While my initial plans for March were to attend the monthly regularly scheduled Toronto Film Shooters Walk, when the date didn’t work with my schedule, I went ahead and planned a bonus walk earlier in the month! So, the small group met at Dineen Coffee Co on Yonge Street before heading out. The weather had been looking pretty dreary since Monday, and by Saturday, there was still the threat of rain, but we got rain, shine, or snow. I had made a point to get into the city early to shoot through a couple of other rolls for future reviews (Sensorex and Elan 7 with FP4+), and for the main walk, I went with a camera I don’t take out often, my Nikon F65 with the 28mm f/2.8 lens and a couple rolls of Ilford HP5+ which I developed in Rollei Supergrain. One thing I also did was throw my iPhone on a bracket on top of the F65 and record this for a future On the Road Video, which will be released later this month as a bonus video for April.
Nikon F65 – AF Nikkor 28mm 1:2.8 – Ilford HP5+ @ ASA-400 – Rollei Supergrain (1+15) 7:00 @ 20C
Nikon F65 – AF Nikkor 28mm 1:2.8 – Ilford HP5+ @ ASA-400 – Rollei Supergrain (1+15) 7:00 @ 20C
Nikon F65 – AF Nikkor 28mm 1:2.8 – Ilford HP5+ @ ASA-400 – Rollei Supergrain (1+15) 7:00 @ 20C
Nikon F65 – AF Nikkor 28mm 1:2.8 – Ilford HP5+ @ ASA-400 – Rollei Supergrain (1+15) 7:00 @ 20C
Nikon F65 – AF Nikkor 28mm 1:2.8 – Ilford HP5+ @ ASA-400 – Rollei Supergrain (1+15) 7:00 @ 20C
It was totally coincidental that the route I had plotted out seemed very similar to one I had hosted a few years back in the middle of a snowstorm. But I did make some changes this time around. We started out at Dineen Coffee at Yonge & Temperance, a lovely little shop that serves a good cup of coffee. From there, we walked across to Church via Richmond because Queen Street is still a mess with all the Ontario Line construction. We stopped at Downtown Camera in case anyone (me) needed a refill on film. Then, it was a quick diagonal jaunt across the lawn of Metropolitan United and north on Bond Street. This is a favourite part of the city for me; despite being narrow, there is a lot of history, from St. Michael’s Cathedral to the final home of Toronto’s first mayor and resident rebel, William Lyon Mackenzie. Rather than cut across Dundas at this point, we kept going straight before arriving at the Toronto Metropolitan University Campus. It was here we had to take our first pause as the rain started falling a bit heavy, so we took a moment to dry out a little nearby.
Nikon F65 – AF Nikkor 28mm 1:2.8 – Ilford HP5+ @ ASA-400 – Rollei Supergrain (1+15) 7:00 @ 20C
Nikon F65 – AF Nikkor 28mm 1:2.8 – Ilford HP5+ @ ASA-400 – Rollei Supergrain (1+15) 7:00 @ 20C
Nikon F65 – AF Nikkor 28mm 1:2.8 – Ilford HP5+ @ ASA-400 – Rollei Supergrain (1+15) 7:00 @ 20C
Nikon F65 – AF Nikkor 28mm 1:2.8 – Ilford HP5+ @ ASA-400 – Rollei Supergrain (1+15) 7:00 @ 20C
Nikon F65 – AF Nikkor 28mm 1:2.8 – Ilford HP5+ @ ASA-400 – Rollei Supergrain (1+15) 7:00 @ 20C
Rather than go around the campus this time, we headed straight through the quad to take in the facade of the old Toronto Normal School; after being spat out onto Gerrard, it was a quick jog up Yonge and then across College Street. Unfortunately, we did have a run-in with an Indigenous Ceremony, which resulted in one of the folks getting yelled at and recorded by the people participating. Another area with a lot of history includes the original Hospital for Sick Children Building, the Banting Institute, and great architecture. Rather than immediately swing around the back of Queen’s Park, I took the group into a section of the University of Toronto Campus off St Joseph Street. I’ve always wanted to check out this area, so why not bring other people along for the ride? Through the old buildings and out past Victoria College before heading across Queen’s Park again and continuing into the University Campus.
