Here’s one from last summer I’ve been meaning to post for a while. I’m due for one of my three-times-a-year colour shot. This is the harbour in Sydney, Nova Scotia.

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Camera: Mamiya 6 medium-format rangefinder
Lens: Mamiya 75mm
Filter: none
Film: Kodak Portra 160NC
Developer: C41
Development: Lab developed in C41 chemistry.
Date: August, 2009
Location: 46.136618,-60.196630
Copyright: 2010 Chris Jones. All rights reserved.

The sun was shining so bright on my walk home along the harbour today I just had to stop and take a shot of the old boat. The HMCS Sackville is a Flower-class corvette, and the last surviving specimen. It lives, rightly so, at Sackville landing on the Halifax harbourfront. It was launched in May 1941 and decommissioned in April 1946 after a successful career defending the north Atlantic. In 1942 the HMCS Sackville defended convoys against a wolf pack of German submarines (U-boats) off the coast of Newfoundland.

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Camera: Fuji Instax 210
Lens: 95mm
Filter: n/a
Film: Fuji Instax
Developer: n/a
Development: n/a
Date: March, 2010
Location: 44.647613,-63.569364
Copyright: 2010 Chris Jones. All rights reserved.

The hands-down, best way to see a place is on a bicycle. The backroads are all fine and good, but you’re still in a car, whizzing by things. A bike is a perfect mix of speed and agility. In this case, I was able to ride through fields that were completely inaccessible to a car. It was either foot, tractor or bike.

This is a stretch of fence along Old Post Road. It runs directly behind the Grand Pré National Historic Site, just outside of Wolfville, Nova Scotia. I had spent much of the day riding along the tops of the dykes and through the fields. It was a fine day to be out on the bike, far from the hordes with nothing but amazing scenery and fresh air. Not a parking lot in sight.

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Camera: Mamiya 6 medium-format rangefinder
Lens: Mamiya 75mm
Filter: #15 deep yellow
Film: Fuji Neopan 400
Developer: Rodinal 1+50
Development: Small tank for 11 minutes at 20 degrees Celsius. Agitation was for the first thirty seconds, then five inversions per minute.
Date: May, 2010
Location: 45.104155,-64.307475
Copyright: 2010 Chris Jones. All rights reserved.

As part of the Canadian Naval Centennial celebrations and the visit by Her Majesty, Halifax harbour was packed full of some pretty impressive ships. There were two aircraft carriers — one each from America and Great Britain — as well as some cruisers, destroyers, suppliers and even a submarine or two. On top of the usual sailboats, tug boats and other working craft, the harbour was a hub of activity.

I kept my distance from the crowds on the weekend, there’s literally ten thousand people wandering the boardwalk, all taking the same photos. Luckily for me, I can take the boardwalk home from work, and on a foggy weekday I decided to finish a roll of film shooting the ships as they rested silently. This way I could get the shots I wanted without fighting and use the fog to my advantage to blur the background even more.

I liked the anchor chain hanging from the ship — if I remember correctly it was the HMCS Toronto — and the reflections. It sort of looks like a face with a looooong tongue sticking out of its mouth.

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Camera: Mamiya 6 medium-format rangefinder
Lens: Mamiya 75mm
Filter: #15 deep yellow
Film: Fuji Neopan 400
Developer: Rodinal 1+50
Development: Small tank for 11 minutes at 20 degrees Celsius. Agitation was for the first thirty seconds, then five inversions per minute.
Date: June, 2010
Location: 44.642586,-63.566947
Copyright: 2010 Chris Jones. All rights reserved.

On a steamy walk home I decided to stop in to the Old Burying Ground on Barrington Street to take an instant snap of some old stones in the shadows.

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Camera: Fuji Instax 210
Lens: 95mm
Filter: n/a
Film: Fuji Instax
Developer: n/a
Development: n/a
Date: July, 2010
Location: 44.643659,-63.572852
Copyright: 2010 Chris Jones. All rights reserved.

I took this on my way home one late winter day. It was sunny, there was no snow, and I was feeling pretty good that spring was on its way. It wasn’t. Anyway, when bikes start making their appearances it’s gotta be close.

I also liked the cheeky way the bike was locked to a meter with “no parking” bags over them. I don’t remember why you couldn’t park there, there wasn’t any work being done. Sometimes I think the city just likes to throw their weight around. Anyway, I think I may do a photo project devoted to bikes locked up to parking meters in Halifax. There are so few places to lock up a bike in this city, you gotta do it where you can. I’m pretty sure I could fill a portfolio just on my way to work in the morning. And for those keeping score, this is the south side of Government House.

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Camera: Mamiya 6 medium-format rangefinder
Lens: Mamiya 75mm
Filter: #8 yellow
Film: Fuji Acros 100
Developer: Rodinal 1+100
Development: Small tank for 18 minutes at 20 degrees Celsius. Agitation was for the first 15 seconds of the first three minutes, then one inversion every three minutes.
Date: March, 2010
Location: 44.643135,-63.571410
Copyright: 2010 Chris Jones. All rights reserved.

I decided to spend my lunch hour under the sun watching the ferries and sailboats go by. This is the Halifax III, one of the ferries that takes people across Halifax harbour.

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Camera: Fuji Instax 210
Lens: 95mm
Filter: n/a
Film: Fuji Instax
Developer: n/a
Development: n/a
Date: July, 2010
Location: 44.650339,-63.571752
Copyright: 2010 Chris Jones. All rights reserved.

Sitting in the middle of Halifax Harbour is George’s Island, mostly used for military and defence reasons in the not too distant past.

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Camera: Fuji Instax 210
Lens: 95mm
Filter: n/a
Film: Fuji Instax
Developer: n/a
Development: n/a
Date: July, 2010
Location: 44.645062,-63.567864
Copyright: 2010 Chris Jones. All rights reserved.

Here’s another window, this time inside Amos Pewter, in Mahone Bay, Nova Scotia. Whenever I bring someone to the south shore, we typically stop here. It’s a unique shop as they design and manufacture the pewter right in the store. There’s usually someone working in the back, pouring pewter into moulds and explaining the process. The end result is beautiful.

It’s always a treat to see craftspeople at work in a world full of machine-made, mass manufactured crap.

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Camera: Mamiya 6 medium-format rangefinder
Lens: Mamiya 75mm
Filter: #15 deep yellow
Film: Fuji Neopan 400
Developer: Rodinal 1+50
Development: Small tank for 11 minutes at 20 degrees Celsius. Agitation was for the first thirty seconds, then five inversions per minute.
Date: June, 2010
Location: 44.449224,-64.382205
Copyright: 2010 Chris Jones. All rights reserved.

Yes, it’s another photo of my apartment window. Sometimes I just like the light that comes through it.

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Camera: Mamiya 6 medium-format rangefinder
Lens: Mamiya 75mm
Filter: #15 deep yellow
Film: Fuji Neopan 400
Developer: Rodinal 1+50
Development: Small tank for 11 minutes at 20 degrees Celsius. Agitation was for the first thirty seconds, then five inversions per minute.
Date: June, 2010
Location: 44.642939,-63.570313
Copyright: 2010 Chris Jones. All rights reserved.