Category Archives: history

brother, can you spare $2.98 US?

Posted on October 24, 2023 by Robert

Toronto. Post WW2, any miniature camera was usually called a ‘spy’ camera. Many American marketing companies brought in finished cameras from Occupied Japan and flogged them State-side. Usually the cameras were claimed to be ‘precision’ or ‘precision-made’ although most were … Continue reading →

Posted in history | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on brother, can you spare $2.98 US?

YAR (yet another rangefinder)

Posted on October 23, 2023 by Robert

Toronto. Graflex had a great line of large format cameras, ruggedly made, and very popular. Many professional news and street photographers used one of the cameras day or night. One perceived shortfall was the lack of a means to focus … Continue reading →

Posted in history | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on YAR (yet another rangefinder)

catch the wave II

Posted on October 22, 2023 by Robert

Toronto. A recent post, “catch the wave“, spoke of Kodak’s technique to ‘monetize’ the latest popularity of stereo in the 1950s. A brief (very brief) competitor emerged in 1955 – the Delta Stereo by Lennor Engineering Co in Illinois. The … Continue reading →

Posted in history | Tagged , , , , | Comments Off on catch the wave II

.. and the kitchen sink

Posted on October 21, 2023 by Robert

Toronto. In the mid last century, Kodak was a giant in the photographic industry. The Feb 1955 Popular Mechanics ad shows just how all encompassing mighty Kodak was here in North America. The ad offers many darkroom tools that amateurs … Continue reading →

Posted in history | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on .. and the kitchen sink

catch the wave

Posted on October 18, 2023 by Robert

Toronto. As mentioned many posts back, stereo has a surge in popularity about once every half century as new technology improves the images. In the 1950s another surge hit with toys, cameras, books, articles, movies, slides, colour, viewers, and projectors … Continue reading →

Posted in history | Tagged , , , , | Comments Off on catch the wave

remember Stanley?

Posted on October 17, 2023 by Robert

Toronto. As a kid in grade school, I remember a photo in my geography book. It was taken in Stanley Park, BC and showed a huge fir tree trunk with an early automobile and people nestled inside at the bottom. … Continue reading →

Posted in auction, history | Tagged , , , , , | Comments Off on remember Stanley?

Vieux Montreal

Posted on October 16, 2023 by Robert

Toronto. George Dunbar writes, “Plenty of wonderful archived images for viewing and sale at this site: https://www.shorpy.com/. George used the photo at left of Jacques Cartier Square c1900 in Old Montreal as an example of the interesting and historic photos available … Continue reading →

Posted in history | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on Vieux Montreal

king of the heap

Posted on October 14, 2023 by Robert

Toronto. A game we played as kids was “King of the Castle”. The young kids struggled to get on the top of the pile – the others were all  “dirty rascals”. The idea of the game applied to many industries, … Continue reading →

Posted in history | Tagged , , , , , , | Comments Off on king of the heap

sweet!

Posted on October 13, 2023 by Robert

Toronto. The January 1956 ad for Graflex in Popular Mechanics magazine was typical of the photography ads of the time. The ad touted Graflex products as ideal for colour images. Not mentioned was that colour transparencies and electronic flash were … Continue reading →

Posted in history | Tagged , , , , , , | Comments Off on sweet!

the man speaks for himself

Posted on October 9, 2023 by Robert

Toronto. Karsh emigrated to Ottawa where he became a famous Canadian photographer. He was interviewed by the ICP many times and you can hear the recordings of his interviews in this article posted on December 23, 2018 by Christopher George. … Continue reading →

Posted in history | Tagged , | Comments Off on the man speaks for himself