Bill Smith's Photography

When you drop name Leica, you first think of the black and white images of Henri Cartier Bresson, Alfred Eisenstadt and other greats. Nobody thinks much of colour photography with M mount rangefinder cameras which is a pity because C-41 film renders really well with this system. I should have brought this down to NYC back in the spring. Camera: Leica M4-2, various M-mount lenses both Leica and Voightlander various focal lengths. Film: Kodak Ektar 100.

Camera: Series E 75 f3.5 Zeiss Planar Rolleiflex twin lens reflex camera. Film: Fuji Neopan Acros 100 processed in Xtol 1+1 for 9.5 min. (note: This is my new favourite 100 ISO film for medium format and I'm going to buy a lot of it in the next film re-stock). Shot in and around Belfountain Ontario and the Cheltanham Badlands. I don't own any property in this neck of the woods but I consider this part of Caledon Ontario my second home. There is something restorative to the psyche when I visit up here to hike or ski and I come back refreshed. My Rolleiflex is getting a lot of action these days and I adore the results I'm getting with Fuji Neopan Acros 100 film. In fact it has become my favourite 100 ISO film if I'm shooting medium format square, especially processed in Xtol 1+1 dilution at 9minutes 30 seconds. There is no grain, at least none I can see on my year old Macbook Pro screen which is pretty damn good.  In my next film purchase I'm puttin...

Camera: Series E Rolleiflex with a 75 f3.5 Zeiss Planar Lens Film: Fuji Neopan Acros 100 processed in Xtol 1+1. Location: Caledon On. 

One thing I love about the Oakville Camera Club I co-founded six years ago is members from time to time put together informal photo outings. The original idea I had was a mid town photo walk after dark and do some long exposure night photography. the event morphed quickly when my friend Anna's cousin Xenia and co-worker Alicia came on board as models. Long time readers of my blog know I shoot usually black and white and mostly landscapes and streets capes with available light. Shooting with a flash after sundown, with colour film and a pair of gorgeous models, whom I can't thank enough for coming out was a fresh experience. The end result was a shoot in a mid town Toronto alleyway learning the finer points of my Nikon SB-16b Speedlight which was prone to overheating. Couple that with dropping my portrait lens, I was surprised I got the results I did. Sadly, my Nikkor Ais 105 f2.5 portrait lens has oil on the aperture blades, the big question,  repair or replace or buy a ...

I guess the first question is, "Who are you and what have you done with Bill Smith?" Not to worry, I'm not locked up somewhere, I just decided to get out of my photographic comfort zone for a while. I love black and white, I love developing black and white film and I love printing black and white in a traditional wet darkroom. I resolved this year to shoot more colour  at some point if I shoot enough of it, I'm going to learn how to process C-41 at home. Camera: Canon F-1n, either a "new" FD 50 f1.8 or 28 f2.8 lenses. Film: Fuji Superia Extra 400

I learned photography on a Canon AE-1 after playing around with a Rebel G for a year or two. Over time I had the nice little collection of FD lenses for my camera. About seven years ago I migrated over to Nikon, trading off the AE-1 kit for a Nikon F body around the same time my dad passed. I wound up getting another Nikon F as part of his estate along with some other nice toys. Things do come full circle, a few years back I was gifted a Canon FTb which  I since got overhauled and I bought my brother's F-1n off him along with a nice collection of FD lenses two years ago. Now in a fit of nostalgia I picked up another AE-1 off Ebay, this one in much better shape than the one I owned and now I have three Canon bodies a decent FD lens kit. I forgot how nice this camera was, the only achilles heel for the AE-1 is the lousy performance in cold temperatures. Oh let's be honest the battery dies in 15 minutes with the exposure to cold weather so you don't want to use this betw...

There's so much from my New York Trip I have decided to go the slide show route instead of posting individual images. Sit back and enjoy the ride. 

The first of many postings from my recent trip to New York City. I spent a week down there and wandered the streets with cameras in hand and documented the Greatest City in the World in all it's glory. I was quite prolific with my iPhone and yes I abused Hipstamatic like crazy last week. Before I forget, I want to thank my brother Alex for letting me stay at his  TriBeCa apartment for the week and use it as a base of operations.  

Part Two my my Easter weekend hike. All I can say Ilford Delta 100 rocks, especially with a T-grain developer. All shot on my trusty Nikon F2 with a variety of Nikkor lenses.

Part one of my Easter Weekend hike up at Forks of the Credit Provincial Park, this is the Cheltanham Badlands off Olde Baseline Road in Caledon. For the record, once my Plus X stash is all gone, I'm switching to Ilford Delta 100, I love how this film looks. My camera for this shoot was my Nikon F2 Photomic.

I finally joined the cool kids and downloaded Hipstamatic onto my iPhone. I don't use the camera function on it's own anymore. All Shot along the Bruce Trail in Caledon Ontario Hardware: iPhone 4 John S. Lens, Ina's 1969 film, flash is off.