Join us on November 17th, 2021 at 8 pm (we begin around 7:30 with a social get together – all welcome) via ZOOM. Read the poster below for more information. This poster was created by our PHSC News editor Sonja Pushchak and appears in the current issue.
Go to Eventbrite for free tickets or to program@phsc.ca with any questions.
Nov 2021 – Conversation with Andrew Wright
Cologne 1932, The Varnisher by Augst Sander
Toronto. The OstLicht Gallery sends us this message via email. “We would like to draw your attention once again to the 24th OstLicht Photo Auction, which will take place on 19 November 2021 at 5 pm at the OstLicht Gallery.
“With the selection personally compiled by collector and gallery owner Peter Coeln, we have succeeded in covering a particularly broad spectrum this time. Both experienced collectors and newcomers will find numerous icons of photography as well as many unknown works to discover among the 180 selected lots.
“Numerous rarities will be auctioned, including works by Henri Cartier-Bresson, August Sander, Robert Frank, Rudolf Schwarzkogler, Heinrich Kühn, Franz Hubmann and VALIE EXPORT. Please find a detailed description of these and other highlights in our press kit.
“Auction participants can not only bid live on site at OstLicht Gallery, but can also submit written bids in advance and bid by phone or via a number of external online auction platforms. A link to the live streaming will be published on our website immediately before the auction.
“PREVIEW
from 11 November 2021
daily 2–6 pm
or by appointment
at OstLicht Gallery
(Absberggasse 27, A-1100 Vienna)
“From Monday, 15. November Peter Coeln and our other experts will be available for personal consultation.”
So all you collectors who concentrate on images, here is a chance to get some authentic prints for your collection! Please note, the title of this post is part of a line in the old (1946) song, “The Old Master Painter“. I was in grade 7 when I first heard the lyrics and song – and certainly NOT sung by ol’ Blue Eyes who sings it here!
Minolta CLE in Gold
Toronto. At right top of page 1 in November’s PHSC News newsletter is the famous Minolta CLE. The camera design was also badged as a Leica CL. Leica justified the difference in retail price as the result of a more rigorous testing scheme. Few cameras were made with the gold finish. The CLE accepted most Leitz M-mount lenses and vice versa.
November is nearing its mid point, and our editor, Sonja, and her team have produced this issue for you as the COVID-19 fourth wave seems to be increasing once again. Up here, the changes have been somewhat eased seemingly by our vaccination levels and close adherence to common sense guidelines. Children under 12, and of school age, will soon be vaccinated. The third shot for all who received the first two is well underway.
This issue of PHSC News (21-05) has many thought provoking articles as usual – short, crisp, and provocative. Please take a few moments and read them to ease any remaining symptoms of virus lethargy.
Page 1 under “Levitation Girls” reviews the works of Tokyo-based photographer Natsumi Hayashi with Princess Mako of Japan. Page 2 in “PHSC PRESENTS (virtually)” suggests what to do when the leafbergs advance. On page 3, under PHOTO BOOK 101 is, “Outdoor Eating Hasn’t Always Been a Picnic“, about picnics with a photo from TPL’s Baldwin Collection. On page 4 is the column, WOMEN and WAR and its article, “How Photography Changed War Perspectives in Vietnam“; while page 5 takes a poke at young Edward Rogers who recently won back control of his dad’s communications empire.
Page 6 addresses “Photography for Weightlifters: the Mamiya RB67” in David’s EQUIPMENT REVIEW. Then on page 7, John Morden selects a trio of WEB LINKS.
Page 8 features a poster on our forth-coming ZOOM event “A Conversation with Andrew Wright”. Andrew is a ‘multidisciplinary photographer’ who teaches at the University of Ottawa. We see our friends Ivy & Izzy, once again on page 9, this time trading quips on the topic “When Comedy Gets Serious“. And page 10 has John’s compilation of shows, events, and exhibitions of interest to collectors/photographers everywhere.
P.S. As usual, every link shown in the newsletter is a hot link just waiting for your click!
P.P.S. You can visit this issue by clicking here, or by g0ing to the menu item NEWSLETTER at the top of the page. There is a drop down menu that takes you to older issues dating back a couple of decades to the very beginning.
George Hunter Photograph in Manitoba c1940s from CHPF archives
Toronto. The ladies from the CHPF spoke to us recently via ZOOM. The other day, our society president, Clint Hryhorijiw kindly copied me on this email from Nicole Plaskett sent to him and Celio Barreto, our programme and ZOOM expert.
Nicole writes, “Good Morning!
“I hope that this email finds you both well. I just wanted to let you know, in case your membership may be interested – that we just released over 1200 images by George Hunter of Manitoba during the 1940’s. Most are from his newspaper editorial work – and some of the images are just amazing!
“The link to the Blog post is here: https://www.thechpf.com/blog/digitizing-the-photography-of-george-hunter-manitoba-1940s
“There are 50 selected images on our website under Photo Gallery: https://www.thechpf.com/photo-gallery and the entire collection is available on our Digital Collections page: https://digitalcollections.thechpf.com/
“I hope you get some time to browse the images. Please note that we also moved offices as of the end of October. Our new address is below. Come and visit sometime!
“Canadian Heritage Photography Foundation
2227 South Millway, Suite 200
Mississauga, Ontario L5L 3R6
www.thechpf.com“
Glenn Kershner’s comic on the photographing of Hell’s Angels in 1927/8
Toronto. We have all heard of the Howard Hughes (he of Spruce Goose fame) epic film, Hell’s Angels. But I wonder just how many folk knew it was basically a silent film with sound effects etc. and rewrites/shoots before its 1930 release. Since the movie spanned the silent/talkies period, it began life as a silent movie and ended up as a sound production. Started in October, 1927, it took 15 months just to reach the editing stage. Some B&W scenes were tinted and one was in the full colour of the period.
