Bill Smith's Photography

Want some piece and quiet in the suburbs? I discovered patches of wilderness in my own backyard. I have been taking pictures this Summer close to home and getting to the shoot sites by bicycle. You learn to pack your camera gear carefully as the weight can add up quickly. I want to print this image at some point.

Three family shots, I really like the one of Alex feeding his daughter (my niece) Charlotte. Marcus is always a ham for the camera, I am almost a little frightened at how fast he is maturing. I used a Nikon F with Tn meter head and a Nikkor S 50 f1.4 lens with Classicpan 400 film. Glorious grain you can tee off with.

It's the end of an era and the beginning of a new one. The Durst M300 has been taken off front line duty in my darkroom and replaced by the Bentley Continental of enlargers: the De Vere 504. It's an early birthday present from my mom and my brother brokered the deal through a lab getting rid of some surplus gear. Turns out my 504 has a Varicon Codenser head which requires big Rodenstock lenses which is a rare beast, most De Vere 504's came with a colour head. Printing with the De Vere is a different experience, I find the prints to be sharper and much more pleasing with the condenser head. I love my "new" thirty year old enlarger. The print below is the first one and I used Ilford 5x7 Multigrade Glossy paper and it beats the negative scan in a previous post.

To correct any misconceptions that I only shoot exclusively black and white, once and a while I throw in a roll of slide film to shake things up. For some reason Kodachrome is hard to come by in my parts so I tried Fuji Provia 100f instead. It is a nice E-6 emulsion which means it can get processed locally much faster. I used my Minolta XE-7 and I found the Rokkor lenses really nice to shoot with in colour. There will be more to come. I also plan to throw up an article on how to buy a classic camera shortly too once I have proof read it. Cheers!

It's been quiet on this blog but I have been very busy with Picture the Cure and my job hunt and spending time out on my bike. Here are some shots from Bronte taken with OM-1 with some Foma 100 film taken on Canada Day and the following weekend.

Classicpan 400 is one of those films is not for the faint of heart. It can be really grainy and get really funky with a Polariser or yellow filter due to the near infrared properties. Now I really lucked in this roll I shot with my Nikon F and I went around Oakville during its 150th birthday.

I have this grand plan for film, chemical and paper standardisation, well I got the chemicals down pat. I have reputation for being a bit of a "foodie" when it comes to playing around with different film emulsions, I am curious, so there. This time out I gave Lucky SHD 100 a shot. It is made in China and has bit of a reputation for "interesting effects" which is nothing more the spotty quality control. I lucked in on this roll, it scans nicely but I have not printed from it yet. I used my Nikkormat FTn on this excursion. So I shot with Lucky to say I did, now from what I heard, Era, also from China is much further ahead in quality control and has bit of a following, now to find some.

I shot this all last weekend with my Pentax Spotmatic II and Fomapan 100 processed in Rodinal 1+50, a great film/developer combination. In Oakville, last Summer I was in Toronto, this year its going to be more in my backyard. I am going to have an important announcement from the Oakville Camera Club shortly and you will have to stay tuned for that next week.

I found a new film to play with: Fomapan 200 Creative from the Czech Republic. I love the tonality with this emulsion. I rated it a little slower at 160 and processed in Rodinal 1:50 for eight minutes. I used a Leica M3 with a Canon 50 f1.4 and a Voightlander Skopar 35 f2.5 lens,it is a good camera/film combination and a great weekend for shooting.

I got back into my printing groove over the past few nights. I used 5x7 Ilford Ilfobrom Double weight flat FB paper developed in Ilford PQ universal paper developer. I get a very retro look with this paper finish and I don't think it's available anymore. It's a change of pace printing with 8x10 glossy which is my prefered format. The top photo is my brother's dog Rufus having a quiet moment and the bottom two photos were taken in Bronte Harbour last Summer. Warm weather is just around the corner.

