Category Archives: history

moon walk and photography

Posted on July 14, 2019 by Robert

Toronto. 50 years ago this month man finallly escaped gravity and landed on the moon. Neil Armstrong was the first human to walk on our moon, He photographed his associate Buzz Aldrin, the second man to walk on the moon. … Continue reading →

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even educated fleas do it

Posted on July 13, 2019 by Robert

Toronto.   The title of this post is a line from a 1928 Cole Porter song (Let’s Do It). I first heard it in the 1950s on a Columbia LP of Noel Coward at the Desert Inn in Las Vegas. … Continue reading →

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really, really, close close-ups

Posted on July 12, 2019 by Robert

Toronto. Like a few other camera factories, Leitz is known for its microscopes. For years the makers of microscopes also made camera like devices to mount on the microscope and record little parts highly magnified. A few years after the … Continue reading →

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a head for photography

Posted on July 11, 2019 by Robert

Toronto. George Dunbar sent me this image of a diver using a Leica with the special release accessory operated by teeth. This is photo number 17 in the series, “Weird, Wonderful Photos from Another Era” shown in an article by … Continue reading →

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the next generation?

Posted on July 10, 2019 by Robert

Toronto. Trekkies everywhere will recognize this famous inter-galactic spaceship. When the art of photography was announced in January, 1839, it too was revolutionary: Two different processes were announced – one in France; one in England. Both were monochromatic,  dead slow, … Continue reading →

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lookin’ for Llewellyn

Posted on July 9, 2019 by Robert

Toronto. On June 17th, Kay McGinnis wrote me searching for information on Llewellyn Abbott, or more precisely our articles on his photo studio employers in the big smoke. I sent Kay copies as asked and sent her request on to … Continue reading →

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“I see”, said the blind man …

Posted on July 6, 2019 by Robert

Toronto. — as he picked up his hammer and saw … This old bromide was around when I was a kid. The photograph at left was taken by P (Philip) H Figary, 590 Yonge St, Toronto (west side of Yonge, a … Continue reading →

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Al Who’s little Italian Buddy

Posted on July 4, 2019 by Robert

Toronto. The company “San Giorgio” (St George in English) was founded in Genova, Italy in 1905 to manufacture automobiles. Like many companies, products changed to those with more potential for profit. San Giorgio S.I.p.A. dropped automobiles and moved on to … Continue reading →

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New York in 1914 with the prototype Leica camera

Posted on July 2, 2019 by Robert

Toronto. On the eve of the Great War, the son and namesake of Ernst Leitz, Ernst Leitz II, arrived  in the Big Apple with the novel tiny ur-Leica created by Oskar Barnack. Leitz took a number of street scenes with … Continue reading →

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a great smoke

Posted on June 30, 2019 by Robert

Toronto. Many of us are unaware that the U.S. civil war prompted Britain to establish our country in 1867. Ulysses  S Grant led the North in the fierce battle over slavery. This CdV is stored in the archive of the … Continue reading →

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