Category: Toronto

Two Solitudes – Another Take

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After a fun Nikkormat – themed photowalk with my friend Bill Smith, we ducked into a pub for a beer. From our table facing the front of the restaurant I couldn’t help but notice a couple who seemed oblivious to each other, and were glued to their phones. I couldn’t resist the image, so I picked up the Nikkormat  with a 105mm/2.5 lens, and shot a few frames wide open at 1/60th of a second, guessing on the exposure (since the camera did not have a functioning meter) and hoping  I could get one frame of Tri-X sufficiently sharp. I got lucky.

W. Bill NKMT TX MicX 005

Early Morning in the Scarborough Bluffs

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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.

Bluff 2366 F4 8-16025
 Bluff 2366 F4 8-16024

Through a Child’s Eyes

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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.

OPen Streets F4 UN54 035

Nikon F4S, 28mm/2.8 Nikkor lens
ORWO UN54 film developed in Legacy Pro EcoPro developer

Back to the Railway Bridge

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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.

TFS Nikon F4 rxp25 8-16033

Nikon F4, 50mm/1.8 Nikkor D lens
Rollei RPX 25 film, developed in Rodinal

Fading

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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.

Taylor Creen F3 80s 8-16017-EditTaylor Creen F3 80s 8-16027-Edit

Taylor Creen F3 80s 8-16018-Edit

Taylor Creen F3 80s 8-16016-Edit

The Beaten Path

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I love the organic look of unpaved trails. There is a sense of magic and story in them.

All these images are from a walk last Monday through High Park, taken with a Nikon N90s 35mm camera and Tamron 17mm superwide lens. Film used was Rollei RPX 400, developed in Perceptol developer.

High Park N90s RPX 400 026-Edit
 High Park N90s RPX 400 013-Edit
 High Park N90s RPX 400 008-Edit
 High Park N90s RPX 400 006-Edit

High Park N90s RPX 400 014-Edit

By the Shore

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I believe these are birdhouses by the shores of the pond in High Park, but part of me can’t help imagining they are letter boxes, with the letter carrier delivering mail by canoe. 🙂

High Park Hasselblad 80S005

Hasselblad 500C/M, 150mm/4 Sonnar lens
Rollei Retro 80S film, developed in Rodinal

A New View of an Old Tree

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I have shot this tree in High Park a few times over the years, but this was the first time using my Hasselblad (and the 150mm/4 Sonnar lens, on Rollei Retro 80s film). I love the look of this tree (as do a lot of other visitors, you definitely have to wait your turn and time it right to get an unobstructed image!)

High Park Hasselblad 80S004-3

Also, this week’s MPP podcast is out. I geek out about my Rolleiflex