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Fort Stephenson was a sleepy supply depot fort built under the orders of General William Henry Harrison after he gained command of the Army of the Northwest in 1813. Fort Stephenson’s task was to guard the Sandusky River. The fort consisted of a palisade wall with three blockhouses. By the summer of 1813 was under the command of the young Major George Croghan, and a garrison of 160 regulars from the 17th and 24th US Infantry, along with the local militia. After the failure of the second British assault in early July of 1813 against Harrison’s largest supply forts, Fort Meigs Harrison knew that theRead More →

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Back in April, at the FPP Walking Workshop I had the chance to work with some studio lights. One of the things to come out of the first round with the studio light was the Polaroid Portraits that I was very proud of. But on Sunday, before the Large Format workshop kicked off, I again hooked up one of my cameras to the same light and, with the help of Professor Jeff, got all the settings landed and began to pull people in attendance into my studio for a quick shot. Loaded into my camera was a single roll of Kodak Portra 160NC (one ofRead More →

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This past weekend at the Film Photography Project’s Walking Workshop in lovely downtown Findlay, Ohio, at the Polaroid Party at the University, they had a couple of stations set up for portrait work. I had used by trusty Auto 250 (Polaroid Model 250 Automatic Land Camera) at Milton’s Help-Portrait event a couple of years back now, which was a hit, but I never thought to hook it up to a studio light. The camera is equipped with a PC socket which allows you to hook up an electronic flash mounted on a bracket, or a radio trigger. Mat’s massive Sinar P2 8×10 camera took theRead More →

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After the fall of Detroit to General Brock in the summer of 1812 the British moved quickly to establish a beachhead in the northwest to ensure the security of Upper Canada, and to hold the territory to fulfill a promise to their native allies that it would become their own country at the end of the war (should the British win). The capture of Detroit also put a halt to the planned invasion of Upper Canada from the west. President Madison replaced General Hull as the commander of the Army of the Northwest for the near bloodless capture of Detroit. He first put General WinchesterRead More →

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One of the more interesting urban legends and mysteries of the Anglo-American War of 1812 is Bakus Mills. Unlike similar mills across the western part of Upper Canada, Bakus survived. While many other mills at Port Dover, Port Reyes, and Malcolm’s Mills saw destruction in the last part of the war at the hands of American raiders. These mills despite the threat of raids continued to provide much-needed food supplies to the British front line in the Niagara Region. The Backhouse Homestead, Prospect Hill, while not the original home of the family this was built later in the 19th-Century. Anniversary Speed Graphic – Kodak EktarRead More →

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While today the small town of Port Dover is better known for it’s Friday the Thirteenth Motorcycle event than the small role it played during the Anglo-American War of 1812, the small port played a small but important role in the early parts of the conflict and suffered a pair of disastrous raids by the Americans before the war ended. Lake traffic remains a key feature of Port Dover today. Nikon FM2 – AI-S Nikkor 50mm 1:1.8 – Kodak Tmax 100 @ ASA-100 – Rodinal 1+50 12:00 @ 20C Like many early communities of Upper Canada Port Dover was first settled by United Empire LoyalistsRead More →

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The Battle of Malcolm’s Mills is little more than a small skirmish, noted only for it being the final engagement of the war in Upper Canada. By November 1814 the Americans had abandoned their beachhead at Fort Erie. Negotiations in Gent between the British and the American governments saw progress, but for those living in the western part of Upper Canada, they remained under threat of American raids and occupation. And while the Americans had neither the will, supply line, or manpower to occupy the territory fully they did continue to send out small raiding parties to disrupt any militia activity or destroy British supplyRead More →

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So after Friday’s winter storm, Saturday dawned bright and clear, so I loaded up three cameras and went to Hamilton. I slowed down my shooting for these shots, one, maybe two, each place I stopped with the Rolleiflex. I carefully looked at each area and pre-visualized what I’d want the final print to look like. Using a Pentax Spotmeter V, I metered for shadows I wanted the most details in, then underexposed by a stop (Putting the shadows in Zone IV), focused, and shot. Then make notes on the exposure. It was like shooting large format (I saw a guy with a 4×5 out andRead More →

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I’ve honestly smelled better in abandoned buildings than this dark brown, almost black solution sitting on the counter in my film lab (read: laundry room), but will it develop film, everything I’ve read and seen online says it well; my brain and nose say otherwise, and I pour it into the tank. So as I agitate the tank, I hope that this strange brew (with apologies to Bob & Doug McKenzie) does its job. So before I continue, let me answer the question that some of you may be asking, what exactly is caffenol? Caffenol is a film developer that you can make at homeRead More →

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This is what it’s all been leading up to. A print, there’s something unique about holding a print in your hand, looking down at the patterns of light and shadow being brought out in blacks, whites, and grays, it’s magic. Well actually its science, the perfect blend of art and science. Creating the print is a rather neat process from start to end and when you sit down and think about the sheer amount of control you have over the whole process is fantastic. You get to pick the camera (and in some cases the lens), film stock. Then you can meter it the wayRead More →