Goldie's Toronto

steveintoronto · Jun 1, 2017

Goldie said:
Good luck for your proposed work with film.
Especially view camera-size sheet film.
You'll have to process it yourself since almost all of the processing labs have disappeared. Of course, that can be fun if you like darkroom work.
That's why I haven't used film for more than 15-20 years.
I'd love to use my film cameras occasionally, but it's just too much trouble to find a nearby lab.
And we must not forget that digital is essentially cost free!
I shot, processed and printed all my film for about 40 years, then relied on professional labs.
Most are gone now -- even Walmart no longer processes film!
Nothing wrong with shooting and developing film if you enjoy the process.

P.S. I make it a practice of getting my best images printed on photo-paper so that they'll still be viewable after the "bits & bytes" files vanish into cyberspace ---- as, I'm afraid, is inevitable!

Thanks for asking and please excuse the long answer.

Not a "long" answer at all. Very concise and perfunct.

I'm prepared for the lab work, and if I rent an 8 X 10 view camera, I'll use very slow film or emulsion if slides (I'll have to look into that) and do contact prints. To be honest, I haven't fully researched this, it's been a long time since doing this...lol...and I can smell the acetic acid just thinking about it.

Truth be told, I'd use digital for anything else, the ability to transmit it without scanning-in is a huge plus, but to really 'capture' an image if static, I'm fixated on doing this.

Edit to Add: Quick Google shows labs still around in Toronto! Just checking for view-camera rentals, I'm getting hits. God knows the price, but I'm going to do some checking. This idea may be manic, and it means learning to use a light meter again too, but I'm going to pursue it.

Looking at many of the incredible shots posted in this and related strings is inspiration. I'd be very hard pressed to capture what Goldie or others do, but given the right circumstances, I can compose and capture the right still shots in B&W...lol...I hope.

Goldie · Jun 1, 2017

This site displays some wonderful, large format, film images from the old days --- the sharpness and resolution is startling!

Enjoy ---------- http://www.shorpy.com/