Monthly Archives: July 2022

a wonderful view

Toronto. Throughout the 1800s and into the early 1900s, the view camera was a popular camera design. Everyone knew a wooden box and bellows on a tripod meant a photographer was at work! The view camera was rather simple in … Continue reading

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see anyone you know?

Toronto. In the late 1960s and early 1970s when camera collecting took off, a subset of collectors included photos in their collection. I think it was a bit random at the beginning, then collectors realized cased images like daguerreotypes and … Continue reading

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the perfect bid

Toronto. This post is courtesy of Sonja Pushchak. It involves a bid in an Austrian auction reported in a British society’s newsletter (Tailboard). The post title is a riff on the movie, “The  Perfect Storm” were the forces of mother nature … Continue reading

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puppy love

Toronto. In the 1930s when this ad was displayed (May, 1939 issue of Popular Mechanics) Graflex was a stand alone company once again and worked hard to gain access to the amateur photographers in America. The company ran photo contests … Continue reading

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not all bad

Toronto. The great depression was a nightmare for most folks, culminating in the second world war. A sliver of silver lining in the gloomy clouds of depression was the fall in most retail prices. By June of 1939, even the … Continue reading

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before we had polaroid cameras

Toronto.  George Dunbar in his search of old magazines for ads and articles relevant to photography often finds unusual stories and cameras. For example, the June, 1939 Popular Mechanics magazine had a filler article called, “Two-Minute Photo Printed in Portable … Continue reading

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Communications courageous

Toronto. When photography was first announced back in January, 1839, the world was ecstatic. Samuel F. B. Morse, inventor of the telegraph, was visiting France that year and brought the Daguerreotype process back home with him to America. It was … Continue reading

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8mm to the rescue

Toronto. By 1932, the world’s worst ever depression was well underway. Jobs were lost in droves. Fortunes disappeared literally overnight. Buying on margin became an instant pariah. Photo industry companies used novel ideas kept some of the amateur photographers active. … Continue reading

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more than one way to skin a cat …

Toronto. …. or ride a frisky horse. The May, 1939 article from Popular Mechanics shows how a stuffed horse could simulate a bucking broncho in a photo taken for the folks back home! Notice how the professional photographer uses a … Continue reading

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before there was Virtual Reality ….

Toronto.  … there was Stereo. After all, Virtual Reality (VR) is just Stereo on steroids – i.e. interactive video in stereo. Modern day VR is experimenting with various techniques such as projecting directly on the human retina. In the PHSC, … Continue reading

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