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The Cold War was an exciting period of history and one of my favourites. Cloak and Dagger affairs, Nuclear Weapons, Spies, Jets, and the such. The CF-104 Starfighter is my second favourite jet of the era, the first being the doomed Avro CF-105 Arrow. But the Starfighter was unique, wildly different from jets of the day and had some rather unique nicknames, such as the Aluminium Death Tube, The Lawn Dart, and The Flying Phallus. But it certainly cuts a unique figure. Like the CF-86 Sabre before, the CF-104 was built by Canadair under licence using the Lockheed F-104G template. These would make up Canada’sRead More →

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The weather at the beginning of Week 37 wasn’t too bad, but as the week progressed, it slowly worsened. And I kept on putting off loading up a film holder to get a shot. One of the joys of having a proper press camera is the ability to shoot it handheld. So here is yet another rural farmhouse from the area surrounding Milton. Another one that has always caught my eye is simple and elegant. Pacemaker Crown Graphic – Fuji Fujinon-W 1:5.6/125 – Kodak Tri-X Pan (320TXP) Meter: Pentax Spotmeter V 1/125 – f/16 – ASA-400 Kodak TMax Developer (1+9) 10:30 @ 20CRead More →

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The Battle of Cooks Mill was the final battle in the sequence surrounding the last campaign on the Niagara Peninsula in 1814. By the 21st of September, General Gordon Drummond had lifted the siege against Fort Erie where the Americans had holed up, pulled back and established a fortified line at Chippawa to refit and restore his army and prevent the Americans from rolling up the peninsula. The Chippawa River today, the fortifications are long gone. General Izard arrived at Fort Erie on the 28th of September with fresh troops to reinforce General Brown’s army. Brown having access to a large force again wanted toRead More →

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A dreary Saturday can only be spent one of two ways: locking yourself inside or going to your favourite museum. I chose the latter. The Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum at the Hamilton International Airport in Mount Hope, Ontario has always been a favourite of mine from the first time going when they were housed in an old hanger. Sadly in 1993, the hanger was destroyed by fire, losing five of its aircraft…but many survived that still form the core of the museum’s collection today. The star of the show, an Avro Lancaster bomber, is a personal favourite of mine. What makes the Lancaster all theRead More →

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We are the Dead. Short days ago We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow, Loved and were loved, and now we lie In Flanders fields. While I continue to push my War of 1812 project, another significant milestone is happening right now, the Centennial Celebrations of the First World War. So I wasn’t going to let it slide in the sheet-a-week project, so when I attended a timeline event (where a bunch of reenactors from various periods gather to show their stuff to the public) at Fort George National Historic Site in Niagara-On-The-Lake, Ontario I made a point to find a group of reenactors fromRead More →

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Street photography is not something for every photographer. Getting out there and taking pictures of random strangers in the street. Sure you get some people who turn away, or make a face, or even confront you about it. But for the most part, people are generally unaware. Back in August I went out and wandered up then down Queen Street in Toronto along with some fellow film photographers to capture a little slice of life on a typical Saturday afternoon in the city. Probably one of my favourite combos for shooting in the Street is my Nikon F4 and 105mm f/2 lens sure not aRead More →

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Located well above the tourist trap Clifton Hill by Niagara Falls sits a lovely spiritual retreat named after a relatively well-known mountain in Israel. It features prominently in the story of the prophet Elijah, namely the contest he challenges the prophets of Ba’al to in the Book of Kings. I came across the retreat while looking for a spot to park my car as I was planning on a bit of light trespassing at a historic transformer station just down the road. Also, this was the first sheet of film I shot with my new-to-me Pacemaker Crown Graphic; I know, taking a risk, but theRead More →

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One of the most controversial and convoluted battle in the War of 1812 is that of the Battle of Beaver Dams. It’s also been my most active posts in the project, at least my original posts. I have received more hate mail and rude comments (both of which will never be made public) so rather than let it stand as it is, I did what any good student of history would do, that is research more and learn more. In doing so I came across two books (both of which are cited at the bottom of this post) that have greatly opened my eyes toRead More →

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It ended with an explosion, but this is how it started, the sun creeping up over the historic fort, the trees, earthworks, masonry redoubts and blockhouses, tangled abatis, and rows of white tents. This was the scene early Saturday morning as nearly 1100 military reenactors started to crawl out of their tents and start to put on their uniforms, ready to put on a show the likes the site or the neighbourhood had ever seen. This year marks the 200th anniversary of the bloody siege of Fort Erie, the last major campaign on Canadian soil during the War of 1812. Sure, Plattsburg, Cooks Mills, Bladensburg,Read More →

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Moral within the American army was falling fast by the autumn of 1813. While Detroit had one, and at the Battle of the Thames William Henry Harrison had secured the western parts of Upper Canada, a majority of the colony remained in the hands of the British, and the only American army that could strike remained pinned at Fort George. The other two armies languished at Sacket’s Harbor and Burlington Vermont on Lake Champlain. The secretary of war, John Armstrong was at odds with his new Commander-In-Chief, General James Wilkinson where to strike next. Wilkinson believed that the best place to strike against the BritishRead More →