Bill Smith's Photography

I have been experimenting with different black and white films lately, I just picked up a bulk roll of Ilford Delta 100 and two 36 exposure rolls to try out. My favourite medium speed film for 35mm, Kodak Plus X is getting harder to find in bulk lengths these days. I was gifted a huge jug of Tmax developer a couple of months ago and it makes Delta 100 sing. I found my go to 35mm medium speed film going forward.

One lens I got from Alex along with the Canon F-1n is the legendary FD 35 f2 with the chrome nose complete with the radioactive rare earth glass element. All I can say is wow, the results are mind blowing and the 35 f2 lens weighs a ton especially mated with the Canon F-1n body. I pack a two lens set up if I'm in the city the 35 lens along with the 100 f2.8 telephoto. Anything more, my briefcase gets heavy.

A continuation of the last post with my Beach photowalk last Saturday. I really like the below shot, the woman looks like she is confounded by choice with the Kew Beach Park Xmas tree lot. They do sell some of the nicest trees in the city and if I did not have an allergy to whatever rides along with fir, pine or spruce I would have a real tree from here in my living room.

Had a major case of GAS recently, it coincided with my brother Alex's garage sale of camera gear and it resulted in I being the new owner of a Canon F-1n, their answer to the Nikon F3 along with a bunch of FD lenses. I love the F-1n and with what I now have in lenses FD 28 f2.8, 35 f2, 50 f1.4, 50 f1.8, 100 F2.8, 135 f3.5, and 200 f2.8 plus a FTb and AE-1 Program bodies, I don't need to get anything else. The above two photos were shot along the boardwalk in the Beach neighbourhood in Toronto yesterday afternoon.

It's been a busy two months and I finally got back back into the swing of printing. I find working in the darkroom takes my mind off more weighty (personal and professional) things that are currently on my mind. Somehow I lost my photography mojo a bit of late. Part of it is due to being very busy with the Oakville Camera Club's Capture Oakville Photography Competition and related exhibit as well as dealing with other stuff that life throws your way. I'm also frustrated with my job search, as you figured photography is my passion but PR/communications and marketing pay the bills, it allows me to tell compelling stories for a living and I love doing that. The job market however is not so cooperative, for now I am still slogging along, leads are welcome especially in downtown Toronto.

My annual fall hike along the Bruce Trail almost did not happen this year. For some reason October has been really busy for (still not making money yet) but I managed to sneak out and go for a walk in the Dundas Valley near Ancaster Ontario. Funny thing, I could not get away totally from civilization like I would at Mono Cliffs. I still need to get away, maybe after all the leaf raking is done. I used my Nikon FE and shot Kodak Ektar 100, my go to medium speed colour film. If you think this looks great in 35mm, you should see the results in medium format.

Wandering downtown Oakville at night between the rain showers with a Rolleiflex, tripod, light meter and two rolls of Tri-x 400.

All taken within a few blocks along Bay St. in downtown Toronto with my new to me Black Olympus OM-1n with Legacy Pro 400. This the raw material for an exhibit next year, stay tuned.

Yes you can shoot slide film in a Leica M3, I did downtown and I love what I got from the 50 F2 Collapsible Summicron. I used expired Kodak Elite 100 E-6 film stored in the freezer for the past couple of years and I plan to use up what's left of my slide film stash as I am getting worried that slide film processing is going to disappear. If slide disappears, I will just shoot with Kodak Ektar 100 in 35 and 120 mm, it's such a nice film to work with.

I went back downtown a week ago for a solitary photowalk and I'm finding a lot more inspiration within the brick and concrete. I really like using the Rolleiflex for urban photography because it's light and you get a big negative out it for printing. The two best times to walk around downtown is first thing Saturday morning and rush hour during the week. You get very different photographs even standing in the same spot. I also want to explore the nooks and crannies downtown, the small side streets, you never know what you might find.

Oakville Jazz Festival 2010 I got an opportunity to catch both the Alex Pangman and Matt Dusk shows at this year's Oakville Jazz Festival and they both did perfect sets with the ease of seasoned veterans. I used my OM-2n and the Zuiko 75-150 F4 Telephoto zoom for most of the shoot and I love how they turned out. This is a really nice lens, much lighter than the legendary Vivitar Series one 80-210 Macro Zoom which has its own cult.

Back to the City I'm done with nature for a while, back to the city I go. Shot a few weeks ago on a Sunday morning Downtown Toronto with a Nikon F3HP with a variety of Nikkor lenses with Kodak Tri-x film processed in HC-110 Dilution B.

KC and the Moonshine Band, July 24, 2010 at the Cadillac Lounge I still have my concert photography mojo, in fact it has improved since I last shot KC and the Moonshine Band at the Cadillac Lounge. I am very impressed at how well Legacy Pro 400 film handles a challenging shooting environment like a bar with a stage. I used my Nikon FE, a variety of Nikkor lenses, the Vivitar 283 flash and Legacy Pro 400 processed in Xtol 1+1. I should ask KC if the flash distracted him at all on stage. I found I got much better results with a flash than say pushing the film to 1600 ISO and hoping for the best.

My first exhibit In the Shadow of the GTA Greenbel t starts on Saturday July 17 at 1 PM at Sovereign House on 7 West River St. in Bronte Village in Oakville Ontario. My co-exhibitors are fellow Oakville Camera Club members and friends Gary van Eijk and Les Lengyel. Sovereign House is Open 1-4 PM Saturday, Sunday and Wednesdays and In the Shadow of the GTA Greenbelt runs from July 17 to 28, 2010. My prints will be available for sale at $200 each. View Larger Map

Been very busy with a couple of projects including my own Shadow of the GTA Greenbelt project which is being hung July 17 at Sovereign House . I have been doing a lot of urban photography, a combination of street and architecture before and after job interviews downtown. I find it relaxes me and the material collated is starting to gel into a future exhibit idea. All the images posted below over the course of a few weeks with an Olympus OM-1md, a variety of Zuiko lenses and Kodak Tri-x 400 processed in HC110 Dilution B.