Wow! That’s BIG

Posted on March 18, 2021 by Robert

a massive 21,000 pixel per side square montage of 5,000 posted images

Toronto. A massive JPEG called ‘The First 5000 Days‘  was recently auctioned at Christie’s. The image was a collage of the daily posts made by the artist ‘Beeple‘ since the year 2007.

The collage sold for $69 Million US. What makes it truly unusual is that it was minted in February this year as an NFT or Non-Fungible Token. If you have never heard of NFTs, you are showing your age. These very risky items are online only. Read the above link for details.

A tip of the hat to my ever curious friend, George Dunbar, who shares these strange finds that he comes across while diligently researching photographic history.

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the third wave

Posted on March 17, 2021 by Robert

waiting for the third wave

Toronto. Shades of Alvin Toffler! Medical folk around the world are predicting a third wave of COVID-19 in spite of the vaccines.  The virus now has many variants that are more contagious and deadly. The debate seems to be whether the lesser efficacy vaccines will kick in for enough people before the variants take hold.

Toffler was a writer and futurist who wrote a trilogy on the impact of information technology. The Third Wave was the second title in the trilogy. What could be more appropriate for the book and virus than a photo of waves, waiting for the third wave?

The photo is free and courtesy of Good Free Photos via All Free Download.

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where the heck is my video camera?

Posted on March 16, 2021 by Robert

DP Review of GO 2 Video Camera

Toronto. Well, miniaturization and convenience finally merged to make a tiny clip on camera that takes videos anywhere – check out the video here on DPReview! The Insta360 GO 2 camera is a marvel letting you be totally creative for hours. Jeremy Gray posted this striking review on March 9th, 2021.

Read Jeremy’s review to see the camera’s sensor size, frame rate, lens focal length, accessories, battery duration, etc. A remarkable achievement allowing truly innovative videos to be recorded by all. It makes the 8mm and Super 8 and even 16mm movie cameras of last century the museum pieces they are.

Again,  I thank my friend and fellow PHSC member, George Dunbar, for his enthusiastic sharing of this review. George writes, “Some masterful advertising here…….for a mini, video camera. The video commercials themselves are worth watching.”.

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priceless memories

Posted on March 15, 2021 by Robert

memories that transcend time

Toronto. If you (god forbid) are ever in a fire or other disaster that destroys your home, what would you save? Jewellery? Clothes? Possessions? Family photos?

An article on BBC News by Celia Hatton called ‘The memory hunters‘ relates what is truly priceless and what can be replaced in time. It is satisfying to see the role  photography plays in such catastrophic events. Photographs give priceless memories of family members from years past. They may be of little value to strangers but are irreplaceable to family.

Read this article and learn what can be considered priceless. Photography – what would we do with out it? Family photos grow in value over time as people ‘shed their mortal coils’ and become our ancestors. Examples of rare old processes are coveted by collectors but the content truly enhances family members who appreciate seeing how ancestors or even themselves looked in days long gone.

Thanks to friend and PHSC member, Russ Forfar, for finding this BBC article and generously sharing it with us.

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capturing the essence …

Posted on March 14, 2021 by Robert

Typical Lansdale portrait, courtesy of the U of T Archives

Toronto. What is the difference between a good photographer and a great one? In my opinion it is the ability to take a person’s portrait and capture the essence of the person.

Bob Lansdale is one such photographer. Much of his work resides in the University of Toronto Archives and has been posted on line by that august institution. Our society [PHSC]  reaps the benefits as Bob enthusiastically embraces photographic history and any and all Canadian effort in that industry.

Bob has been our principal editor of Photographic Canadiana for over half of its life as well as the unofficial photographer of the society and a source of many of its outstanding ideas. His tenacious approach to problems is simply unequalled. The society would be much less without his informal pushes over the years. Bob’s network of journal contributors and advisors spans the world.

An exceptional photographer; an exceptional man. This post also owes much to another fine photographer, friend, and PHSC member, George Dunbar, who has suggested to me so many great ideas about our favourite art – photography.

