In Flanders fields the poppies blow Between the crosses, row on row, That mark our place; and in the sky The larks, still bravely singing, fly Scarce heard amid the guns below. 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. Take up our quarrel with the foe: To you from failing hands we throw The torch; be yours to hold it high. If ye break faith with us who die We shall not sleep, though poppies grow In Flanders fields. I’m not a big fan of poetry, I’mRead 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 →

When my Nikon F80 started to flake out, I needed a replacement, but in those days the Nikon F5 (my grail camera) remained financially out of reach, so I went with the one step down from the F5, the F4. The camera quickly gained my trust as the go-to 35mm camera when I headed out into the field and lasted in my collection for several years before I switched to the Nikon F5 and even then there was overlap. Despite the flaws of the early autofocus, the LCD bleed, and limitations with manual focus and AF-G lenses, the F4 became a constant companion. I knewRead More →

I was always iffy about shooting 620 cameras, since when I first got into film photography finding 620 film was difficult, but the cameras were everywhere and many found their way into my collection. And to make matters worse the take up spool was missing. But let’s back up a bit and discuss, exactly what is 620 film? It was a film that was first introduced by Kodak in 1932 and continued being produced until 1995. But here’s a secret, it’s the exact same film stock as 120, same size and same backing paper, but it was the spool that was different. So if youRead More →

Back when I visited Ottawa for the first time in several years this past September, I lugged along my 4×5 camera. While I wasn’t too pleased with every shot, I made a point when I was there this past weekend to focus, slow down, and work with the 4×5 primarily and put the smaller formats away. The results were a much more robust set of images that I am incredibly proud of, and I do plan on getting these into the darkroom to print. Centre Block East Block Chateau Laurier Details of the National War Memorial The Connaught Building – National Headquarters The National GalleryRead More →