good news - Kentmere paper in Canada!

[Joseph O'Neil]

I just came back from my local camera store that still stocks darkroom supplies - and what do I see - a variety of Kentmere paper brand new, in stock on the shelves. Mostly RC paper, but they did have a just a couple boxes of fibre based too. To top it off, they can order in just about any size, type, etc, of Kentmere paper you want. They even are stocking Kenmere inkjet paper.

Apparently somebody who was involved in the Canadian distribution of Agfa products (not sure if they meant a single person or a company) is now importing the Kentmere line.

They have more FB paper coming in after the holiday weekend, so wow, a 5 minute drive to pickup Kentmere paper!

joe

[John MacManus]

Good news joe, thanks. I can be grumpy in Ottawa without proper B/W supplies. I have had to use Freestyle or others to get Kentmere in the past.

Can you please give the coordinates of this wonderful store in London?

Cheers ... John

[bob carnie]

Amplis photo is the distributer of Kentmere in Canada, and has a very good network. You can ask for Phil Neilson for more info on Kentmere papers.

[Joseph O'Neil]

Good news joe, thanks. I can be grumpy in Ottawa without proper B/W supplies. I have had to use Freestyle or others to get Kentmere in the past.
Can you please give the coordinates of this wonderful store in London?
Cheers ... John

Actually Rob at Big Camera Workshops in the Toronto area does mail order and carries Kentmere, so that might be closer, but here in London good ole Stan C Reade is the one it in stock.

You know the other kick I got today at that same store? They told me my 4x5 HP5 will be in stock late next week, and they have some small bottles of Rodinal (last of the stock) they put in the shelf.

to top things off, in the used section they have a decent looking 4x5 monorail with 150mm lens, and on display, but not for sale, an 11x14 all wood , floor model, studio camera from the turn of the last century, with lens. I was short on time, so I wasn't able to look at everything as much as I liked, but wow.

Also, this was the same store that sold three, used Omega 4x5 enlargers in the past few months.

Cannot decide if this is heaven or just passed through a portable time warp in the doorway.
:)

[bob carnie]

Joe
You are just walking through the remains of 35 years of Fanshawe College photography program. Everyone that I went to school with have finally decided to dump their gear.
Is Lindens still operating? I fondly remember going into their store near the Market and picking up my Ilfomar paper.It has been at least 30 years since I have been back to London. Laura and I are trying to make your Port Stanely shoot, but the next two months are really hectic.


Actually Rob at Big Camera Workshops in the Toronto area does mail order and carries Kentmere, so that might be closer, but here in London good ole Stan C Reade is the one it in stock.

You know the other kick I got today at that same store? They told me my 4x5 HP5 will be in stock late next week, and they have some small bottles of Rodinal (last of the stock) they put in the shelf.

to top things off, in the used section they have a decent looking 4x5 monorail with 150mm lens, and on display, but not for sale, an 11x14 all wood , floor model, studio camera from the turn of the last century, with lens. I was short on time, so I wasn't able to look at everything as much as I liked, but wow.

Also, this was the same store that sold three, used Omega 4x5 enlargers in the past few months.

Cannot decide if this is heaven or just passed through a portable time warp in the doorway.
:)

[Joseph O'Neil]

Joe
You are just walking through the remains of 35 years of Fanshawe College photography program. Everyone that I went to school with have finally decided to dump their gear.
Is Lindens still operating? I fondly remember going into their store near the Market and picking up my Ilfomar paper.It has been at least 30 years since I have been back to London. Laura and I are trying to make your Port Stanely shoot, but the next two months are really hectic.

The photography schoaol at Famshawe college, as far as I know, has gone totally digital now. they used to have a 4x5 segment, but the 4x5 I see for sale is not one of thiers, it's a private on consignment camera.

In fact, I have not seen hardly any excess LF gear out of Fanshawe college (at least so far). for what it is worth, the 4x5's they had - Cambo monorails if memory serves me correctly - were pretty beat up looking.

Most of the 4x5 gear is actually from the University of Western Ontario - various departments, even medical. For example, it was not too long ago all the x-rays in the university hospital went all digital for example. The 4x5 enlargers were form UWO, and like I siad before, it was very pleasing to see them snapped up locally, so quickly.

Linden Photo, which I went to very often, is sadly no more, but McKitterick's is still around and has two stores now, not just one, but is mostly digital. However, they do have quite possibly one of the largest selection of used cameras for sale in the city. Mostly 35mm, but they do get some really nice 120 gear in too - I've seen near mint shape Mamyias and Hasseys for example.

Now large format gear does show up at both Readeas and McKittericks, but anything along the lines of a field camera seems to not last long. For example, I have seen baby Speed Graphics at both stores for sale used, and in neither case did they stick around too long, at least not compared to the rest of the used gear.

One last nice thought to leave you all with - an older gentleman was looking at the old wood 11x14 in Reade's at the same time I was there, and he was recalling how he used to use that size camera with glass plates when he was young.

One of the people behind the counter said he could no longer get glass plates, but i the man wanted some Iford 11x14, he would be happy to order it in for him. Of course, he had a smile on his face when he said this, but how many camera stores anywhere in world today (outside of our favourite mail order and specialty shops) do you have that kind of offer?
:)

joe

PS - LF shoot at Port Stanley - I have about 6-7 people so far, and a couple more possibly coming, which I think is pretty good. Here in Ontario, Algonquin Park had about 7 I think, and the one at Milton escarpment a couple years ago (the one I really wanted to go to but had to work that weekend) had about 17 I think.

more later

[bob carnie]

Joe
Its too bad about Lindens, I still remember Helmut and his older brother, back in the day they really had a beautiful small shop where student photographers and pros would mingle going over very large selections of photo related stuff, I even met Steven Livik at Lindens , he was a buddy of Don Dunsmore my first year teacher, who gave me much inspiration to continue in photography.

Its too bad about Fanshawe, apparently they have , like many photoschools converted wholly to digital, and are concentrating on churning out, students who can handle a mac, and able to dust bust files pretty good, but seem to lack the history and theory of photography that was drilled into our heads back in the 70's.
Every time we tour a student group at our lab , the first thing I do is ask them to look at a very large wall of photos of iconic images by the greats then ask them to name the photographer for each specific image, it really is sad to see these young students not having a clue who made the photographs.
I guess some of the teachers now are simply into it for the dough and not working hard enough inspiring young minds, like my teacher Don.
I did have one group from a private based photoschool that had a young lady that could not have been more then 21, name 90% of the images. That student I would hire any day of the week.
anyways thats my rant/beef for the week, I hope to see you in Port Stanely.
Bob