Bill Smith's Photography

There is something magical with a Nikon F Photomic Tn and a roll of Tri-x, I got mine back from an overhaul a month and a half ago and took it out for a shoot before a meeting in town. I shot only with the Nikkor S 50 f1.4 and a H 28 f3.5 lens that day. I have a huge respect for the pre ai H 28 3.5 lens, after printing the below images in the darkroom, I could not believe how sharp they are.

Fall photography at it's best. I used both my Olympus OM-1md (colour film) and my latest toy OM-2n(Kodak Plus X). I shot all this with my recent trip to Mono Cliffs Provincial Park. What I love the most about this part of the world is the fact it's quiet, no day tourists. Why because Mono Cliffs is a little too far from Toronto which is fine by me as I crave the solitude from time to time. Kind of hard to do when Forks of the Credit is busier than Sherway Gardens at Christmas time after 10:30 am. I have to go back at some point before the snows come.

I'm back and I have spent some time in the darkroom. I have been busy winding up my project contract, working on my PR project course, and I replaced the rear seals on my Nikon FM, FE and my Olympus OM-2n. It's not that hard, just time consuming and requires some patience.

In a moment of weakness I scored an Olympus OM2-n off ebay for about $45 Canadian taxes and shipping in off ebay. Considering they usually sell for about $150 at camera show circuit and Used camera counters, I made off like a bandit. I ran a test roll of Kodak Tri-x (results below) to test the meter and shutter speeds, they were fine. I did however have to replace the rear seals and decided to do it myself, so I ordered a seal kit from Jon Goodman and took three hours out to do the procedure. While painstaking, the icky part of the seal replacement is cleaning the old goo out. I also bought a Zuiko 50 f1.8 lens off KEH for the camera and I plan to use the combo this weekend. I took the below shots near Bedford Rd. in Yorkville a few weeks ago, I protected against light leak with the bottom half of an ever-ready case.

I got my new to me Nikon FE fixed recently, I got it for a great price and it's a great camera, I have yet to take a bad photo. With the series of photos below which were taken back on Monday Sept 29 and I had a Nikkor Ai 28 f2.8 on the camera the whole time. I was downtown to do some research at Ryerson U for my last course the PR project, the post below details what it's about. I never get tired shooting in the city and the 28mm lens is a good choice for street shooting.

I am doing something potentially brilliant, or I fall flat on my face. I am finishing up my public relations certificate this fall and I have to do a "project" for the PR project course, in this case a 20 page article on a topic of my choosing relating to what I have learned. I chose the topic relating both my professional passion which is PR and communciations and my hobby/artistic outlet of photography. So, my topic for this course will be the roll of photography in the realm of public relations and communications. I don't think it gets quite the care and respect it deserves, we put our energies into the key messages and the visuals become window dressing. Reality is, a well chosen set of photographs will re-enforce key messaging in the article, on the website or in social media. A poorly chosen photography could at best draw attention away from key messaging and at worst potentially offending a public you are trying to reach. I also want to cover off ethical issues reg...

Sorry for the silence, but I have been quite busy with work and I am enjoying my project a lot. So I picked up a couple of toys, which you do when positive cashflow presents itself, in this case a Minolta SRT-202. I already had a set of MC Rokkor lenses with the XE-7 and I kept to my rule as long as the new aquisition fell into present camera systems I own, it's ok. I love the retro brick that is the SRT 202. The meter is spot on, the results are below in black and white (Kodak Tri-X) and colour (Fuji Superia 400) and I am impressed. Oh yeah, the 202 was a steal too at $50 at Halton Camera Exchange.

Did two things try out a new lens for my Minolta XE-7, a MD Rokkor 45 f2 Pancake design which is nice and sharp. The other thing is play around with Superia 400 @200 ISO. Oh boy rating C-41 film half the box speed is an eye opener. The day shots look just as great as the night work I did a few weeks ago. I think the film companies rate colour negative film at the maximum speed it can go while still looking presentable. Doing what I do, I get finer grain, more saturated colour and sharper images. I shot this roll around Oakville last night.

I had an "aha" moment over the past few days in an urban night photography workshop I helped out with, John Callow was the facilitator and it was done through Elevator Labs. I figured out colour imaging, first box speeds on colour c-41 negative film is wildly optimistic, rate it in half, two long exposures rule at night. Well I know the second part to be true from prior night adventures. I also learned to meter properly and understand the weaknesses and strenghs of both the film and digital media. I gave my Olympus OM-1 a good workout and used Fuji Pro 160s as my film of choice. I had no idea what I was going to get and I was blown away at the results. I am still trying to wrap my brain around the 3-d feel of the one hour photo prints.

I love shooting slide, I don't do it enough and everyone thinks I shoot exclusively black and white. Again, it was all taken with a Nikkormat Ftn with Fuji Velvia.

I warned you I had some colour photos from my Forks of the Credit Hike from a Month ago. The Velvia 100 roll came back and oh boy, the green just snaps. I shot these with my trusty Nikkormat Ftn which works well with slide film.

More fun with the Xtol 1+1 and Kodak Tri-x, only this time I pushed it to 3200 ISO. I shot the two photos below at the Music for Mutts benefit last weekend at the Moonshine Cafe. I used a Nikon F3hp with a Nikkor 50/1.8 and 105/2.5 Ais lenses and I am very happy with the results.

I went back to Forks of the Credit last weekend and had a blast despite the mosquitos. I packed my Nikkormat Ftn with Life brand 400 ISO C-41 film and in my F2 Photomic with Fomapan 200 Creative black and white film. For the most part I am very happy with what I got especially the long exposures with the drug store special film and a neutral density filters. A lot of people associate me with black and white but I do love shooting colour (especially slide)and I am getting a handle on how expose it. One thing I want to do at some point is learn how to make traditional optical colour prints.

I am always trying things out for size. I mixed up a five litre batch of Kodak Xtol film developer and tried it out with a roll of Plus X. I took the photos around Oakville with my Minolta XE-7 on a bike ride this morning. I tried developing with 1+1 dilution with water but I think in the future I will go with stock solution. Xtol does have the reputation of crapping out on you when you least expect it. Most likely with an important roll of film. What I like about it, smooth tonality, very low grain, easy to mix up with room tempreture water. What I don't like,I don't know I will have to get back to you on it. I think the fear of stock solution failure is overblown but I will have to wait and see. I think I prefer the D76 gallon size and cost and I have a high comfort level with everyone's standby developer. I do plan to try Xtol out with Kodak Tri-x at 400 ISO. This developer also has really good pushing properties. I am experimenting in the near future.