Category Archives: history

jungle fever

Posted on September 5, 2023 by Robert

Toronto. Jungles are unkind to photographers. Hot, humid, dangerous places full of fungus and mold. No place for cameras! In the late 1800s or so, manufactures made special ‘tropical’ cameras. Instead of a leather covering on wood (organic leather was … Continue reading →

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cool shots in the far north

Posted on September 4, 2023 by Robert

Toronto. Photography in the far north was rugged for most of the year. Exposed to the elements, camera shutters froze; lenses misted over; and the cold could only briefly be tolerated by the photographer. This was eased for the few … Continue reading →

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horsin’ around

Posted on August 28, 2023 by Robert

Toronto. No foolin’ – a great way to discover the history of your town or city is through old photographs. And a great way to find old photographs is to visit your local archive – or the Library and Archives … Continue reading →

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play ball -1913 style

Posted on August 24, 2023 by Robert

Toronto. Sports photographers are a segment of photographers like PHSC member Les Jones who are dedicated to taking photos of sports games and individual athletes (and often specializing in a specific sport). In the course of searching out photo history, … Continue reading →

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exciting city life and death

Posted on August 22, 2023 by Robert

Toronto. A news photographer led a hectic and dangerous job at times. We have seen many news photographers in Toronto, including our late editor Bob Lansdale and his wife Margaret. Bob mentioned to me at one time getting a shot … Continue reading →

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a broader view

Posted on August 18, 2023 by Robert

  Toronto. Over a century ago, cameras were made to take a very wide, ‘panorama’, photo. Kodak made some with a lens that swings in a 180 degree arc and the famous geared version (Cirkut) that rotated the entire camera … Continue reading →

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heavenly shower

Posted on August 16, 2023 by Robert

Toronto. Each year as the world rotates around the sun, it passes through the comet debris known as the Perseids meteors. The best and most spectacular display of the resulting ‘shooting stars’ is mid August. While Astronomical  Photography was and … Continue reading →

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train photography

Posted on August 13, 2023 by Robert

Toronto. For many decades travel by train was elite. Train travel gave way to aircraft in time and then passenger trains slowly disappeared for the most part. Most modern day trains are busy shipping goods across North America. A couple … Continue reading →

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aide-de-combat

Posted on August 9, 2023 by Robert

Toronto. The idea for this article comes from my good friend George Dunbar. The Legion magazine is online in both official languages. We mentioned war photographers in a number of earlier posts. Here we relate to the techniques of the … Continue reading →

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botany and the first book with cyanotypes of specimens

Posted on August 5, 2023 by Robert

Toronto. Did you ever wonder about the first time a book was printed with photographs included? And the topic? and the author? Well, wonder no more! My good friend and fellow PHSC member, Les Jones, (author, sports photographer, past president … Continue reading →

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