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In: Between Darkness & Light
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Secrets run naturally among the urban exploration community. In Hamilton, Ontario, secret locations were common, and hiding the actual name of the location was common practice. But the Chicago community took things to a whole new level with good reason. By the time I started to explore the area briefly, there was already a great deal of tension between different groups. In the long run, I got into a better group. It netted me a chance to visit one of the prime locations in the local catalogue, and even now, more than ten years later, I still feel weird exposing the name and history ofRead More →

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Here I am back in the half-frame saddle. I have a couple of people to thank for this. First, there is a student at the college where I work who has a Pentax 17. It was the first time I had seen one of those cameras in the wild, and I was more than happy to let me hold it and fiddle with it. It felt good, far heavier and well-built than I was expecting. Then there was an article by fellow blogger and all-around awesome guy, Johnny Martyr, about his experience with the Canon Demi EE28. Now, in all fairness, I had been lookingRead More →

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Despite the group’s name, “Toronto Film Shooters Meetup,” we tend to host events beyond Toronto’s borders. There have been walks in Hamilton, Dundas, Niagara-On-The-Lake, Elora, Guelph, and Unionville. But this summer I decided to host one in my hometown of Milton, Ontario. And why? Well, it comes down to one major world event, the FIFA World Cup. Rather than make our plucky band of photographers figure out where a quiet spot in the city is to do a walk with coffee and beer, why not host something on a quiet Sunday afternoon in Milton’s historic downtown? For the event, I went with my Minolta MaxxumRead More →

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Before we get to long lenses, we’re going into lenses that are designed for portraits, it doesn’t matter if you’re talking headshots, couples, quarter length, these are amazing lenses that are far more versatile than what they’re called. Today’s criteria are focal lengths between 70mm and 200mm, although 200mm is pushing it for some photographers, but it’s our show, and we set the rules. The lenses featured in today’s episode include the DC-Nikkor 105mm f/2D, AI-S Nikkor 85mm f/2, AI-S Nikkor 105mm f/2.5, Zuiko 100mm f/2.8, Takumar 85mm f/1.9, Canon 100mm f/2, AF-S Nikkor 85mm f/1.4G and AF-S Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8G. Looking for a goodRead More →

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When I started working on this series, I knew I needed to include a TLR on the list. But the biggest question is which TLR to include, as I’ve had three in my toolkit, all of which have had some impact on my photography. But after some thought, I settled on the Rolleiflex. The reason is that it’s been the longest-serving medium-format camera in my toolkit, and one I’ve been using before it was cool in this film photography resurgence. Does that make me a hipster? Yes, it probably does. At least I don’t wear a beanie. The Rolleiflex is not my first TLR; itRead More →

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When it comes to slow film, one of my first experiences and still favourite is Pan F+. This is a great film for the summer; it’s slow, high-contrast, fine-grain and sharp. It is also one that I generally shoot at the listed box speed of ASA-50 and have over- or pulled, but have never gone beyond that ASA-50 time. I mean, other films have similar properties at faster speeds that are easily accessible. And I’ve never been in a situation where all I’ve had is Pan F+ and needed more speed. So it’s a lot of fun to finally give this one a good goRead More →

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A few weeks ago, an event that I first attended in 2012 had its final form. Back on the 20th and 21st of June, a group gathered to celebrate the life of Bill Schwab, who had passed away in 2025 while doing what he did best: leading a group of keen photographers to explore the world. Bill was the brains behind an event called Photostock. It started as a small gathering in the woods on his property in Michigan, far from the dirty industrial south, but in the far more beautiful northern parts of the state. And while I’m a fan of an event becomingRead More →