By:
On:
In: Photography
With: 0 Comments

Sometimes you just need to get out and shoot with no real plans. On Canada Day, we wanted to head out somewhere and get some fresh air before everywhere got busy with the Canada Day celebrations. Where didn’t matter as long as we could get some fresh air and enjoy some sunshine. We settled on Burlington’s downtown. I took along my Elan 7 with the 50mm lens and a roll of Fomapan 200 loaded. I didn’t have any real plans or subject matters for what I was going to photograph with the roll I only wanted to try something different and look for patterns orRead More →

By:
On:
In: Reviews
With: 0 Comments

Hot show based lightmeters are nothing new, one of the first accessories I got for my Barnack Leica was a Voitlander VCII and even before that Leitz released their own dedicated shoe mounted meter for the M-Series of rangefinders. But ever since the release of the Reveni Labs LM-1, there has been a massive upsurge of similar OLED based shoe meters. So when I was contacted by AstriHori if I wanted to review their newest shoe meter, the Lightmeter II or XH-2 I jumped at the chance. I had heard of AstriHori in passing mostly through ads on my social media feeds but also withRead More →

By:
On:
In: Frugal Film Project
With: 1 Comment

This is technically my third attempt at getting Guelph into the Frugal Film Project. I attempted once last year but was driven out by rain, and then earlier this year. But it looks like it has finally struck. While I have visited Guelph many times because my Opa lived here until his death, it was the short stint I lived in the city while house-sitting and just starting to explore photography that I took to wandering the downtown. I don’t know if I still have the digital files from those days when the downtown was a rough spot with lots of urban decay and theRead More →

By:
On:
In: Film Review Blogs
With: 0 Comments

Have you ever wanted to see outside of our visual spectrum? Well then maybe infrared photography is for you! While true Infrared films are long gone, these days we have a tonne of films that can, when properly filtered expose the infrared light. Among these films sits FPP Infrared B&W, the original film stock is unknown, but it does do exactly what it says on the tin, it is a film that can be shot both filtered and unfiltered and produces images that can only be described as magic! For this review, I went with a mixed approach to filtration, shooting the first roll withoutRead More →

By:
On:
In: Photography
With: 0 Comments

It’s been a minute since I ran a Toronto Film Shooters Meetup, let alone getting one outside the city. My good friends Bill and John have been killing it with the meetups, especially those inside Toronto. I love getting the group out beyond the GTA. While Hamilton is close, the TFS group has representation across North America. I also love exploring Hamilton with its stunning heritage architecture, so I organised a walk through Jamesville and into the historic downtown core at the start of June. For the walk, I went with a couple of cameras; first up is my beautiful Minolta Dynax 600si with theRead More →

By:
On:
In: Frugal Film Project
With: 0 Comments

While I teased the city of Hamilton at the end of last year, I never went into detail about the city’s history as a whole, mainly because I only sometimes visit the historic centre of Hamilton regularly. But having some time off, I headed back into the downtown to capture the rich architecture of the city centre that has seen a great deal of change throughout recent history and has gone from a city with a lot of blight to something restored and looking far better than when I was visiting regularly. The one thing that makes Hamilton unique is that its success and positionRead More →

By:
On:
In: Optical Review Blogs
With: 0 Comments

It should only be fair that my fiftieth lens review be of a 50mm lens, these are often the first lens that a budding photographer will pick up when getting into the wild world of film photography. And often it is the only lens that they continue to use long after. With my first two SLRs (SR-T 102 and X-7a) the 50mm lens was my go-to choice for most of the time shooting with them. I have since moved on and now am more likely to reach for a 35mm lens, the 50mms still hold a place for my work and I still grab oneRead More →

By:
On:
In: Photography
With: 1 Comment

Suppose you look back at my catalogue of images. In that case, you’ll see a lot of repetition regarding the historic communities I’ve visited and continue to visit, especially if they’re a short drive away. I count a short drive as anything I can get to in an hour or under. I have hundreds of photos of downtown Milton, Oakville, Stratford, Hamilton, Dundas, Elora, Guelph and many others. But when I look at these images, one thing is clear: there are changes, sometimes significant and other times small, but changes are all the same. I’m reminded of the Midsomer Murders episode, Picture of Innocence, whichRead More →

By:
On:
In: Film Review Blogs
With: 1 Comment

Like the legend of the phoenix, huh All ends with beginnings What keeps the planet spinning, ah The force from the beginning, hm, look Get Lucky – Daft Punk ft. Pharrell Williams, Nile Rodgers If there was one thing I did not have on my 2023 Bingo card was the release of a brand new colour film, at least not from Harman Photo. Harman Photo is under the same umbrella of Ilford Photo, but is colour film side of Harman Technologies. Now, you’re probably wondering why I waited until the spring of 2024 to review the film? The reason is simple, the first several monthsRead More →

By:
On:
In: Between Darkness & Light
With: 0 Comments

Something is fascinating about exploring Northern Ontario; it is a whole different world, with different people and a totally different way of life. Even the towns feel different, almost as if Northern Ontario is a different province from Southern Ontario once you’re past North Bay and Sudbury. Historically, northern Ontario is entirely different, having only been added to the province in 1874, and it wasn’t until 1912 that the modern boundaries of Ontario were established. But this is not a post about Ontario history; it’s about a mine, the Ross Mine. Located in the small, mainly French-Canadian town of Holtyre, the entire area was foundedRead More →