fit for a Queen …

Posted on September 21, 2022 by Robert

Her Majesty and her M3 at the Royal Windsor Horse Show. May, 1982. From the Tim Graham Photo Library courtesy Getty Images

Toronto. We were all sorry to learn of the death of Queen Elizabeth II recently. Television offered numerous programs about the Queen, her history, and her state funeral. In one program we learned of her favourite past times. I found it very gratifying that she not only took numerous stills photographs (and later some home movies) but diligently updated her albums with the resulting prints.

Her majesty favoured many camera and lenses – especially high end models by Leitz and Rollei of Germany. There are numerous photographs of Queen Elizabeth and her M3 with the MC meter attached. The M3 is a really well built work horse, one of the most popular cameras ever made by Leitz. The same basic design endured for many years. Even today, the Leica digital cameras look remarkably similar in design to the M3 while the bayonet mount for the M series cameras remains very popular.

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the way we were

Posted on September 20, 2022 by Robert

1840 Daguerreotype of Horseshoe falls at Niagara, Ontario

Toronto. Photography changed the way we look at the world and ourselves for ever. Today the smartphone bunch knock off stills and videos galore. When photography began, it took skill and patience to ‘create’ a likeness of the scene in front of the photographer.

Much of the world was taken with the Daguerreotype process from France, announced in January, 1839.  George Dunbar captured the following, “Reported to be the “first ever photograph of Canada” (From the online archive for HuffPost Canada)

“Taken in 1840 [pre dating the Dominion] by British businessman Hugh Lee Pattinson, the picture of Niagara Falls was discovered in 1997 at Newcastle University in England, where it had been sitting forgotten in the Special Collections of the school’s library.

“The photograph is a daguerreotype, which produces images that are reversed (left to right). This is the original photo, and the other has been retouched and flipped to the correct orientation.”

I used the original (left most image) in the thumbnail here and the reversed, retouched image (right most image) for the enlarged version shown when you click on the thumbnail.

Thank you, George, for sharing you historical find with us.

Note: The title of this post is that of a well known song of the same name, sung by Barbra Streisand from the 1973 movie, also of the same name.

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shooting stars

Posted on September 19, 2022 by Robert

George Pimental at TIFF 2022 courtesy of CTV News

Toronto. Nawww, this ain’t about astronomy! It’s about a CTV news clip on George  Pimental of Toronto. George is a photographer here in the west end. He hit the news on CTV  recently because he is noted for photographing famous actors as the official photographer for TIFF. George and his studio also have other subjects – not just the famous and well known names.

The link shown is CTV’s mobile link. On my Studio Mac, it is sans sound. Here is the link for those using non mobile screens. Click on the video topic titled “The man in charge of taking pictures at TIFF” just below the Brendan Fraser story. A big thanks to our president and professional photographer in his own right, Lewko (Clint) Hryhorijiw. (We call him Clint – simpler for an English tongue …)

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face of the future

Posted on September 18, 2022 by Robert

John Baird, 1926 by an unknown press photographer in England

Toronto. Today, with smartphones de rigueur,  we take television and videos for granted. It wasn’t always so. In 1926, the Scottish inventor, John Baird held a demonstration for the media in London, England.

Baird demonstrated, “the first workable system of televisually transmitting an image from  one place to another“. The face you see is that of John Baird. Baird appears to be using a Nipkow disk to scan an image for transmission.

This portrait and short story are one of three mentioned in a brief video by the Morgan Library and Museum in New Zealand, narrated by Joel Smith. The third portrait, which is of Gene Krupa, is the subject of yesterday’s post.

And as stated, my very good friend George Dunbar came through with the New Zealand link shown above. As a young man, I had an older friend who partnered with his brother-in-law to do television repairs. It was he who introduced me to the strange Nipkow disk and the issues early television faced.

While the PHSC is primarily an historical society of ‘still’ photography, we all seem to have a movie camera kicking around and some interest in technology, be it stills, movies, television, videos, or smartphones …

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jazzing things up …

Posted on September 17, 2022 by Robert

part of Gene Krupa portrait by Gjon Mili

Toronto. Any of you who also like jazz are familiar with Gene Krupa. In a brief video by the Morgan Library and Museum in New Zealand, Joel Smith, explains why three action portraits of people in the public eye capture their spirit .

