Back Campus Camera

2015-03-14

Saturday, March 14, 2015

The winter of 2015 included a record-setting duration of sub-freezing temperatures that has kept back campus covered with snow.

2014-09-07

Sunday, September 7, 2014

The synthetic turf seems to confound the white balance on every camera I own. The last photo is a reasonable gauge of its true colour.

2014-09-05

2014-09-04

Thursday, September 4, 2014

120 degrees from the bleachers.

360 degrees from between the fields.

180 degrees from the middle of the west fence.

120 degrees from the north-west corner.

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About this site:

"Back Campus Camera" is a personal project by Matthew Robertson, a resident of Toronto's University / Annex neighbourhood. I am not affiliated with the University of Toronto, nor any associated group, in any way.

My goal is to provide a visual record of the transformation of the U of T back campus athletic field from a grass surface into artificial turf. While photography is inherently selective, as a documentary project these images will be presented honestly and generally only be edited to make them a closer match to the scene as we would see it with our own eyes.

I do acknowledge that I am biased; the loss of an open and available green space diminishes my community. It defies my imagination that in this age, and in this city, it's acceptable to replace a vibrant and living field with an expanse of plastic. I expect better from an institution as important as the University of Toronto, and am disappointed in their lack of civic leadership and innovation.

At this time I remain hopeful that all of the promises made will be kept, and that the back campus will once again be an inviting and welcoming space for casual recreation as well as a contribution to the athletics and life of the University and its student body.

Most photos are taken with a 28mm-equivalent lens, but the "wide" tag applies to anything between 24mm and 35mm equivalents. Anything "ultrawide" is wider than this, but is reserved for special occasions.

"Standard" photos cover a focal length range from 40mm to 60mm, and "long" telephoto shots can go as far as 300mm. These show details but don't have as much context.

Cameras used to date include the Ricoh GRD4 and GR, Nikon V1 and D800, Panasonic GH1, Fujifilm XM1 and XQ1, Sigma DP2 and DP3 Merrills, and Olympus Stylus 1s.

Post-processing is done in Lightroom/ACR, mostly with a "Fake HDR" preset using values of Highlights -100, Shadows +100, Whites +25, Blacks -15, and Clarity +10; the results are then tweaked on a per-photo basis. I will straighten skewed images and correct for perspective tilt, but otherwise try to keep as much of the original frame intact as possible.

2015-03-14

Saturday, March 14, 2015

2014-09-07

Sunday, September 7, 2014

Sunday, September 7, 2014

2014-09-05

Thursday, September 4, 2014

2014-09-04

Thursday, September 4, 2014

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