Sani-Tour – Looking back at the Muskoka Regional Centre
Canada's history with the treatment of mental health is long and sorted. And while we've made great leaps forward, often, many of the historical institutions have gotten lost and replaced along the way. Not that those who were patients in such facilities in the past would want a reminder standing out to them every day. While the Queen Street Asylum is long gone, replaced by the far more modern CAMH facilities, the asylum at Amherstburg has reverted to the historical configuration as a War-Era fort; even Mimicoe is now being used as a college campus. When I was deep into Urban Exploration, exploring mental asylums were a right of passage. And while Canada didn't have much in the way of the massive Kirkbride facilities like in the United States, if you were in the community and the circle of trust, there were some locations. And today, I'm looking back at my first experience with a Mental Hospital, the Muskoka Regional Centre.
Pentax K1000 - SMC Pentax-M 50mm 1:1.7 - Ilford Super XP2 @ ASA-400 - Processing By: Silvano'sPentax K1000 - SMC Pentax-M 50mm 1:1.7 - Ilford Super XP2 @ ASA-400 - Processing By: Silvano'sPentax K1000 - SMC Pentax-M 50mm 1:1.7 - Ilford Super XP2 @ ASA-400 - Processing By: Silvano'sPentax K1000 - SMC Pentax-M 50mm 1:1.7 - Ilford Super XP2 @ ASA-400 - Processing By: Silvano's
Tuberculosis or the white plague has been around since the days of the ancient Egyptian kings and even written about by the great historians of the Roman Empire. But what does TB have to do with the Muskoka Regional Centre? Everything actually, the entire history of the Centre is tied to the treatment of TB in Canada. The earliest form of treatment of TB in the world was through isolation, usually in a place of high elevation and clean air. Known as Sanitariums, the first one in the world opened in Germany in 1854; it was also in Germany that the infectious bacteria was isolated in 1882. In Canada, the fight against TB became the personal mission of noted publishing giant William Gage. Gage, a key founder of the National Sanitarium Association, investigated a site to build a TB Sanitarium in Canada. While many were eyeing Toronto, the small northern Ontario town of Gravenhurst stepped up. The town offered up 10,000$, which was added to the 25,000$ offered up by Gage. The Muskoka Cottage Hospital opened in 1897; the high altitude distance from Toronto made it ideal for the treatment of TB. While the main cottage hospital was a payment facility, in 1902, a free hospital opened a short distance away. A fire in 1920 destroyed both the cottage and the free hospitals, but they were quick to rebuild. The new modern facilities, known as the Gage Complex, opened up in 1923. The complex had beds for 444 patients, surgical suites, laboratories, and support facilities. A second patient building, the Barbara Hayden, would be added in 1936. The discovery of Streptomycin in 1944 allowed for the treatment of TB in an urban environment without the need for isolation. The need for the Muskoka Sanitarium declined through the war and post-war period until it closed in 1960. The hospital reopened as the Muskoka Regional Centre, a satellite to the Orillia Regional Centre and focused on female patients. The place was a nightmare from the start, numbers were too much for the ageing buildings, and staff numbers were far too low. Muskoka houses anyone from those with serious mental illnesses to developmental conditions and disabilities. These resulted in a severe lack of care and abuse of the patients by those in authority. It became so bad that a 1985 report called for a zero admission policy, although the use of such places had declined since the opening of smaller group home support for many patients who would have gone to such hospitals. Muskoka Regional finally closed in 1994, although it would come back into the spotlight in 2015. A lawsuit against the government of Ontario unearthed old wounds. It resulted in a multi-million dollar payout to the victims of abuse at Muskoka who were housed here from 1973 to 1993.
