It’s hard to believe it’s been five years today since I married my best friend. I don’t often put a lot of my personal life here on my blog, but today is a special day so it deserves something special. And since photography has always intertwined in my relationship with my wife it only makes sense to put it here on our fifth wedding anniversary. I guess it all started on a rainy day in Arras. So today I present a set of photos from the past five years of our marriage and the adventures we have had together! And while we haven’t been ableRead More →

Heading into the big city is a rarity these days between no major events running yet and mainly shooting for review purposes and parenthood. My travel circle is limited these days, not that I’m complaining. But having a random mid-week trip into Toronto with a bit of free time allows me to get out, stretch my legs and camera gear and head out for some enjoyment of the craft. It also helped that I was again shooting for the Embrace the Grain film of the month challenge, which for March was Kentmere 100. So I packed two rolls of film, two cameras, and two lenses.Read More →

There’s something fun about getting back to the roots of your photography and combining it with the monthly challenge from my friends over at Embrace the Grain Podcast. The film of the month for February was Lomography Metropolis. Their third and, in my opinion, the most accessible in their false-colour film offerings. Despite my February being thrown for a loop, I managed to get out on one on the last days of the month to get the roll shot. It was also a complete surprise to have one roll sitting in storage that I recently received in a film subscription box. But what roots amRead More →

Canada’s history with the treatment of mental health is long and sorted. And while we’ve made great leaps forward, often, many of the historical institutions have gotten lost and replaced along the way. Not that those who were patients in such facilities in the past would want a reminder standing out to them every day. While the Queen Street Asylum is long gone, replaced by the far more modern CAMH facilities, the asylum at Amherstburg has reverted to the historical configuration as a War-Era fort; even Mimicoe is now being used as a college campus. When I was deep into Urban Exploration, exploring mental asylumsRead More →

The whole world seems to exist these days in a liminal space. Liminal space is a time between what was and what’s next. Moments of transition, waiting but not knowing the future. All transformations take place within liminal space, but we don’t know what’s next, what the future holds for us who are there. We must be patient, allowing ourselves to be transformed in this time. Allow things to move forward, let go of what was; the past is history lost forever. And while what’s next may look like the old world, it cannot and should not be what was; transformation cannot allow that. ThisRead More →

I had to go back into my archives to see if I ever posted anything directly related to my 2015 trip to Europe. And yes, the images did appear in several review posts, but I never made a great post about the trip. I don’t understand why! But it probably got caught up in my poorly managed posting schedule, which I only in the past couple of years got onto the right track and had some semblance of order. But either way, I think for this Friday, I get things in order and revisit a special trip of mine with some insights into that tripRead More →

It’s been a while since I got to do a film of the month challenge put on by the team at the Embrace the Grain Podcast, mainly because some of the more recent ones have focused on colour films. And I’m not often one to jump on colour films. For a couple of reasons, first being I don’t like scanning colour film, and second, it’s difficult to get processed on time as I don’t keep colour chemicals at home. So when January’s film was announced as being Japan Camera Hunter Streetpan 400, I jumped, and I had a roll stashed away. I took the filmRead More →

It’s interesting as someone who grew up that saw film’s end within the consumer sphere, the transition to consumer point-and-shoot digital cameras, and then the film resurgence. But I didn’t expect to see the revival of the early point-and-shoot digital camera, or DigiCam as they are now called. I first learned about this new craze through Lucy Lumen’s YouTube channel. I laughed because I used several of these cameras when they were new. I guess I’m old now; I am turning forty this year. So I started to put this together last year to try to pick a single one to do a camera review,Read More →

It has been far too long since I got together with this amazing group of people in-person since all of this started in March 2020. And while I was unable to make it out to the first meetup since our last meetup in February 2020 (at least it was the largest meetup to date). And through early 2021 there were some attempts at virtual meetups, the fact of the matter is that the TFS group is best served with in-person meetings. Thankfully with things looking far better real meetups kicked off in October with a second meetup taking place at the beginning of the month.Read More →

If there’s one thing that I have missed over the past two years, it’s a historical reenactment. And while most if not all War of 1812 events in Canada have again been cancelled, I have managed to satiate my desire for some historical reenactment and, more importantly, photography. Earlier this year I attended a small event in Milton with the 11th Swiss Rifles, a reenactment unit that portrays a typical Swiss Rifle unit during World War One. So when a larger event came up at Toronto’s historic Fort York, I jumped at the chance to see some friends, as you’ll quickly find in the hobbyRead More →