#7

Fort Erie, ON ~ August 9th, 2008

Being embedded within a military unit for journalist purposes is a scary propsitions, odds are good however that you will survive...provided you don't get hit in a musket volley. That's right, Musket Volley.

This past weekend I had the honer of serving on His Majesty's Royal Press Corps, embedded in the action of the Siege of Fort Erie.



I was hosted by the Canadian Fensibles, from Fort York (Toronto). Most of the morning was spent cleaning and readying their gear, inspection and briefing my the Lt. General happened shortly after that.

Early Saturday Morning Fort Erie was approached by several regiments of American Troops.



They were of course quickly fired upon by the garrison holding the Fort.



However the forces holding the fort were quickly out gunned and out flanked by the American Forces, and Major Buck, the Commanding Officer surrendered the Fort to American Control.


The Face of Surrender



Upon return to the camp, the Fensibles were preparing for tactical maneuvers later on in the afternoon, and continued with drill practice.



British troops once again engaged the Americans at Chippawa. However the British were again forced back, resulting in yet another loss to American forces. Both sides suffered Heavy Losses.







By the time evening rolled around, I had managed to sneek into Fort Erie past enemy lines using stealth and disguise to embed myself with the American 19th Infantry, part of the garrison currently holding the Fort.



The reason for this was because I knew that Drummond was going to attack the fort that evening, and an inside perspective would make the victory much sweeter. It was shortly after 8pm that British guns opened up on the Fort.





The arrival of the Infantry forced the American pickets back into the protection of the Fort's guns.



The men of the 19th continued to engage the British troops, hoping to force them to retreat.



The Fensables along with the rest of the light infantry try to outflank the American Forces, the same way the Americans forced the surrender of Major Buck earlier that day.







But in the end, the group fights to the last man, forcing the few remaining to surrender.

Would you like to know more? Click for the full flickr gallery: http://www.flickr.com/photos/axle814...7606670337744/

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#6

So a couple weekends ago I went to visit Buffalo, during that time I met up with several folks I only knew through online interaction one of whom I had arranged a trade deal with a while back, well it came into fruition.

I traded away a Russian (USSR) built Zenit-B SLR for a Pentax K1000. It was a good deal because I had lens for the Pentax and he had lens for the Zenit.

So I got me an all manual SLR again....Axle is happy.

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#5

My Minolta system is gone. I traded in my Minolta X-7a with all its lens and accessories on Saturday to henry's along with a Nikon Speedlight SB-28 & Sigma 28-300mm lens, total trade in value 400.00 CDN.

Shaved off a good deal of the Tamron 11-18mm lens I got also.

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#4

Here's two more articles that I provided photos for...

http://www.snapmilton.com/display/5601/110/

http://www.snapmilton.com/display/6759/110/

Also some of my photos are here (Multiple Photographers...)
http://www.snapmilton.com/display/5848/110/

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#3

This past weekend I was up north in Collingwood for PYPS Winter Weekend. It was also the first PYPS trip for my dSLR, which got lots of attention and was heavily used (313 photos). So one of the people who wanted to use it was someone very new to photography and had her own little point and shoot digicam. So she was eyeing my dSLR and I asked if she wanted to try it out, well she did. So there she is holding my camera out like a point and shoot and turns to me and asks

"How do I turn on the screen to take the photo?"
I laugh and explain you don't do that with the dSLR, you look through the viewfinder because it's a Single Lens Reflex, the screen isn't your view finder.

You can view the photos from the weekend here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/axle814...7594544571607/

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#2

So I've been ignoring this, so here's a massive update. I have a dSLR, yes, that's right I am the owner of a digital SLR camera, the Nikon D70s. Most people wonder "Why the D70s, why not the D80." My answer, I didn't like the way the D80 felt in my hands. To me a camera is dependant on how it feels in my hands and operating and the specs of it. The D80 although a nice camera with great specs, just didn't feel right. The D70s did, so that's what I got. So far I'm loving the camera, it's getting it's first 'real' test this weekend when it's getting taken on one of my Urban Exploration trips into Toronto. Where we're going, well that's a secret, I'll fill you all in with (some of) the details after the fact. However it won't be tested in a PYPS environment until February Don't worry just because i have a dSLR doesn't mean I'm giving up on film, I still am a lover of film and will continue to shoot in that medium until you can no longer buy the stuff. My F80 still is in my bag, and is not leaving any time soon. The Sheridan SCAET building with the D70s.

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#1

First Entry, First Entry, First Entry!

Alright, so allow me to introduce myself, my name is Alex aka Axle in many circles. I first started with photography back in a grade 12 media English class that included a photography unit. Shortly after the unit started I picked up my first camera a 1969 Minolta Hi-Matic 7s, and just started shooting. A couple years later I picked up a 1973 Minolta SRT-102 with several lens. And began to build up my kit, clearing out Henry's clearance department of any MC mount lens I could lay my hands on. Then I upgraded to an X-7a.

Currently I use a Nikon F80 and a Panasonic Lumix FZ7 with the X-7a and a Pentax ME Super as backups.

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