Kiev 88CM - Biometar 80mm 1:2.8 - Ilford Delta 100 @ ASA-100 - Processing By: Silvano'sKiev 88CM - Biometar 80mm 1:2.8 - Ilford Delta 100 @ ASA-100 - Processing By: Silvano'sKiev 88CM - Biometar 80mm 1:2.8 - Ilford Delta 100 @ ASA-100 - Processing By: Silvano'sKiev 88CM - Biometar 80mm 1:2.8 - Ilford Delta 100 @ ASA-100 - Processing By: Silvano's
I can remember my first trip there in 2006, meeting up with a group of explorers that I had only met online. While I had missed the first "Sani-Tour", I was determined to make it to the second one. This was also back when you could only go certain times of the year when the OPP wasn't using the site for training purposes. Meeting up in a large public lot in Gravenhurst proper and travelling in a smaller number of vehicles onto the site. Working our way up to the site, I stood in awe of the Gage Complex; it was my first institution, having mainly explored industrial and houses by this point. We also didn't have to worry about security either. However, I remember dog kennels at either the second or third trip. Upon entering, that wonderful musty smell of a long-abandoned building was left exposed to the elements. Good chance it was pretty deadly to be inside for any time. I had my respirator with me for that first trip like any good new explorer does, but I left it at home when I started working with SLRs; these were the days before live-view. The Centre is also the first location I explored where I got a sense of the spirit of place. It's hard to explain fully, but each time I went inside, I felt a great wave of sadness, at the time, I had no idea of the suffering that went on in this place. Of course, this was all before the lawsuit against the government took place that it made sense. One of the more interesting notes is that eventually, the police stopped using the location. Access could be had year-round if you had the courage to do so because locals started to get wise to people moving in and out of the old property. Yet somehow my luck didn't run out, even exploring the site with a rather large group in the summer of 2011. The irony is that when I was there with the smallest group, including two from out of the country, we ended up getting caught. It was our fault, we were pretty fearless, and snow left a lovely trail of footprints; of course, we also weren't expecting on-site security.
Polaroid Automatic 250 Land Camera - Polaroid Triplet 114mm f/8.8 - Polaroid Chocolate @ ASA-80Polaroid Automatic 250 Land Camera - Polaroid Triplet 114mm f/8.8 - Polaroid Chocolate @ ASA-80Polaroid Automatic 250 Land Camera - Polaroid Triplet 114mm f/8.8 - Polaroid Chocolate @ ASA-80Polaroid Automatic 250 Land Camera - Polaroid Triplet 114mm f/8.8 - Polaroid Chocolate @ ASA-80
There are only a few locations like the Muskoka Regional Centre where I can show the breadth of my photographic journey. The location is also the first where I shot film at an abandoned location in any significant way, almost from the start. In fact, the first trip to the Centre was in 2006 with a simple 4-megapixel super-zoom camera. I can see the beginning of my enjoyment of leading lines, although my compositions were still a little off and limited by the camera's capabilities. Plus, my understanding of exposure is certainly lacking and dependent on the camera for most settings. By the third trip, my camera had been upgraded to a D70s; I was working with aperture priority and manual modes to get longer exposures and letting my eyes determine exposure with the help of the in-camera meter. By 2010 my kit had expanded to include the D300 and a 14-24mm f/2.8 lens; I was also starting to get better with my work in film and exploring how to use the square format in my exploring. Compositions improved significantly with more attention to leading lines, keeping things straight. Focusing on details using handheld, shallow depth-of-field. My Rolleiflex 2.8F and Kyiv 88CM provided terrific results and experimented with Type-100 Polaroid Film. Probably some of my strongest work came out of my trips to the Centre in 2011 and 2012.
Rolleiflex 2.8F - Carl Zeiss Planar 80mm 1:2.8 - Kodak Verichrome Pan @ ASA-125 - Agfa Rodinal (1+100) 60:00 @ 20CRolleiflex 2.8F - Carl Zeiss Planar 80mm 1:2.8 - Kodak Verichrome Pan @ ASA-125 - Agfa Rodinal (1+100) 60:00 @ 20CRolleiflex 2.8F - Carl Zeiss Planar 80mm 1:2.8 - Kodak Verichrome Pan @ ASA-125 - Agfa Rodinal (1+100) 60:00 @ 20CRolleiflex 2.8F - Carl Zeiss Planar 80mm 1:2.8 - Kodak Verichrome Pan @ ASA-125 - Agfa Rodinal (1+100) 60:00 @ 20C
Sadly, there was always a chance of being caught like any trip. And while we certainly enjoyed many years without active security on-site, the final journey that I took ended up being in the winter, and security had been positioned on-site. We had the OPP called on us. Thankfully we made it out with one ticket issued and threats of further action should we return. And I stuck to my promise never to go back. Sadly I never made it into the other building on site, the Barbra Hayden. Still, the Gauge Complex provided a tonne of options to see and photograph and given that I visited the area over six years with the only incident happening at the very end, I think that's a good track record. While I did only include film photos in here, you can head on over to Flickr and check out all my images including some of the cringe-worthy early shots.
