College St. Part One.

It's been ages since I have taken photos on College St. Now, that old saying, the more things change, the more they stay the same, really applies. Old spots I used to haunt like Bar Italia are gone, other places like Cafe Diplimatico aren't going anywhere.

I'm still experimenting with Fomapan 400, of course, I'm rating it at 250 ISO, this time I processed in Xtol stock developer as opposed to 1+1. I'm quite pleased with the results, there's a pleasing grain to the emulsion.

Camera: Nikon FE, Nikkor Ai 50 f1.4 lens.
Film: Fomapan 400, Xtol stock.

Colour of Spring Part Two

After lunch I doubled back through Cabbagetown and across the Don Valley. Bridge Point Health is an interesting complex to shoot with the modern wing and the old Don Jail. Wandering through Chinatown east the path went south into the Riverside neighbourhood.


Camera: Olympus OM-1n, Zuiko MC lenses.
Film: Kodak Ektar 100

Colour of Spring Part One

Dry running photowalks is fun. As you figured out I went out with my Rolleiflex and
Olympus OM-1n, both are great cameras. Sadly something went wrong with my Olympus OM-1n meter, and relied on Sunny 16 for the remainder of the day, which was pretty easy as there was no cloud in the sky for most of the day. I wandered from my starting point at the Rooster Coffeehouse on Broadview through Cabbagetown and then doubled back after lunch and went south. My cardinal rule for photowalks, start with coffee, end with beer.

I haven't been through Cabbagetown in ages, it's a weird neighbourhood. There's a lot of affluence and a few blocks away in St. James Town and towards Jarvis, it is a little more rough around the edges. For how long, who knows? Real estate in the city is headed nowhere but up. That is just the ugly reality. Very least store level retail is occupied along Parliament, you can't say the same in the Beaches along Queen St.

The Olympus OM-1n will have a date with a repair tech at some point, it's not my only Olympus OM body so I'm not in a huge rush.



Olympus OM-1n, Zuiko lenses.
Film: Kodak Ektar 100.

Square Cropped Toronto in the Sunshine

Saturdays this Spring are light years different than last year, nothing like sunshine and mild temperatures get the creative juices going. I shot with Fuji Neopan Acros 100 which is a beautiful black and white film which has been discontinued. I have 30 rolls left, once they are gone I'm going to have audition another 100 ISO black and white film in medium format.

I also brought my Rolleiflex out and it is the perfect medium format camera for me. Acros and Zeiss Planar glass is an amazing combination. My Rollei has a 75 f3.5 Planar lens and I want to get one with a 80 f2.8 Planar lens. I love TLR's they are a discrete camera that can used in a variety of situations. I use my Rolleis for both street and landscape photography.


Camera: Series E 3.5 Planar Rolleiflex TLR
Film: Fujifilm Neopan Acros 100, Rodinal 1+50.

Sunshine on Spadina

I love shooting with my Nikkormat, I've written a piece for the Film Shooters Collective a few years ago advocating it as the perfect vacation camera.  After Sunday's walk down Spadina Avenue, I'm going to add, it is a great walk around camera too.

Camera: Nikkormat FTn, Nikkor H 50 f2 lens.
Film: Kosmo Mono 100, Rodinal 1+50

Sunday Walk Down Spadina

Another bright sunny day in the city, on a weekend no less. I wanted to see how Kosmo Mono 100 handled bright sunshine, and it came through well. Now in terms of photography, a cloudless sky gets pretty boring so you have adjust your subject matter and sometimes try and make the emptiness work for you.

I also pulled a camera out I haven't used in a while, my chrome Nikkormat Ftn, a duplicate of dad's my brother got in the estate 13 years ago. I have fond memories of that camera, dad used to shoot a lot of family photos with it. Even though it wasn't the exact same camera, my chrome Nikkormat brings back some happy memories. I also surprised how steady the meter was. Nikkormats have match needle meters that over time become jumpy due to oxidisation or worn contact strips. Some repair techs can fix them, others rather not. I have a Nikkormat FT3 with a meter jumpy enough to mix cocktails.


Camera: Nikkormat FTn, Nikkor H 50 f2 lens, H 38 f3.5 lens.
Film: Kosmo Mono 100, Rodinal 1+50 for 7.5 minutes at 20c.