Category Archives: history

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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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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1839 and all that

Posted on October 21, 2020 by Robert

Toronto. The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) Magazine in the Big Apple offers many interesting talks about photography. In this one, conservator Lee Ann Daffner of MoMA thoughtfully treats the tarnish on a c1842 daguerreotype by Joseph-Philibert Girault de Prangey. Listen to this … Continue reading →

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a fine balance

Posted on October 20, 2020 by Robert

Toronto. Modern day smartphone cameras have editors with colour balance and other colour effects built-in. The tiny cameras automatically set the colour balance to white as a starting point so few images need any editing unless the image creator wishes … Continue reading →

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what were they thinking?

Posted on October 16, 2020 by Robert

Toronto. Today, we all take photography for granted. Images are shot endlessly to record things once written, or capture family moments, or pets, or property changes, etc. We leave news, tv, political, formal portraits, etc. images to the professionals. With … Continue reading →

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beating the bus

Posted on October 15, 2020 by Robert

Toronto. Even before the announcement of photography experimenters struggled to get drawings and later photos to distant locations without resorting to buses or other vehicles of land or sea based locomotion. Telegraph offered a way to send images if they … Continue reading →

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eulogy for simplicity

Posted on October 14, 2020 by Robert

Toronto. Kodak made its money in the days of film by selling, ummm, film. And to do that, Kodak sold inexpensive cameras – film burners. But with seemingly a big difference to its competitors – they listened to their customers. … Continue reading →

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just a girl and her camera

Posted on October 12, 2020 by Robert

Toronto. At a ZOOM meeting the other day, Celio, noted the most popular posts to our Instagram site were photos of photographers with their cameras. Celio collaborated with our newest PHSC exec recruit, Alexandra, to find a way to celebrate … Continue reading →

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