One of the best parts about working at a college is that we have a Christmas shutdown, which gives me some extra time off at the end of the year, which usually starts the day before Christmas Eve. But this year, with Christmas taking place in an awkward spot, the shutdown began on the 20th, which landed me an extra full day off on Monday. I decided to head into Toronto for photography, filming, and meet up with my good friend Bill! I also took the chance to film a POV-style On-the-Road video that will hit the YouTube channel in February. I wanted to keepRead More →

Back in 2023, I came across an exciting developer, Compard R09 Spezial, after some digging I discovered that R09 Spezial had nothing to do with Rodinal despite the name. It was Agfa Studionol, and when I wrote that review, it was mentioned to me in a comment that Bellini Foto produces a version of Studionol, Hydrofen. It took a bit of work, but I got a couple of small bottles of Hydrofen to write a review of the currently produced version of Studional. And true to my word in my review of R09 Spezial I made the point to do the majority of rolls usingRead More →

Well it’s the end of the old year and the start of a new one. Which means it’s time to look back at last year’s favourite shots from the Frugal Film Project and look ahead at what I’m doing this year for the project. It’s hard to believe that I’m going into my third year of the project, but I feel I’m hitting the groove and not feeling that I need to do more each month. I’m also glad that I can still continue to run the project and I have some interesting ideas for this year and a camera that breaks the theme fromRead More →

Well we’ve reached the end of another year and for the final entry for what may be a couple years break from the Frugal Film Project I decided to go with an old favourite, the historic city of Galt. While the name is not known outside of the city of Cambridge today, but it was the largest muncipality that forms the modern city of Cambridge today and is by far the most unique as it has a lot of offer to a photographer with a great deal of historic buildings in the city centre. So I figured it would make for a great final entryRead More →

Well, here we are at the end of another year, and you know in the rearview, 2024 was a good year. I felt that I was putting out posts and content at a more sustainable rate. I also felt that I was not always pressed for time each month in producing reviews. I got to check out some new film stocks, add some new favourite cameras, and explore some familiar and new places. The Best of 2024 This year, I consciously chose to reduce the number of reviews I did over the year. It was starting to get challenging to keep everything moving and outputRead More →

Well, we have reached the end of our 10th season, so it only makes sense to look back over some of the topics we’ve covered and fill in some of the gaps we left behind in the initial recording. Zoom Lenses to Leitz, Infrared to Ilford, Fast Lenses to Canon, it’s time to tuck in for some holiday leftovers! And from all of our families to all of yours, a heartfelt thank you for sticking with CCR for this season with all the ups and downs and we wish you all the very best of the holiday season however you celebrate (or don’t) we’ll seeRead More →

Developing your film at home is both rewarding and frustrating at the same time and to add on an extra layer of complexity there is a lot of developers out there that you can use, especially in the black & white field. While certainly not as much as there used to be, there is still an excellent selection of developers to suit almost every person’s need, without having to dive deep into building your developers from base chemicals. Ultimately every photographer has a different taste but if you’re starting out with home development the choices may seem a little overwhelming so I’ll be breaking downRead More →

The first thing that struck me about the Harding-Jones Paper Mill was the age of the building. Most of the buildings I had explored up to that point were mainly from the 20th century; this was presented as one from the Civil War era. Of course, now know that this is not true; while the company was founded in 1865, the mill that stood was from 1871. But still, getting the chance to explore something from the mid-19th century was a real treat. Plus, it is one that is easy to explore and, despite structural concerns, an easy mark with a lot of history tiedRead More →

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. To participate in our monthly chat (every Second Thursday at 1:00 pm), 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. If there’s a topic you’d like to see covered in #photochat,Read More →

Fast lenses are everywhere these days, and they have been around for a while, with lenses having wide-open apertures of f/0.95 and f/1.2. But these days it seems everyone wants their wide-angle and standard lenses to have open apertures of f/1.4! So, the team gets around the table to discuss what makes these lenses unique and where they have saved their bacon. Shooting wide-open has some downsides, such as when you need that speed and when you don’t. Looking for a good spot to get your gear and material fix check out Burlington Camera (Burlington, ON), Downtown Camera (Toronto, ON), Film Plus (Toronto, ON), BelleRead More →