In the world of black & white developers, my exploration of different chemicals has been a lot of fun. And I’ve seen plenty of other odd developers, but one has always stood out as being one I’ve wanted to try, mainly because of its name. And that is R09 Spezial, which looks cool because of the ‘z’. While browsing, the Argentix website netted me a small bottle of this stuff. It took a while to trace precisely what this stuff is at the core because it has gone under many names and been produced by many companies. You can also find it as Rodinal Special,Read More →

In this episode, Alex sits down with James Lane, the high-priest of 510-Pyro. They discuss the starting of Zone Imaging and where 510-Pyro comes from. Dealing with Internet trolling and what’s next for Zone Imaging in taking film chemistry into the 21st Century. If you are looking for Sources for 510-Pyro and Zone Imaging Products, you can purchase them through the following retailers. UK: Analogue Wonderland Firstcall Photographic Parallax Photographic Process Supplies Silverprint Speed Graphic EU: Analog Space Fotoimpex Retrocamera Sagrada Pelicula USA: CatLabs of JP Freestyle Northeast Photographic Middle East: Analogtheroom Vietnam: Thuong Xanh Not ready to jump onto the self-development and 510-Pyro bandwagon?Read More →

Sitting outside downtown Burlington, St. Luke’s is one of the oldest surviving buildings in Burlington today. Built on land originally granted to the Mohawk War Chief, Thayendanegea (Joseph Brant), its burial grounds are the final resting place of many notable figures in Canadian history and the Anglican church. The land around Burlington Bay, which makes up most of downtown Burlington today, was a gift from the Crown to Thayendanegea for his service during the American Revolution and negotiations with the Indigenous People of Upper Canada following the establishment of the province. Originally known as Brant’s Park, the land was distributed among his children upon Thayendanega’sRead More →

I’ve always been a prime lens user, but my re-entry into Minolta (especially autofocus) and purchasing the D750 have made me appreciate a good zoom lens. I can’t recall where I got the idea to pick this particular lens up, but I’m going to assume that it was back during the infamous CCR episode “Zooming Right Along.” where James Lee spoke about the Nikkor 28-80mm kit lens, so I went onto B&H and looked for that lens. Not finding it, I found something that was a bit longer, a one-and-done lens, the 28-105mm f/3.5-4.5D. And this lens has been a helpful tool to carry aroundRead More →

Last year when I reviewed Fortepan 200, I indicated that I would love to review the 400 and 100 flavours of the Fortepan line. And the film photography community being fantastic, responded. On the post to a Facebook group, a reader indicated they had a large stash of Fortepan 100 and asked if I wanted some. Well, he came through, so thank you to Wendell Anderson for sending over the rolls for this review. Film Specs Type: Panchromatic B&W Film Base: Acetate Film Speed: ASA-100, Latitude: 50-400 Formats Available: 135, 120, Sheets Discontinued: 2007 Roll 01 – Kodak D-76 I decided to shoot the firstRead More →

It is hard to miss Knox Church in Oakville; the tall spire is visible across the entire length of downtown and symbolises the church itself. It should be of no surprise that a Presbyterian congregation is among the oldest in downtown Oakville as William Chisholm, the town’s founder, was himself a Presbyterian. The earliest Presbyterians arrived, like many within Canada, from the United States and in 1833, a small congregation associated with the American church quickly formed in the village. The congregation worshipped in a frame structure along the banks of the Sixteen Mile Creek. The connection to the American church only lasted a handfulRead More →

Hey there Readers! I wanted to make a quick note about why things are looking a little weird around here right now. If you may have noticed, over the last month, several errors have occurred here on the blog. Mostly in connection with Database Connection errors. I hate to say it, but these things were entirely my fault. I left the doors open, and someone decided to make themselves at home. And that someone started playing around with my database. After I got confirmation of this, I thought I had plugged that hole. I was wrong. Thankfully I was able to make a quick backupRead More →

CatLABS is an interesting company, their X Film lineup hit the markets several years back, and I reviewed X Film 80 and loved the stock. But they also included an X Film 320 in their initial lineup. I didn’t review that one because it was only available in 35mm and turned out to be Eastman Double-X 5222, with tweaked developing times. But last year, they announced new versions of both X Film 80 and X Film 320. I will be reviewing X Film 80 later this year, but in the colder, darker months, X Film 320 Pro is the film that will suit the dullerRead More →

Today Bill Smith sits down with Amy Jasek, better known as Texas Girl Photography across the wide Internet World and is a regular contributor to the Film Shooter Collective. Amy and Bill talk about her inspiration from her father in the wide world of photography. Her first camera and the lessons he taught her on developing and printing in a darkroom. Even if it was only hanging out with her dad and growing up with photography, her passion for the craft came in her 20s. Also, the importance of dabbling and photographing what you love and are interested in photographing. The love of cameras, printing,Read More →

While Methodism remained in the rural areas of Upper Canada, supported by circuit riders, urban congregations sprung up also. St. John’s, located outside Downtown Oakville is among these early Methodist congregations that sprung up in the early years of Oakville. One of the first settlers to the new village of Oakville, Justus Williams, a strong supporter of Methodism, desired to bring a Methodist congregation into downtown Oakville. The other congregations were located further north, so Williams invited various saddlebag preachers to hold worship services in his own home starting in 1832. He soon added the congregation to the newly created Nelson circuit and secured theRead More →