I chose Gene Krupa by the Life photographer Gjon Mili for this post. As a youth I listened to an amazing solo performed on record by Krupa. He is shown here drumming – a massive series of electronic speed light flashes record him as his drum sticks hit the drum head.

We thank my good friend, George Dunbar, for sourcing this 3 minute video and sharing it with us so we can see how some photographers capture the ‘essence’ of a celebrity in a portrait.

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… and wings on the side …

Posted on September 16, 2022 by Robert

a frame from the 1927 Silent Movie “Wings”

Toronto. Chicken wings were throwaways until some one in Buffalo began frying them as a side dish. Nearly a century ago, the name ‘wings’ showed up in an award winning war movie.  The 1927/8 silent movie called ‘Wings‘ won the first ever academy award in 1929!

To kick off our fall program (in spite of Memorial Hall still being closed) our programme director, Celio Barreto, chose to meet at a Roncesvalles theatre called  the “Revue Cinema” to learn about and see this famous silent film.

However, to do so, we had to change the meeting day and the venue. Tickets can be had via Eventbrite. Please check the poster here for details. IMPORTANT! This meeting has been moved to SUNDAY September 25, 2022 at 4:00 pm.

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we’re back …

Posted on September 15, 2022 by Robert

Our 2007 Fall Fair at the Soccer Centre. Different Day, Different Venue, Same Thrill today!

Toronto. Did ya hear the news? On October 1st, the PHSC Big One is back in person once again!

We are now using a SATURDAY for the fall fair but we are indoors once again at the Trident Hall (Evans and Islington).

Great bargains, great food, and lots of parking there and in the area. Details are on our poster.

 

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another thousand …

Posted on September 14, 2022 by Robert

Lumber Workers on strike in 1910 Port Arthur

Toronto. Over a century ago Port Arthur (now Thunder Bay) had a strike by the Finnish Lumber Workers in the town. The written word about the strike, the issues, who won, what was won, etc. may be well forgotten, but courtesy of the Lakehead University Library and its online digital site, we can once more see a PHOTOGRAPH of Finns grouped out side the Finnish Labour Temple.

The photographer included the power cable pole guy wires in the shot suggesting the photo was taken from up the power pole. Once again our good friend and fellow member, George Dunbar, sourced this photograph and shared it with us (the previous post has a link to the LU Library website).

It would take many words to describe this single photograph. My grand parents homesteaded on what was once lumber land worth a fortune. After the lumber was cut, only earth and rocks remained reducing the land value to a pittance. It would take years of hard labor by my ancestors and their neighbours to turn the land into farm land. Perhaps it was the same thing at Port Arthur.

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1,000 words …

Posted on September 13, 2022 by Robert

the value of a picture

Toronto. Have you noticed the trend? Our ancestors prided themselves on being able to read and write. As the decades passed, the written word in books, newspapers, magazines, etc. gave way to images in movies, newspapers, magazines, books, TV. In turn video took over and the written word (at least the hand written one) is in the process of fading into history. Photography both still and motion has played an ever greater part in the transition.

My grand children no longer learn to read script (hand writing) at school. My personal experience with this was some old German writing on a microscope slide. It was nearly an illegible hand to me although carefully written. I had to ask a German lady to translate for me. It was then I learnt the writing was old German (a language not very clear to none German speaking or educated folks – just as old English words, writings, and spellings can confound many).

Once again my good friend, George Dunbar has elected to visit the online archives of the Lakehead University library. George discovered photographs there that describe the unique history of our country not in words, but in pictures. These pictures shows many details that even a thousand words may be too few to accurately describe what is shown.

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a better mouse trap …

Posted on September 12, 2022 by Robert

Pathé’s better mouse trap for news reel pros

Toronto. In this September, 1962 advertisement, Pathé announced its ‘better mouse trap’ – the WEBO-M 16mm reflex movie camera intended for news reel shorts taken in the field. The ad appeared in ‘American Cinematographer’ of that year, placed by the American distributor of the famous French camera line.

I found it interesting that the ad announced this camera as the first of its kind to sell under $530US but was illustrated with a pricier setup which in very tiny print at the bottom says, “Model shown sells for less than $1,375.” As they said in Laugh-in about the same time, “very interesting”.

Once again, we owe a big thank you to my good friend, George Dunbar, for sourcing and sharing this tidbit of photographic history in this age of TV, streaming, and digital everything.

 

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