Nikon F65 – AF Nikkor 28mm 1:2.8 – Ilford HP5+ @ ASA-400 – Rollei Supergrain (1+15) 7:00 @ 20C
Nikon F65 – AF Nikkor 28mm 1:2.8 – Ilford HP5+ @ ASA-400 – Rollei Supergrain (1+15) 7:00 @ 20C
Nikon F65 – AF Nikkor 28mm 1:2.8 – Ilford HP5+ @ ASA-400 – Rollei Supergrain (1+15) 7:00 @ 20C
Nikon F65 – AF Nikkor 28mm 1:2.8 – Ilford HP5+ @ ASA-400 – Rollei Supergrain (1+15) 7:00 @ 20C
Nikon F65 – AF Nikkor 28mm 1:2.8 – Ilford HP5+ @ ASA-400 – Rollei Supergrain (1+15) 7:00 @ 20C
Back on campus, we walked in along Hoskin Avenue, past Trinity and Wycliffe, before ducking down through the Soldier’s Tower and past the beautiful King’s College Building. There’s been a lot of construction here recently, so I’ve had to avoid the area, but it was nice to get back onto campus and see everything all fixed up. Then, it was past Knox College and Convocation Hall before heading back out to College Street via the main entrance. While on campus, we had to take shelter briefly under the Soldier’s Tower as the rain started to fall again. We also spotted a Quidditch game in front of King’s College and an Engineers convocation. But we didn’t stay on College for long, ducking down McCaul to our final ending spot, Sin & Redemption, for a fine selection of European beers!
Nikon F65 – AF Nikkor 28mm 1:2.8 – Ilford HP5+ @ ASA-400 – Rollei Supergrain (1+15) 7:00 @ 20C
Nikon F65 – AF Nikkor 28mm 1:2.8 – Ilford HP5+ @ ASA-400 – Rollei Supergrain (1+15) 7:00 @ 20C
Nikon F65 – AF Nikkor 28mm 1:2.8 – Ilford HP5+ @ ASA-400 – Rollei Supergrain (1+15) 7:00 @ 20C
Nikon F65 – AF Nikkor 28mm 1:2.8 – Ilford HP5+ @ ASA-400 – Rollei Supergrain (1+15) 7:00 @ 20C
Nikon F65 – AF Nikkor 28mm 1:2.8 – Ilford HP5+ @ ASA-400 – Rollei Supergrain (1+15) 7:00 @ 20C
Now, I had initially planned to save one of the FP4+ rolls for the walk back to Union Station, but with a longer stop at Downtown Camera and several pauses along the way because of the rain, we ended up at Sin & Redemption, a little later than I expected. And with the potential of worse weather in the afternoon, I shot both FP4+ rolls before the event started. I also had to stop in at OCAD to drop off one of their Mac chargers that got left behind at Sheridan. So, it was a fast walk back to Union Station, pausing to collect some photos for a future blog post. I ended up getting home around 4:30 and got to work right away to develop the six rolls of film, including the four I shot at the event.
Nikon F65 – AF Nikkor 28mm 1:2.8 – Ilford HP5+ @ ASA-400 – Rollei Supergrain (1+15) 7:00 @ 20C
Nikon F65 – AF Nikkor 28mm 1:2.8 – Ilford HP5+ @ ASA-400 – Rollei Supergrain (1+15) 7:00 @ 20C
Nikon F65 – AF Nikkor 28mm 1:2.8 – Ilford HP5+ @ ASA-400 – Rollei Supergrain (1+15) 7:00 @ 20C
Nikon F65 – AF Nikkor 28mm 1:2.8 – Ilford HP5+ @ ASA-400 – Rollei Supergrain (1+15) 7:00 @ 20C
Nikon F65 – AF Nikkor 28mm 1:2.8 – Ilford HP5+ @ ASA-400 – Rollei Supergrain (1+15) 7:00 @ 20C
I love not just participating in but also planning and leading photo walks. While the weather was wet, we did get rained on twice on the journey. I love going out in almost any weather and my cameras surprisingly stood up well to the conditions. In totally the walk was a little over five kilometers which isn’t too bad and it is always good to get out to get the blood pumping. It also helped get me back in the groove as I’ll be running another walk this year on 12-July for the 10th Anniversary of the Classic Camera Revival Podcast! You can see the details on photowalk.me. As always you can head over to Flickr to check out all my photos from the day!
Coming 30-April – On the Road | Toronto Film Shooters Meetup