It’s always interesting to see what you can do with what Adox calls a ‘closed imaging system.’ CMS 20 II is a film that is specifically designed for one developer, and one developer only that is Adotech II. In fact, in their datasheet, they even discourage the use of traditional developers as they could yield poor and unpredictable results. But thanks to the power of the Internet and having a bit of an experimental side and writing these blogs for you, my dear readers let us continue and say you can use traditional developers with CMS 20, and the results are rather stunning. Film SpecsRead More →

If you want your images to have something that no other images have, then shoot Infrared film, it literally sees the world in a different light, infrared light to be exact. While these days there aren’t many options for black and white or even colour infrared films save for Rollei IR400 and the FPP Infrapan 200. There are however many in the near infrared range. I don’t often work with infrared film stocks as they need just the right set of circumstances to work well. Not to mention special filters, even cameras need to be done right as the film is highly sensitive. But whenRead More →

Here we are, a long time coming but, this is the end, and it has been a long and fascinating journey to reach this point. It’s always a bittersweet feeling when such a long and involved project comes to an end. But all things must end, and so must my journey into the War of 1812. At least I can say that I’ve done more than just scratching the surface of the conflict that would go on to define the relations between Canada, England, and the United States still today. When I first started the project way back in March 2012, I had no ideaRead More →

Robert Barrie is one of the more unique people related to the War of 1812 that I have researched and written on. While he managed to earn a disreputable reputation among the American population among the British and Canadians whom he interacted with he was well liked and respected. Barrie was born on the 5th of May 1774 in Florida, which at the time was still under British Rule, the son of Doctor Robert Barrie and Dolly Gardner. Despite his birth in North America he was raised in England. After his father passed away when he was still an infant his mother would move backRead More →

While I have of late focused more on British personalities in the War of 1812, I will be making an effort to balance it out. James Lawrence is a tragic tale of the war. He was born 1 October 1781 in Burlington, New Jersey. The young James was, for a majority of his youth raised in nearby Woodbury and grew up for the most part without his parents. His mother passed away while he was an infant and his father, a Loyalist to the British Crown, fled to Upper Canada, leaving James behind to be raised by his half-sister. James originally planned to become aRead More →

This past Tuesday, the Ides of March, is also Expired Film Day. So I figured I would do a post about shooting expired film along with tips/tricks that I’ve come across with shooting old/expired film stocks. While I do a majority of my shooting with fresh film stock there is a certain level of fun and intrigue when shooting with expired film stock. 1. You can Shoot Film that is no longer available fresh. There are plenty of film stocks out there that is new that you can often make behave like well loved film stock in the past but it just never will beRead More →

The life blood of Upper Canada was the St. Lawrence River, long before it was the mighty seaway we know today it was just a river, often times areas of rapids and flowed past several loyalist settlements that were established following the American Revolution. The river was a link to the major centers of the colonies of British North American, the mighty fortress and administrative capital of Quebec City and the major seaport of Halifax to the smaller settlements in Upper Canada. It was also the weak point, cut off access to the river at either end and you could choke Upper Canada. In factRead More →

A hero in his home state of North Carolina and bane to the British supply lines along the St. Lawrence River there isn’t much known about the early life of Benjamin Forsyth. What is known is passed down as family legend by his ancestors. Born around 1760 to James and Elizabeth Forsyth in either Hanover, Virginia or Stokes County, North Carolina lost his father at a young age. By 1794 Benjamin was beginning to establish himself with the purchase of some land in Stokes County near Germantown, North Carolina. He married in 1797 to Bethemia Ladd with whom he had six children. He joined theRead More →

I remember the first time I saw the Pentax 645; it was at Belle Art Camera in Hamilton, Ontario. It was sitting there in all its medium format beauty with the 75mm f/2.8 lens. The store employee told me all about the camera, what it did, how it worked. And I was looking to up my medium format game. The price was right, so I dropped the cash and left with a camera that would come with me on future trips, projects, and even some weddings. As a camera, the Pentax 645 is a workhorse and a working man’s camera, it has everything you wantRead More →

One of the more contested figured in the Anglo-American War of 1812 was the Governor General and Military commander of British North America, General George Prevost. Prevost was groomed into the military from an early age, born the 19th of May, 1767 in the province (now state) of New Jersey to a lieutenant-colonel in the British Army, Prevost attended schools in both the American colonies and England before being commissioned an ensign in the 60th Regiment of Foot, his father’s regiment, in 1779. Prevost soon rose quickly through the ranks, mostly due to his having a grandfather who was a banker in Amsterdam as aRead More →