Category Archives: history

d…d…d…double t…t…t…take

Posted on November 1, 2024 by Robert

Toronto.  Shades of George Dunbar and Mike Filey! These gentlemen too shot areas of Toronto matching archival photos for ‘then’ and ‘now’ images of the city as it grew. In issue 17-5, Randall Reid wrote an illustrated article about his … Continue reading →

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way before ‘flash’ gordon …

Posted on October 30, 2024 by Robert

Toronto. … in fact many decades before. NB. For those born after say 1990, here is the article on Mr Gordon. Meantime back  in the late 1800s, some enterprising folk came up with ways to compensate for the abysmally slow … Continue reading →

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doing the things we had to do …

Posted on October 29, 2024 by Robert

Toronto. In issue 17-4, Ev wrote an article about a Toronto photographer, John Crawford, and his boss Nelson Hutchinson (Hitch). In part Ev writes, “Digressing for a moment, John related a humorous occurrence during his time with Hitch. Previously mentioned … Continue reading →

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daddy, daddy, come and see …

Posted on October 28, 2024 by Robert

Toronto. … lots and lots of lots for you and me (apologies to Hellerman and Minkof). I first heard this song in the mid 1960s sung hauntingly by Harry Belafonte. Next month, November 24th, we will host our fall Estates … Continue reading →

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just zoomin’ along

Posted on October 27, 2024 by Robert

Toronto. In the late 1950s, when I bought my Exakta, ZOOM lenses for 35mm cameras were rather short on focal length range, slower than prime lenses,  heavier, had serious distortion, and were far more expensive. In 1959, Kilfitt in Germany … Continue reading →

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point to ponder

Posted on October 24, 2024 by Robert

Toronto.  in the mid 20th century, the Exakta was a rare bird – a 35mm film SLR. The bright view was accomplished by a special waist level viewer, a fast lens and a mirror the size of the film frame. … Continue reading →

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a crick in the neck

Posted on October 13, 2024 by Robert

Toronto. In the days of pathetically slow emulsions, devices like the head clamp were used in studios to ensure the subject remained motionless for the time needed to get a decent exposure. Once emulsion speeds reached the sub-second levels these … Continue reading →

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drawing from Dags

Posted on October 12, 2024 by Robert

Toronto. We had the pleasure of hearing speaker Philippe Maurice from Alberta back in November, 1996. In issue 17-3 Philippe has an article titled, “The Artist’s Hand – Engravings Based on Daguerreotypes”. This harkens back to Daguerre’s original idea for … Continue reading →

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a commercial focus …

Posted on October 11, 2024 by Robert

Toronto. Issue 17-3 has an article on commercial  photography by Toronto’s City Archivist, Steve MacKinnon. The photo at left shows the lack of sky detail in early work when all films were orthochromatic (insensitive to red and barely sensitive to … Continue reading →

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bang! you’re shot …

Posted on October 8, 2024 by Robert

Toronto. The late 1930s saw the rise in so called subminiature cameras with the Minox arguably the best known. To stand out, the Doryu company in Japan marketed this novel submini that used 16mm film. The one shown at left … Continue reading →

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