Bill Smith's Photography

Winter does not want to go gently into the night. Camera: Rolleicord IV K3B Film: Fomapan 100, Xtol 1+1.

The days are getting longer and sunnier, finally. I decided to shoot colour film through an old Canon body I own the FTb . The film is 400 ISO but I deliberately over exposed to 250 ISO to get snow right. The one thing with camera light meters regardless if you are using film or a sensor, it will automatically expose for 18% grey. I think in some cases I over did it in some images, then again, I'm still on the learning curve with colour negative film with Vuescan , a software interface for film scanners. It's great for black and white film, C-41 or colour negative, I still have my great days and not so great days. What I'm looking forward to is seasonal temperatures and getting outside even more often.

This has been a cold winter, ski conditions have been great but oh boy, you don't want to get caught on a stalled chairlift with a breeze sending wind chills below -20c. I do try and document my drive home on the backroads of Caledon Ontario. As much as I love winter, I'm due for spring but I have a gut feeling it's not going to show up for a while. I pulled my Rolleicord out and I forgot how nice medium format is to shoot, especially with Fuji Neopan Acros 100 which is a very fine grained black and white film. x

It's that time of the week again, work is winding down and it's time to hit the road. Camera: Olympus OM-1n, Zuiko MC 50 f1.8 lens. Film: ORWO UN 54, Xtol 1+1

The drive up to the ski every weekend can almost get a little boring so every once in while, I vary up the route a bit and I come some great photographic material. This here is Cheltanham one of many little hamlets in the Town of Caledon just off the Trans Canada Trail. I finally got around to documenting this little pocket and I plan to come back after the snow is gone and the trees turn green again. Camera: Olympus OM-1n, Zuiko MC 50 f1.8 lens. Film: ORWO UN 54, Xtol 1+1.

Weekends in the winter are for strapping on two laminated boards with metal edges onto your feet and sliding downhill really fast. Camera: Olympus OM-1n, Zuiko MC 50 f1.8 lens. Film: ORWO UN54, Xtol 1+1.

I just discovered my favourite backroad is open again, for the past few years Maclaren Side Road was blocked due to a culvert washout just north of a century old one lane concrete bridge. I hope the bridge is maintained and not replaced because I don't want to see this road paved and development creep in. Since this road is right in the Niagara Escarpment zone and I don't think it will ever get paved. One bit of advice is give this road a pass during spring thaw as it gets really muddy. iPhone 5s, VSCOcam with the f2 preset. VSCOcam with the c1 preset.

I love winter, truly I do, I embrace the beauty of the season, been skiing for 38 years and that keeps me sane during the winter. This year it's cold, I mean really cold as in a puffy down jacket on a cold January's night has no insulation value with arctic winds taking the windchill down -38c or some crazy number like that. If you plan to go out and partake in some winter photography, dress in layers,  have spare batteries for your camera as they drain fast in cold and keep them close to your body. I still shoot with film and my go to camera for winter and travel photography, the Olympus OM-1n has a mechanical shutter so the battery just powers the centre weighted light meter. For this series of photos I used a black and white motion picture stock as a still film from a German company called ORWO  .  The particular product was 35mm UN54 which is rated 100 ISO for daylight and I process in Kodak Xtol at a one part developer one part water ratio for 6 minutes and 30 ...