Bill Smith's Photography

  I drove up Trafalgar Road in Halton region early on a Sunday morning, I wanted to go for a hike up at Limehouse Conservation Area and I wanted to do that before the hordes showed up. Trafalgar Road is a major north south artery in Halton Region (County for our American friends) located west of Toronto. Like a lot of places in Southern Ontario, farmland is under siege to low density suburban development both residential and commerical. This is some of the best farmland in the country and once its paved over, you can't get it back for farming use.  Camera: Rolleiflex 3.5 F Planar TLR,  Film: Ilford HP5 400, HC110 B. 

 I've posted about Silver Creek Conservation Area earlier, I never really explored east of Fallbank Road before, I took a side trail before hooking up with the Bruce Trail and wandered east to 10th Line and doubled back. Some parts of the Bruce Trail are easy peasy, others, I almost want to scare people who want to come along because I don't want them getting in over their heads in terms of hike length and terrain difficulty.  Being in the early stages of fall I'm concerned that recess is coming to an end with the pandemic, I hope we can still go hiking on the trails because well, it's outdoors, and a hell of a lot safer than being in a gym. I'm still surprised by the number of hidden gems at the north end of Halton Region.  Camera: Olympus OM-2n, Zuiko lenses.  Film: Ultrafine Extreme 400, HC110 B. 

Happy Canada Day!  Well, what you see here was shot a few weeks ago on a week day morning hike just north of Georgetown at Silver Creek Conservation Area. Nature keeks me sane particularly in these dark times, I felt decommressing while driving up Trafalgar Road.  Even just with the morning hike my friend James and I explored only a portion of the conservation area. My game plan is to get a lot of hiking in this Summer because it's pretty much a staycation year. I go during the week because the trails are quiet. I rolled with my Canon New F-1 AE and Bergger Pancro 400, a great combination. I went with this particular film as it's super wide tonal range would help me with the highlights. I'm planning to top up my 35mm and 120 stocks later in the year, because, it's the tonality.  If you can where you live, get out and hike in nature, it will help you stay sane during these interesting times, and again, Happy Canada Day!  Camera: Canon New F-1 AE, FDn lenses.  Fil...

I haven't hiked much this year, I wanted to make up for this by heading out in the fall. I explored a section of the Bruce Trail between Limehouse and Hilton Falls north of Milton. Of course I had to choose the second most dismal day of the fall to head out. It was a nice walk in the woods but I really didn't find much to shoot compared to Limehouse, that said there are still some gems if you know where to look. Camera: Olympus OM-1 MD, Zuiko  lenses. Film: Rollei Retro 400S, HC110 B.

I got my Nikkormat FT2 back from my new repair tech and I wanted to try it out. After a run to Burlington Camera, I went over to Brant Street and shoot my last roll of Bergger BRF 400. The camera works fine, the meter overexposes by a stop but no big deal. What got my attention with Burlington's downtown was downright hopping compared to Lakeshore Road in Downtown Oakville which is currently suffering from at least 24 vacant storefronts. Burlington and Oakville population-wise are roughly the same size, both are on Lake Ontario between Toronto and Hamilton, both communities could not be more different. Burlington allowed condo, office and apartment development in its downtown to co-exist with low-rise retail and heritage buildings. Another observation, Burlington's Town Hall is downtown and is front and center. As a result, downtown Burlington has a much lower commercial vacancy rate and a more diverse retail cross-section than downtown Oakville. As a long time Oakville ...