Bill Smith's Photography

Recently the US Northeast got sucker punched with two feet of snow, irony in this part of the Great White North, Southern Ontario doesn't have a lot of the white stuff. The other think I got my early Canon F-1 back from Cam-tech (damn you auto correct), it had a problem with mystery flare in the middle of the negative that appears at random every few frames. My tech Roger re-sealed the back of the F-1 and was otherwise stumped. My theory now is there's something inside my camera that's shifting causing the flare, what's even crazier I got it on frame zero when the lens cap was on. Usually you need light coming in to create lens flare. That said, I love the early FD 50 f1.8 lens, it's a contrasty piece of glass. I put on my FTb and use that for a little while. I don't shoot a lot in Oakville partly because I have lived here so long I can't see potential photographs as well as I would elsewhere. One thing I'm doing is shooting a bit  more in my backya...

Yes I'm milking this for all it's worth because I haven't finished a roll yet, that will happen soon. I have a soft spot for old Land Rovers, to me they are the true off road vehicle that has seen some very serious action on battlefields and other rough parts of the world. This one I shot looks like a Series II not to be confused with current models that compete with Mercedes G series. Personally I would love a Land Rover Defender 90, unfortunately they are very thin on the ground in North America and since they were recently discontinued will become collectable.

It was a little sad wandering along Queen St. East in the Beaches over New Years. I noticed some stores that were around back in the Summer didn't make it through the fall. Same for restaurants, some went bust, others like Green Eggplant moved down the street to another location. It's not unique to the Beaches, here in Oakville Lakeshore Road is seeing the same thing, a lot of retail turnover due to crazy rental rates and a very seasonal traffic. I don't like it when I see neighbourhood retail shopping districts look like this. Camera: Nikon F2 Photomic, Nikkor S 50 f1.4 lens. Film: Ilford HP5, HC110 B.

As you note, there's no snow on the ground, otherwise I would be skiing. Instead I spent New Year's at my brother's place in the Beaches in Toronto house and dog sitting. Along with the lack of the white stuff, there was nothing but non stop cloud cover, in fact it had been like that since Christmas. The Beaches by the lake take on a whole new personality off season, even more so without the snow and ice. I work with what I had and enjoyed the change of scenery. What did you do photography wise this past Christmas? Camera: Nikon F2 Photomic, Nikkor S 50 f1.4 lens, Nikkor H 28 f3.5 lens. Film: Ilford HP5 400, HC110 B.