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Established in 2013 by MainStreetHost and taken on by Alex Luyckx Photography in 2015, #photochat is a community of photography professionals and enthusiasts who congregate to talk shop and discuss anything and everything photography. After a brief pause through 2023 Photochat is back with a monthly chat model, as of 2025 photochat has migrated to BlueSky Social. To participate in our monthly chat (every Second Thursday at 1:00 pm (ish)), search the #photochat hashtag on BlueSky Social to see the conversation, or find me at @alexluyckxphoto.bsky.social on BlueSky. Include the hashtag in your posts to answer the questions and talk with the other participants. IfRead More →

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The whole team is together again and in person with a special darkroom episode. We generally talk about gear, films, paper and other technical things. In this episode, we’re talking about our photography, what makes a good photo and the images we brought into print using a traditional darkroom! While we are all gearheads, we all have passions for different types and styles of photography. We apologise for the audio quality of this one. We were recording in the darkroom, and there were some pops and interference where the mic cables crossed with electrical ones. Community Darkrooms Mentioned: Gallery 44 Toronto Camera Club Obscura DarkroomRead More →

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I enjoy working with interesting and odd films, and while we’re blessed with a tonne of modern options that are sharp and fine-grained, that wasn’t always the case. You often traded sharpness for increased grain to allow for faster films. And there are still some older stocks that represent that trade-off. I hadn’t even heard of Kodak Recording Film 2475 until a follower on Instagram messaged me about the film stock, wondering if I had ever shot the stock. I had not, and they graciously offered to send me some rolls. I expected to receive some bulk-loaded film but received factory-loaded cassettes instead. After findingRead More →

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On the eastern side of the Iron Curtin, one of the biggest producers of photographic materials was ORWO, or Original Wolfen. ORWO was born out of the split between the Germanys and the companies that existed. Famously, there is Carl Zeiss, but there is also Agfa. While Agfa reformed in the west, its factories in Wolfen were formed under the new name ORWO. While ORWO did produce a series of photographic films for still photography, they also produced specialised motion picture films. The two standard negative films are N74+ and UN54+. UN54+ is the film that I’ll be reviewing today. Now, this isn’t the firstRead More →

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I haven’t had an F2 in my collection now for almost three years now, but when I was in Toronto in December and walking up to meet my friend Bill I got the idea that I would like to do a video review on the Nikon F2. It was the last professional mechanical camera released by Nikon and is a rock solid performer. And of course, Bill has a tonne of F2s in his toolkit so all I could do was ask and he loaned me out this lovely black Nikon F2 Phototomic (DP-1 finder). So I took it out at the start of FeburaryRead More →

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We sit down with another talented Photographer, Clayton Sharp! If the name rings a bell, Clayton is the second half of the latest podcast to hit the Film Photography sphere, Joe & Clayton Start A Film Photography Podcast. Join Bill and Alex as they sit down with Clayton to discuss Nikon, large format, large-scale development, and a love of Chicago and Winter. Plus, all the interesting things are done in a large format using direct positive paper. In 2024 and more recently in January Hurricanes and Wildfires directly affected tens of thousands of Americans; among them, we’re sure are listeners of this podcast and membersRead More →

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I love big empty industry, but add to that a spot with a long and unique history and a lot of antique computer parts and you have a winner. Sykes Datatonics is another amazing spot that was a draw to the Rochester Urban Exploration community. Seven stores of early 20th Century industrial that proved a rather chill and easy explore, even if you went in a decent sized group in broad daylight. While I only went here twice, I do regret not being able to check out some of the other former buildings in this once massive industrial complex with a rather interesting story. LongRead More →

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The simple matter was that neither the Americans nor the British were ready for a renewed conflict in North America. The British were fully committed to the invasion of Europe in the Peninsular War, secured Portugal, and invaded French-occupied Spain when the war broke out in North America. While many in the United States wanted to teach the British a lesson, they were not in the best position to fight a war. Even as the declaration of war made its way through the US Congress, the plans and preparations for the war were being made. The American plan was a coordinated three-prong assault across theRead More →

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Established in 2013 by MainStreetHost and taken on by Alex Luyckx Photography in 2015, #photochat is a community of photography professionals and enthusiasts who congregate to talk shop and discuss anything and everything photography. After a brief pause through 2023 Photochat is back with a monthly chat model, as of 2025 photochat has migrated to BlueSky Social. To participate in our monthly chat (every Second Thursday at 1:00 pm (ish)), search the #photochat hashtag on BlueSky Social to see the conversation, or find me at @alexluyckxphoto.bsky.social on BlueSky. Include the hashtag in your posts to answer the questions and talk with the other participants. IfRead More →

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It’s hard to be creative, especially with everything happening. Inspiration isn’t there; there is a strange balance between staying informed and sane. Well, even for people who love photography, it can be challenging. But Alex sits down in this episode to talk about his creative rut, how to resist, and some tips on staying creative even in dark times. These things include revisiting a favourite location, trying a new film or camera, learning a new technique, or trying a new form of creativity. If you can’t leave the house, maybe you can make a ‘zine or a book, finish an old project or plan aRead More →