February 15, 2023 PHSC Presentation via Zoom

Posted on February 4, 2023 by Robert

Where I stand is fair and square [Silo City, Buffalo, New York] (Performance Art by Lauren Regier, photographed by Taralyn Brinkman)

Toronto. We are very please to have Ms Lauren Regier as our speaker this month.

A blurb about Ms Regier says, “Lauren Regier is an interdisciplinary artist based in Niagara, Ontario with a Graduate Diploma in Arts Management from Queen’s University.

“Her practice explores the ways in which humans perceive their surroundings and the roles they play. In bringing forth intrinsic elements of a healthy ecosystem, she draws parallels in how humans relate, or diverge from these paths.”

Whether you are a professional or amateur photographer, or a collector of cameras or images, this ZOOM presentation will be of interest to you. To register, go to Eventbrite. Any questions? Contact our programs co-ordinator, Celio Barreto, at program@phsc.ca. Please note, older Eventbrite programs by the PHSC are available here. Just click on the “Past (nn)” button.

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the way we were – updated and corrected.

Posted on February 3, 2023 by Robert

A quiet-looking King Street, Saint John, NB, circa 1870, Canada from the LAC in Ottawa courtesy Daily Mail article. (ERRATA: Shown as Toronto initially, not Saint John.)

Toronto. Thanks to Trish J who diligently searched the LAC site and discovered this photo is NOT King St TORONTO, but King St SAINT JOHN NB!

Trish J writes, “A photograph of King Street, Saint John NB is mistakenly labelled as King Street, Toronto.  The article is “The Way We Were” from Jan. 20, 2023.

“I went to the Library Archives of Canada’s website and did a search for King Street, Saint John, NB and this is the 2nd photo that I hit.  It dates from 1867-1873 and is found in box 55016.

“King Street in Toronto is not hilly and it doesn’t run down to the harbour.  This mistake had been copied on to Facebook’ vintage Toronto page.   Please publish an errata.”

I really appreciate viewers taking the time to email me any errors or corrections to posts. Just email info@phsc.ca and show the post name and date so I can find it easily (this site has been in operation over two decades).

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how much is enough?

Posted on February 3, 2023 by Robert

Camera Lens view of a Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra smart phone

Toronto. Did you hear? the newest Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra comes with a 200MPX camera! A How-to Geek article called,”The Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra Has a Wild 200 MP Camera describes this astonishing phone. Last fall, the same site notes the first 200MPX camera in,”We’re Now in the Age of 200MP Smartphone Cameras“.

As astonishing as this news may be, film still reigns supreme for fine details if all else is high quality, including the photographer. Ken Rockwell has a delightful article comparing pixels to film called,”Pixel Count of Film“. I was surprised to see that even at 200MPX, film can still do better. I suspect that digital convenience and capabilities far outweigh the raw resolution issue.

When I was using a Windows system, I had special printer driver software from SilverFast that wrung the very most from the printed image – it was an eye-opener. Unfortunately it isn’t available for the Mac.

In the days when I had a 3MPX camera, I was told one needed at least 35MPX to match Kodachrome … I must say that my iPod Touch with its 8MPX camera and the Focus Magic plug-in for AffinityPhoto (and other software that uses the Photoshop plugin standard) gives me very acceptable photos making the tiny iPod Touch my go to camera.

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to print or not to print

Posted on February 2, 2023 by Robert

Toronto. The popularity of mid 1800s printing made possible the Victorian practice of making a photographic album. This practice carried on well into the next century.

When the idea of albums disappeared, a drawer, shoe box or other small space served to hold photos of family interest and history.

When digital photography came along, most images were simply filed in a computer or smart phone. Sadly, changes in technology may mean the files cannot be opened in the future, or viewer formats may change making old files forever un-viewable.

A simple solution would be to routinely print those images felt to be of future interest to a family genealogist or historian.

Note: The title of this post is a riff on Shakespeare’s famous soliloquy from Hamlet, “To be or not to be”. And the title of the photo is a riff on a line from a 1966 song by Simon and Garfunkel, “59th Street Bridge Song“.

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a bank clerk makes good

Posted on February 1, 2023 by Robert

a cartoon showing Eastman when he discovered photography – Courtesy of the Eastman Museum (I have a book with this image somewhere)

Toronto. When Englishman Richard Maddox discovered a dry plate process fast enough for use in a camera, he set in motion many things including the shift in technological revolution from the old world to the new. During the 1870s in the USA, three companies developed and made dry plates for sale in stores.

Two of the three were professional photographers who immigrated from Europe. The third was a young American-born person with no professional experience. He was George Eastman, a junior clerk in a Rochester bank. Eastman left the bank and after many experiments founded The Eastman Dry Plate Company aided by a well established businessman with deep pockets.

Eastman’s savvy led to film, the famous Kodak and Brownie lines of cameras, plus many merges and acquisitions, and the discovery of a high quality colour transparency process (Kodachrome), filters, darkroom chemicals and eventually to his company, now called Eastman Kodak, becoming the world’s largest photographic enterprise offering still cameras, movie cameras, film, darkroom products, and more for amateurs and professionals alike.

