Category Archives: history

a really snowy white Christmas

Posted on December 24, 2021 by Robert

Toronto. On December 11, 1944 Toronto had its worst snowfall ever. Over a half metre of snow fell on the city. Nothing moved. A recently married future father-in-law and his friend traipsed blocks along the New Toronto streets to get … Continue reading →

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nighthawks and newshounds

Posted on December 23, 2021 by Robert

Toronto. As night descends on the city, sirens cry out warnings. Yellow crime tape surrounds parts of the city. Marking the spot where deaths, accidents, fires, or other maladys of humanity happened. The area is lit up by brief flashes … Continue reading →

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lousy timing

Posted on December 22, 2021 by Robert

Toronto. Ansco and its predecessors and future companies tried hard as number two to be better than Kodak in films, papers, cameras etc. In the 1920s, known as Agfa-Ansco, the company built a massive factory which went into production the … Continue reading →

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a 10A century studio camera

Posted on December 21, 2021 by Robert

Toronto. Graflex has had a long and storied history beginning in 1887 when it was established  in NYC as Folmer & Schwing, a maker of bicycles. The company expanded and began making Graflex cameras in 1898. Kodak bought the company … Continue reading →

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a star is born

Posted on December 20, 2021 by Robert

Toronto. Today, with modern digital cameras and smartphones, we take colour for granted and convert the results to B&W only for a ‘special effect’. It wasn’t always the case. For many decades various colour processes were tried. Some had good … Continue reading →

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night moves

Posted on December 19, 2021 by Robert

Toronto. Ahhh, 1934 (before I drew a breath) Kodak was advertising its newest film – Super Sensitive (SS)  Panchromatic – plus a couple of inexpensive cameras and special photoflood bulbs ready to screw into their special reflectors or into ordinary … Continue reading →

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never heard of Hessercolor – have you?

Posted on December 18, 2021 by Robert

Toronto. George Dunbar sent me a link from the January, 1934 issue of International Photographer. titled, “The Wonders of Hessercolor“.  There is an interesting article on Hesser at “Broadway Photographs“. Hesser took on Kodak and failed to succeed. He was … Continue reading →

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black is beautiful

Posted on December 17, 2021 by Robert

Toronto. In the 1800s and early 1900s, black enamel was a choice for finishing metal. Sewing machines, microscope bases, lamps, and even the ubiquitous Model T Ford all came in the black enamel finish. When Leica cameras were first sold, … Continue reading →

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sparking a revolution

Posted on December 16, 2021 by Robert

Toronto. While Leica wasn’t the first camera to use 35mm movie film, it was one of the first commercially successful 35mm cameras. The tiny marvel was the brain child of Oscar Barnack. The prototype (UR-Leica) was made by Barnack in … Continue reading →

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smaller can be better

Posted on December 12, 2021 by Robert

Toronto. For many years flash bulbs were used to illuminate scenes at night or indoors.  Early flash guns were somewhat big and required fresh batteries to reliably trigger a flash bulb via a cable connecting flash gun and shutter sync. … Continue reading →

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