Bill Smith's Photography

I dropped off the annual dues to the Caledon Ski Club and had an opportunity to hike the grounds in the off season which compared to Forks of the Credit Provincial Park on a Saturday, almost deserted. The EOS-1n, was my camera of choice this weekend with the Sigma 50 f1.4 lens. If I had the old kit lens form my Canon Rebel XS lying about somewhere, it wouldn't last long on a pro body due to the light construction.  Again I really want a Nikon F5, say it enough one might appear with some top shelf AF-D Nikkor glass.  Hiking The Caledon Ski Club was something I never really done off season and I quite enjoyed it because Forks of the Credit Provincial Park was a zoo. It felt weird a little with no snow on the ground but you get an idea the amount of work that goes into the hill off season. The last time I was up was on Sunday afternoon March 15 or as I call it the last day of normal to empty out the family locker in the West Lodge, that feels like a lifetime ago. I have no idea w...

Funny what can happen in the space of three weeks, I thought I would be skiing to the end of March, well that plan got kiboshed pretty quick due to a global pandemic. Which is a shame because there was still a decent base at Caledon Ski Club and we could have made it to April, no problem. I've been skiing longer than taking photographs and doing the math, this was season 44 that was, and it ended with a whimper. At least I documented the last ski weekend, at least I can go back to this post and remember what perfect pair of days they were. Fast forward a week, I bolted up to grab the Smith clan's ski equipment out of the locker when the email came out the club was shutting down along with just about every ski hill in North America.  Skiing down the hill wasn't the problem, riding up the chairlift and having lunch and/or apres ski drinks in the lodge was. Pity, I figured there was three more weeks of skiing easy with the base we had. Welcome to the new normal kids. Cam...

Skiing is my winter escape, I've been skiing so long each winter I have to think for a minute how long I've been doing it. I love the smell of cold air,  burning firewood and frenchfry grease mixing together when skiing by either the Main or West Hill chalets, I didn't get that smell so much this winter as it hasn't really been all that cold. Well, what can you do? I'm reloading my Rollei 35 with some Kodak Max 400 or Pro Image 100 and capture the back half of the season. Stay tuned. The bottom photos of the Melville White Church is all that remains of the hamlet of Melville and is  one of those landmarks that remind you skiing, or hiking other times of the year is not far away. Camera: Rollei 35, 40 f3.5 Zeiss Tessar lens Film: Ilford Delta 100, HC110 B.

Ski season is coming....... Camera: Asahi Pentax K2, SMC Pentax M lenses.  Film: Kodak Color Plus 200. 

Better to end the season on a high than with a whimper. Camera: Nikon FM, Nikkor Ai 50 f1.4 lens, Ais 24 f2.8 lens. Film: Expired in 2004 Agfa Vista 200