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In: 1812:Revisited
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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 →

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In: Musings
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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 →

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In: Between Darkness & Light
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The first thing that struck me about the Harding-Jones Paper Mill was the age of the building. Most of the buildings I had explored up to that point were mainly from the 20th century; this was presented as one from the Civil War era. Of course, now know that this is not true; while the company was founded in 1865, the mill that stood was from 1871. But still, getting the chance to explore something from the mid-19th century was a real treat. Plus, it is one that is easy to explore and, despite structural concerns, an easy mark with a lot of history tiedRead More →

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In: Film Review Blogs
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You may have a couple of questions when looking at this review. First, haven’t I already reviewed Kodak Tri-X? To answer that, yes, it was one of the earliest films I reviewed, but this isn’t 400TX. This is Tri-X Pan or 320TXP/TXP, a more classic version of the modern classic emulsion. The second is, how can it be a classic review if the emulsion is still being made? Again, the sheet format of 320TXP is still in production, but the roll film was discontinued in 2010. But I quickly learned that I shot this film a lot more in sheet format than roll film format,Read More →

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In: Between Darkness & Light
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If you had to pick the epicentre of abandoned buildings in the American Rust Belt, many cities can claim that title. The 1970s were not kind to North American industry, and cities like Buffalo, Cleveland, Detroit and many more still feel the sting of that troubled decade. Then there is Gary, Indiana; you can throw a rock in many parts of Gary and break the window of an abandoned building. And despite the stories I had heard about the city being a murder capital with rampant crime and watching not only your car but your wallet. I never once felt uncomfortable in Gary, unlike Detroit,Read More →

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In: Between Darkness & Light
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Regarding locations, the former Indiana Army Ammunition Plant is by far the largest location I ever explored and only a tiny percentage of the total area. This massive factory is terribly repeatable, as it was designed to be an enormous plant for the production of smokeless powder during the Second World War. Based on what I’ve read and seen, I spent almost all the time at the Indiana Ordnance Works No. 1 and a bit of the Hoiser Ordnance Works. Either way, this was a single location I spent five hours at, but I still feel that I only saw a little but at theRead More →

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In: Between Darkness & Light
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Something is fascinating about exploring Northern Ontario; it is a whole different world, with different people and a totally different way of life. Even the towns feel different, almost as if Northern Ontario is a different province from Southern Ontario once you’re past North Bay and Sudbury. Historically, northern Ontario is entirely different, having only been added to the province in 1874, and it wasn’t until 1912 that the modern boundaries of Ontario were established. But this is not a post about Ontario history; it’s about a mine, the Ross Mine. Located in the small, mainly French-Canadian town of Holtyre, the entire area was foundedRead More →

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In: Film Review Blogs
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This is only the second time I’ve reached a significant milestone in my ongoing reviews, the magic number of one hundred. And to be clear, I’ve done one hundred film reviews, not reviewed one hundred separate film stocks. And that’s because I’ve reviewed some rebadged films; sometimes, I knew it was a rebadge and then made a point not to go after that film stock again, notability ORWO films. I reviewed the four motion picture-specific films from ORWO as their Lomography rebadge. But in the case of Fomapan 100, I reviewed that first as KosmoFoto Mono 100 and then again as Fomapan 100. Agfa AviFotoRead More →

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In: Film Review Blogs
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It seems that Fuji enjoyed cutting off film stocks that had become rather popular among photographers, and most are legendary and much-loved colour-negative film stocks. Recently we saw the end of the Fujifilm Pro 400H along with Superia 200 and Superia C200. But one of the earliest discontinuations I remember that caused ripples through the community is Fujifilm Superia Reala 100, or Reala (the older version of this film). I’ve only tried this film in 120 formats after being gifted several rolls from my good friend Andrew Hiltz and picked up a few more along the way. I always thought it was a 120 onlyRead More →

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In: Developer Review Blogs
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The year was 2013, a new voice had recently joined the Film Photography Podcast, one Mat Marrash. Mat had dived headfirst into the world of film photography and had not looked back and begun speaking about a type of developer I had never heard of before, Pyro developers. Well, I was instantly interested, having myself dived headfirst into the wonderful world of home B&W development. I was also looking for something outside the normal D-76, HC-110, and Rodinal developers. Well, this Pyrocat-HD stuff seemed interesting, but getting it shipped to Canada proved difficult at the time, so with a trip to New York City inRead More →