Sawlog Bay

Sawlog Bay lies in Tiny Township, Simcoe County, Ontario. Funny name, “Tiny”, especially when you learn it’s named after a pet dog. “Sawlog” is not as funny as its name derives from the logging industry historically prevalent in this area. The area itself has been occupied by humans for at least 11,000 years, with archaeological sites found to contain evidence from the Paleo-Indian period.

At this northern outskirt of Simcoe County between Nottawasaga Bay and Georgian Bay, Awenda Provincial Park is a must-go destination. We went there a few years ago as part of a larger road trip, but that was in summer. It was seriously enjoyable even though there were quite some tourists and campers – especially near the waterfall/waterslide. This time it’s February, and the world in this region looks (and feels) quite different now.

Penetanguishene and Midland are worth to mention as these close-by, picturesque little towns have plenty historical sights to see (aside from the obvious gazillion marinas) but for me, Midland wins with its plethora of awesome murals and: a good brewhouse. Those were also the only sights possible to visit as tourist season is quite some time away while everything here is covered in many feet of snow.

Our wonderful cottage was almost perfectly located with Awenda Park at the back and Georgian Bay in the front, so getting onto the frozen lake was as easy as walking out the door and down the street. It must be nice here in summer, but the winter gives it a serene feel – which I probably prefer. It’s a good 160km North-North West from Toronto which at this time of year means prepare well because you may be in your car for quite some time – the highway only gets you so far.

The Camera(s)

The chosen gear for this long weekend is an old Nikon FE – one which I’ve had for many years. This is such an easy camera to handle and operate; it’s become my blueprint for what an analog SLR should be. It’s smack in the middle of the mid-level or ‘prosumer’ range of late 1970s single lens reflex cameras though even when launched and during its production (1978-1983) it was quite a bit more expensive than equivalent rivals.

It works well for my hands, as it’s not too small, not too big, the controls are well-located and seem to work intuitively for me – and I have large hands. Other brands and models work great too, but these Nikons I can operate with my eyes closed. Maybe I should practise more on other cameras…? There’s much said and written about the FE but to me it’s simply a well-designed machine with just enough of the controls I need and that does what it should.

To top things off, it takes just about every lens Nikon ever made, bar some specialty ones. This makes shopping for ‘glass’ an affordable [snicker] breeze. I have a modest few and chose a fairly bog-standard F1.8 (the E-version) for this trip. Even decades later without any servicing that I’m aware of, it’s buttery smooth.

Loading film is as easy as it should be, reading the dials and other settings is quite doable even for someone requiring reading glasses (like me), metering is pretty accurate and interpreting the indicator through the viewfinder is as simple as reading a traffic light. This camera made me view all (my) other SLR’s as ‘fun things to try’ and has been my go-to camera for decades now.

*Disclaimer: this section is called “Camera(s)”, as I did also bring a medium format TLR on this trip, but I’ll cover that one in a future article. I’ve used the same (120 equiv.) Washi ‘F’ film in this camera. Any square photographs in this post do not refer to the Nikon FE; they’re purely here for illustration purposes.

The Film

For this trip I brought some Washi ‘F’ film along, just because I don’t have a lot of experience with it, but the one roll I did shoot had some seriously interesting results. Washi ‘F’ is a ‘Medical Fluorographic X-ray film’ which lacks an anti-halation layer (often called ‘RemJet’) and this results in a hazy diffusion of light especially around bright light sources. And this film is grrrraaaiiiiny, which is awesome because I happen to like plenty grain.

Sourced through various stock shops I’ve accumulated a small stash of this film (and some of its brethren) and am grateful someone thought it be a good idea to hack and offer traditionally neglected products like X-ray-, surveillance-, motion picture sound- or leader film for artistic and fun photography purposes, as they were never intended or even manufactured for this use. Merci beaucoup, monsieur Perrotin.

The Verdict

First of all the trip: it was wonderful. It’s a pretty place in winter, and with a perfect spot to unwind next to a roaring fireplace I can’t think of a better place to rest. So…what to make of this Nikon-Washi combo?

Well…it’s a bit of a shame to lose about 6 frames right from the get-go. As recommended on the box, the first few shots could suffer greatly from fogging – which they did. Thus the useable count of pictures drops from 24 to 18…just about medium format territory. These Washi F’s are expensive rolls to have developed and scanned.

The pictures then? Well, as photographs go they’re quite rubbish, and the ones posted here are basically the only ones even reasonably ‘visible’. I’m not sure what went wrong, not with the same film in 2 different cameras. Most pictures are randomly horribly under-or-over-exposed, there’s some very pronounced light leaks so in general I’m disappointed by how they came out. It wasn’t for lack of available light in most situations or camera metering of said present light – as both machines work well. If I were a more skilled & creative photographer I’m sure there’s some use to be found for this film but for now, I’ll leave the rest in its box.

Toutes mes excuses, monsieur Perrotin.

This article is slightly redacted, the full version is available on my blog. It is the first of a series of travel stories disguised as ‘mini film experiences’ I hope to be sharing with you.

Thanks for reading!

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