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Every time I can get out and shoot outside of Milton and Oakville, I get excited, especially when I can tell a new story. While Georgetown is rather compact, and the downtown is rather small. Georgetown presents a wide range of photographic opportunities. Until recently, most of my time in Georgetown has been spent in less-than-legal practices, namely exploring the abandoned Barber Mill (which is still easily accessed). But the downtown I recently discovered is rather photogenic, especially if you have a thing for churches; there are many of them for such a small area. The earliest known humans to settle along the banks ofRead More →

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Oddly enough this is not the first Praktica SLR that I’ve had in my collection, one of my earliest SLRs that I never actually got around to using was a Praktica Super TL that ended up going into one of the early giveaways for the Film Photography Podcast in their first season along with a LOMO Lubitel 2. So when the LTL showed up at my doorstep, I decided to give the cameras another go. The LTL is, given its age, a bit of an anachronism. By the 1970s, most camera makers west of the iron curtain and Japan used open aperture TTL metering. Yet,Read More →

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One of the area’s biggest geological features in the Niagara Escarpment, covered in ancient Carolinian forests, is instantly recognisable and helps new arrivals navigate the area always looming over Milton. Hidden deep in this forest is a lake that holds many secrets, distant voices from the past that allows us to see into the times before my ancestors arrived on this content. This week I went for another hike in my second favourite Halton park, Crawford Lake. The Niagara Escarpment was formed at the end of the last ice age, a massive limestone cliff that runs from the Niagara Penisula to the Bruce Penisula. AlongRead More →

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When you’re tied up in shooting film for reviews and a fifty-two roll project, things tend to fall through the cracks. It also doesn’t help that there’s been zero publicity from the folks behind Expired Film Day. Sadly, the reality last year was that expired film day fell as the thing started to fall apart globally. I did remember to shoot a roll of Tri-X last year for Expired film day. But it very nearly passed me by this year. Thankfully the good folks at Burlington Camera were on the job and posted something on their Instagram on the Saturday before the actual day. ThisRead More →

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Tired of Halton Region? Yes? So am I! So finally, for the first time since the first week, we can spread our wings and head out to one of my favourite historic downtowns, that of Galt, Ontario! Galt is not a new place for me; I have been there many times before, but I only recently discovered the fantastic photographic opportunities that it offers. Never heard of Galt? Don’t worry, it’s known today as Cambridge, Ontario, but was known for Galt a lot longer when it was an independent city. My first photographic taste of Cambridge was on a warm summer night in 2007, checkingRead More →

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When it comes to fine-grain developing, the developer that most people reach for today is Kodak Xtol. But Xtol is one of the newest developers to come out of Kodak, before Xtol if you wanted to tame that grain, you reached for Microdol-X. While I’m unsure as to when Microdol-X was first released by Kodak, I’ve found images online of the powder coming in cans rather than pouches. The logo style is that of 1935, so I’m guessing it was released at some point in the mid-1930s at the earliest. I stumbled across Microdol-X while visiting Pittsburg back in 2015, while my main goal wasRead More →

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The year is 2009; it honestly feels like forever ago now. So why am I writing about 2009 now? In 2009, I had a chance to attend for a second time the Canada Youth event at Brock University. Canada Youth was the Presbyterian Church in Canada’s response to the Youth Triennium Event hosted by the Presbyterian Church’s various branches in the USA, primarily Presbyterian Church, USA (PCUSA). I did get to one Triennium event, but by the time the next event came along, PCUSA had curtailed the number of spots available for Canadians. The PCC had already started their own event Canada Youth back inRead More →

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I should have known that the park would be closed as I pulled into the small out of the way intersection on Dundas Street. I didn’t have much time actually to get out and take pictures, and it was a ten-minute drive to and at least another ten-minute drive back. That left me a half hour to actually do some shooting. That left me five minutes down and five minutes back, and I would need that time. The yellow gates closed, and the pile of snow surrounding it said that I would need to hike into Sixteen Hollow. There’s something mysterious about a ghost town,Read More →

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When it comes to 50mm lenses I’m a sucker for a fast fifty, and while I initially got the 50/1.8 (don’t worry, I will get that lens on the review table but not until next year). I couldn’t turn down the excellent price tag on the chrome nosed 50/1.4 when I was at Burlington Camera one day. While in some circles the early version (which I’m reviewing today) gets a bit of a bad rap due to the coating on the lens. But honestly, the coating just looks cool when hit with light and viewed at the right angle. Most will go for the newerRead More →

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After several weeks of bouncing between two different locations, a little change in scenery is always welcome. Burlington offered something both familiar and different from bouncing between Milton and Oakville with a stay-at-home order forced a reduction in mobility. This week took place during the second virtual Toronto Film Shooters Meetup event, and having shot last month’s event in Milton, I needed someplace else. My original plan was to go to Acton, but having skipped Burlington back in Week 7, I decided to use Burlington instead. The secondary reason is a supply run to Burlington Camera. Also, with moving into the third month, I’m switchingRead More →