Victoria 1916 – Click to see full image
Toronto. What a difference a century makes! The millennials of today with their ubiquitous smart phones are everywhere! A commercial jet lands on the Hudson river? Click! Click! Click! … A car crash occurs on the 401? Click! Click! Click! … Tourists visit the CN tower? Click! Click! Click!
Today everyone is a photographer. Most of the shots are too blurry or too poorly framed, but the odd one grabs your eye. When 1,000s of shots are taken, the inevitable few good ones make headlines and prove the old chestnut that “the best camera is the one in your hand”.
Not so a century ago. This photograph is from the Victoria BC Times Colonist newspaper of April 2nd, 2017. In an article by Michael D. Reid titled “100 years after Vimy Ridge: UVic exhibit tells of sacrifices”, Reid reports on the exhibit mounted at the University of Victoria to celebrate the centenary of BC soldiers fighting at Vimy Ridge. Look carefully and you will see a single photographer on shore recording the send-off of the troop ship.
The photograph was displayed on Facebook by Sidney Allison back on April 2nd and the photographer with tripod under the shed roof capturing the departing soldiers was enlarged separately by the well known photographic historian David Mattison.
My thanks to George Dunbar for bringing these photographs to my attention and to Louise Freyburger for identifying the Facebook posting.
