Bill Smith's Photography

 I really needed a day trip the day after mom's funeral so Jo-Anne and I hopped into the car and drove up to Elora for the day. What usually took an hour became a bit of a challenge with construcion on both Trafalgar Road through Hillsborough and along Highway 6 throuh the north end of Guelph on the return trip to Oakville.  The camera of choice was my dad's Leica M3, haven't used it in a while and I wanted to travel light. I chose Adox CHS 100 II as my film for this day trip, hindsight, I should have ran with something a bit more abusable like Ilford FP4. I had some frame that just came out underexposed, and its classified as user error. Adox CHS 100 II is great film but you have to be very much on the ball when it comes to exposure from personal experience if you want the best results.  Camera: Leica M3 DS, 50 F2 Collapsable Summicron, Voightlander 35 F2.5 Color Skopar Lens.  Film: Adox CHS 100 II, FX-39 1+19. 

  It's been a month, my mom passed almost oa month ago on May 28 at age 85, we knew this day would come, and after living with mixed dementia, COPD and congestive heart failure. Mom's at peace with dad now, and I'm glad for that. Now, things are going to change, a lot.   I pulled out dad's Nikon F with the eyelevel prism, I wanted a connection with dad to process what I went through from funeral planning (it was a good send off), to now, dealing with the self replicating to do list in regards to the estate. Now wandering around Oakville with a family heirloom shooting mostly on a Nikkor S 50 F1.4 lens (the way dad did in the 1960s), it hit me like a ton of bricks. My time in Oakville is winding down and the chapter will close soon and new adventures beckon.  Camera: Nikon F (641 serial number), Pre Ai Nikkor lenses.  Film: Kentmere 100, Ilfotec HC 1+31. 

I really needed to get out and into nature, so Jo-Anne and I daytripped up into Caledon, first starting in Belfountain for coffee and she could buy some local maple syrup and then going for a hike in the Palgrave Forest and Nature Preserve off Highway 50 and south of Highway 9 near Palgrave. I needed a walk in the woods after the hectic week of dealing with my mom's passing back on May 28th and to get just get away everything for a few hours. Jo-Anne has been my rock through all this. Needless to say, the walk in the woods helped a lot.  Never really explored the northern end of Caledon before, and never been through Palgrave. There's a great craftbrewery and taproom called Caledon Hills Brewery, their signature Vienna Lager hit the spot along with a giant pretzel after the hike. We both suffered menu envy but a big dinner at home was planned so giant pretzel it was, this time around.  Nikkormat FTn, Nikkor H.C 50 F2 lens.  Film: Kentmere 400, Ilfotec HC 1+31.