THE PHOTOGRAPHIC HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF CANADA

1997/1998 SPEAKER PROGRAM

September 17, 1997 Simon Bell

October 15, 1997 Michael Pritchard

CHRISTIE'S AUCTION HOUSE. We were honoured to have Michael Pritchard, one of the world's foremost experts on evaluating photographic artifacts, as our speaker. Michael is Christie's photography expert at their South Kensington branch in London England. His insider's view of the auction world was a fascinating visit to Christie's. The company's diligence in evaluating and selling the myriad of cameras, images and ephemera of photographic history was impressive. Michael's candid answers to our many questions painted the broader picture in terms of price trends and areas of interest in camera collecting--and it was interesting to learn how one can participate in an auction without actually being in the sale room. Michael offered very convincing reasons why people the world over buy and sell antiques through an auction house. Like many firms today, Christie's have established a web site. They plan to place their many camera sale catalogues on line in early 1998.

November 19, 1997 John Denison

PHOTOGRAPHER ON VACATION--MICKLETHWAITE'S MUSKOKA. A look at one of our well known early photographer's and his view's of Ontario's best known vacation country. John provided an electrifying look back to the turn of the century when Frank Micklethwaithe became a part of the Muskoka summers. We saw nearly three trays of images from John's well researched book. You can have your personal peek at the images for the price of John's book. Just ask for it by name at any book store. John is the publisher of Boston Mills Press as well as the author of Micklewaithe's Muskoka. Just click on the image to learn more about the prestigious Boston Mills Press and its book list.

December 17, 1997 Denis Farley and Yvonne Lammerich

CAMERA OBSCURA. Two fascinating talks on the predecessor of modern cameras, the camera obscura. Dennis will discuss camera obscura observatories in his presentation The View Outside, while Yvonne adds a local flavour with her talk on Early Canadian Obscuras. The talk will be followed by the traditional gift exchange. Bring a small gift (worth about $15.00) of interest to a collector and join in the friendship.

January 21, 1998 Alf Pyner

ON AERIAL CAMERAS. Aerial Cameras played an important role in WW II and continued to provide geographic data post war. Here is your chance to learn about these seldom seen work horses of photography. Alf is an authority on the Aerial cameras. He worked in England as a photographer for many years, and compiled an exhaustive reference on Aerial cameras. He is in the process of updating his material.

February 18, 1998 Robert Gutteridge

EARLY CINEMAS IN TORONTO. We have had the pleasure of hearing Mr. Gutteridge on other aspects of movies and optical toys. Join him on this occasion for a look at the Cinema much closer to home. Robert has a companion article in issue 24-1 of Photographic Canadiana, which was distributed to members in Mid May, 1998.

March 18, 1998 Dick Haviland

FILMS FOR CLASSICS. Your camera is no longer obsolete... Dick fills us in on how to get/make odd film/plate sizes to use your oldies again. A desire for film to test old cameras resulted in Dick embracing this offbeat side venture. To this day, Dick makes film in various sizes for old roll film cameras. His story covered the challenges he faces to come up with modern day materials which can be adapted to the old dimensions.

April 15, 1998

SHOW AND TELL NIGHT. We start of with the annual general meeting--our version of a "State of the Nation" talk--followed shortly thereafter by Show and Tell. The theme is one of a kind cameras... Bring a rare oldie along and tell us its story!

May 20, 1998 Roger Watson

THE EARLIEST IMAGES OF NIAGARA FALLS. Roger is a conservator at George Eastman House in Rochester NY.  If you didn't get out, you missed a super talk. Shortly after joining the wired world, Roger read a newsgroup message from an individual in England wanting advice on restoration of some old images. A very few messages later, and Roger was convinced the images were rare and historic. An offer to do restoration pro bono brought the images to George Eastman House. The images of Niagara Falls were taken by the English daguerreotypist Pattinson in April 1840 when he visited Southern Ontario on his way home from a business visit to America.

The images are the earliest known daguerreotypes taken in Canada. A number of the images appeared in a famous French book of Daguerreotypes published in 1840/1. The images lay forgotten in Newcastle University after being donated by Pattison's great grand-daughter in the 1920s.  You can take a peek at them on the Newcastle University web site in England.

June 17, 1998 Mark Osterman & France Scully Osterman

REVIVING A LOST ART--The Collodion Journal. Share this evening with our guests and discover what gun cotton and photography have in common... Another super talk on images and processes. Mark and France are wet-plate practicioners. Mark also works at George Easman House and they both do workshops on wet plate photography. We learned that the wet plate image is on the top layer of the collodion resulting in very fast physical development and fixing. The use of cyanide in the the develpoment process coupled with the use of glass gives added risk to the process. Mark and France have just returned from doing workshops in Europe. Some of the images will be on gallery display here in Toronto.

Future Talks

• John Waldsmith on pricing stereo collectibles,
• Craig Campbell on the Hocky Hall of Fame collection
• Stephen Bulger on print collecting,
• and Frances Rooney on the photos of Edith S. Watson.

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