Monthly Archives: February 2023

developing an interest

Posted on February 28, 2023 by Robert

Toronto. The ad at left is from an old Popular Mechanics magazine, courtesy of my good friend George Dunbar. George writes, “A Testimonial from GD: Many became photographers because of the magic of the darkroom.”. The ad, of course, is Kodak’s … Continue reading →

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family history

Posted on February 27, 2023 by Robert

Toronto. Every family seems to have a ‘keeper’ of records and a photographer who diligently records and photographs the minutiae of life as it is lived. A few decades back, my parents answered a knock on their front door. A … Continue reading →

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all that noise

Posted on February 26, 2023 by Robert

Toronto. One of the short comings of digital images is that they are a bit noisy (especially in poor light or with a high ISO setting). To that end, I had a program at one point that removed noise and … Continue reading →

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foto finnish

Posted on February 25, 2023 by Robert

Toronto. We have one thing in common – we collect cameras: going to garage sales, camera fairs, camera shops, etc. we constantly strive to find an addition for our collection or a better example of a model we already have. … Continue reading →

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remember when?

Posted on February 24, 2023 by Robert

Toronto. There was once a camera exchange across from Simpson’s department store in the Temple Building (Toronto’s first skyscraper) on the north-west corner of Bay and Richmond in downtown Toronto. According to the ad in the 1931 Magnet magazine, they had … Continue reading →

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wintery wonders

Posted on February 23, 2023 by Robert

Toronto. The other night my wife was on the Weather Chanel when she spotted a story about a photographer who captured images of snowflakes. We couldn’t find the short video again and the name of the photographer was forgotten, but … Continue reading →

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flyin’ high

Posted on February 22, 2023 by Robert

Toronto. Jeff Ward was here in the city in August of 2017 (Canada’s 150th) and spoke at our monthly meeting. Since then Jeff has been in periodic communication with the PHSC. Under Facebook in a series of articles called, “The … Continue reading →

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room for a better one

Posted on February 21, 2023 by Robert

Toronto. The title is a riff on the old saying, “… build a better mousetrap …“. One of the earliest cameras was called a mousetrap by the spouse of its creator. It was basically a very small camera obscura. A … Continue reading →

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ya can’t win ’em all …

Posted on February 20, 2023 by Robert

Toronto. There’s an old saying, “one born every minute” attributed to P T Barnum but actually older. The resulting population subset forms the potential audience for the type of gadget advertised in a 1950 issue of Popular Mechanics. Utilitron, the … Continue reading →

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Lucy

Posted on February 19, 2023 by Robert

Toronto. The Camera Lucida was often used by artists to view both the scene in front of them and the canvas in their lap. This marvellous little optical device  (Lucy) was invented by Wollaston around 1806. It is forever tied … Continue reading →

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