From 2012 to 2016, I worked on my most extensive photography and history project, covering almost all aspects of the Anglo-American War of 1812. It remains one of my favourite projects I ever worked on and became virtually a template for a few other projects. Both ones that were finished and published and others that remain in the background as possible for future endeavours. But this year marks the 210th anniversary of the end of the War of 1812, so I have decided to revisit the conflict and present it in a new way. Instead of going deep into details, I’ll show the war throughRead More →

Well, here we are at the end of another year, and you know in the rearview, 2024 was a good year. I felt that I was putting out posts and content at a more sustainable rate. I also felt that I was not always pressed for time each month in producing reviews. I got to check out some new film stocks, add some new favourite cameras, and explore some familiar and new places. The Best of 2024 This year, I consciously chose to reduce the number of reviews I did over the year. It was starting to get challenging to keep everything moving and outputRead More →

Developing your film at home is both rewarding and frustrating at the same time and to add on an extra layer of complexity there is a lot of developers out there that you can use, especially in the black & white field. While certainly not as much as there used to be, there is still an excellent selection of developers to suit almost every person’s need, without having to dive deep into building your developers from base chemicals. Ultimately every photographer has a different taste but if you’re starting out with home development the choices may seem a little overwhelming so I’ll be breaking downRead More →

I have far surpassed one hundred and fifty camera reviews and one hundred film reviews, my other two reviews being lenses and developers have only made it to the big fifty this year. If you read my previous post on lens reviews these are my least favourite. And while I rather enjoy creating film and camera reviews the most, developer reviews come in as the third favourite. The reason being is that I have the most amount of freedom connected to their creation. And while I’m working on a full post on how I write developer reviews, this post is about looking back at theRead More →

Well, here we are at the start of a new year and looking back at last year’s outstanding Frugal Film Project! I had a lot more fun with this project, and it helped nurture my soft spot for consumer 1990s/2000s SLRs. It’s funny; I never saw these as viable cameras before, yet they have a beautiful charm. You don’t have to worry too much because they can be a dime a dozen. Plus, they work with many lenses that most people use with their other autofocus systems. Canon, Nikon, Pentax, and Minolta (Sony) all have lenses that work on both digital (full-frame) and 35mm bodies.Read More →

If there is the closest thing to a universal developer in the film photography world, that developer is Diafine. If you’re thinking, “Wait, aren’t all developers universal?” You are right; a B&W developer will develop many different film stocks. But it doesn’t often happen that two other film stocks, shot at different speeds, can be developed simultaneously. There are some examples of cross-over, but only a few. Diafine uses three main development times and a couple of unique combinations. These are shared across many different film stocks that allow you to develop multiple rolls shot multiple ways in the same tank. You can also shootRead More →

Regarding historically significant lenses, exact lens models like the Nikkor 85mm f/2 are abnormal. Usually, these historic lenses are designs like the Tessar, Petzval, and Planar. But in this case, this lens put Nikon on the map. Nippon Kogaku released the first 85mm f/2 as part of their original five-lens setup for the Nikon I. Although they also had versions in the LTM or M39 Mount. While Nikkor enjoyed popularity within Japan, they had yet to produce a camera that could be exported. But the lenses helped Nippon break out of the domestic market. The story goes that a chance meeting of two LIFE photographers,Read More →

Regarding films and photography, you encounter polarisation daily—your choice of film, camera, developer, and even how you shoot or your subject matter. But among the more divisive film stocks, one brand stands out: Foma. Now I’m a reborn fan of Foma films. Initially, I was unhappy with the results, but I soon learned to like them once I learned how to develop them. While I’m still on the fence about Fomapan 200, I’m a big fan of Fomapan 100 and Fomapan 400. And back in 2019, on a trip to Chicago, I grabbed a couple of rolls of Foma Retropan 320, hoping to find somethingRead More →

It’s fall vacation time! While yes, my family and I went away to Regina back in the summer. While we did some touristy things, it wasn’t so much a vacation as it was to visit family and introduce the little guy. In October, we went out on a real family vacation. It was the first in a long time for my little family of three. We decided to keep things simple and drove out to Ottawa, Ontario—the national capital of Canada, which is about a six-hour drive from where we live. The valley in which the modern city of Ottawa is located was formed whenRead More →

While the Mark 1 Intrepid is long obsolete, it was a fantastic camera for the era in which it was produced. It became the foundation of a resurgence in modern large-format camera creation, not only from the folks at Intrepid. And while this camera is long gone, it certainly left an impression on me and my photography. This camera was designed to make large format affordable and modern construction. And it certainly made that dream a reality. Was the camera perfect? Far from it, I had many problems with this camera, but for what it was and what it cost, it made a large format,Read More →