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The story of Canada is filled with both myth and legend. And when it comes to the Anglo-American War of 1812, Canada has made itself look like the victor. Of course, I thought the same thing for the longest time, having learned about the tales of Isaac Brock and Laura Secord. They together single-handedly won victory for Canada over the Americans. But history is far more complex and often messy, especially when two sides claim victory; the other side often will ignore it as a footnote in a broader global conflict, and a fourth group are still angry at their treatment following the war. ButRead More →

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The 1970s were weird. Polyester leisure suits, disco, drugs, and all the euphoria of the post-war boom before the crashing realisation of the 1980s. But it also was a major turning point for the photography market. You had the small form factor SLR hit the stage with the Olympus OM-1 and the beginnings of automation through electronics. Many camera makers picked a direction and went with it, but Canon, Canon had to be different. They went both ways and produced two forms of semi-automatic cameras, the EF and the A-1. So in today’s episode, Bill and John decide to take these two cameras out butRead More →

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If you look up the definition of Art Deco and Streamline Moderne, you will probably see a photo of the Hamilton GO Centre. Clean lines, steel and limestone, glass, and a typeface speak to the future view of the 1930s. The GO Centre is the station that inspired my love of art deco and the look and feels of the graphics for this project, especially the font choice. For almost the entire time that the city of Hamilton has had rail service, most services were outside the city’s downtown core. First with the Great Western Railway and then later Grand Trunk. Despite being the biggestRead More →

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Pyro developers hold a special place in my development tool kit. Despite being one of the oldest developers, being viewed as highly-specialised and highly toxic. I’ve found them to be one of the best developers I’ve used. My journey into Pyro started with PMK Pyro, followed up by Pyrocat-HD. But starting last year, I heard about a new Pyro developer, 510-Pyro. For being an old developer, Pyro developers continued to see advancement and innovation, with Sandy King bringing in Pyrocat-HD in 1999, but 510 is far newer. First released in 2006 and formulated by Jay DeFehr, 510-Pyro took a different approach to Pyro with onlyRead More →

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Here in southern Ontario, I could not have asked for a better week to celebrate Holga Week 2022. After last year, when it rained for most days, I only shot a single roll through the iconic plastic toy camera. But then again, I was doing a video for YouTube, so I had to make some sacrifices. This year I had planned to do a showdown between two Holgas of the same type and see how different the two cameras were from each other. But I forgot about that early enough to get that second Holga (maybe next year). So I decided to make the filmRead More →

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Established in 2013 by MainStreetHost and taken on by Alex Luyckx Photography in 2015, #photochat is a community of photography professionals and enthusiasts who congregate to talk shop and discuss anything and everything photography. To participate in our weekly chat (every Thursday at 1:00pm) search the #photochat hashtag to see the conversation, or find me at @AlexLuyckxPhoto on Twitter for more info. Include the hashtag in your tweets to answer the questions and talk with the other participants. If there’s a topic you’d like to see covered in #photochat, hop onto Facebook, Twitter, or good old fashioned Email and let me know! Our Topic forRead More →

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If the grandeur of Toronto’s Union Station impresses you, then it may surprise you that there is a Station that carries the same level of luxury that the golden age of rail travel imparted. Although it also may surprise you that the station is located in Hamilton. The placement of Hamilton’s original railway right-of-way is primarily thanks to the efforts of Sir Allan Napier MacNab. His involvement in the early formation of the Great Western Railway and the great price he sold a large parcel of his property at the edge of Burlington Bay. This move ensured that the central yards for Great Western andRead More →

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We’re used to modern multi-element, multi-group lenses regarding optics. But it hasn’t always been that way; some of the earliest cameras used only a single element. But this often caused quality issues, so adding a second element limited the effects of chromatic and spherical aberration. The earliest applications of these Achromat lenses were in telescopes that trace back to the 18th Century. But Charles Chevalier’s (a noted name in early photographic optics) creation of his Daguerrotype Achromat lens changed the face of photography in those pioneering days. While Chevalier’s lenses are still sought by modern wet and dry plate photographers for us who shoot film,Read More →

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The team here digs into the cursed cameras as we get into the spooky season. Those that never worked right or had something strange going on made us want to call in a young priest and an old priest. These cameras include the Zenit 3m that John kept trying to find a working body, but at least got that sweet Helios 44 lens (in m39 mount), and even his one working body ended up having shutter issues. Bill and the Canon F-1 with a mysterious light leak due to a bad repair job. Alex and his struggles with the iconic Argus C3 and the strangeRead More →

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Established in 2013 by MainStreetHost and taken on by Alex Luyckx Photography in 2015, #photochat is a community of photography professionals and enthusiasts who congregate to talk shop and discuss anything and everything photography. To participate in our weekly chat (every Thursday at 1:00pm) search the #photochat hashtag to see the conversation, or find me at @AlexLuyckxPhoto on Twitter for more info. Include the hashtag in your tweets to answer the questions and talk with the other participants. If there’s a topic you’d like to see covered in #photochat, hop onto Facebook, Twitter, or good old fashioned Email and let me know! Our Topic forRead More →