Bill Smith's Photography

St. Mary's is a lot like other small towns in Southwest Ontario in some regards while doing ok as a regional centre, the really good times were last around over 35 years ago. What I found really unique to this town was the generous use of limestone as a building material, no surprise when your main industry is Limestone and concrete (St. Mary's Cement). What surprised me was VIA Rail stopped in St. Mary's, they have maybe four trains roll through per day, two in the morning and two in the afternoon evening that go between London and Toronto by way of Stratford. The train stopped to drop off one passenger, I really got a vibe from the movie the "Last Picture Show"there were only two cars on the train (no diner car) and it looks to be local run. If you want to see another perspective of Southwest Ontario, check out my friend Jean Pierre's blog. Camera, Medium Format: E Series 3.5 Planar Rolleiflex TLR. Film: Fuji Neopan Acros 100, HC110 B. Camera 35m...

A long time friend of mine Jean Pierre Faucher had this great idea of exploring the small towns of Southwest Ontario around London for a week. It finally came together this past August and we spent a week driving around the first town on the list is St. Mary's Ontario , a regional centre and former mill town for flour production. These days the big employer is St. Mary's Cement due to the abundance of Limestone in the area. Camera: Rolleiflex Series E 3.5 Planar TLR Film: Fuji Acros 100, HC110 B.