Category Archives: history

a bridge too far …

Posted on October 21, 2022 by Robert

Toronto. The other day, George Dunbar sent me an article on the Lethbridge, Alberta ‘High Level Bridge’ over the ‘Oldman River Valley’. The article is illustrated with a photo by the late Toronto photographer Jane Hinton (1936-2020). Some of Ms … Continue reading →

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sometimes a camera is really special

Posted on October 19, 2022 by Robert

Toronto. Take for example the camera in this 1934 advertisement. Two years earlier in 1932, Kodak began marketing a new smaller film format for the family ‘movie’ photographer  starting out during the great depression when money and jobs were so … Continue reading →

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time gentlemen please

Posted on October 18, 2022 by Robert

Toronto.  For decades companies would rebadge fancy watches for sales staff and other folk, As a youth, I bought a Bulova Accutron which is a mechanism driven by a tuning fork in turn driven by a transistor. Companies like Amanda … Continue reading →

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trey trays

Posted on October 16, 2022 by Robert

Toronto. In the glory days of film photography anyone in the know would have or have the use of a darkroom to develop black and white prints. Common to almost all darkrooms was a trio of trays. The first held … Continue reading →

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cheap shot

Posted on October 13, 2022 by Robert

Toronto. Sometimes when you can’t offer better specs, you can suggest the offering has many pieces. I fell for this gambit as a kid. I bought a “computer” from NYC which was touted as having 100s of parts. Turned out … Continue reading →

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a fair collection

Posted on October 8, 2022 by Robert

Toronto. In 1880, the company that became Bell Canada was founded in this city – later to move to Montreal, the major city in Canada at the time. The site called Daily Hive has numerous photos of the CNE over … Continue reading →

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so near yet so far

Posted on October 6, 2022 by Robert

Toronto. The second book in Douglas Adams‘ five volume “trilogy” – The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy – is titled “The Restaurant at the end of the Universe“. It clarifies the difference between physical distance and temporal distance. Similarly, while … Continue reading →

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he is the flash man

Posted on October 5, 2022 by Robert

Toronto. The March, 1946 edition of Popular Mechanics has an article on a unique 35mm camera designed for the US Army’s Surgeon General. Around the camera’s lens is a flash tube that flashes a 1/25,000th second burst of light “brighter … Continue reading →

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anything for a buck …

Posted on October 4, 2022 by Robert

Toronto. Some people will do anything for money. While a dollar ring sounds junky (and maybe it was), 20 years later 18k gold was still about $25/ounce Canadian. This ad, from the March 1946 issue of Popular Mechanics magazine, touts … Continue reading →

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a letter of recommendation

Posted on October 3, 2022 by Robert

Toronto. Have you ever noticed that others imitate successful processes? For decades in the first half of last century, camera makers used to tout how reliable their models were by printing  ‘letters’ from organizations that pushed them to the max. … Continue reading →

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