Ian Austen

@ianausten.bsky.social

Canada Correspondent, @nytimes.com. Mostly photos, mostly made on film, a lot of it large. [email protected]

@ianausten.bsky.social

I don’t test them generally. But I estimate thst the LED displays are still scrolling on more than 90 percent of them. When they aren’t lit and I’ve picked up the receiver and checked, there is usually no dial tone. Some of the the phones only take cards.

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This phone is outside the door to The Nest bar on the Main Street in Hawksbury, Ontario. Aside from its limited hours, it apparently only accepts cash. (Rolleiflex Wide, Zeiss 55mm f4 Distagon, Kodak Tri-X)

A Bell payhone kiosk mounted on a textured concrete block wall under a fire sprinkler alarm bell. To its right is a rustic wooden door. A sign on it reads: “THURSDAY FRIDAY SATURDAY 6PM-2AM”. A sign above everything reads: Performance Realty, Brokerage, Independently owned and operated.” A sign in French and mostly obscured reads: “DE DEVISES”
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Jean Talon Métro station, Montreal. Perhaps the phone is there for seeking advice about entering that uninviting passageway. (Rolleiflex Wide, Zeiss 55mm f4 Distagon, Kodak Tri-X)

A Bell payphone kiosk is mounted on a dark tiled wall with stained concrete above. Immediately left is an emergency phone. Further left is an archway into a passageway. The floor has light tiles with a circular pattern set in slightly darker tile. Signs read Sortie and St Hubert
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Blvd Mont Royal during the UCI World Champsionships Elite Men's Road Race, Montreal, Sept 27 2026. A fast descent, it was one of the few places without a huge crowd. The baby had World Champion stripes or his or her sleeves. Pano, pls click & open(Fuji GX617, 105mm f8 Fujinon, Kodak Ektacolor 800)

A panoramic view of cyclists speeding past in a blur. Black temporary fences hold back spectators including a baby on a mat. A forested cemetery across the street rises uphill and has repeated beds of red flowers.
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@shawnmicallef.bsky.social I'm still dithering about photographing it. It appeared about a year ago but it's not an actual Bell installation. I had to set some limits to my phone project and one of them is not shooting phones that aren't true phones like the British callboxes you see in Canada.

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Foodland, Eganville, Ontario. While I was setting up, a mother explained to her school aged daughter how the payphone worked and its purpose. The girl appeared very skeptical. (Shen Hao FCL 810 AC, Schneider 120mm f8 Super Angulon, Kodak TXP 320)

A Bell phone booth underneath the overhang of a super market made from textured concrete boxes. It is at sunset and light is reflecting off windows and aluminum panes onto the walkway. There is a post office box and a shopping cart next to the booth.
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More of Australia's free pay phones. This one is deep in the basement of Sydney's amazing Queen Victoria Building, an impressively restored, block long shopping arcade. (Hasselblad SWC, A16 back, Zeiss 38mm f4.5 Biogon, Kodak Tri-X)

A wall mounted phone kiosk with a Telstra logo. To its left is a monitor with some sort of screen saver display and wires dangling down from the bottom.
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