THE PHOTOGRAPHIC HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF CANADA

2004/2005 SPEAKER PROGRAM

Most talks are recorded on audio tape. Copies are available from the society. For more information, contact Mark Singer at info@phsc.ca. Further information on this roster of speakers can be obtained from Clint Hryhorijiw.


Mike Robinson
by Robert Lansdale

click for larger view

Mike Robinson is widely recognized as one of the few accomplished modern practitioners of the daguerreotype. His images are distinctive, with a tonality and style that evoke the past while his subjects clearly reflect the present. The ability of the daguerreotype medium to intimately engage the viewer as both image and object is seen anew in these portraits, landscapes, and still life images.

Mr. Robinson operates the Century Darkroom in Toronto as well as teaching at Ryerson University. He is the current president of the PHSC.

PHSC members please note: our May 19th meeting will be held at 80 Spadina Avenue, Suite 305 in the Ryerson Gallery. This is a special preview for PHSC members. Regretfully there will be no tables available to display and swap photographica.

So come on down to Spadina Road just above King Street in Toronto and see modern images created with the process that caused world-wide excitement 165 years ago. The public is invited to attend.


George Gilbert c1980

At the December, 1976 meeting of the PHSC, I bought a copy of Collecting Photographica, an early book on camera collecting. Nearly two decades later the author, George Gilbert was our October 1995 guest speaker. George has written a number of books and articles related to the history of photography. This talk is a follow-up to an article he wrote a few years back on the role of Leitz helping their staff during the dark years of the late 1930s and early 40s.

So come on down to Memorial Hall at Park Home and Yonge Street in North York and find out more about this story. Click here for a map and other details. The public is invited to attend.


Coeecting Photographica by George Gilbert
1976 book by George Gilbert

In 1976, the PHSC was two years old and collecting cameras and images was rapidly becoming a popular new hobby. We didn't have Chapters or Amazon to make it easy to find new books or the internet or Abe Books to find used copies. The books on photographic history and collecting were scarce and the PHSC searched out new titles on photographica and offered them for sale to members.

George Gilbert's Collecting Photographica gives an overview of the cameras and images produced in the first century of photography plus hints on where to find them. A chapter is devoted to introducing a few (mostly American) collectors active at the time. Many of them have been guest speakers at the PHSC or participated in our Photographica Fairs. The appendices offer a variety of information from a brief chronology of photography, to ways to date various cameras,maintain a collection, etc.

My Father's Camera
My Father's Camera

My Father's Camera - September 15, 2004

The camera is the unofficial documentor of family life. "Basements and attics across the continent contain countless reels of the stuff - flickering images of baptisms and bar mitzvahs, weddings and graduations, dazed toddlers by the Christmas tree and bored teenagers on cross-country road trips.

"Home movies and their unique place in our popular culture are the subject of Karen Shopsowitz's My Father's Camera."

You can click on the picture at the left to visit the Natonal Film Board of Canada web site for My Father's Camera.

Early Cycling Photography - October 20, 2004

Within our own membership we have many top experts. For this meeting, Lorne Shields will enlighten us on the interplay of two popular pastimes in the 1800s - photography and cycling with selections from his own great collection of cycling photographs, considered by many to be “the best in the world.”

Collecting since 1960, he has cycling photographs and ephemera dating from the Daguerreian era, through ambrotypes, tintypes, stereos to special process prints – 1850 to pre-1920. Lorne covers: Sport, Social, Fashion and Industrial development.


early cycling

Show and Tell Night - November 17, 2004

One of our most popular programs is members' show and tell night. Feel free to bring any unusual item from your collection and share its story with the rest of us! For example, shown at the right is part of a beautiful brass trimmed walnut box. About the size of a pencil box, the cover logo proudly proclaims 'Zeiss Ikon', the marque of the famous German camera conglomerate formed in 1926. Come out and hear what this fine piece of craftsmanship has to do with photography! That and much more will be shown the 17th!

Well. as it turned out, all BUT the Zeiss pencil-box got recognition, but that is another story. Click the program title to link to the details.


unusual Zeiss Ikon box

(Not SO) SILENT AUCTION - the sequel - December 15, 2004

15 months ago, we held an inpromptu auction of PHSC items. While it began as a silent auction, it quickly segued into a traditional auction. In December 2004 we held the sequel with a number of items from the PHSC (Boccioletti). The 60+ lots including a sink and an enlarger too big to bring to the auction went under the hammer and all lots found a new home.

Preceeding the auction was the annual Christmas gift exchange.

Ed Warner & Bill Kantymir
the auction tag team

Movie NITE - January 19, 2005

Welcome in the New Year with a friendly chat with fellow members and catch a movie of interest to photographers and historians. We are going to be treated to a special movie for this coming January. The 47 minute film, Moving Pictures invites us to survey the 50 year career of Colin Low who directed over 200 films during his lifetime. This is one of several NFB films that features the history of photography and of those who were leaders in the field.

The Holland Brothers - February 16, 2005

Our resident movie affectionado, Robert Gutteridge visited Harvard last year in pursuit of information on the Holland Brothers, pioneers in the Canadian movie industry. Tonight he related his findings to date (How I Spent My PHSC Grant) including material gathered from letters and papers now owned by Harvard. An article was published in Photographic Canadiana (30-5). If you missed this talk, you will just have to wait for Robert's book to be published to find out more about this aspect of Canadian history.


The Photographic Holdings
of the Ontario Archives - March 16, 2005

The century old Archives of Ontario fonds contain a wealth of material of interest to Canadians and others interested in Canadian history and institutions. On March 16th Mary Ledwell joined us to reveal the scope of Archives' photographic holdings.

Mary Ledwell of the Archives of Ontario

The Evolution of Portraiture - April 20th, 2005

Long time PHSC member Gerry Loban will discuss one of his favourite topics - portraiture. Twenty years ago Gerry took make-believe 1850s portraits complete with period clothing at the Markham fair grounds. Join us in April for a fascinating look at portraiture - the driving force behind photography since 1839. The presentation begins immediately after the brief annual business meeting.

Gerry Loban - c1850 style portrait
Gerald Loban
c1850 style portrait


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