Bill Smith's Photography

I confess I'm a camera collector as well as a user. One of my systems is the Pentax or M-42 screw mount system, I own a Spotmatic F, a pair of SVs, a S1a and an Asahi Pentax model K from the late 1950s (not to be confused with the K1000) which is a rare beast. So my brother (and worst enabler) told me an independent Leica Repair tech out of the US mid west was selling a batch of overhauled Pentax Spotmatics for $40USD. Granted this was before the Canadian dollar started melting in currency markets so it came to about $55Cdn with postage, how can you go wrong? The Asahi Pentax SP was considered the first SLR camera to offer through the lens metering (TTL) in the mid 1960s and I would consider it the VW Beetle of cameras. Now here's the deal with the Pentax screw mount lens family, their optics were on par with Leica and Zeiss. It the day comes I add a digital body to the camera kit, it will most likely be a Sony A7 MkII with an adapter. Camera: Pentax Spotmatic SP, Super M...

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.

Feels so long ago with the recent dusting of snow on the ground and a forecast for more. Camera: Asahi Pentax Spotmatic F, S-M-C Takumar 28 f3.5 and 50 f1.4 lenses. Film: Ilford HP5 400, HC110 B.

As mentioned in a previous post we had two models come up with us to Algonquin Park this year. I have worked with both Alicia and Xenia in the past and they are both great. The last shoot we did was in the Beach in Toronto a year ago and had a totally different feel. I still have to work on the use of reflected light in Xenia's shot. Camera: Nikon F2A, Nikkor Ais 50 f1.4 lens, 200 f4 lens on the last image. Film: Kodak Portra 400

All great trips and long weekends have to come to an end at some point, while the trip back down 35 is uneventful, I have fallen in love with the  Muskoka and the Algonquin Highlands landscape and have to get back up here more often than once a year. Camera: Nikon FE, Nikkor Ais 35 f2 lens. Film: Kodak Portra 400.

The difference a year makes. Last October it was a flat grey morning, this year bright sunshine and mid afternoon, lights the rapids differently, not to mention the fall colours are brighter. Camera: Nikon F2A, Nikkor Ais lenses. Film: Kodak Ektar 100

Now this is the real Algonquin Park, no tourists, tour buses, crowds, just eight photographers and two models in the woods, tackling the trail a little too late in the afternoon. We really starting getting a little freaked out when one of us spotted some bear shit on the side of the trail, it was brisk hike back the parking lot which we got to after sunset. Now some of the photographers and one of the models were of Polish ancestry and were singing Polish children's songs to scare any bears away as the last bit of daylight left us. Aside from that, Bat Lake Trail was an amazing hike, we decided to re-do next year, only in the morning this time. The consensus is wandering around Algonquin Park in the dark without flashlights  hoping like hell you are on the right trail for the parking lot can be spooky. Camera: Nikon F2A, Nikkor Ais 50 f1.4 lens.  Film: Kodak Portra 400 iPhone 5s, VSCOcam App.

Nobody wants to see tour buses in their Algonquin Park shots, it defeats the whole thought of getting way from it all. We stopped along the side of Highway 60 on a few occasions and got some amazing photos. The fall colours up there make what's seen here in Greater Toronto seam dreary in comparison. Thing is the western part of Algonquin Park gets all the action due to closer proximity to  Huntsville and Highway 11 which takes you back to Toronto when it connects to the 400. Now the eastern part of the park is a lot quieter in comparison and that's a good thing. Camera: Nikon F2a Nikkor Ais 50 f1.4 and 200 F4 lens Film: Kodak Portra 400

It looks peaceful, but in reality the Hardwood Lookout Trail off Highway 60 was a zoo full of people from all over the world. Think busier than the Eaton Centre in downtown Toronto at Christmastime. Fortunately there was another trail we took later Saturday afternoon that wasn't crowded, more on that later... Camera: Nikon F2a, Nikkor Ais 50 f1.4 lens, B+W polarizer filter. Film: Kodak Portra 400