Bill Smith's Photography

The holiday season this year has been bleak, and pretty much endless November with less daylight. That influenced the choice of film Kodak Tri-X which is pretty much the swiss army knife of black and white film, especially when push processed in Tmax Developer. I met up with friends for dinner on the edge of Yorkville and prior to that did a self-directed photo walk. I was supposed to meet up with my mid-week photo walk group but a combination of illness and schedule conflicts killed the meet up. I do however have a walk for in mind for the future. Running across a nice 1980s vintage Porsche 911 Carrera was nice, they don't make them like that anymore. Camera: Nikon F2 Photomic, Pre Ai Nikkor lenses. Film: Kodak Tri-X pushed to 1600, Tmax 1+4.

It's a Green Christmas season in Toronto this year, just a lot of grey skies. When in doubt, push Kodak Tri-X 400 to 1600 ISO and head out. I'm really happy with what I got out of both rolls I shot. I had a lot going on Thursday, December 18 around midtown Toronto, so I packed my Nikon F2 Photomic and a couple of lenses and off I went. There's this building across the street from the Rosedale Subway Station, it looks like it belongs in Northern Italy. There's commercial space on the ground floor and apartments above. I never get tired of shooting this building with all the detail it has. Camera: Nikon F2 Photomic, Pre Ai Nikkor lenses. Film: Kodak Tri-X 400@1600, Tmax 1+4.

Yeah, Efke 100, lovely film, as you can see below, even a few years past its best before date, it still sings, especially in Kodak HC110 developer. Now this film needs babying, my processing flow is this, pre soak for a minute or two as I mix up the B dilution, process like I always do. I use a water stop for a minute, then fix for about seven minutes, and then standard rinsing. You have to be careful with Efke as the emulation side is quite delicate, I use my fingers as a squeegee to get rid of excess water. The film base curls like crazy, and is a dust magnet (more due to the drying environment). As you can see with the portraiture results below. Yes there are dust specs, I know. You have no idea how much I picked off with Adobe Lightroom. But the results... Camera: Nikon F2 Photomic, Nikkor S 50 f1.4 lens, Nikkor Q 135 f2.8 lens. Film: Efke 100, HC110 B.

Yes I'm milking this for all it's worth because I haven't finished a roll yet, that will happen soon. I have a soft spot for old Land Rovers, to me they are the true off road vehicle that has seen some very serious action on battlefields and other rough parts of the world. This one I shot looks like a Series II not to be confused with current models that compete with Mercedes G series. Personally I would love a Land Rover Defender 90, unfortunately they are very thin on the ground in North America and since they were recently discontinued will become collectable.

It was a little sad wandering along Queen St. East in the Beaches over New Years. I noticed some stores that were around back in the Summer didn't make it through the fall. Same for restaurants, some went bust, others like Green Eggplant moved down the street to another location. It's not unique to the Beaches, here in Oakville Lakeshore Road is seeing the same thing, a lot of retail turnover due to crazy rental rates and a very seasonal traffic. I don't like it when I see neighbourhood retail shopping districts look like this. Camera: Nikon F2 Photomic, Nikkor S 50 f1.4 lens. Film: Ilford HP5, HC110 B.

As you note, there's no snow on the ground, otherwise I would be skiing. Instead I spent New Year's at my brother's place in the Beaches in Toronto house and dog sitting. Along with the lack of the white stuff, there was nothing but non stop cloud cover, in fact it had been like that since Christmas. The Beaches by the lake take on a whole new personality off season, even more so without the snow and ice. I work with what I had and enjoyed the change of scenery. What did you do photography wise this past Christmas? Camera: Nikon F2 Photomic, Nikkor S 50 f1.4 lens, Nikkor H 28 f3.5 lens. Film: Ilford HP5 400, HC110 B.

Part Two my my Easter weekend hike. All I can say Ilford Delta 100 rocks, especially with a T-grain developer. All shot on my trusty Nikon F2 with a variety of Nikkor lenses.