Category Archives: history

the deep end

Posted on May 9, 2023 by Robert

Toronto. As I noted in the previous post, local libraries and archives are helpful to photo collectors. The sample here of a 1945 typing class held in Hamilton, Ontario is courtesy of George Dunbar and his diligent searches on line … Continue reading →

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what the heck is THAT?

Posted on May 8, 2023 by Robert

Toronto. Today, we take automobiles (a.k.a cars) for granted. But at the beginning of the last century cars were a novelty seldom seen outside cities.  Around 1902, an automobile visited Ancaster Township in Ontario (Hamilton area).  It was the first … Continue reading →

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bare ruin’d choirs

Posted on May 7, 2023 by Robert

Toronto. Anyone who studied Shakespeare will recognize the title of  this post as part of a line from one of his sonnets (#73). It is fitting to use it in a post noting the importance of photography and photographers in … Continue reading →

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history’s little helper

Posted on May 4, 2023 by Robert

Toronto. When I was a little kid, I looked at my uncle’s books in awe. One was a story of the Titanic – mostly text with some line drawings. After the ship sank, the author could only speculate on the … Continue reading →

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keen photos

Posted on May 3, 2023 by Robert

Toronto. TMU (a.k.a. Ryerson) has an innovative gallery called, “The Image Centre“. Their exhibition until this summer features many photographers. Their collections include a Canadian mother-daughter team, “Minna Keene and Violet Keene Perinchief“. Shown at left is an example of … Continue reading →

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a list of firsts

Posted on May 2, 2023 by Robert

Toronto. When first announced few photographs were readily available. In short order however, the number of photographs (and photographers) mushroomed as the new phenomena sped ’round the world. Today, we see literally millions of photographs. Some History of Photography books … Continue reading →

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photo history in a nutshell

Posted on May 1, 2023 by Robert

Toronto. Since the previous post discussed digital photographic history, I thought this post could look at analogue photographic history. A brief condensed version was written last century by two folks – Valentino Serra (Photographic Illustrator), and Beaumont Newhall (Curator at … Continue reading →

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the start of it all

Posted on April 30, 2023 by Robert

Toronto. And by all, we mean digital photography, not the 1839 analogue photography (metal, glass, film, paper plus liquid solutions). When radio and electronics began early last century, vacuum tubes did not exist. A few years later, on into the … Continue reading →

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who is this guy, anyway?

Posted on April 29, 2023 by Robert

Toronto. Over the years we have had many studios and photographers in Canada. It takes a lot of digging to unearth facts today like location of studio, kinds of photos, personal history, etc. Some large and well known studios like … Continue reading →

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squaring the circle

Posted on April 28, 2023 by Robert

Toronto. When collectors think of TLR design, they usually think ‘Rollei’. Other firms also made cameras in the TLR design. Most of these cameras seem to follow Rollei in general layout and style. To hop on the minicam bandwagon, the … Continue reading →

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