Toronto. Happy Birthday to our editor, Bob Lansdale who kcks over another decade today! We are truly blessed to have so many talented people in the society!
HAPY BIRTHAY to editor BOB LANSDALE of the Photographic Canadiana
Note: The title is from the epic song by Freddie Mercury and the band Queen. While the line refers to bullets in the song, it is fitting as a reference to decades too!
Toronto. This page will be in our March PHSC News. Thanks to editor Sonja Pushchak for this beautiful poster.
Our March 2021 Toronto meeting is via ZOOM – use links below
To register, please go to Eventbrite via this link: www.eventbrite.ca/e/the-great-bear-rain-forest-by-dr-ron-goodlin-film-screening-qa-tickets-136066102375
Any questions? Email us at program@phsc.ca
.. in the eye of the beholder …
Toronto. And another apology to Will for this riff on his famous line in act III of Hamlet.
When I first bought a 35mm camera, I soaked up as much then current wisdom as possible. I was told to move myself and/or change lenses so that most of the negative covered my intended framing. To crop post exposure in the darkroom would lead to poorer resolution and an increased grainy appearance in the print.
Most newspapers of the day cropped every shot to fit the column width and column inches reserved for a photograph and to heck with the photographer’s aesthetics. To allow for this more rigorous cropping, most photographs were from larger cameras.
The odd newspaper, like the New York Times, did not generally crop photographs to fit but cropped if necessary to the taker’s aesthetics instead.
PHSC member, professional photographer/videographer, and good friend, George Dunbar writes, “What are we to learn about the proper cropping of photos when we see a news image such as this from the NYTimes? I suspect there are few other newspapers in North America that would be this creative with an image.
“I’ve always admired the unusual and powerful ways that photographs are displayed in the New York Times. This is a fine example. Readers are expected to pause and study a photo, rather that just dismiss it without any thought. The NYTimes is outstanding in that respect – in my humble opinion.”
Most newspapers used images to convey information; the Times used them to both convey information and to be a kind of art form as the originator intended.
Article on the ill-fated Legend Cameras
Toronto. As of July, 1989, the magazine Modern Photography finally quit publication. It was a long run beginning in 1937 as Minicam Photography to capture the nascent 35mm camera era. In its last year, the magazine posted a small article on a new company called Phoenix and its camera line named ‘Legend‘.
Production was to make three models initially: 35-FF, 35-AF and 35-AFD illustrating the Modern Photography blurb. The camera looks to be crudely made of bakelite with a rather steep retail price given it was basically a box camera at heart. Since neither the internet nor McKeown’s have information on the cameras or the maker, they may never have made it to market or if they did, the cameras bombed.
My thanks to my friend, George Dunbar, for this tiny bit of history at the end of the long run of an influential photography magazine.
The title ‘I am a Legend‘ is that of a 1954 horror novel that spawned a few scary movies. I read the novel when I was a kid and saw at least one of the movies on TV in small bits sandwiched between dopey commercials. The film was ‘thoughtfully’ cut to fit the TV format and schedule.
Reg Holloway June 2009 by Robert Lansdale
Toronto. I received sad news yesterday from our president, Clint Hryhorijiw, that member Reg Holloway died at 88. Reg joined the society in the 1995 membership year and continued membership into April, 2021.
He spoke to us in June, 2009 on his favourite topic – newspaper photography with large cameras. I enjoyed chatting with Reg over the years. When he moved to his farm, he told me the internet connection for him was too slow at the time for pdf files. As part of his talk, he was photographed by our editor, Bob Lansdale with part of his collection.
Reg was a statesman, photographer, author, and collector.
PHSC Supplement 2-2 March 2021
Toronto. The PHSA’s Northlight is featured once again as our special members-only supplement. As a member of the PHSC, you received this supplement Friday, the 5th of March.
Vol 2-2 was sent out last Friday afternoon to all current members with an email address. If you did NOT get a copy, please email me at info@phsc.ca and I will send you a copy after verification of your membership. Not YET a member? well, for heaven’s sake! Grab your plastic and register via PayPal on the upper right of this page! And you can donate to the society the same way via PayPal, or go to our Canada Helps entry on the link below the PAY NOW button.
As stated in this supplement, “The NORTHLIGHT was the Journal of the Photographic Historical Society of America, once published quarterly. The Photographic Historical Society of America became a formal organization in November of 1973, and the first issue of their journal came out in the spring of 1974 with John S. Craig as editor. Eaton S. Lothrop Jr, Matthew R. Isenberg and Nathan R. Skipper Jr. functioned as the advisory board. Several other societies were involved in the publication: The Ohio Camera Collectors Society, Midwest Photographic Historical Society, Chesapeake Antiquarian Photographic Society and the Western Camera Collectors Association.
“In their first issue, John Craig stated that NORTHLIGHT was destined to become the magazine of photographic collectors and historians everywhere. As the journal of the Photographic Historical Society of America, it was to report in each issue on the activities of affiliated and participating societies in the PHSA and was to provide a calendar of events for these societies around the country.
“Following in this PDF is the NORTHLIGHT Double Issue Vol. 6 No. 3-4, Fall-Winter 1979-80. At this time, John Dobran was Executive Editor. This appears to be the last issue that was produced.
“The PHSC makes two appearances in the NORTHLIGHT issue. The calendar of events in this issue features a PHSC posting for the 6th annual Camera Fair on June 14-15, 1980 at the Park Plaza Hotel in Toronto. As well, the Photosphere section reports the appointment of the new PHSC directors for the upcoming year (some of those names are still associated with the society).
“In an effort to make this material available to collectors, historians and those interested in the history of photography, this content was digitized by the Photographic Historical Society of Canada (PHSC) and Milan Zahorcak in 2019 and 2020 for distribution to PHSC members. If you have any questions or would like higher resolution scans of any of the images, please contact the PHSC at info@phsc.ca.”
