Bill Smith's Photography

More from the November hike up at Forks of the Credit Provincial Park. Camera: Canon AE-1, FD 35 f2 lens, (Thorium element version), Film: ORWO UN 54, Xtol 1+1.

I really have not done a whole lot of hiking this year. My hiking buddy has a lot going on her life both personal and a career wise so when I have been going out, it's by myself and that's ok there are times I need my alone time to think and to just get away for a few hours. This is my last roll of ORWO UN 54 for now, I buy it in 100ft lengths and I have another can of it on order. In the mean time I'm revisiting Fomapan 200 which I used a few years back and found it an interesting black and white film to shoot with. I'll talk more about my experiences with the new film when I get a chance go out again and shoot. We're in that part of the year where daylight is disappearing fast and the weather is crappy, not quite fall anymore, not quite winter either. Camera: Canon AE-1, FD 35 f2 lens (the one with the Thorium laced glass) Film: ORWO UN 54, Xtol 1+1

I learned photography on a Canon AE-1 after playing around with a Rebel G for a year or two. Over time I had the nice little collection of FD lenses for my camera. About seven years ago I migrated over to Nikon, trading off the AE-1 kit for a Nikon F body around the same time my dad passed. I wound up getting another Nikon F as part of his estate along with some other nice toys. Things do come full circle, a few years back I was gifted a Canon FTb which  I since got overhauled and I bought my brother's F-1n off him along with a nice collection of FD lenses two years ago. Now in a fit of nostalgia I picked up another AE-1 off Ebay, this one in much better shape than the one I owned and now I have three Canon bodies a decent FD lens kit. I forgot how nice this camera was, the only achilles heel for the AE-1 is the lousy performance in cold temperatures. Oh let's be honest the battery dies in 15 minutes with the exposure to cold weather so you don't want to use this betw...