Bill Smith's Photography

Feels like a lifetime ago even though it was only a few weeks ago... Camera: Minolta XD-11, MD Rokkor lenses. Film: Ilford HP5 400, HC110 B.

I packed Ilford HP5 400 for my stay in the beaches with the thought to pushing it, in the end I left at my usual 320 ISO. One reason was the Minolta XD-11 only went to 1/1000 of a second, and that's fine but I was dealing with lighting all over the place which in the end keeping the film near box speed was the right call. My portrait of my friend John Meadows had me look at HP5 400 again, the tonality blew my mind and I've shot kilometers/miles of the stuff and processing it in HC110 dilution B (1+31) is my go to developer combination. I metered things just right. My stay in the Beaches was the last week of relatively normal, whatever that was. While certain events were being cancelled, the COVID 19 pandemic hadden't really hit home yet. People were still out going about their daily business. Camera: Minolta XD-11, MD Rokkor X 50 f1.7 lens. Film: Ilford HP5 400, HC110 B.

Somehow we got Dan Novak across the border from Western New York and we had a bit of a Negative Postives Film Photography Podcast meet up in Toronto. Camera: Minolta XD-11, MD Rokkor 50 f1.7 lens. Film: Rollei RPX 400, HC110 B.

The Toronto Island parks are unique that it's an archipelago of parkland with people living there year-round (more on that with a later post). Go late in the fall and you feel like you are getting away from the city hustle. During high season, Toronto Island is used heavily by city residents to the point the lineups at the ferry terminal on Queen's Quay will back all the way up to the street. Camera: Minolta XD, MD Rokkor X 50 f1.7 lens. Film: Kodak Portra 400