George writes to Bob in part, “I was browsing and enjoying some images in your U. of T. archive………some wonderful photography there! Do you remember this one [see above] from 50 years ago?”

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PHSC News for March 2021 (Vol 20-09)

Posted on March 13, 2021 by Robert

FLIR Scout TK digital camera

Toronto. At right top of page 1 in this issue is the FLIR Scout TK camera – digital technology with a twist! This tiny digital device records the thermal image of the viewed scene!

As the third month of 2021 gets underway, the anticipation of COVID-19 vaccines raises hopes in spite of the COVID-19 variations surfacing world-wide. Vaccines and close adherence to common sense guidelines brings a bit of sunshine  that all COVID related restrictions will end soon so we can get on with life.

Meantime, our editor extraordinaire, Sonja Pushchak, and her team have composed this latest issue of PHSC News (20-09). As shown on page one, we are celebrating the Irish with our St Patrick’s Day parade back in 2019. Take a few moments and read all the articles in our latest newsletter and ease your personal cares!

On page 1, the article ‘The Green Guy‘ speaks to St Patrick and our parade plus a Reuters link. Next is, “A Wet-Plate Clamp Made by A Savage“, in this case, made by Adam Savage in his metal and woodworking shop down in sunny California. On page 3, the column PHOTO BOOK 101, has an essay titled, “The Fifties: Forgotten But Not Gone“; while page 4 explains Why Canada ‘Connaught’ Make its Own Vaccines in the column called, “THE TORONTO FILE” – a sad tale of how our government of the day helped others (internationals) succeed.

Page 5 discusses how John Malkovich Got Tired of Being John Malkovich in the “SAY CHEESE” column (I did a similar post a few days ago with far less information). David does his tongue-in-cheek Equipment Review, on the current photo developer situation in his “The Disturbingly Dark Tale of the Dektol Developer“ review. Page 7 has a trio of WEB LINKS of interest to us all.

Not to be overlooked, Page 8 features a poster on our forth-coming ZOOM event – Dr Ron Goodin’s movie on the Great Bear Rain Forest out in BC. Places are going very fast for this presentation – lends credence to continuing ZOOM events post COVID! On page 9, Ivy & Izzy say it’s ‘Time to Talk in Generalities‘ this time about reoccurring things – shades of that Groundhog Day movie.

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.

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a little thanks

Posted on March 12, 2021 by Robert

A little thanks from Rita at PhotoED

Toronto. … goes a long way. March 8th was International Woman’s Day. PHSC celebrated on the day via Instagram. Our fav magazine editor, Rita Godlevskis of PhotoEd, celebrated IWD with this message celebrating all the women who have helped her magazine in various photographic roles.

Very thoughtful and well done Rita!

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where the girls are

Posted on March 11, 2021 by Robert

the girls do their bit in WW2 with a ‘bang’

Toronto. I was just a tiny child when WW2 crashed on the scene. With so many men in the war, girls got the chance to do what was once a man’s job at home and there was no looking back regardless of the fact that the girls were pushed aside when the men returned home from war.

One of my wife’s aunts met her future husband when they both worked in a factory here to aid the war.

When I first started working, jobs were divided into male and female with the lower pay very obvious. The logic of the day was that women soon retired from the workforcce to marry and raise children.

But by two decades later, women were encouraged to seek promotion; jobs were no longer male or female; efforts were made to equalize payment for work not for gender. It was and is a continuing battle as the ‘glass ceiling’ still seems to exist but at an ever higher level in the more progressive companies.

My thanks to my friend George Dunbar who spotted this interesting photograph and chose to share it. The photograph appeared in Canada’s History magazine in an article written by Governor-General’s History Award winner Governor General's History Awards Winner Charlotte Gray— and posted back on October 10, 2018.

Note: My post title is from the song of the same name as sung by Josh Turner.

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another one bites the dust!

Posted on March 10, 2021 by Robert

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!

 

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March 2021 PHSC presentation via ZOOM

Posted on March 10, 2021 by Robert

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

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