Sometimes it’s good to keep things fresh and new, and having great success hosting a photo meetup in Niagara-On-The-Lake last year and having gotten a connection with a fantastic photographer in the region Bryan who is about a year into his journey into film photography with the offer to host the group I took the chance. Unlike past photo walks, this time, we had three lovely models along. Nat, Millie, and Carolyn, having worked with Bryan in the past came along to give the group a chance to trial their model photography work in a low-key situation. Now I’ve done some model work in theRead More →

If there is a single piece of infrastructure that changed Canada in the early 1850s, the railroad is that single piece the spurred the Province towards a modern industrial location in the British Empire. While the Welland and Rideau Canals provided a fast link they both were tied to the waterways they were built out of. Rail, on the other hand, could cross areas where canals could not. Rail could run nearly the year-round, bridge water, and move faster. But railroads were not new in the province, having existed in some form or another since the early 1820s. Rail technology had been used in theRead More →

Sir Francis Hincks, the proverbial third wheel in the reform movement and a figure that I knew nothing of until I started researching for this project. And while generally overshadowed by the likes of his predecessor in Robert Baldwin and his successor Sir Allan Napier MacNab as Premier of the Province of Canada his role in creating the modern province is fairly essential. The meeting of Robert Baldwin and Louis La Fontaine may have never happened if it was not for Hincks. Born the 4th of December 1807 in Cork Ireland, Francis was the youngest son of Reverend Thomas Dix Hincks. From his youth, HincksRead More →

No strangers on this bridge, Lomography Potsdam 100 is the second film released in their Kino series of films. Potsdam 100 is ORWO UN54 a film that I have shot a lot with for the past several years. Compared to N74, UN54 is super sharp, fine-grained and has a fantastic tonality and one I have only developed in a limited number of developers, so I’m looking forward to trying it out in different developers. Designed as Eastern Europe version of Kodak Plus-X and it certainly shows. What struck me is that the film is marked as Lomography Potsdam in the rebate area, which means thatRead More →

Politics, in general, can be rather dull. I’m sure only pundits and political science students watch CSPAN regularly. When I attended a question period in the House of Commons in Ottawa, Ontario, it proved so dull that even the Prime Minister appeared to be napping. Yes, tales of military might, bravery, heroism, and battles make for more exciting reading and writing. We cannot ignore the political history that shaped pre-confederation Canada. Because much of this early dealings helped shaped our country’s government today, yet if you look closely you’ll find a bit of exciting. Like how the arrival of democracy resulted in riots only seenRead More →

I had been wondering how long it had been since I had last visited the Halton County Radial Railway Museum, well it hasn’t yet been a decade since my last trip in 2011. So when I heard that a group of folks from the Toronto Film Shooters were heading to a TTC Streetcar barn open house, I had the urge to go and photograph streetcars as well. The trouble was that I had to be at church at 3 pm on Saturday to run sound for a wedding. A trip into the city would be out of the question, then I remembered that I hadRead More →

Slavery is an ugly word and one sadly we here in the 21st Century still struggle with, both as an institution and a sticking point in the history of both Canada and the United States. And in any discussion about the pre-confederation history of Canada slavery is something that is intertwined with the increase in diversity in the population of the province and many who once were slaves impacted the province through their actions. Since the creation of the Act to Reduce Slavery in 1796 and the general emancipation of black slaves in the British Empire in 1833 provinces of the Empire provided new hopeRead More →

Among those who have shot the Derev Pan line of films the favourite is Derev Pan 400, and I do agree with that. When I ran the beta tests for the film, it was Pan 400, that was my favourite. Being a 400-Speed film, I thought there would be more grain than I expected, images were super sharp, incredible tones and contrast. You can run this film through any situation and developer and get some incredible results! Film Specs Type: Panchromatic B&W Film Base: Polyester Film Speed: ASA-400, Latitude: Suspected +/- 2 Stops. Formats Avaliable: 135 (35mm) Roll 01 – Kodak D-76 I have toRead More →

The strange part about the arrival of democracy or somewhat responsible government in Canada is that it was not something won by force of arms or through negotiation; instead this first step towards self-government and limited autonomy is one that was granted to the provinces of the Empire in a change of public opinion. By 1848, it no longer made sense to hold onto the empire in the manner that still dated to the 18th Century, even though the Colonial Office and Parliament had tried hard for many years. You have to remember the 1840 Act of Union still found it’s foundation in the 1791Read More →

When I initially beta tested the Derev Pan films the one film that was missing from the test pack with the middle child, Derev Pan 200, so this is a brand new film for me. There aren’t many mid-range speed films on the market today, especially in black & white films. You have Rollei Superpan 200, Derev Pan 200, Svema Foto 200 plus Eastman Double-X. So I had no real understanding of what to expect. Grainery than most films in the Derev line, it presents a generally low to a mid-contrast classic look. The trade-off for the grain is that the film is sharp inRead More →