Category Archives: history

what a combination!

Posted on December 21, 2020 by Robert

Toronto. Movies and Electronics (not the typical science fiction variety movie) came together in the 1930s to extend human understanding. The 1930s were an exciting time (aside from the devastating depression) in photography and in electronics, The minicam revolution gained … Continue reading →

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ain’t many coloured folks here

Posted on December 20, 2020 by Robert

Toronto. In the 1970s, I enjoyed the local library’s coffee table sized books of famous photographs and American photographers. In these books, I learned of the Farm Security Administration (FSA) program from the 1930s/40s and how it recorded the impact … Continue reading →

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valau for money

Posted on December 18, 2020 by Robert

Toronto. Leitz first introduced the Leica in the mid 1920s to keep employment up at their optical works in Wetzlar during extreme inflation in Germany. Bad timing as it turned out. A few years later, the dirty 30s hit with … Continue reading →

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… the sincerest form ….

Posted on December 13, 2020 by Robert

Toronto. A very common expression is, “imitation is the sincerest form of flattery“. And all the makers of high end cameras had it in spades! Manufactures in Russia, Japan, and even fellow German firms aped the design of the Leica, … Continue reading →

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typewriters and cameras? really?

Posted on December 9, 2020 by Robert

Toronto. When I was a kid, a popular saying was that “a picture is worth a thousand words“.  In the late 1960s, there were two big ideas in amateur cameras: Super 8 home movies, and 16mm sub-miniature cameras. By then … Continue reading →

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it’s complicated

Posted on December 8, 2020 by Robert

Toronto. Photographic product makers worked hard at besting one another to capture a larger segment of the ever growing amateur photography market. Typical of the strategy was this May 1969 ad in LIFE magazine touting Polaroid. The ad emphasizes its … Continue reading →

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professional photographer

Posted on December 7, 2020 by Robert

Toronto. From the very beginning of the art we had studio and landscape photographers. As the art evolved,  becoming faster in exposure, simpler in execution, and growing in popularity, the professional focus rapidly diversified. An example is this 1913 article … Continue reading →

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the gang’s all here

Posted on December 6, 2020 by Robert

Toronto. When Kodak invented their first camera and began marketing it in 1888, for the first time amateurs could take snaps on a roll film and send them elsewhere for processing. In this case sending the exposed film still in … Continue reading →

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All About Enlargers – Part A

Posted on December 5, 2020 by Robert

Toronto. What do you do when a photograph negative is too small? Enlarge it! You may be surprised to learn that enlarging apparatus came along well before the minicam revolution of the 1930s. In this special members-only supplement (vol 1-6) … Continue reading →

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THINK … small

Posted on December 4, 2020 by Robert

Toronto. Decades ago, people said that to get ahead, one had to think big! IBM even had a catch phrase – THINK. Years later when I worked in  a data centre,  IBM folk could get these IBM signs in capital … Continue reading →

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