Thankfully I was able to find a complete setup (lens, finder, back) for a reasonable price, but soon found that there is a certain cost to owning a Hasselblad system. And the fact you can’t justRead More →

The Signet 35 was the top dog in the Kodak 35mm line following WW2, this beautiful all metal rangefinder had it’s top lens, the Ektar mounted on the front, a shutter that could go up to 1/300″ and an accessory shoe. This was the snapshot camera for the wealthy and the elite, and today it works as great as it looks. The Signet 35 like many other Kodak cameras of the day was designed by their top designer, Arthur H Crapsey. I was loaned this camera again by Mike Bitaxi to review and I was actually really happy with the results I got out ofRead More →