It all started with my friend Andre Domingues’s question: are you going to the CineStill photo walk in downtown Toronto? I went through the various social media sites for CineStill and found no mention of it, even their website. So I then asked when it was happening, and the answer was the 26th. I still had no idea when the 26th was happening and simply assumed it was during the day, like the Toronto Film Shooters events. But after finding out it was after my morning commitment, I decided to attend. Hopping a train out of Oakville, I got into the city a little earlier to shoot another roll of film and get some food. Then, it was off to Downtown Camera to pick up some chemistry and film and join the group. For the walk, I went pretty simple; I packed two rolls of Eastman Double-X, which I rated at ASA-1600, with my Minolta Maxxum 9 (minus the VC9 grip) and the 24mm and 50mm lenses and my D750 (minus the grip) with the 85mm and 14mm lenses. The film was mainly to capture the scenery, while the digital was to capture the people in attendance and do a bit of night shooting with the ultra-wide while heading back to the train. One thing that I’ll note is that the film ended up being far more high-contrast than I usually like but the best part is that it works in this case!
Apple iPhone 15 Pro – Apple Ultra-Wide Lens 13mm f/2.2
I’m used to getting into the city early and starting photo walks before lunch, and while I have started one a little later in the day, nothing around 3pm, which is when the event started. I know I’m showing my age here, and I fully admit there is life in the evening. It is also good to expand your horizons and get out of your comfort zone occasionally. The party started at Downtown Camera. Downtown Camera is a friendly shop that hugely supports the film photography community. I only get out to visit the shop sometimes, but I did make a point to pick up some chemistry and film there. After doing some ‘street’ style and wider stuff in the store, we headed out for a group shot and directions for the walk. With 250 people in attendance (yes, you read that right, 250 people), we needed to head out to the park in front of Metropolitan United Church, where we got the group shot and directions for the walk. And you know, kudos to the CineStill folk running a photo walk is hard enough, but having to wrangle that many people is impossible.
As I mapped it out, the route was straight across Queen Street, which is not the nicest these days with all the construction between Church and University for the Ontario line (so much for helping to reduce congestion). It also allowed those who knew the lay of the land to split off. You only move so many people in a single group. I mostly stuck with Bill as there was a very loud and particularly vocal protest winding through the downtown. We moved along at a leisurely pace, chatting and taking photos, spotting other members of the walk who also split off into their little groups. A majority of the people were super friendly, and I got to chat with a lot of folks who I knew through Instagram only. It is nice to put a face to a name and work. I wish we had gone through Little Trinity Square to Dundas and across and then down Spadina before reaching Graination.
This was my first time visiting the Graination Lab, which is ultra-modern and super clean. Thanks to splitting up the group, everyone only showed up in the space in one big group. But it was still packed; I did spend a bit of time inside, but it got claustrophobic rather quickly. I wanted to try their excellent coffee, but the lineup was far too long, and the place was too packed to make it worthwhile. Perhaps another time. Instead, I went back outside to talk more with the other attendees. I made a lot of good connections with other photographers from the GTHA and beyond. Took a lot of photos and got my photo taken a few times. As the light started dimming, we headed out for the final stop. Again, it was not that far, but I am sad that we missed Graffiti Alley. I could have ducked in but failed to catch that point along the way. Plus, only rocking B&W in the film camera wouldn’t make the most sense. In hindsight, I could have rocked the 14mm on the D750, but the light was fading fast.
I don’t frequent high-end hotels that much, but I did take the opportunity presented to stick around after the walk was done to enjoy a beverage in the rooftop bar at the Ace Hotel and do some more work with my D750 of the attendees. As much as the event is a chance to photograph the space, I’ve been trying to capture the people there. After a bit, I headed out and took the shorter route back to Union Station. While a younger version of myself would have taken the longer walk out to the Exhibition GO station, I wanted to stick to the more brightly lit parts of Toronto after dark.
Despite the large number of people and being a little later in the day, I had a lot of fun at the event. And the turnout was spectacular and will help CineStill host more events here in Toronto. And I’m certainly up for attending (and maybe helping) out. For a photo walk and blog post, this was a very short turnaround for me, a little too short for my tastes. I developed the film the next day, had them on my scanner on Monday, and uploaded them on the 29th. But I want to support the good folks at CineStill working on this grand world tour of hosting photo walks. I don’t know when or where the next one is being hosted, but make sure to give them a follow through their social media channels along with eventbrite, the next event is taking place this Saturday (2 November) and is co-hosted by Camera Mall in Ann Arbor, Michigan (a worthwhile location to visit). If you want to find all my photos from the Toronto events, check them out over on my Flickr album.