Scarborough, Ontario. January 25th, 2026. Minus 20 Celsius. It’s a blurry, flurry, bitterly cold day. There’s a snowstorm raging, but it’s calm inside. Suddenly, the sound of a cup of tea being set back on the table with more conviction than appropriate for a Sunday afternoon. “Let’s go out for a walk!”, she says.
Twenty minutes later, I find myself knee-deep in perfectly crunchy, blindingly white snow while my face is being scrubbed with ice-cold snowflakes. We passed a sign stating we’re walking into a ‘Coyote Hotspot’ area. Who knew… a coyote invasion at the end of our street. Let’s hope the mongrels like snow as much as I do and are wisely staying home huddling around a nice warm wood-stove fire.
Snap back to reality and of course there are no coyotes, no cozy wood fire, and certainly no nice walk in the park. This is pretty much my definition of ‘crap’. Thank goodness I brought a camera built just for this! I’m a very happy owner of a mint Konica Genba Kontaku 28WB, a tough camera made for the construction industry. But I hardly ever use it because it’s not often required to bring such a workhorse to the scene, but today was one of those days.
While mobilizing for the trek into the great white outdoors, I had grabbed a 2022 roll of ‘Shanghai Light 400 ISO’ film from my expired film stash. The results were…okay – for a cheap film in a point-and-shoot camera.
The walk itself…was largely forgettable. It reminded me that my Gen X bones require more regular workouts to do this kind of thing ‘for fun’ without over-exerting myself. The snow was knee-deep and higher at times. The wind was punishing. But the camera worked like it should: silently, fast, and without a hitch even while covered in snow…though I suspect it had some trouble focussing with the amount of snow blowing around it. I yet have to find a better way to make use of its wide lens, but for unplanned, to-heck-with-the-weather outings, you just can’t go wrong.
* This article was also posted on 35mmc, albeit with a bit more detail than here. Have a look!
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