The film was noted in the IATSE house journal (see yesterday’s post for the link) for the astonishing number of cinematographers needed to film the epic.
Cartoonist Glenn Kershner, ASC, sketched the whimsical comic shown here nearly a century ago to lampoon the photographers assigned from this local. By the way, remember the minute of silence today at 11 am to honour those last century who gave their lives for us!
A thanks to good friend and fellow PHSC member for sharing this tidbit of cinematic history!
TIP March 1929 cover Volume 1, issue 2
Toronto. Just picture the late 1920s. Movies were well established as silent entertainment media complete with musical accompaniment from piano to orchestra and all in-between. In 1928, the silents used body language and text slides to convey meaning. Actors could work in the USA or Europe, regardless of language skills.
Then suddenly the “Talkies” came along and a whole new kind of language and dialogue had to be learned. Actors were limited to the USA or England unless language skills allowed for work in Europe. As shown earlier, various colour techniques were invented before the talkies and used to bring more realism to the screen, These were expensive alternatives to orthochromatic B&W film. Even panchromatic when available was rather costly.
In the year 1929, a new magazine emerged, “The International Photographer“. The magazine is the house organ of the IATSE, local 659. This readable copy is courtesy of archive.org, the internet archive. Linked on this site (lower right) as the WayBackMachine).
A nod and thanks to my good friend and retired cinematographer, George Dunbar, who discovered this gem. Have a read if you want to learn about movie technology and the transition from silent to talkies. After all, these were the behind the scenes folk that made the movies both silent and not.
Butcher’s 1/4 plate Midg camera c 1917 courtesy of Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 4.0 Licence
Toronto. Before science burst the bubble, many gullible souls believed in ghosts, seances, and fairies This past summer, I did the above post linked to ‘fairies’ covering the infamous ‘Cottingley Fairies’ saga. Many well educated folk like Dr Arthur Conan Doyle, believed in the supernatural since science at the time could not explain things beyond the grave; beyond human vision. In c1817 a couple of kids set up and photographed ‘fairies’ in a garden. The mother of one child discovered the prints; talked to self proclaimed experts et voilà! history was made.
The camera said to have set this all in motion was a quarter plate camera made by W Butcher & Sons of London, England in 1902-1920. The model was called the ‘Midg’. Like so many events and cameras, these have passed on into history.
The “Science Museum Group” explains, ” ‘Midg’ Camera Used to Make the First Two `Cottingley fairies’ Photographs in 1917. 1998-5138Science Museum Group Collection Online.
My thanks to that good friend of me and the society, George Dunbar, for sharing this find with us. Note that the title stems from the mischievous ‘Kokopelli‘ character well known throughout history. It was a feature of the beliefs of some Southwestern American Indian tribes where I first read about the little guy. Kokopelli’s silhouette also appeared on some cotton fabrics we once sold.
a tasty camera from 2017
Toronto. Wow, when I saw George’s email, I thought of the Apple digital camera. Opening the email, I saw it was a BBC article from November 9, 2017 on making a pinhole camera from an eating apple. I had a copy of ‘The Hole Thing‘ many years ago. I bought it new for a few dollars.
“Derek Man used apples as pinhole cameras to capture the harvest at some of the dwindling number of orchards in London. Man worked with The Orchard Project, which is committed to the restoration and celebration of community orchards [in the UK].”
A tasty camera all in all …
A tip of my hat (tuque these days, brrrr) to my good friend and fellow PHSC member for sharing this odd bit of info on the pinhole camera.
Late 2002 advertisement for the Sony DSC-F717
Toronto. Today we usually think of Sony as a TV and camera maker. They made their name in North America with a transistor radio and later the fabulous line of television sets and walkman portable tape players. When digital technology swept over the photographic industry, Sony moved on to cameras.
Their high end professional line was represented by the DSC-F717 and its replacements (like the DSC-F828 that I bought at the end of its availability retail and now use as my back -up camera for my NEX-6). When it became evident that other camera makers embraced the DSLR design for high end products, Sony dealt with Konica and bought its Minolta line with its A-mount and SLR mirror box design.
The advertisement above is thanks to my good friend and fellow photo enthusiast, George Dunbar. It comes from page 16 of the American Photo magazine for Nov/Dec 2002. This massive coffee table size magazine seems to be patterned after a European Fine Arts magazine called Zoom. Browse the American Photo link to see its many excellent photos and articles as well as advertisements. Well worth a read (selected issues are hosted by Google Books and can be read page by page).
Toronto. and the English say ‘number 20’ – our twentieth executive session via ZOOM. It’s over a year and a half now and COVID is still dragging on. Collectively, we have pretty well avoided the FOURTH wave effect by resorting to very limited outdoor events plus distancing, masks, and an excellent response to vaccines. Nevertheless, our stats keep fluctuating and federally we are pushing a limited series of third shots now. Being online has had its own virtue – executive (or presenter, or audience) can be anywhere with no travel issues/costs. And Zoom functionality (or our very able coordinator) seem to keep getting better – with a downside – older computers falling by the wayside in terms of support by Zoom.
It was another month of few changes. Celio continues to do a super job in the Programs, Instagram, and Zoom departments. Clint continues to show why he is president. And David Bridge and Louise Freyburger have stepped up to the challenge as our joint temporary Photographic Canadiana editors. The late Bob Lansdale’s leg work has left files and contacts for the current and at least the forthcoming journal issue next January. Of course the other executive, also show enthusiasm and competence in keeping the society afloat and thriving.
EVENTS
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Stan White – Poems & Photos
Mise Au Point – sur la photographie Quebecois