#photography #agfarodinal #canada #gravenhurst #ilforddelta100 #ilfordsuperxp2 #kiev88cm #kodakverichromepan #muskokaregionalcentre #ontario #pentaxk1000 #polaroidautomaticlandcameramodel250 #polaroidchocolate #rolleiflex28f #ue #urbanexploration #urbex
There are a handful of abandoned locations that I've visited so often I can see a noted improvement in my photography. Among them is the former Muskoka Regional Centre. Former TB Sanitarium turned Hospital for wards of the State and finally an OPP training centre.
Bonus Camera Review – Minolta X-7a
Much of my early years of photography were taken up with the Minolta system. From my initial gateway camera, the Hi-Matic 7s to my first SLR the SR-T 102. The next step in my journey would be some level of automation, and for that, in stepped the X-7a. A gift from a church member who was no longer using the camera gifted me the camera and a single lens. But having a set of Minolta SR lenses already, I had an excellent selection of optics. And the camera would be my first experience with a motor drive, go through some of my earliest explorations and be the last camera I used for an all-film PYPS weekend.
The only surviving picture of my X-7a system minus the motor drive and probably the first 'camera system' photo I ever took.
Camera Specifications
Make: Minolta
Model: X-7a (alternately X-370)
Type: Single Lens Reflex
Format: 135 (35mm), 24x36mm
Lens: Interchangeable, Minolta SR-Mount
Shutter: Quartz Horizontal Focal Plane Shutter, 4″ - 1/1000″ (A), 1″ - 1/1000″ (M) + Bulb
Meter: 1x TTL SBC Centre-Weighted Cell, EV-1 ~ EV18 @ ASA-100, ASA-12 - ASA-3200
Year of Manufacture: 1985-90
Minolta X-7a - Minolta MD 50mm 1:1.7 - Kodak Max 400Minolta X-7a - McKinnon 28mm 1:2.8 - Kodak Max 400
Background
The Minolta X-7a comes from the Minolta highly successful X-Series that started with the Minolta/Leica collaboration that first resulted in the XE and XD. Minolta would take the lessons learned in 1981 and released their own full PSAM camera, the X-700, which was a quick commercial success for Minolta. This spawned a series of other cousin cameras in the X-Series. While these cameras would lack full PSAM, going for an aperture priority plus manual mode. The first of these is the X-500/X-570, followed by the X-300. If you're familiar with the Maxxum line of cameras, you'll probably be able to guess what Minolta was doing at this point. The X-700 is aimed at the advanced amateur/semi-pro market, the X-500 is the upper reaches of the consumer market, and the entry-level cameras is the X-300. So, where does the X-7a fit in? Is it a cousin of the X-700 with fewer features? Well, you would be somewhat right. The X-7a is an all-black version of the X-370, a chrome/black two-tone version of the X-300 for the North American market. To ensure you're keeping up at this point, the X-300 is an all-black semi-automatic (aperture priority) entry-level SLR in all-black. A two-tone version for the North American market has the X-7a, which is the same camera but all black. Despite Minolta's prowess in R&D, they do make their camera models super confusing. To make things simple, I will be using X-7a from now on. There are three big differences between the X-500 and X-7a: the mode/shutter speed dial is fully covered with a single dial at the front to adjust the mode and shutter speeds in manual function. Second, there is no depth of field preview and, finally, no off the film plane flash metering. What makes it interesting is that the X-7a continued production until 1990, well into Minolta's move towards autofocus.
