Bill Smith's Photography

Technology sometimes isn't our friend. I use Vuescan scanning software and after the most recent update, my Epson V600 Photo started crashing. I even went back a release, no such luck. I wound up downloading the Epson scanning software for Mac OS and managed to get it configured, and it looks I'm using that going forward for the next little while because starting from default settings every time you fire up the scanner to digitize some negatives or slides, tedious. Speaking of scanning my workflow, I scan my negatives into a TIFF file on an external hard drive and process in Adobe Lightroom, usually just cropping, dust removal and a bit of sharpening and export as a Jpeg for web use. If I'm printing black and white, and I'm 11x14 and smaller with paper, I'll do it old school in a darkroom, with colour and bigger prints, I farm it out to a print studio. Yorkville is an interesting neighbourhood to photograph, the end result from early gentrification, I've ni

I got weak spot for Pentax Spotmatics, one day while at Burlington Camera picking up some colour film I had in for processing, Joan (aka my camera pusher) said, "Did you want to see something neat?" Of course I said sure and she pulled out this old camera bag that just came into the store, and it had this black Pentax Spotmatic SP.  It had been overhauled at some point in the last 10 years and the only thing that need replacing was the bumper foam, an easy enough fix, so I bought the camera. The meter works but isn't accurate (no surprise for a camera the same age as I am) but the shutter was bang on. Again, Super Multi Coated Takumar glass rocks colour film nicely. Anyone who says Toronto is boring for photography isn't looking at the right places. Camera: Asahi Pentax Spotmatic SP, Super Multi Coated Takumar lenses. Film: Lomography 400 C-41

I really like shooting in this neighbourhood, and I got really lucky with a PCC streetcar on its way to the Harbourfront LRT route. Camera: Nikon FM, Nikkor Ai 50 f2 lens. Film: Efke 100, HC110 B.

I haven't wandered through Chinatown East in a long time, Canada Day weekend I went out with a few friends from the Toronto Film Photography Community and did a route along Gerrard St. East to Carlaw and then went south to Queen St. and walked west to Broadview for lunch. It was a bright day so I shot some Efke 100, two rolls worth and while it's not the first choice for street/urban photography in 2017 but it works great on a bright Summer's day. Camera: Nikon FM, Nikkor Ai 50 f2 lens. Film: Efke 100, HC110 B.

Remember that Nikon FM I picked up at the London Camera Show? I got it back from its overhaul at Camera Repair Canada to fix a shutter problem. I have also been getting re-acquainted with Kodak Tri-X 400, one of the great black and white films. Processing with Xtol 1+1, this film sings. The camera is performing better than new and the meter is spot on. Camera: Nikon FM, Nikkor Ai 50 f2 lens, Ai 105 f2.5 and Ais 28 f2.8 lens. Film: Kodak Tri-X 400, Vtol 1+1.

We have had a truly awful spring this year, with pretty much the same forecast since mid-May 40-60% chance of showers and thunderstorms. I joked with one professional colleague that suffering seasonal afflicted disorder mid-June, just wasn't cool. Mother nature cooperated the first weekend of Summer and my shoot in Harbourfront was stunning. I'm still blown away at what I got from my Spotmatic II and Lomography and Kodak Ultramax 400 (pretty much the same film). I know it's in the photographer's eye but having really nice lenses doesn't hurt either. I have a lot of respect for Pentax Spotmatics, they were simple, durable SLRs, million were made, the lenses were on par with the big boys, if not better in construction and optics. I could geek out but there are pages of search results on Google going into detail. I suggest starting at Photoethnography   and go from there. Camera: Asahi Pentax Spotmatic II, Super Multi Coated Takumar 50 f1.4 lens, 28 f3.5 lens.