George never married and in 1932 he perished by his own hand after famously writing, “My work is done. Why wait?”. A few years later, Kodachrome came on the market and ‘black and white’ film continued to be improved in speed and resolution – just a few of the massive creations by Kodak post 1932, Hint: The first digital cameras began life in a Kodak Laboratory but the discovery was never acted on until it was far too late for Kodak.

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… and keep your camera dry

Posted on January 31, 2023 by Robert

photo of a box of Seed’s Dry Plates courtesy of Petapixel

Toronto. The wet-plate process became the primary process in photography for the next few decades until another Englishman, Richard Maddox solved its problems of slow speed, damp cameras, and the need for immediate exposure and processing.

Maddox came up with a dry plate process whereby dry sensitized glass plates could be sold at retail to be later exposed (still on a tripod, but possible to be used hand held in bright sun) and even later processed. A sub-second or ‘instantaneous’ shutter was needed on the camera.

The Maddox process led the way to innovation in America and the gradual use of plastic flexible film (in movies and minicams) in place of glass plates for the century from about 1870 to 1970 when digital technology slowly began to gain ground over film.  Today with very fast, full colour, digital cameras and smart phones, innovations like dry plates have disappeared into history.

Note. The title of the post is a riff on a saying attributed to Englishman Oliver Cromwell, “Trust in God and keep your powder dry“.

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when wet-plate was king

Posted on January 30, 2023 by Robert

Toronto. Of the two earliest photographic processes, most photographers chose to use the Daguerreotype. It was free (outside England), had the best resolution by far, and had good contrast. But it was limited to one plate unless the plate was copied – over and over.

On the other hand, Fox Talbot‘s process – the Calotype – could make any number of prints, but it suffered  a softer contrast and far lower resolution.

The emulsion could be applied to glass and sensitized, but it was so slow that it was only suitable for contact prints, not for use in a camera. This all changed around 1851 when the Englishman, Frederick Scott-Archer, announced his new wet-plate process.  The process was fast enough to be used in a camera on a tripod – still too slow to need a sub-second shutter. The gun-cotton based emulsion coated a glass plate and was sensitized with a silver -nitrate solution.

Immediately after the glass plate was sensitized and before it dried, the medium had to be exposed in the camera and developed. If it should dry, the glass plate would become so insensitive that it was useless in a camera and would not be successfully developed.

The sticky goo that oozed off the wet plates slowly destroyed the cameras making wet-plate area cameras obvious and extremely rare in decent condition.

 

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Hollywood in the Klondike – Book Review

Posted on January 29, 2023 by Robert

Hollywood in the Klondike as reviewed by George Dunbar

Toronto. About five years ago I did a post called, “Frozen in Time” about some movie reels discovered up in Dawson City. Since then Michael Gates has written a book about the find.

Our good friend, “George Dunbar” managed to get a copy and generously wrote this review:

“Here’s a wonderful book that’s sure to please those interested in early Hollywood history, the Klondike gold rush and particularly, an amazing film treasure discovered in Dawson City in 1978: “Hollywood in the Klondike,” by Michael Gates.
“The following are my notes upon the enjoyment of this Canadian/Hollywood film history. Perhaps some editing and rewrites will be required, but my enthusiasm should be evident.”
(There are no quotes below as I took all of Mr Dunbar’s review.)

Continue reading →

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flattop revisited

Posted on January 28, 2023 by Robert

April 1950 ad showing how the light in the Hobbyist is spread evenly by design

Toronto. A few days ago I did a post on a February, 1950 ad for Kodak’s enlarger – the Hobbyist. Two months after that ad, Kodak did another one on the Hobbyist, this time explaining the way the Hobbyist ensured even lighting and encouraged the use of fluorescent ‘circular’ bulb illumination in enlargers.

While the idea of a circular fluorescent bulb was promoted for a few years, the idea of using fluorescent rather than incandescent lighting in enlargers never really took off.

In fact, I was unaware of the virtues and alternatives offered by the use of a fluorescent bulb. To me, all fluorescent bulbs were a pain as they caused static detected by many short-wave radios, including mine.

I did experiment on using a circular Fluorescent light source by adding it sandwiched between two aluminum pie plates to an old Federal enlarger with no light head. No great shakes – too dim for my taste. A hearty thanks to my good friend, George Dunbar, for this ad and follow up on the Hobbyist.

NOTE. The title is a riff on British author Evelyn Waugh’s 1945 book, “Brideshead Revisited“.

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egging it on

Posted on January 27, 2023 by Robert

c1950 farm chickens and eggs

Toronto. In the early days of photography, the idea of paper prints took hold. Thus the albumen print came into being. At its peak, photography was a major user of eggs.

Albumen (or raw egg whites) was (were) used to stick the light sensitive emulsion coating to the paper and give the print its slightly glossy look.

The thin paper, ‘glue’, and emulsion coatings with the emulsion coating sensitized, made the resulting photo-sensitive print extremely curly. This was solved by gluing the paper to a cardboard backing, a practice that continued on with CdVs and other sizes of studio prints (popular in the mid to later 1800s).

Note. The photo is that of my father’s sister on her farm. The sale of eggs gave my aunt ‘pin money’. The photo was taken with a Kodak camera – most likely my dad’s folder, but it may have originated in my box camera (also a Kodak). Of course, albumen prints had long passed into history by then.

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