Bill Smith's Photography

A Sunday morning shoot along the Bruce Trail and I was experimenting with long exposures on a tripod. My only Auto Exposure (AE) manual focus camera is a Minolta XE-7 a delightful tank of a camera and I can keep the shutter open for four seconds hence the texture of the water. I got a little wet crossing the creek and the camera got splashed. The Minolta still works nicely and I dried it out, the story would not have had a happy ending if I had a DSLR.

More Kodachrome shots, this time I was using my Olympus OM-1. The Pier shot is at the mouth of 16 Mile Creek and the cobblestones was shot at the Distillery District. I bought two rolls for this year's fall colours.

What's this, a colour photograph? Most of my Flickr contacts and fellow members have me labeled as that "old school black and white guy." I love shooting black and white, I love the whole process of developing and printing at home in my darkroom. Well, surprise I dig colour too, and I kick myself for discovering slide film late in the game. I shot this last year at the Cheltenham Badlands on Lower Base Line Road with my Nikon F with Kodachrome 64 with a Nikkor H 50 f2 lens. This particular emulsion is the grandfather of all colour film. Kodachrome was invented in the 1930s and has the reputation for it's archival properties. I love the retro colour rendition and that fact I am running it through cameras about the same age as I am, seems appropriate. Now shooting with this film requires patience, Kodachrome is simple in chemical makeup, however complex in processing and there is only one lab left in the world based in Kansas that processes film. Figure a month wait to ...

I put my Leica M3 back into service over the past week. I have been using the 50 f2 Collapsable Summicron exclusively that came with the body. Since getting the MR clip on meter I don't suffer from flare anymore (yay!). The photo on the bottom is of Alex and his daughter Charlotte taken last weekend, it was on a tail end of Ilford HP5. The rest was shot on Adox (Efke) 100. One thing I have never done is shoot with colour reversal (slide)film. I would be curious what Kodachrome 64 would look like. I am seriously contemplating a second Leica M body or a Zeiss Ikon M Rangefinder purchase next year.

I made a switch in one of my darkroom chemicals. I am now using Dektol from Kodak for a few reasons. Dektol holds strength in working solution and I find I get a full evening of paper processing,the prints develop faster and it's also a couple bucks cheaper than Ilford Multigrade Paper Developer which is in liquid concentrate form. I found with the Ilford product to go weak on my really quick and I had to make to working solutions in one evening (not cool). I don't mind mixing up the stock solution from powder, I did the same with D-76 and it works well.

A rather interesting shot from a photo shoot for Capture Oakville 150. We were requested to provide some photos to promote the event. Kieley and Mike took most of the photos, I took this shot when Kieley when she was shooting Mike Paul and myself. in turn I shot Kieley shooting us. I used my Leica M3 with Agfa Silvertone 400. I showed Mike this print and he was amazed at how quick I processed and printed considering I am an old school film guy.

I got back into the darkroom last weekend and went on a tear. I printed on Ilford Multi Grade IV RC Pearl Finish paper, using Ilford Multigrade Paper developer. Next weekend I am going to try out Kodak's Dektol and do a comparison. Both shots were taken in Oakville, Lakeshore Road with a Nikon F and for the Dodge, a Nikkormat. Both cameras had Classsicpan 400 in them.

There is a new Photography blog out of the Netherlands called Film is Not Dead it Just Smells Funny by Frans Peter Verheven. I joined the Flickr group about a week ago out of curiosity. There was a call for articles and I submitted one on Collecting and Using Vintage 35mm SLRs. I am adding the short cut to the site