Sometimes a change in shoot location is good. Especially when the location happens to fall in one of my favorite regions of my home province of Ontario, the North – I’m very happy indeed. The idea of hosting a group of Film Photography Podcast listeners and participants was the brain child of Tim Williams who started emailing people from the area around southern Ontario and Western New York, Ohio, and Pennsylvania with the idea back in the summer. We took a chance with weather and settled on the final weekend in September to trek up north.
Tim had arranged for us to stay at Naiscoot Lodge located about twenty minutes north Parry Sound. This small out of the way lake is located just off Highway 69 – the major highway in the region (and very dark once the sun goes down). The gang was all there by the time I pulled in – Deputy Dan Domme Chris Fecio and Tom Schaefer from Buffalo, Tim Williams and his friend Eric. Six guys, lots of beer and a very broad selection of cameras – Polaroids, Hassleblads, a pair of Pentax 645s, a range of 35mm cameras even some 4x5s and Chris’ ancient 8×10. (Sorry Mike, no 110 this time).
Mother Nature decided to join our little group with…rain. It rained…a lot. But did it stop us and we still braved the cold and wet and got out to explore the area. We took in the overcast skies from both Sturgeon Bay Provincial Park, braved the driving rain at French River Provincial Park. The rain broke enough for us to do a quick portrait session by a random phone booth on the highway. At least we were able to get out later in the day to watch the sunset from the beach, plus we did some work inside the cabin we were staying in. So despite the weather the weekend wasn’t a total bust. Although we did get through all of the beer that had been brought along and at least half a bottle of bourbon but with six of us, that’s not saying much…right?
The weekend was, without a doubt a success, a chance to hang out, go and shoot and of course talk about film, photography, techniques, share tips and tricks, and even swap some film around. In fact Tim’s already working on a second retreat for next year! Personally, I can’t wait.
For More photos you can check out various sets on Flickr from Dan Domme, Alex Luyckx, and Tim Williams
Long-time FPP listener Alex Luyckx works both in Information Technology support and as a freelance photographer. He describes himself as an analog photographer stuck in a digital world. He loves using cameras older than he is and long walks through abandoned buildings. You can follow his photo blog at: www.alexluyckx.com/blog/