one more reason

Posted on June 12, 2022 by Robert

Lot 0024 = Kantymir Auction June 25 & 26

Toronto. Port Colborne, some 90km from Toronto is a beautiful part of the Niagara peninsula. On the shores of Lake Erie, a short distance from Buffalo, Niagara Falls, and other popular destinations, the Port is gorgeous this time of year. And this year, you have another reason to visit.

Hard on the heels of our Spring Fair, we will be hosting our first ever auction OUTSIDE of Toronto. This two day event will be at the Lion’s Club hall in Port Colborne. On auction are many pieces collected by the late father/son team of Bill and John Kantymir. You may have seen Bill or John at our fairs where they had tables filled with unusual cameras, images, and lenses. Many rare and usable items will be auctioned.

Shown above is just ONE item (lot 0024) to be auctioned off during the last  weekend this June. Be sure to join in the festivities while you take in the beauty of the peninsula this time of the year. COVID has had us cooped up far too long!

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number 27 by ZOOM!

Posted on June 11, 2022 by Robert

Toronto. Can you believe it? We held our twenty-seventh  executive meeting via ZOOM last Wednesday evening. We welcome Ms Katrin Faridani to the PHSC executive. Katrin is our new Newsletter editor!

The MAY EVENT was held on the evening of May 18 when the Reverend, Dr Max Dionisio, head of the ROM library (Royal Ontario Museum Library) spoke on 19th century Japanese Photography and some recent acquisitions to the library.

Our June event will feature Francesca Strobino speaking from far away Florence, Italy via ZOOM. Link here for registration and full details.

The SPRING FAIR  this year will be indoors where we hold our auction (NEW FAIR VENUE). And it will be a bit later than usual on JUNE 11th (that’s today!). The image below shows the new venue (an old 2013 photo of the hall just west of Brown’s Line).

Hard on the heels of the Spring Fair, we will be hosting our first ever Auction OUTSIDE Toronto. It is a two day event in the Lion’s Hall in Port Colborne. On auction are many pieces collected by the late father/son team of Bill and John Kantymir. You may have seen Bill or John at our fairs where they had tables filled with unusual cameras, images, and lenses. Many rare and usable items will be auctioned. DON’T miss it! 

Our TRUNK SALE is on JULY 16th NOT JULY 9th this year and as usual, it will be outdoors at Trident Hall. Watch for details.

Come out and join us at the June 11 Spring Fair here at the 101 Legion Hall

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a find in old New Brunswick

Posted on June 10, 2022 by Robert

Robert Foulis c1860

Toronto. Our president, Clint Hryhorijiw, found the time to send me a wonderful link that reminds us that museums are great resources for photographic historians one and all. The New Brunswick Museum posted an article back on May 2, 2022 called, “A Major Gift of Late Georgian and Early Victorian New Brunswick Portraiture” donated by Anne Baker in memory to the Walker Family.

I chose this c1860 print of inventor Robert Foulis to illustrate this post. It is a copy print annotated as, “Robert Foulis, c. 1860 Photographer: Joseph D. Marsters (Canadian, born 1823) Published in: The Canadian Magazine (February 1932) letterpress halftone on wove paper 12.2 x 7.5 cm. Gift of Alice Maude Rainnie, 1949 (1981.11.9). New Brunswick Museum Collection.”

Click on the above link and see what a museum can do for you!

 

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have you ever seen a Foton walking … ?

Posted on June 9, 2022 by Robert

Joan flogs the doomed B&H Foton in this May 1951 advertisement

Toronto. Back in September of last year, I did a post on the ill-fated B&H Foton camera. Since then, my good friend George Dunbar found another advertisement on the Futon, this time using the famous movie star Joan Crawford as spokesperson to push the camera. The ad shown here appeared in the May, 1951 edition of the magazine American Cinematographer.

Sadly, by the time the ad hit the magazine stands, the rare, very expensive and well built Foton had sunk beneath the waves, seen only in the odd camera collection. First built in 1948, it was considered on of the best of American 35mm cameras but was far too expensive to compete in the market place.

NB: the post title is a riff on the song “Did You Ever Seen a Dream Walking” sung here by Fats Domino.

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Newfoundland life in the olden days

Posted on June 8, 2022 by Robert

Photo by A. Leonberg St. Bernard-Newfoundland Dog
Courtesy Memorial University

Toronto. My good friend, George Dunbar, enjoys browsing the internet these days for interesting facts about photography and its rich history. Today, George brings us his finds about people on the great island of Newfoundland – the most easterly part of Canada – a province since 1949.

