Category Archives: history

… and everything nice …

Posted on March 19, 2023 by Robert

Toronto. From the earliest days of photography to the invention of dry plates, shutter speeds were unnecessary – the media were far far too slow. A simple hat or lens cap (and verbal counting) served as a shutter. As to … Continue reading →

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a Jolly Irishman makes photography colourful

Posted on March 17, 2023 by Robert

Toronto. One of the goals of photography was to let light create natural colour. All the methods possible were recorded by the Frenchman, Louis Ducos du Hauron and based on the experiments of James Clerk Maxwell. Of course today with … Continue reading →

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Christmas time and the giftin’ is easy

Posted on March 14, 2023 by Robert

Toronto. Well this is either a few months late or a lot of months early for Christmas! My thanks to George Dunbar for sharing this piece of history with us – a December 1951 ad from Kodak in Popular Mechanics … Continue reading →

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kalart to the rescue

Posted on March 13, 2023 by Robert

Toronto. In the mid last century after WW2, flash bulb photography became popular for shooting the very slow media at night or indoors. This avoided using either very slow speeds, or the somewhat intimidating and restraining AC photo flood lamps. … Continue reading →

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a short-lived fad

Posted on March 10, 2023 by Robert

Toronto. George Dunbar sent along this article from Popular Mechanics in its August 1951 issue. The article is about a Vermont man who ‘light paints’ with his camera and a pen light. Shown are a flower and a caricature of … Continue reading →

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mac and alex

Posted on March 7, 2023 by Robert

Toronto. George Dunbar sent me an email recently saying, “The photography of Alexander Henderson is featured in the March issue of Maclean’s magazine.” I subscribed to Maclean’s years ago finding its stories far more interesting to me than the various … Continue reading →

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broaden the beam, matey

Posted on March 6, 2023 by Robert

Toronto. In the early days of photography, studios took portraits by soft northern light, avoided appointments on cloudy days, used ‘unobtrusive’ hand holds, neck braces and clamps to hold the patient, (I meant subject) steady for the seconds/minutes needed to … Continue reading →

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an easy image back-up

Posted on March 3, 2023 by Robert

Toronto. George Dunbar is a fierce supporter of the virtues of printing digital images: The human eye can view prints without fancy software or equipment that may go out of date and leave these memories forever lost. Also, prints are … Continue reading →

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all lens

Posted on March 2, 2023 by Robert

Toronto. Heinrich Ernemann began making cameras when it was founded in 1899 Dresden. In 1926 it was part of the amalgamation which was called Zeiss-Ikon. The Ermanox camera used a single glass plate and a focal plane shutter. The f/2 … Continue reading →

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tong wars

Posted on March 1, 2023 by Robert

Toronto. Sorry, I don’t refer to any Chinese gangs in this post. Instead, I discuss photography tongs – A minor accessory for B&W darkrooms – usually bought in sets of three. In the 1960s, I used tongs made of three … Continue reading →

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