a bridge too far …

Posted on October 21, 2022 by Robert

news article from Lethbridge saved by George Dunbar.

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 Hinton’s work can be seen on the MutualArt website. A brief bio on that site states, “Jane Hinton was a Canadian artist who was born in 1936. Numerous key galleries and museums such as Mira Godard Gallery have featured Jane Hinton’s work in the past. Jane Hinton’s work has been offered at auction multiple times, with realized prices ranging from 251 USD to 262 USD, depending on the size and medium of the artwork. Since 2020 the record price for this artist at auction is 262 USD for CANADIAN CLICHÉ #3, B.C. WOODEN TRESTLE SINGEL, 2003, sold at Waddington’s in 2022. The artist died in 2020.”

George thinks she may have visited at one of our meetings around 2010.

NOTE. The post title is that of a 1977 movie about a WW2 operation in Holland  of the same name. In turn, the movie is based on a book – also of the same name …

 

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October PHSC Meeting this coming Saturday

Posted on October 20, 2022 by Robert

Stereo card of a nasty disease – part of the exhibit at TMUs RIC

Toronto. You may have noticed we were rather silent this Wednesday as the usual locale is still not open for meetings as yet. Our program chair has lined up an alternative session for this Saturday at the RIC. Celio writes, “PHSC PROGRAM FIELD TRIP!
4PM, Saturday, October 22, 2022 at The Image Centre’s Student Gallery.

“This Saturday October 22nd we will meet at The Image Centre’s Lobby (33 Gould St, Toronto) to visit “The Optics of Science: Early Western Stereographs from The Dr. Martin J. Bass and Gail Silverman Bass Collection” on its closing day. This wonderful exhibit is curated by the 2021-2022 second-year students from Toronto Metropolitan University’s Film + Photography Preservation and Collections Management program. [NOTE: the image and thumbnail used here are from this collection].

“The Optics of Science presents late 19th and early 20th-century three-dimensional stereographic cards and supplementary material from the Bass Collection, part of The Image Centre’s holdings.

“The exhibition and accompanying publication focus on representations of Western science and related knowledge at a time of unprecedented and rapid industrial, social, and geographical change.

“Comprising medical, clinical, anthropological, astronomical, and spirit photographs, the selection highlights the technical and historical intricacies associated with looking at images often entangled with colonial legacies.

“FPPCM Alumni & Friends”

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sometimes a camera is really special

Posted on October 19, 2022 by Robert

a Ciné-Kodak for Christmas ….

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 scarce – the 8mm film.

A camera just like the one in the ad was George Dunbar’s introduction to a like-long interest in cinematography. George sent us the ad and with it he writes, “Published in a small brochure featuring ads from 1934 … this is the camera my Dad used to teach me “cinematography” when I was about six or seven.”

I’m guessing, but from the ribbon, the word ‘gift’ and the first scenes, it looks like a Kodak Christmas ad. In any case, just such a camera had a very special place in George’s life as he became an industrial cinematographer for IBM many years later.

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time gentlemen please

Posted on October 18, 2022 by Robert

ad for the new Leica Watch line

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 rebadged the Accutron which was the first electronic watch. Decades later, Apple created an electronic watch and the software to run it as another line of income.

Recently George Dunbar sent me a copy of an ad for a Leica Watch. Rather than compete with Apple and its all electronic watch, Leica chose to create a mechanical watch with some unique features. Leica is known for its high quality and introduction to the era of the minicam. Leica won its spurs for both lenses and mechanical precision.

George writes, “This full-page appears in the Oct. 16 issue of the New York Times Fashion Magazine.”. Take a look.

NB. This post title is from a British TV comedy series of the same name.

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fiddling with film

Posted on October 17, 2022 by Robert

new Lomography 35mm camera

Toronto. Birgit Buchart over at Lomography sent me a note the other day. Lomography announced a new 35mm camera with a bunch of accessories to bring out the experimental side of the snap shooter. The camera is offered in two versions:, ” LomoApparat Camera Black Edition MSRP: 89 USD https://shop.lomography.com/us/lomoapparat-21mm-point-and-shoot-camera

“LomoApparat Camera Neubau Edition MSRP: 99 USD https://shop.lomography.com/lomoapparat-neubau-wide-angle-camera

“- Fit every adventure in the frame with a 21 mm wide-angle lens
– With fixed settings for super simple snapping anywhere, anytime
– Packed with creative features to guide you through the analogue world
– Snap around the clock with a clever built-in flash & interchangeable colored gel filter design
– Load any 35 mm film for classic analogue character
– Use the close-up lens attachment to get closer…and closer
– Try the kaleidoscope lens attachment for unpredictable, experimental effects
– Experiment with the splitzer lens attachment for unique multiple exposure composition
– Shoot long exposures & multiple exposures with the flick of a switch”

 

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trey trays

Posted on October 16, 2022 by Robert

Paterson coloured plastic trays

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 developer chemical; the second stop bath (or diluted vinegar); and the third the fixer solution.

Washing was done in a large sink under normal lighting and lots of running water to removed the fixer and the unused silver halides the fixer released from the paper. Kodak even sold a fancy siphon for use with a large tray in the sink.

As a high school scholar, the school darkroom was available (at the time, I had others develop my negatives since it was a far fussier process done with special tanks and usually in total darkness following traditional time and temperature guidelines).