George reports that, “Some interesting notes on early Newfoundland photography will be found here; and an excellent video here”.

The video covers the times of Elsie Holloway – a female photographer born in Newfoundland. Elsie, “received much of her training from her father but also studied photography in England prior to World War I”. Text, photos, and the video are on the Heritage Newfoundland and Labrador website. The text on the site was extracted from the “Women’s History Walking Tour Booklet”. The video is also attributed to the “Women’s Walking Tour”

The earlier reference to Newfoundland is also found on the Heritage website under the title, “Photo Album Provides Valuable Historical Record” which was copied “from the files of The Gazette February 22, 1996″.

The photo for this post is a young boy with a St. Bernard-Newfoundland dog, taken before 1886 and labelled “A. Leonberg:  St. Bernard-Newfoundland Dog”. It is courtesy of the Archives and Special Collections department (Coll-199, 1.136), Memorial University of Newfoundland, St. John’s,NL.

I remember as a little boy seeing a friendly giant of a dog – a coal black Newfoundland dog – romping around on the railroad right of way a block or two from my home.

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PHSC June 15, 2022 Presentation

Posted on June 7, 2022 by Robert

Ms Strobino speaks on Henry Fox Talbot

Toronto. Hi folks, we have another exciting international talk this month. This time, we will be hosting our speaker  from Florence, Italy.

Ms Francesca Strobino will be speaking to us via ZOOM on Wednesday, June 15, 2022. Her topic is “Natural objects and the making of Talbot’s photographic engraving process (1852)”.

You may know that Fox Talbot was one of the two defining characters of our art form (photography) when he belatedly announced his process after hearing about Louis Daguerre and his metal plate process announced in January, 1839.

Register and see more about the event, just click the photo at top left of this post or go on EventBrite here. Problems or questions, email our programme coordinator at program@phsc.ca.

 

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do you remember DuPont photo products?

Posted on June 6, 2022 by Robert

ad for DuPont films when the brand was better known in photography

Toronto. Do you remember DuPont when they made photographic materials? To day the company is still very active, but no long makes movie films and other more traditional photo products.

In May of 1932, the company took out a large ad in American Cinematographer magazine to show that the film Grand Hotel with an outstanding cast of stars was shot on DuPont special panchromatic B&W film.

By the time I was deeply into photography, Kodak dominated the market and DuPont products were just one of a handful of ‘also-rans’

Once again, we owe a thanks of gratitude to my good friend George Dunbar, for sourcing and sharing this ad. Oh, and the line of German along the bottom edge of the ad (Bei Anfragen und Bestellungen beziehen Sie sich bitte auf den American Cinematographer – asking for the American Cinematographer magazine to be quoted in any product enquiries)? Perhaps because the Grand Hotel was based on a German novel and the hotel itself was based in Berlin.

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showtime TONIGHT

Posted on June 5, 2022 by Robert

Ihagee and Exakta SLR talk

Toronto. This evening (June 5, 2022) at 7:30 pm EDT, our friends at the PHSNE are hosting a ZOOM presentation on Exaktas.

The post says, “Photographic Historical Society of New England, Inc.[is hosting] “Ihagee and the Exakta: The First 35mm SLR” with PHSNE member and photo historian Vladimir Khazan [on] Sunday, June 5, 2022 at 7:30PM EDT”.

If you know and collect these remarkable SLR cameras, be sure to log on to ZOOM. Details are on the above link. Note: This is the first post on a Mac Studio still undergoing (personal) tests.

 

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at it again

Posted on June 4, 2022 by Robert

the London show this fall

Toronto. If you get over London (Ontario) way this fall, Maureen and Ron are holding their “London Vintage Camera Show” on Sunday, September 25, 2022 at their new venue.

You can click on their web site for more information.

My thanks to that whirling dervish of activity, our PHSC president Clint Hryhorijiw. Maureen and Ron have a great show just a couple of hours west of us. Plan to drop by this fall and get some collectibles, or if you are a niche film fanatic, some really usable gear.

Note: The post title is a riff on one of my favourite Noel Coward songs, “Alice Is At It Again“.

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our spring fair is this month – June 11, 2022

Posted on June 3, 2022 by Robert

Toronto. Our PHSC Spring Fair is a go! NEW DAY – NEW LOCATION.

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