Toronto. We held our 12th ZOOM exec meeting Wednesday evening (its feeling like normal now). Again, Celio deserves a huge thank you for arranging it in spite of his busy teaching schedule at post secondary institutes.
Well, Toronto is still in total lockdown but daily new COVID-19 cases are falling overall. ALL live events are still cancelled. Our monthly meeting venue (North York Memorial Hall) remains closed (even to our archivist). We now use ZOOM and Eventbrite for Toronto meetings and may continue using them combined with in-person sessions at Memorial Hall when it opens again given the stellar success of video registration and conferencing.
The March issue of our newsletter, ‘PHSC News’, goes out a week Friday to nearly 1,900 addresses. Sign up at news@phsc.ca for your free pdf copy. Members also get specials plus the journal via pdf. (contact me if you are a member and HAVE NOT seen the pdfs. Some members have unsubscribed to MailChimp; some emails are invalid; and others have no email on file with the society or with MailChimp). Any questions? Just drop me a note at info@phsc.ca.
Our twelfth executive meeting via ZOOM
Coordinator Celio Barreto reported the March meeting via ZOOM, “The Great Bear Rain Forest”, by Dr. Ron Goodlin. Film Screening + Q&A already exceeds 50 seats across North America. Be sure to visit us on Eventbrite and sign up today!
camera is badged Glencoe Empire State but is the maker CanCamCo or ROC?
Toronto. With apologies to Bill Shakespeare. When Brian Hudson enquired about his Canadian Camera (& Optical) Company camera, he set off quite a storm which hasn’t settled yet. I had an Empire State camera a few years ago. I added a lens and UNICUM shutter to the empty lens board. But it was definitely a Rochester Optical Company camera according to the plaque on its front.
The image at left is courtesy of the piercevaubel web site. It is similar to the one I had – both are full plate cameras.
The latest email on Brian’s query came from Dr Irwin Reichstein of Ottawa just a week ago. Irwin writes, “I came across this site which is probably known to you which has many photo catalogues available. http://www.piercevaubel.com/cam/catalogsall.htm
I looked through catalogues that seemed relevant but the Glencoe was not mentioned in the years I thought relevant. In the camera section, however, the Glencoe is mentioned.
http://www.piercevaubel.com/cam/misc/canadiancamco-glencoeview.htm
However, it is interesting that in his write-up at the bottom he writes that the years manufactured is 1910.
This camera is identical to the Rochester Optical Co. Empire State Variation 2., except that the device to make the bed rigid is a thumbscrew, whereas Rochester Optical was using their lever hook for quicker set up and take down. Some of the hardware is rather distinctive and must have come from Rochester Optical, e.g., the fancy swing hinge, and the triangular ground glass clips. For this reason, it is very likely that the Canadian Camera & Optical Co. got these cameras already constructed from the Rochester Optical Co., either by contracting with Rochester Optical to purchase cameras for resale, or by buying Rochester Optical’s old stock that didn’t have the lever hook device.
I had come across items about the company dated 1910 and it seems that the company was revived around 1910. It may be that at this stage they were just importing as opposed to the 1900 time frame when they actually manufactured them. So is the period of interest still just the early period or should we be looking at the 1910 period as well.”
If have more information whether CanCamCo cameras were made, imported, or both by them or if you can confirm the years of operation of the company, please drop me an email at info@phsc.ca and I will pass it along to our editor, Bob Lansdale.
Photos by Kirk in the Bronx c1960s
Toronto. In Scotland, the word ‘Kirk’ means church. Last century in the Bronx, it meant a very talented Armenian photographer christened Kourken Hovsepian and his Studio.
At the February, 2021 meeting, we saw the finished version of “Photos by Kirk” by Jamie Day Fleck via streaming to ZOOM. This time, Jamie and a panel of three experts fielded queries afterwards. Jamie first gave us a taste of her film on Kirk when we saw a copy at our June, 2015 meeting. Tonight’s presentation was our third meeting organized on Eventbrite and hosted on ZOOM. We owe a thanks to Programme Director Celio Barreto for his co-ordinating acumen. The $9.99 General Admission screening and Panel Discussion tickets included a digital copy of the film. PHSC members were exempt from this fee, unless they wished to purchase a copy of the film. I counted 46 attendees at one point.
The approximately 25 minute documentary consisted of interviews with family members and clients carefully interspersed with black and white photographs taken mostly by Kourken Hovsepian (Kirk). Note that ‘Kirk’ was the name he used for his studio as his Armenian name was difficult to say in English.
The documentary records some very emotional interviews. It also uses a few home movie clips – each uncorrected for the colour shifts that occurred over time. These clips added some poignancy. Kirk’s photographs recorded not only special events (candids, portraits, weddings) but the history of his neighbourhood in the Bronx (New York City). Like many studio photographers, Kirk used a very big camera in his work. Continue reading
Letter to the Canadian Camera Co in Toronto
Toronto. More information on the cameras once made in Montreal and Toronto. Brian Hudson of Edmonton unleashed a tsunami of information with his question on them.
Last Saturday, Dr Irwin Reichstein in Ottawa sent an email to us. He spotted this envelope addressed to the Canadian Camera Company in Toronto. Irwin writes, ” At a stamp collecting site there are two covers (that is addressed envelopes) for the Canadian camera and optical company from Deseronto and Norwood. It’s neat to see the Queen Victoria stamps on the letters. Sadly there seems to be no letters inside.” The site Irwin visited is Stamp Community Family, and the link that shows the envelope (courtesy of Irwin) is here.
EVENTS
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Stan White – Poems & Photos
Mise Au Point – sur la photographie Quebecois
