Category Archives: history

catching the wave

Posted on April 5, 2021 by Robert

Toronto. My now elderly NEX-6 boasts a maximum ISO of 25,600 (so noisy only black and white images are okay). Back in 1967, a maximum ASA (ISO) unpushed, was around ASA 400 (Tri-X). This speed was far too slow to … Continue reading →

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controlling the market

Posted on April 3, 2021 by Robert

Toronto. For decades Kodak controlled the film market by creating new film sizes and the cameras to use them. Heavy advertising prompted the ill informed public to buy the latest Kodak camera and use Kodak film.  An example is this … Continue reading →

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can you help us with this question?

Posted on March 30, 2021 by Robert

Toronto. As many of you may know, amongst other ideals, we are devoted to helping others with photographic history questions – especially Canadian. The other day we had a question from the curator of the Lennox-Addington Museum and Archives in … Continue reading →

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deep thoughts developing

Posted on March 25, 2021 by Robert

Toronto. My thanks to Annex Photo here in the big smoke for the image illustrating today’s post. Give them a try if you are one of those folk determined to use film and film cameras. Ever since I was a … Continue reading →

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Mark Twain on Photography

Posted on March 22, 2021 by Robert

Toronto. Mark Twain is a pseudonym used by American Sam Clemens in writing his books. As Mark Twain, he wrote Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn, books commonly read last century by children everywhere including me. The stories were also turned … Continue reading →

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keeping an eye out

Posted on March 21, 2021 by Robert

Toronto. As this late 1971 LIFE ad for Kodak illustrates, marketeers had to be creative and inspired to create new copy far faster than the engineers and designers could make new cameras with new features. This version of Kodak’s relatively … Continue reading →

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the eye of the beholder

Posted on March 19, 2021 by Robert

Toronto.  The very first issue of the Graflex Journal for 2021 shows a photograph of the news photographers up in Sudbury back in 1953 when cameras and flash were both big and bulky. One brave soul flaunts his Rollei and … Continue reading →

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capturing the essence …

Posted on March 14, 2021 by Robert

Toronto. What is the difference between a good photographer and a great one? In my opinion it is the ability to take a person’s portrait and capture the essence of the person. Bob Lansdale is one such photographer. Much of … Continue reading →

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where the girls are

Posted on March 11, 2021 by Robert

Toronto. I was just a tiny child when WW2 crashed on the scene. With so many men in the war, girls got the chance to do what was once a man’s job at home and there was no looking back … Continue reading →

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I am a Legend

Posted on March 8, 2021 by Robert

Toronto. As of July, 1989, the magazine Modern Photography finally quit publication. It was a long run beginning in 1937 as Minicam Photography to capture the nascent 35mm camera era. In its last year, the magazine posted a small article … Continue reading →

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