I am the media relations contact for Picture the Cure 2007 a photo exibition and silent auction with the proceeds going to The Canadian Cancer Society. The Exhibit runs from July 4 to July 30, 2007 at the Gallery Space at the Steam Whistle Brewing Roundhouse in the heart of Toronto. There will be a closing night gala on July 30, 2007, the silent auction will take place then. I got involved because I want go gain more public relations experience, I am a passionate amateur photographer and my family has been touched by cancer both directly and indirectly over the years. further information is available at http://picturethecure.ca

More prints from the notorious Shanks CD Release party last fall. I used Zone VI Glossy Double Weight Fibre paper and Ilford Multigrade Paper Developer. I am going to switch to PQ Universal with FB papers going forward, I find I get a little more oommph with it.

Two more prints on Forte Polywarmtone FB paper, I took the Photos at Forks of the Credit Provincial Park last fall with a Pentax Spotmatic II and Kodak Plus-X.

Since Forte is no more I decided to buy a small pack of 8x10 Polywarmtone Museum weight Glossy fibre paper to try out and see what the fuss is. I am going to state off the bat, I love the warmtone results, it give the print an almost organic feel. Now to get these results I realized after the first printing session I had to up the strength of the Ilford Multigrade paper developer from 1+14 to 1+9. Even then, I was leaving the paper in to develop for extra minute or two. Also, I had get used to the longer exposure time. If I reprint any of these photos on Ilford double weight FB,I will have to cut the times back on average ten seconds. I realised as much as I love the results, I am an Ilford guy at heart. The photos below were shot last fall in Kensington Market and Chinatown in late September with a Pentax Spotmatic II and Kodak Plus X film. I scanned the prints in colour and desaturated by 50% to give the approximation of the warmtone appearance.

Some Photos of life on Spadina Avenue from Queen St. West to Chinatown. I shot the photos on a Sunny day in December 2006 with a Minolta XE 7 and Kodak Tri-x film. I went back to printing on RC paper quick wash and drying and I was experimenting with dodging on two the the three prints. In both "Chinatown fruit market shots" I had to expose the bottom left of the print for less time than the rest, call it a partial eclipse. I practiced the move before putting the paper in the easel. I am getting a little more comfortable with printing from less than perfect negatives.

Call this an odds and ends posting. I did some printing back on Thursday and I used RC paper as I wanted to preserve my fibre paper stash. RC paper is much easier to wash and dry and that has a lot going for it. The top photo was taken back in December 2006 on Queen Street West at Palmerston. The second photo I shot in Bronte and I figure Bill Hill's Marketeria becomes kindling in the spring.

Spring is just around the corner, ok its down the hall as well. A Print to remind you it will get warmer. I shot this last July in downtown Oakville first thing in the morning enjoying my coffee on the patio of the Green Bean. I shot with a Nikon F with Agfa APX 100 film and I printed on Zone VI DW Multigrade Glossy 8x10 fibre paper using a #3 filter. This is also the first photo I did a little burning in. The upper left corner was overexposed due to the bright morning sun. I lengthened the exposure by 5 extra seconds to fill things in a bit. While warm weather will be returning, I am enjoying what's left of winter on the ski slopes.

I have a huge pile of 8x10 fibre paper in a variety of finishes some of which upwards of 20 years old. I printed both of these photos on Semi Lustre paper from Ilford,it's a grade two which is middle of the road for contrast. I think prefer either a glossier or a more matte finish. At last night's Oakville Camera Club meeting we had a guest speaker working in corporate/wedding photography business giving a talk on how to value your work. Since I have control of the whole process from start to finish, I have to give it some thought. I am toying of putting some prints available for sale.

When I was given my Enlarger (a Durst M300) I was also given some old photopaper Ilford Bromide Fibre paper in 8x10 and 5x7. I did some printing on the 5x7 grade 3 matt finish and I got results that best be described as retro. I shot the photos with my OM-1 Zuiko lenses and Forte 400 film rated at 200 ISO up on the way to the Caledon Ski Club last Saturday.