Before you start rage commenting, hear me out. We’re still in the grips of a major health crisis that keeps everyone apart, especially if you don’t live in the same house. So any actual photo meetups were out of the question. It has been just under a year since the last official Toronto Film Shooters meetup. And then nothing, because well the time of plague arrived that next month. I got to thinking over the Christmas holidays how to run a photo meet up when we couldn’t use our regular model. The original plan had some serious logistical support. Of course, the stay at home order from the 26th of December threw a wrench into that plan and shelved it (for now). I still had that desire to arrange for something for this awesome group that had kept the momentum of photographing and sharing over the course of last year.
The plan simply presented itself, while the stay-at-home order is clear in some areas, it is rather grey in another, and I know that one thing that kept me going is the ability to get out, enjoy the fresh air, get some exercise. But also carry the camera(s) with you. And then it hit me, why not get the whole group out on the same day in their own areas on their own, then gather everyone afterwards in a virtual zoom pub with a local pub meal and craft beer. The day was set, and I originally planned to head into Oakville but given everything I chose to stay in Milton and head into the historic downtown. I used the walk as the backdrop for week four of my ongoing 52-Roll project; I didn’t include any images because you saw them back on Wednesday. My two main cameras for the walk itself was my Maxxum 9 and the 28-135mm lens loaded with Efke 100 along with the new-to-me Nikon D750 and 35mm lens. Yes, film walk with a digital camera but the camera is my first new (brand new) digital camera in six years, and I’m excited to see what I can produce with the thing!
Saturday morning dawned with much clearer skies that Parking just behind my home church of Knox, I decided to take a longer route around to capture more than just the main street, primarily for the 52-Roll project but also to ensure I get a good workout. Walking up and past the town hall and through Victoria Park, across Sarah Street which forms some of the historic downtown and plenty of historic homes. Following Charles past some of Milton’s early ‘mansions’ and then out to commercial. Capturing the old Credit Valley Railroad Station (a nice call back to Week 2 of the project). Back into the older section of town using Sydney and across Thomas and then Sarah to the Fairgrounds, then down Bell, cutting on a diagonal to Elizabeth and north to Victoria for the second set of the big historic homes. Back to the main street via James and across all the way to the original town hall and finally the Millpond the round out the walk and back up to the Church. Yes, a rather odd route but hey, I wanted to make sure I hit almost all the key elements of the town’s historic core.
Overall, it took me about an hour and a half to complete my route, not bad. And the best part is that I saw no other photographers from the TFS group. Which wouldn’t be a good thing at a regular walk, but an excellent thing this time around. I returned home and immediately got down to souping the film, in both cases Atomal 49, and then got to processing the digital images. At one the virtual pub opened and at the peeked we had a good sixteen people from across the GTA and even into Quebec joined in. With stay-at-home continuing, it looks like the virtual model will be the standard for the time being. So we’re planning an even bigger event on the 27th of February to reach out to the Toronto Film Shooters group, and other friendly groups on Facebook so watch for the event! You can also see all my photos from my walk on my Flickr page.