Author Archives: Robert

what’s leaves got to do with it

Posted on November 3, 2020 by Robert

Toronto. Falling leaves. Cold. Damp. Windy. November in the city and winter is about to rush in. As I write this post on the 1st, we are seeing our first snow flurries of the coming season. Leaves have a lot … Continue reading →

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1932 – Technicolor and Doctor X

Posted on November 2, 2020 by Robert

Toronto. The first time I saw a Technicolor two colour process colour film was the other evening when I viewed the 1932 film “Doctor X” via TV courtesy of TCM who ran the UCLA Film Archive recreated version on safety … Continue reading →

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what a bargain!

Posted on November 1, 2020 by Robert

Toronto. Do you remember street photographers? They were itinerant photographers who snapped people as they walked along city streets and sold their work accordingly. Sometimes the photo was a ferrotype (tintype) and the finished photo was ready in a minute … Continue reading →

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scandalous

Posted on October 31, 2020 by Robert

Toronto. And a spooky halloween to you all in this year of the pandemic! I thought it fitting to talk about a scandal that affected the famous Notman Studios. Years ago I bought a coffee table size book of William … Continue reading →

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electricity to the rescue

Posted on October 30, 2020 by Robert

Toronto. Whenever a new technology or process was announced people found ways to use it for profit. A few decades ago photographers set up multi flash units to light large areas when a shot was taken. The idea of harnessing … Continue reading →

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Alice is at it again

Posted on October 29, 2020 by Robert

Toronto. After film’s popularity surged in 1880 with the famous Kodak camera, the race was on to increase its detail (resolution) and speed. By the time film faded from popular use, both resolution and speed had increased significantly. A friend … Continue reading →

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bigger than Texas …

Posted on October 28, 2020 by Robert

Toronto.  … and even Ontario! CNET reports that SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory recently announced the world’s largest digital camera. The article on CNET is, “Scientists capture world’s first 3,200-megapixel photos” and states, “They successfully test the focal plane on the … Continue reading →

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those wonderful old home movies

Posted on October 27, 2020 by Robert

Toronto. I recently did a post on “1839 and all that” featuring a short video on daguerreotype restoration from MoMA in New York City. This post borrows from MoMA magazine once again, this time a 10 minute video showing home … Continue reading →

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copy, copy that!

Posted on October 26, 2020 by Robert

Toronto. In  the early 1900s, some American companies sold fancy copy machines, that relied upon photography, to prosperous companies. Their machines snapped and recorded material directly to photographic paper, which was sometimes developed and fixed automatically. But not everyone could … Continue reading →

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simplicity again

Posted on October 25, 2020 by Robert

Toronto. In the late 1960s, Kodak aggressively pushed its ads to capture the low end of the home movie market. My October 14th post, “eulogy for simplicity” showed one ad Kodak used in this approach. This teaser ad shows another … Continue reading →

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