Minolta X-7a - Minolta MD 50mm 1:1.7 - Kodak Max 400Minolta X-7a - Minolta MD 50mm 1:1.7 - Kodak Max 400
Impressions
When it comes to the 1980s X-Series camera, they all look fairly similar. Clean, plastic, all the right controls in all the right places. While some noted differences from the X-700, if you've used any of the mid-1980s X-Series cameras, you can easily use the X-7a. The camera itself is small, almost too small for my personal tastes, so I picked up a Motor Drive for my camera in one of my first solo trips into Toronto. But with the small size, it can take up next to no space in your camera bag and allows you to carry around a great deal of more lenses. Despite being plastic, the camera did have a decent weight in hand without being overly heavy. The one thing that I did with the camera is the shrouded shutter speed indicator; it is a sleek look and only shows a single speed in the window or "A" for semi-automatic mode (Aperture Priority). I actually feel that Minolta is what made me prefer aperture priority to shutter priority for semi-automatic functions. The adjustment dial is small but won't be too much of an issue unless you're wearing heavy gloves, but if it's that cold, you probably should not have the X-7a out! The shutter button is a typical Minolta of the age with a soft-touch with a half-press to activate the metering. The viewfinder for the camera's market is decent, with an LED dot display on the side for displaying the shutter speed.
Minolta X-7a - Minolta MD 50mm 1:1.7 - Konica-Minolta VX400-SIIMinolta X-7a - Minolta MD 50mm 1:1.7 - Konica-Minolta VX400-SII
Experiences
As a second SLR, the X-7a became an excellent step in my own photographic journey and what I look for in a camera. Having learned on an all manual camera that is a tank, moving to something a bit more refined and semi-automatic proved an excellent second step. Aimed at the entry-level market, the camera is simple in use and functionality. The camera is lightweight and easy to handle; loading the camera is simple and is probably easier to load than my SR-T. The one trick that I learned quickly when loading film is to set the shutter speed manually to allow for quicker loading and advancing to the first exposure. In the field, the camera performed well; I shot mostly consumer films with the X-7a, mainly C-41 films colour, some B&W. But I also shot slide film, and the meter handled all the different latitudes. But as I mentioned in the previous paragraph, adding on a Minolta Motor Drive 1 remains one of the best additions to the camera as it added in that extra balance I had needed going from the SR-T to an X-Series. And the X-7a would end up shaping my like of aperture priority. Even when I went to digital and the Nikon system and ditching the Minolta, I was happy when I picked up Nikon F3 and got almost the same experience.
Minolta X-7a - Minolta MD 50mm 1:1.7 - Fujichrome Sensia 400Minolta X-7a - Minolta MD 50mm 1:1.7 - Fujichrome Sensia 400
Optics
At least for younger me, one of the best parts is that the X-7a maintained the old SR-Mount for Minolta lenses, allowing me to use all my existing glass. One thing to note is that at this point in the game is that the SR-Mount had two different classes, the older MC and the newer MD. The MD lenses were needed if you were using full Program or Shutter priority mode, so on the X-700 or XD cameras. This means that you can easily use the older SR/MC lenses with your X-7a, and there are plenty of excellent Minolta and third party optics available for these cameras. Personally, if you stick to a 28mm, 50mm, and a short portrait-length lens and you'll be set. But there are some other excellent optics along the way. The Rokkor-X 45mm f/2 is a good pancake lens and will look excellent on the smaller format. But the best part is that many of these lenses are fairly inexpensive on the used market.
Minolta X-7a - Minolta MD 50mm 1:1.7 - Agfa APX 400Minolta X-7a - Minolta MD 50mm 1:1.7 - Agfa APX 400
Lowdown
What surprises me the most is that on the used market, these cameras are not cheap. For an X-300, you're looking at paying between 140-230$, a little less for the X-370, those range between 80-110. And probably that is what makes the X-7a a true hidden gem, being that it is pretty much the same camera as the X-300/X-370 but with a different name bag, you can pick up an X-7a for under 100$ on the used market, most being priced between 35-80$ and some even come with lenses. If you're looking for an inexpensive second body for your X-System or an inexpensive Minolta SLR, then I wouldn't say no to an X-7a, and while my days working with these cameras have moved towards more of the 1970s with the XE and XD cameras, I do still have a soft spot for the X-7a, so much so that I ran an XG-M for a few months before passing it along to another photographer.
Minolta X-7a - Minolta MD 50mm 1:1.7 - Ilford Super XP2Minolta X-7a - Minolta MD 50mm 1:1.7 - Ilford Super XP2
Further Reading
Don't just take my word on the Minolta X-7a, you can check out the reviews by other awesome camera reviewers!
Eric Constantineau - Minolta X-7a Review
Casual Photophile - Minolta X-7a Reivew
Daniella Bassett - Minolta X-300 Review
Lomography - Minolta X-300: A Beautiful Analogue Camera
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