Bill Smith's Photography

We organized an Oakville Camera Club outing for Spencer Gorge near Hamilton this past Sunday morning. Armed with a Nikon FM and neutral density filters to slow things down, I got the photographs below. I took a different approach this time out not focusing on Webster's Falls (which is over photographed), instead looking at the fast water as a source of inspiration. There's more to come when I get the test roll of Ektar 100 processed.

Welcome to Spring for real this time. We had a cold snap earlier this week and Southern Ontarians let out a collective groan with the 48 hour return of wind-chill and flurries. Thankfully that is out of the system and we're back on track with spring. I went really old school and shot with the older of two Nikon F's I own with Kodak Plus X 125 processed in D76 1+1 dilution around Old Oakville. I love how the tonality just pops out with this film and I get a nice period feel which is the objective.

Scenes from Georgette Peter's opening day at the Sidespace Gallery. Photos are taken with my Leica M3 with a Canon 50 f1.4 LTM lens with Kodak Tri-x processed in Xtol 1+1.

I pulled my Leica M3 out of hibernation for a workout, this time incident metering instead of spot metering and I had revelation at how nice my negs turned out. I was using a Canon 50 f1.4 Leica Screw-mount lens with adapter for the M3 with no filter on the front and got the below results. I did a short walk along St. Clair Avenue West in Regal Heights Toronto before going to Georgette Peter's (a fellow member of the Flckr Toronto tribe) gallery opening. I really have to use my Leica more often, it is a really sweet camera.

I have to do some more night photography, what I did last week after a Third Tuesday Toronto Social Media event and I was blown away with the results with Kodak Tri-x. I am planning to do an Oakville by Night series and submit a print for Capture Oakville '09.

Welcome to Spring! I took advantage to shoot in the city for a change after a fine winter of skiing and wandering around the Forks of the Credit. I find with spending time away from Toronto, I get to see it differently when I return. Some neighbourhoods I have over photographed and need a break, the best example being Kensington Market. I love midtown Toronto and if I had move into the city from Oakville, I would give this part of the city some very strong consideration. The first photo was shot on the way in at the mouth of the Humber River, I love this bridge as a photo subject. For this set I used my Nikon FM with the Nikkor Ai 28 f2.8 lens, shot Fomapan 200 and processed it in Rodinal at 1:50.

Shot these over the past two weekends, my ski season is over and so are the winter photographs. Spring is pretty much here so I am enjoying the nice weather and the lack of windchill. Geographically, the photos start at the back hill of the Caledon Ski Club, the Maclaren Side Road five mintutes southeast, and ending at the Cheltanham Badlands. I am coming back to Forks of the Credit later in April for a hike, there are a couple of side trails on the Bruce Trail I want to explore. Stay tuned. I used my trusty Olympus OM-1md with Kodak Tri-x with one roll processed in both Xtol and the other in D-76, both were 1+1 dillutions. I forgot how nice D76 is with Tri-x, it renders a classic look and I get nice shadow detail at ISO 250.

I was over at my brother's place on the weekend and I got a chance to take some photos of my neice Charlotte. I have seen her since Marcus'(her big brother) birthday back in January. I can't believe she's turning two in early April. The shoot gave me a chance to give the OM2-n a workout and test out some three year old expired Tri-x 400, it developed nicely in Xtol 1+1, my prefered developer of choice for this particular film.

I'm back! With the new air purifier parts working properly, printing in the darkroom is a joy. I pulled three negs from last Summer from my roadtrip to Wallaceburg with the Be Tiresmart Care-van team. I tried out the New Tmax 400 black and white film from Kodak in my Olympus OM-1, nice to shoot and also really nice to print. I used some gifted Ilford Multigrade IV RC glossy paper and I know I will have to fiddle with the exposure times a bit if I switch over to Kentmere or another paper. What blows my mind is how fine the grain is on this 400 ISO film, on thing to notice it in the scanning process for uploading to the 'net, something else when you print from an enlarger.

Just checking in, I have not been taking pictures or hitting the darkroom all that much due to other commitments. On top of that, the air purifier attached to the furnace is in the process of being repaired, so I am a little loath to develop or print considering the amount of dust in the air going through my darkroom which is also the furnace room. So please stand by and do not adjust your set.

Saturdays during the winter are special for me as I get to ski with Alex and Marcus up at Caledon Ski Club. Alex and I have been members for 28 years and Marcus is the next generation to start off skiing this year and he is conquering the hills. I can't believe how well he is progressing from being a little scared at the start of the year forgetting everything from the first two years to taking the steep part of Soules Skyway with ease. I used Ilford HP5 as the film for this set, it was gifted to me by fellow Oakville Camera Club member Kelsey Mason. She gave me a brick of Kodak Tri-x, the roll of Ilford HP5 and pile of slide film which will keep me busy for a long while. I shot the HP5 through my Olympus OM-1 using mostly the Zuiko 50 f1.8 with Xtol 1+1 as the developer of choice.

Funny what can happen in the space of a week. I could not believe the amount of ice build up on the West Credit River Falls. I did some long exposure work by slowing the shutter on the camera to about quarter of a second at F11. I used my old Nikkormat Ftn, most people are blown away that I would be using a 40 year old camera but the vertical metal copal shutter works fine in -12c and colder. I used Fomapan 200 rated at 125 EI and processed in 1+50 Rodinal for 10 minutes. All the below shots were taken in Belfountain Conservation Area in Belfountain Ontario.

Sorry for the silence, I was out taking pictures. This winter has provided me with tons of inspiration so far. I have been taking my Nikon FM and three lens kit up skiing every weekend and below is only the beginning. I belong to the Caledon Ski Club and it's located in what I best describe as Middle Earth, well Belfountain Ont. The bottom shot was done with Adox CHS 100 processed in Rodinal 1:50 an taken on the "Old Chair Hill" on Caledon Ski Club property. The shots above were on Plus X processed in Xtol 1+1 and taken within the Belfountain Conservation Area. But wait there is more on the way, I have two rolls of Fomapan 200 waiting to be processed. Please stay tuned for more winter photography at it's finest.

Merry Christmas everyone! I shot these last weekend on my first ski day. I think I got the hang of Tri-x, Xtol and snow figured out. Since I use a 1+1 dillution which produces box speed, I experimented with delibrate over exposure as far down as 250 ISO for the outdoor shots. I think the results are pretty good, now if only it stayed cold this past week. We had rain on Thursday and a downpour and +11c forecasted on Saturday which is not cool for skiers one bit. Why are we getting west (wet) coast weather?