I honestly don’t mind leaving at 6:30 in the morning, I had a two-hour drive in front of me and these days, especially on the weekend traffic, is an unknown variable. But I was Peterborough bound, having grabbed a coffee at the local Starbucks before getting on the highway. But this wasn’t going to be the average Toronto Film Shooters Meetup, we had guests this time around. I’ve been in talks with our cousin group in Kingston for a joint meetup. It would then just be a matter of finding an interesting spot in the middle of our two cities. Eventually, I settled on PeterboroughRead More →

The rebellion was over, long live the rebellion. The one thing that surprised me that even after the failures of Duncombe and MacKenzie at London and Toronto and after they had fled to the United States and MacKenzie had set up his dream state, the Republic of Canada the violence did not end there and nor did the rebellion. But was the violence that made up the grossly over-named Patriot War part of the Rebellion or was it something else. The troubles that continued throughout all of 1838; I have chosen to split the troubles into three parts all held together by a common theme,Read More →

It’s the rumble in the professional jungle! Yes, I’m pitting the two mid-1990s pro bodies I have in my toolbox against each other in a friendly competition! This contest isn’t to see which is better than the other, I use and work with both cameras often side-by-side. And honestly I consider them both equally amazing cameras in my mind, I mean look at the glowing reviews I’ve given both cameras. For this little contest, I’ve set a few rules. First, this contest saw completion on the same day, shot-for-shot. Also, I set both to matrix/average metering and full Auto Exposure. In both cases, I mountedRead More →

If you’re confused at the title, don’t worry, there never was the Republic of Canada, well not in any formally recognised manner. I happened across this strange pseudo-nation while doing the initial planning stages of this project. The grand republic is the brainchild of William Lyon MacKenzie and Charles Duncombe; they desired to reshape both Upper and Lower Canada into a single country with a Constitution and Government structure similar to that in the United States of America. And while he aimed to establish his new republic through force of arms, his failure at Toronto and Duncombe’s failure in the west did little to dampenRead More →

Ektar 100 is one of my favourite colour films, and that’s saying a lot because I don’t shoot a lot of colour film. But when it comes to Ektar 100, it is the first of many ‘new’ colour films to come out of Kodak since I first started shooting film. The name itself, a historical word in the Kodak Dictionary is an acronym for Eastman Kodak TessAR the lenses produced between 1936 and 1962 and I own a 203mm Ektar which I still run on my Crown Graphic. Then it became a line of professional films rated at 25, 100, and 1600 starting in 1989,Read More →

It was the 6th of November 1837, and Lower Canada had erupted in open armed revolt against the Colonial Government. The Patriotes under Louis-Joseph Papineau and many others fuelled by the ideals of the American Revolution, French Liberty, and Republicanism. They decided that they would only rid themselves of the influence of the British Ruling Class, a group of Tory elites organised into a group known as the Chateau Clique was to begin a revolution when their demands for reform were ignored. There had been some communication between Lower Canada Patriotes and the radicals in Upper Canada under William Lyon MacKenzie. And while a coordinatedRead More →

I have to say, Kodak took the photography world by storm when they announced the return of Ektachrome. Kodak got out of the colour reversal game in 2013, after over 70 years of production dating back in 1940. But in 2018 they announced the return of Ektachrome in a new formulation called E100. It again took some time, with a re-release of TMax P3200 keeping us teased, but it finally hit the market with an initial release which was snapped up, but now the supply is flowing! I never shot a lot of slide film and stuck mostly with Fuji products. But when I shotRead More →

From the grand bridges spanning the St. Lawerence River, east along QC-175, the homes become older, these give away to even older structures, towered armouries, and then the grand Parliament Building of the National Assembly and in front of you stands the old walled city. The Old City of Quebec is only one of two cities in North America that retains their fortifications. Heather and I decided to make a super-long weekend for ourselves last month and head to one of the oldest cities in Canada, Quebec. Now, this was not the first time I had visited the city, but the last time I spentRead More →

I’ll be the first to admit, I’m a sucker for professional 35mm cameras, and there are two that I’ve always wanted, the Nikon F5 and the Minolta Maxxum 9. While I loved working with the Maxxum 7, the 9 still drew me in just that little bit more. And while the 7 and 9 share many similar features and design cues, the Maxxum 7 to the Maxxum 9 is what the Nikon F100 is to the Nikon F5. All solid cameras, just the 9 and F5, are aimed more at the professional than the advanced amateur. I was sold on the 9 as soon asRead More →

Up until 1834, there had been a conflict between those in Upper Canada who were reform-minded and those who were allied with the Conservative Family Compact. But those in the reform movement had no desire for radical change or an American style republic, but there were also some that were. The same remained on the Tory side, there were those who were moderates who thought that some change might not be a bad thing, but others who wanted stricter controls, those who wanted to turn Upper Canada into a perfect England, where English was supreme, and the only church was the Anglican church. But likeRead More →