Bill Smith's Photography

Belfountain is at a cross roads. Anyone who has read Louise Penny Mysteries always wondered where Three Pines is, this is the GTA version of that mythical hamlet, just a half hour north of Brampton in Caledon, and that's the problem. With the recent change in provincial governments in Ontario, low density suburban tract developers really want to build in the GTA Greenbelt and Oak Ridges Moraine, and we know that's not sustainable. Belfountain isn't immune even though it's deep inside the green belt, a developer bought a tract of farmland on the south end of the hamlet and proposes to build "Country Estates" which is code for ticky-tacky starter mansions in the middle of nowhere. Now here's the problem, every home and business in Belfountain is fed with well water and the water table is pretty much maxed out. Which means if any of the "investors" buy their lovely "Country Estate" will have at best a trickle of water. The only saving g...

I was gifted an MC Rokkor 58 f1.4 lens a few months ago by a friend, the optics are crystal clear and everything works as it should. Now I was told it misbehaved, I wanted to see if that was the case, so I popped the lens on my Minolta SRT 102 and took it out for a spin before and after skiing. January has to be the grayest on record and I should have used something like Rollei Retro 400S to build some contrast. The negs looked off but scanned nicely. You decide for yourself. I plan to retest later on when the conditions aren't quite, so, Scottish. Camera: Minolta SRT 102, MC Rokkor 58 f1.4 lens. Film: Ilford HP5 400, HC110 B.