Once I had my own darkroom, complete with a safelight, enlarger, paper, easel, and trays of chemicals, I could make my own prints. The trays were usually a bit larger than the paper. Too small and the paper would not fit; too big and more chemistry was needed plus a greater risk of oxidization happening. Darkrooms often had trays of various sizes to accommodate differing paper sizes. 8×10 trays seemed most common.

The trays could be plastic like those shown here courtesy of this Ebay link, hard rubber, or home-made from plywood using liners cut from very thin plastic tarp material. Regardless of size, using the same tray for the same chemistry minimized washing time and cross contamination.

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red light district

Posted on October 15, 2022 by Robert

“red light illuminated” darkroom with special filter (not red) in overhead light. Courtesy of Douglas Whitaker at English Wikipedia

Toronto. In the days of analogue (film) photography  seasoned photographers knew their way around a darkroom – often having one. Photographic paper was usually insensitive to red so it was common in movies or on TV to see darkrooms in red light festooned with drying or developing prints.

When the use of multigrade papers became popular, safe lights became a ‘dirty yellowish, brownish’ colour, but the fad for red light in popular media remained. With colour photographic paper, this changed. Any visible light would ruin the paper and light-tight drums took over. The average soul reverted to chains (Eddie Black’s, Japan Camera) offering processing and small prints (4×6) in an hour.

Now-a-days we use digital cameras and print images on an inkjet printer in full daylight – or just leave them on hard drives as digital files. Computer or smartphone apps like Affinity Photo or Adobe Lightroom ‘develop’ the digital image correcting light balance, saturation, etc..  You can read more about the film  safelight here.

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reminiscing

Posted on October 14, 2022 by Robert

outside the legion hall in the east end before the opening of our March 2007 Auction

Toronto. Those were the days my friend when we thought COVID would never end … Apologies to Gene Raskin who wrote the English words to this old Russian song and poem.

Well COVID did end (or at least the pandemic fell so low restriction were dropped) and some of our braver souls followed our bold president Clint Hryhorijiw and held the early PHSC events in 2022 in person including the spring auction and a special two day auction – the first outside Toronto – this summer.

Now we are planning a late fall auction (tentative date is SATURDAY, December 3, 2022) IF we can garner enough volunteers. It will take place at our usual facility, the Legion 101 Hall in Long Branch (South-Western Toronto). Drop me a line at info@phsc.ca if you can help.

Keep a watch on this site or our newsletters for a firm date in a few weeks from now.

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cheap shot

Posted on October 13, 2022 by Robert

1946 ad for a PHOTO-CRAFT camera ‘kit’

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 to be a true ad – BUT the parts were paper pins, washers for the pins, tiny lights, a D cell, wire, a mimeographed instruction sheet, a half dozen round masonite disks with holes for the pins, and a rectangular masonite base with rows of holes, plus some nuts and bolts to mount the disks.  Properly wired, it gave an answer to a logic question when the disks were turned.

In a way this ad for a PHOTO-CRAFT camera is similar. The popularity of the minicam a decade earlier led to some box cameras such as this one being shaped like a “candid camera”. This Bakelite marvel with a cheap lens and simple shutter came as a “kit” of the camera, three rolls of 127 film, and a camera case (likely pressed paper given the price).

The disc around the lens says ‘distributed by The March Corp’ while the order form is sent to ‘Imperial Industries’ in Chicago. I tried McKeown’s 11th edition and discovered a newer looking version of the camera with a ring stating ‘Altheimer & Baer Inc‘. Both rings say ‘Made in USA’ on the bottom. None of the companies named seem to be around today.

The viewfinder and ad copy suggest the camera took ‘half frame’ photos (16 photos per roll of 127 film).  This particular ad is from the April, 1946 issue of Popular Mechanics and is curtesy of my good friend George Dunbar.

 

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book covers

Posted on October 12, 2022 by Robert

A Leica IIb c1938 from a recent auction posting

Toronto. There is a saying – you can’t tell a book by its cover. In the early days of miniature cameras, it was the same for model type. For example through-out the screw mount era, Leitz cameras were all ‘Leicas’. Only a factory serial number record showed the ‘serial number – model at manufacture’ correlation. Model numbers never appeared on the camera until the post war M series arrived (e.g. M3 – serial number).

There’s a good reason. Many older Leicas could be factory upgraded by request (i.e. from model I to II or III or model II to III), or simply changed (e.g. from the old ‘hockey stick infinity stop to the newer lens ring stop). The camera’s external controls identified a model number to those in the know. No rangefinder or slow speed dial meant a model I. Add a rangefinder and it’s a model II. add a slow speed dial as well and it’s a model III.

Any model could be bought as a I or II at a lower cost and later upgraded at the factory. When Ia, IIa, and IIIa came along, they were mainly the earlier models with an added hole in the shutter speed control disk for the faster nominal 1/000 second shutter setting. Every camera was hand assembled with the parts selected so all aspects of the cameras stayed within tight specifications.

The model IIb (as shown here from a recent auction post) was a transition model and only made for a few years. It was based on the IIIa series but had some features that appeared with the IIIc series. The IIIc series used a die cast body and shutter case – and the era of semi-mass production began.

Leitz often made subtle changes to the Leica, usually so minor that only rabid collectors showed any interest in the variations.

 

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