Bill Smith's Photography

I was gifted a black Olympus OM-2n last fall up in Limehouse Ontario by my friend Dan before a photowalk. It came with two Tamron adaptall lenses. The 80-200 was good, the 35-80 had some fungus, so that was quickly segregated. The Camera body itself had seen better days, it had been stored in the basement and you could smell the mustiness which wasn't a good sign. I went local for the overhaul and figured around $150 will bring the camera from the dead. The OM-2n had battery drain issues, and needed a circuit board from a donar camera, along with a thorough clean came back to life.  It cost me around $180 in the end, pretty much the same as a functioning OM2n purchased off Ebay from the used counter at your local indie camera store. So far, so good. I ran a test roll walking around Old Oakville on dismal Family Day Monday. Also gave me an opportunity to use up my HP5 stash as I'm switching to Rollei RPX 400 bulk rolls going forward. Camera: Olympus OM2n, Zuiko MC 50 f1.8 l...

Mark O'Brien of the Film Photography Podcast was in Toronto for a few days and we met up for a photo walk with fellow local photographer Nancy Urquhart Bueler, with our luck we got hit with some snow the day of. The game plan was hit the east end of the city for the Distillery District and later on the R.C. Harris Filtration Plant in the Beaches. Mark hails from Ann Arbour Michigan, so the weather wasn't anything exotic and we made due, granted our trip eastward was hampered by a fire in a Hydro (electrical) vault at King and Yonge Sts. We slowly made it where we wanted to go. I really like shooting in snowstorms. Camera: Nikon FM, Nikkor Ai 50 f1.4 lens. Film: Kodak Tri-X 400 pushed to 1600, processed in Xtol stock.

First off I love Kosmo Mono 100, and personally think it shines in Rodinal 1+50 for 7.5 minutes at 68f/20c. We had a mid winter thaw, it wasn't great for skiing and some friends thought it would be cool to hike into the bottom of Websters Falls in Dundas. I haven't been there in years, dug out the 49mm ND filters and went with my Olympus OM-2n, I wanted decent metering and give Kosmo Mono 100 a workout. Well, we didn't make it to Webster's Falls. The trails in Spencer Gorge were very icy to the point in some stretches we would be taking our personal safety in our hands. We photographed what we saw on the way and turned right around. The idea of a shattered pelvis being the best case scenario along with trashed camera gear gave us a collective, "Nope, we're not risking our ass for the shot." Kosmo Mono 100 shined even when the lighting went on the flat side and loves Zuiko glass. Kosmo Foto is getting more in February and a lot more later in the spring...

It's winter in Toronto, you can feel the cold damp wind in your bones, and if you're not into winter sports, spring feels so far away.... Camera: Nikon FM, Nikkor Ai 50 f2 lens. Film: Kodak Tri-X 400, pushed to 1600 in Xtol stock.

Lomography put out a limited run of expired and freezer stored Ferrania (hence the F) Solaris 400 cut down from a master roll purchased over a decade ago. I had the opporunity to shoot ten rolls over the past year, and now, we're at the end of the line. I had fun shooting this film on overcast days as well as sunny ones. Now if only Film Ferrania can get its act together and make some new Solaris 400..... Nikon FM2n, Nikkor Ais 50 f1.4 lens. Film: Lomography F Squared 400.