Bill Smith's Photography

What amazed me with my Asahi Pentax KX (not to be confused with the more recent k-x crop sensor DSLR) was how nicely it metered with colour film. I decided to try out a roll of Cinestill 50 which was shot partly in late afternoon sun and the following morning with muggy overcast skies. This film loves bright sunshine and gives you a warm almost retro look to it. Overcast skies is a different matter, I really like what I got, the colour palette became more subdued which is fine. What's cool with this particular film, it is essentially Kodak Vision 50D motion picture stock with the rem-jet layer removed. This is the same motion picture film loved by Quentin Tarantino and J.J. Abrams for their daylight shots in Hateful Eight and Star Wars, The Force Awakens. The downside with Cinestill 50D is cost, in Canadian dollars you're looking at about $15 per roll and some C-41 film labs might get a little spooked seeing this for the first time. Outside of that choose your projects caref...

I was house and dog sitting in the Beaches a few weeks ago and by the time this blog post goes live, I'm back in the Beaches for two more weeks until Labour Day Weekend. Some members of the Toronto Film Shooters Facebook Group and I met up for lunch at Murphy's Law and went for what could be best described as "photowalk of the damned" on what could be considered the hottest day of the year. This weekend I gave my Pentax KX a good workout with colour film. I shot a roll of Ektar 100 and Cinestill 50D to see how the camera and lenses work with said films. I was blown away at what I got with the Ektar 100, I barely touched the images in Lightroom, just some cropping and dust removal. Cinestill 50 negatives needed a bit more work, I find I get a slight green cast when I scan them into TIFF files. Again Lightroom can sort them out pretty good. Camera: Asahi Pentax KX, SMC Pentax M 50 f1.4 lens. SMC Pentax K 28 f3.5 lens. Film: Kodak Ektar 100

The Don Valley is one part of Toronto I really haven't explored all that much. I've been to the Brickworks a few times before the big renovation and to a few events afterward, I have also explored a few ravines to lead into Rosedale and Moore Park over the years. This is the dividing line of the city in some regards, a large channel of green space and a transportation corridor. The fun part was exploring some abandoned bits of infrastructure, a mothballed spur line now owned by Metrolinx that connects Union Station with the Canadian Pacific main line through Toronto. Yes I got my "Stand by Me" moment on the rails. The other urban artifact is the abandoned Eastern Avenue Bridge, you've seen if it you were travelling on the Don Valley Parkway. The highway when it opened in the early 1960s re-directed Eastern Avenue. I have always wanted to check this bridge out ever since I first saw it from my parents' car driving down the DVP in the early 1980s. You can get...

A nice escape for the day just North West of Guelph Ontario. Camera: Nikon F2SB, Nikkor S.C 50 f1.4 lens. Film: ORWO UN54, D76 1+1.

This was a last minute trip up to Elora on the holiday Monday of the Civic Long weekend in the beginning of August. Officially in Greater Toronto it's Simcoe day in honour of John Graves Simcoe, the former Governor of Upper Canada. Truth of the matter the holiday should be called "Life on the road/by the pool/on the beach/at the cottage Long Weekend." Doesn't matter, it was a really nice day and that's what counts. Elora has been struggling the past few years with the Elora Mill Inn closed for renovations with just day trippers. Talking to Dave at the Village Olive Grove with the super nice weather this Summer more visitors are coming up to have a look around which is great news for local merchants. Camera: Nikon F2SB, Nikkor S.C. 50 f1.4 lens. Film: ORWO UN 54 , D76 1+1.

My friend Crystal and I had a day set aside for the beach. She and her kids never been to Sandbanks Provincial Park and it was another excuse to get to Prince Edward County. There was a downside we originally wanted to find a place to crash overnight in the county, yeah, good luck with that a few days before the long holiday weekend. Our trip to the beach became a day trip, the kids loved it. Now the grown ups weren't neglected, my friend Crystal and I hit Sandbanks Winery and later Country Road Beer Company which is literally on a back country road in the middle of nowhere. We got there from route one by way of Benway Road, a one lane backcountry dirt road most likely cut in the late 18th century through fallowed farm fields, a woodlot and a vineyard. Now on the way out dinner was at George's Fish and Chips on Loyalist Parkway just south of Carrying Place. I had the best chocolate milkshake since I was like 12 or 13 years old and the fish chips are first rate. Next tim...