Monthly Archives: February 2020

PHSC Consignment Auction March 31, 2020

Toronto. We’re having an auction! A special auction! Everyone Welcome! The lots are being grabbed up fast! We may have room for you at the door, BUT send your photos to auction@phsc.ca and your items will be vetted and valid items sent … Continue reading

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’cause cheap is how I feel

Toronto. If you were living in the Eastern States in 1961, you could buy a  Webcor Regent Coronet stereo tape recorder and get a free movie camera. The camera was the low cost Keystone twenty model with a single f/2.3 … Continue reading

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re-creating the war that started Canada

Toronto. Canada was formed in 1867 in a well known conference held on spud island (PEI). The founding of the Dominion was Britain’s reaction to the US Civil War and its means to protect the British colonies in North America … Continue reading

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hello darkness, my old friend

Toronto. Art and Paul may well have sung about night photography sixty years ago with their Sounds of Silence song in 1964. Mid last century film ASA was very slow – in fact a rating of 200 or so was … Continue reading

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Swiss knives and cameras

Toronto. When the minicam bug took off in the mid 1930s, people traded size for resolution. Companies like Leitz touted the use of enlargers to make large images from the small negatives. And minicams proliferated. The cameras ranged from complex … Continue reading

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I love Paris in the springtime …

Toronto. One of the 19th century photographers I admire is Eugene Atget. My friend and fellow PHSC member Russ Forfar sent me a note on Atget et al recently. Russ said that the Paris, France museums (some 14) have collectively … Continue reading

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double trouble

Toronto. There is a growing debate these days about Russian (and American) interference in the affairs of other countries. Certainly the situation is not helped by our neighbour’s president, the Donald. For a change here’s some good news. My friend … Continue reading

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Toronto’s Past: A Look Back

Toronto. Meeting, Wed, Feb 19, 2020 at 7:45 pm BURGUNDY ROOM, Memorial Hall Toronto’s Past: A Look Back at Social History and Significant Events through Original Period Imagery – Victor D. Caratun, of the Toronto Past Archive “Victor was born and raised … Continue reading

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Mack the Knife

Toronto. In the days of film, there was colour, colour negative, or black and white films of various speeds and contrast curves. You could buy rolls of 20 (later 24 and 27) or 36 exposure. The more frames, the cheaper … Continue reading

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slow down

Toronto. by the early 1930s, the camera industry had settled on a slow shutter speed of 1 second. Anything slower could be taken using “bulb” or “time” settings. Leitz even offered an accessory called a HEBOO so those who bought … Continue reading

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