The history of Ireland is a long, complicated, and bloody one. And it is worthy of a project of its own, and I’m sure if I lived in Ireland, I would probably be already have completed such a project. But this is a Canadian History project, yet during the mid 19th Century in a strange twist the history of Irish independence intersected with that of pre-confederation Canada. Ireland had, since the Norman invasion of 1169 been a nation under occupation. And while the ancient history of Ireland stretches out before that date, it seems like the right point to start. Further degradation of the IrishRead More →

When it comes to Kodak’s film catalogue, there are many films in it that we have never seen much of in North America. Among those, the one that confused me the most was ProImage 100. Despite the name, Kodak documents in no way claim that ProImage 100 is a professional film, but then again what makes a professional film? Maybe because it does not come in sheet film format, like Ektar and Portra? That said, I feel ProImage 100 is a great film to shoot in a professional setting, the soft contrast, excellent colour rendition, and slow speed make it a fantastic hybrid of PortraRead More →

When it comes to political change in Canadian history, there has always been two behind any major change. Robert Baldwin and Louis La Fontaine for example, and while George Brown would play a major role it would be George-Étienne Cartier who would provide political support to John A MacDonald but ensure that French-Canadien culture would not be lost. Born the 6th of September 1814 in Sainte-Antonie-sur-Richelieu in Lower Canada. Baptised with the name George in honour of King George III. But George’s family already had a long history in the new world, even claiming relation to Jacques Cartier (although there is no evidence to supportRead More →

Before we get into all this, let me start by staying Ortho Plus is not a new film, it’s just now available in different formats. Originally I shot a box of the stuff in 4×5 when it was only available in sheet format, and it was the first film that I shot that had no real rating set. In fact, most entries for developing times on the massive dev chart simply had a question mark for the ISO rating. I found that this gave me a lot more latitude when working with the film. I could rate it higher or lower depending on the situationRead More →

Back in 2005, I was an avid attendee of the Presbyterian Young People’s Society (PYPS). Through the inspiration of fellow photographer and brother-in-Christ Rob Ellis, I started taking a camera to these events. It was through PYPS that I began to this wild journey as a photographer. But back in 2005, digital proved out of my price range, so I rocked the film. And on a whim, I picked up a roll of Ilford XP2 Super from my local Foto Source Store. I was super excited to have gotten a roll of black & white film. My parents were less so, wondering where I couldRead More →

I have a long and strange history with Eastman High Contrast Positive Film II, AKA Eastman 5363. When the Film Photography Project began to hand-roll and resell the strange and specialised motion picture films I started working extensively with it and if you’re a long-time reader of the blog you’ll recognise the film stock from previous entries. I have probably done enough with the film to write a full out film review on the stock, but that would be old news. So, having one more roll in my possession, thanks to Alex Smith, I decided to give it the one-roll treatment, one final time. FilmRead More →

When you compare the age of Canada’s army to that of other nations, our military is relatively young. As a nation of just over 150 years old, we depended almost entirely on our defence from the home government, France first and then England. And while a bulk of the soldiers in what would become modern-day Canada were regular professional soldiers and sailors, several locally raised regiments came to the defence of the territory should the need arise. The Canadian militia and Provincial ‘feasible’ troops fought in the War of 1812 and again during the Upper Canada Rebellion and Patriot Wars with varying degrees of success.Read More →

Across the British Commonwealth and in Canada specifically, no other British monarch is as widely celebrated at Queen Victoria. Secondly only to Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II for the length of her reign. The two queens share a lot in common beyond familial relations. Both never expected to take the throne, born Alexandria Victoria on the 24th of May 1819, daughter of Prince Edward Augustus and grand-daughter to King George III. At birth, Victoria sat fifth in the line of succession to the British throne. At only a year old, both her father and grandfather passed, leaving Victoria in the care of her over-protective mother.Read More →

The history of Svema film or the entire photographic history from the former Soviet Bloc is a topic for a blog post all on its own. In the case of Svema, they had been producing black & white film for many years before the Second World War. However, they did not have a colour film. When the war happened, and Russia rolled through Eastern Germany, they captured many camera and film manufacturers, including Agfa. From the Agfa plant, they got their hands on colour films and produced Svema Color 125. The film has a colour palette all of its own and something that you don’tRead More →

The film that started the whole Svema craze with the Film Photography Project, Svema Foto 200. Свема is a film stock that is relatively unknown here in North America unless you are of course fans of the Film Photography Podcast. The name comes from the combination of two Russian words, Светочувствительные Материалы, translated means Photosensitive Materials. While Svema collapsed when the Soviet Union died in the 1990s, another Eastern European film manufacture, Astrum, continues the legacy of Svema using some of the old machinery in a new factory in Shostka, Ukraine. Now I did try a roll or two of Foto 200 when it firstRead More →