Last year I completed a project about Ontario’s railway heritage. Still, one location I had sadly missed was Oakville, as there is no historic railway station in the community, as both Oakville and Bronte had been replaced in the 20th century. But this massive railway viaduct over the Sixteen Mile Creek caught my eye, not only because I’ve travelled over it many times, but because it looked old. The railway was both a boost and a problem for the growing community of Oakville by the mid-century. The railway would open up a faster means of moving both people, mostly goods, across the province. And aRead More →

This is only the second time I’ve reached a significant milestone in my ongoing reviews, the magic number of one hundred. And to be clear, I’ve done one hundred film reviews, not reviewed one hundred separate film stocks. And that’s because I’ve reviewed some rebadged films; sometimes, I knew it was a rebadge and then made a point not to go after that film stock again, notability ORWO films. I reviewed the four motion picture-specific films from ORWO as their Lomography rebadge. But in the case of Fomapan 100, I reviewed that first as KosmoFoto Mono 100 and then again as Fomapan 100. Agfa AviFotoRead More →

Canada, despite being mainly an Anglo-European construct, today, our country is a rich tapestry of many cultures that had all come and called Canada home. And not just as a melting pot; each culture adds more to the whole. But this certainly has accelerated in the post-World War II world, but even in the earliest days of Upper Canada, many who sought freedom made the arduous journey north. In 1791, Sir John Graves Simcoe, the first Lieuteant-Governor of Upper Canada, signed the Act to Reduce Slavery in Upper Canada. In the British Empire, slavery was still a thing, and the slave trade was alive andRead More →

While Oakville never reached the level of trade that flowed in and out of the ports at Toronto, Kingston, and Montreal, it proved to be one of the largest ports in Trafalgar Township. And it was the perfect location with easy access to larger ports to the south of the United States and had access to the Welland Canal and St. Lawerence. Trafalgar Township had two significant exports, the first being agriculture and the second timber. And Oakville was in the perfect position to support this resource economy. And these two complimented each other; as the wood was felled, it not only provided for buildingRead More →

If there is one lens that helped put Nikon on the map, it is an 85mm lens. This lens traces back to when Nikon stepped into the camera market but had yet to make a worldwide splash. A Japanese and American photographer helped take the company to worldwide status, and a simple 85mm lens in Leica Thread Mount showed them the way. The 85mm f/1.8D helped continue that legacy and is one I have a unique viewpoint on. While I did use this lens in the past, I wasn’t too fond of it despite producing some fantastic results. The problem I only recently found outRead More →

These days, the postal service is a strange mix between nostalgia and a necessary evil. In a world where communication is almost instant and much faster than a regular postal service. A world where postal service wasn’t always offered in your community and when it could only arrive once a week. Even with the troubles we face with Canada Post, would to someone from the early years of Oakville seem like a luxury? The first postal service in Canada was established in 1763 as a branch of the Royal Mail service. Mail would run between Montreal and Quebec City twice per month in the summerRead More →

It has been awhile since we got a new product from the folks at FilmFerrania in Italy. While they are not anywhere close to releasing a slide film (it was a pipe dream from the start in my opinion) they have recently released a slightly slower film from their original P30 release. It has also taken some time for this film to reach me here in North America. But it was well worth the wait, because it takes a lot to make a film, so any new film in 2023 is a good thing for the eco-system. Of course, Orto is not without challenges, itRead More →

What we know today about crossing the border is a standardised process that is relatively modern. Of course, we all experience what could only be described as a nerve-racking experience when faced by border agents in a post-9/11 world, some more than others for reasons other than their nationality and skin colour. But the 19th Century had far fewer controls over the border, and people crossed it unharassed (mostly) or requiring documentation. But the one thing that got a lot of investigation was trade, specifically the collection of tariffs and duties, which often fell to a leading citizen in a town named a port-of-entry byRead More →

Like the Chisholms, their grand estate overlooking the harbour is directly tied to the town’s history. And while nearly lost, the town’s efforts and the local historical society have ensured that the home still stands today. The estate of Earchless started not as a home but rather in a more humble manner. William Chisholm already had a home in Nelson Township and had no desire to move to Oakville. But he did need to establish some businesses in Oakville. In addition to the shipyard and a tavern, he established a general store that acted as a customs house. The earliest section of the home wasRead More →

Upper Canada provided a wealth of raw materials for the merchant barons in Montreal. In addition to supplying the needs for colonising the province, the vast forests supplied lumbers that would go over to England to provide materials for constructing the mighty warships of the Royal Navy. Agriculture fed the growing population and the armies of England. But the preparation of these two things required mills. In addition to the shipyards, some of the earliest businesses in Oakville were mills. Running water was the best source of power for the first mills in the region. A lot with a water source provided not only irrigationRead More →