This morning my good friend Ori and I met up for an early morning shoot in Scarborough bluffs in Eastern Toronto. These two images were shot using my Nikon F4S, a 28mm/2.8 Nikkor lens, and an oddball film: Eastman 2366, a film meant for creating motion picture positives from negatives, but usable for still photography with developers such as Xtol.
We’ve all seen it: A live performance of some kind, with the adults standing back passively watching, then a child comes up and gets close to the performers and perhaps join in, without the slightest hint of self-consciousness or acceptance of the dividing line between performer and audience. I witnessed one such moment at last weekend’s Open Streets festival as a young girl was entranced by a street band. It was a challenge to create the image; I just had the wide angle on the camera at the time, and I felt I had to take the image from the vantage point of the rest of the audience, so it would appear that I was merely taking photographs of the band, given the antipathy of so many to street photography today, especially when children are involved.
This image has been through a couple of treatments, and this is the final version, with a fair amount of cropping, but leaving enough space to show how the child had become an audience of one.
Nikon F4S, 28mm/2.8 Nikkor lens
ORWO UN54 film developed in Legacy Pro EcoPro developer
I love the shape of the branches of this tree in Ashbridges Bay; they look like tentacles to me.
Rolleiflex 3.5E3 (Xenotar lens)
Tri-X @ EI 320, developed in Legacy Pro MicX developer
I enjoyed the Open Streets Toronto festival last Sunday; nice to walk in the middle of the streets. All images taken with Nikon F, F3 and F4 cameras, on either Fomapan 100 or ORWO UN54 film.
I loved the look of these roots in High Park. Almost like steps going up a slight incline.
Rolleiflex 3.5E3 (Xenotar lens)
Tri-X @ E.I. 320, developed in LegacyPro Mic-X developer
A couple of weeks ago, the Toronto Film shooters group had a meet-up in the lower Don Valley, and one of the stops was the old railway bridge. It was the most humid day I could recall for sometime, and compared to my last visit, there was a lot more vegetation: combined with the heavy air, it felt like a tropical rain forest.
Nikon F4, 50mm/1.8 Nikkor D lens
Rollei RPX 25 film, developed in Rodinal
Every feel trapped by all the construction in the city during the summer?
Rolleiflex 3.5E3 (Xenotar lens)
Rollei RPX400 film
Trees are like people: with characters and complications.
Hasselblad 500C/M, 80mm/2.8 Planar lens
Rollei RPX400 film, stand developed in Rodinal 1+100, 1 hr
Toning and Vignette added in post
Back to Niagara On-the-Lake for another street shot; I don’t know what distracted the two kids from looking away from the window into a ice cream parlour …
Rolleiflex 3.5E3 (Xenotar lens)
HP5+ film @ E.I. 320, developed in Perceptol 1+1
I’ve lived long enough in Toronto to remember brighter days, when the city was described as “New York run by the Swiss”. Before decades of infrastructure neglect, enshrined through the selfish parsimony of the electorate, and the cowardice of elected officials. In today’s images, even though the park and the bridge are still in use, there is still to my eyes an atmosphere of neglect. All images created with Nikon F3, 28mm/2.8 Nikkor lens. Rollei Retro 80s film developed in Rodinal and toned in post.
My Third Eye 