Bill Smith's Photography

The holiday season this year has been bleak, and pretty much endless November with less daylight. That influenced the choice of film Kodak Tri-X which is pretty much the swiss army knife of black and white film, especially when push processed in Tmax Developer. I met up with friends for dinner on the edge of Yorkville and prior to that did a self-directed photo walk. I was supposed to meet up with my mid-week photo walk group but a combination of illness and schedule conflicts killed the meet up. I do however have a walk for in mind for the future. Running across a nice 1980s vintage Porsche 911 Carrera was nice, they don't make them like that anymore. Camera: Nikon F2 Photomic, Pre Ai Nikkor lenses. Film: Kodak Tri-X pushed to 1600, Tmax 1+4.

It's a Green Christmas season in Toronto this year, just a lot of grey skies. When in doubt, push Kodak Tri-X 400 to 1600 ISO and head out. I'm really happy with what I got out of both rolls I shot. I had a lot going on Thursday, December 18 around midtown Toronto, so I packed my Nikon F2 Photomic and a couple of lenses and off I went. There's this building across the street from the Rosedale Subway Station, it looks like it belongs in Northern Italy. There's commercial space on the ground floor and apartments above. I never get tired of shooting this building with all the detail it has. Camera: Nikon F2 Photomic, Pre Ai Nikkor lenses. Film: Kodak Tri-X 400@1600, Tmax 1+4.

Sometimes you need to walk down the Lake Ontario and just listen to the waves hitting the shore.... Camera: Nikon F, Pre Ai lenses. Film: Fomapan 400, Tmax 1+4 

Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas and a safe happy 2019! Camera: Nikon F2A, Nikkor Ai 50 f1.4 lens. Film: Kodak Max 400

Photographs were taken by cameras given to Bill, an ongoing series. Classic Camera Revival founder Alex Luyckx gave me this Olympus Trip 35 a year ago, I popped a roll of HP5 in and sorta started shooting with it. A year later I finally got around to finishing that roll off. The Trip 35 was a basic camera, zone focus, and only two speeds, I think 1/40 and 1/200, there were no batteries, the meter was selenium. It was originally marketed to the non-photographer who wanted to take snapshots while on vacation, hence the name Trip. What blew me away was the Tessar design 40 f2.8 Zuiko lens. I've seen this look before with my brother's Rollei 35 I used back in August. I can see why the Olympus Trip 35 is a cult camera. I might use this while skiing as I get hassled for taking a camera sling bag with me on the chairlift as it's small enough to put in my pocket. Camera: Olympus Trip 35, Zuiko 40 f2.8 lens. Film: Ilford HP5 400, Tmax 1+4

I look forward to more daylight hours. It can get pretty gloomy out there this time of year. You work with what you have. Camera: Minolta X-700, Minolta MD lenses. Film: Rollei RPX 400, RPX D 1+11.