fire sale

December 24, 1958 – fire destroys the Schefferville, QC warehouse.

Toronto. Another reason to shop early for Christmas! In late 1958 I moved from the Labrador woods to the metropolis of Knob Lake, Quebec (renamed as Schefferville, Quebec). Its main employer was the mining company called Iron Ore and its open pit iron mine. The massive company was headed by Brian Mulroney – destined to become Prime Minister of Canada in 1984.

A few weeks later on December 24, 1958, the main warehouse for the town caught fire and was totally gutted.  Which brings to mind a subset of images for many old photo collectors – fires and their aftermaths.

Be sure to visit all of our 2025 events. While we can’t promise you will find pictures of the mine or town, we can promise you will have fun and discover many choice items just right for your collection. On October 19th, 2025 we host the next event – our famous fall fair. See our summer  (July 2025) newsletter for details.

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midnight at the films

night scene in the digital era c 2007

Toronto. Today we take the amazing speed of our media – sensors – for granted, but for much of the pre-digital era, media was far too slow for night scenes unless a tripod was used, subjects were motionless (or followed a known path), or artificial lighting was used.

And in movies, aside from film noir titles (which always manage to be dark and gloomy) night scenes were always a challenge.  The major problem was film speed. Many movies seemed to use daylight darkened by filter or aperture and fake lights etc. while avoiding bright skies to give the illusion of night.

Stills demanded tripods and some form of artificial lighting or a tripod and very long exposures. Your collection may well include night shots taken with great skill and patience on a media that was far too slow for such scenes if fast or unpredictable motion existed. In fact street scenes in the early days of photography seemed to be devoid of people or transport – such ‘things’ were there, but hidden by motion and not captured.

Visit our 2025 events to add that special item to your collection. Next moth we host our famous fall fair on October 19th. See details here in our July 2025 newsletter.

This post was brought to light by memory of “Midnight at the Oasis” as sung by Maria Muldaur.

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the good old hockey game …

the good old hockey game …

Toronto. With fall comes cold weather … and hockey. Image collectors sometimes have a sub-collection of sports photos. All sort of games and sports photos over the years are candidates for collectors – action shots, individual players, or even team photos. Years back, games here were usually Lacrosse, hockey, curling or baseball.

These games have been expanded to football, soccer, and basketball. Until very recently (aside from the war years) the leagues have been male. In recent years we have seen a growth in women’s leagues.

South of the border saw mainly whites in the leagues with  blacks playing in a separate league. Today the leagues have shifted to embrace all races and colours.

While our 2025 events feature all kinds of tasty things to augment one’s collection, we can’t say you will find just the right sports photo for your collection. We do know for sure that each event will offer an unusual item just perfect for your collection of photographica. In a few weeks we will be hosting the famous fall fair (October 19th, 2025), Details are in the July edition of our newsletter, PHSC News issue 25-7.

The title for this post is a line from the late Stompin’ Tom’s iconic hockey song. I should also mention he is one of my favourite song writers and singers.

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a kid again …

a colour strip from the more recent photo booths. Earlier last century the tiny positives were always monochrome – photo courtesy of the Guardian article

Toronto.  … doing what I did again. When PHSC president Clint Hryhorijiw sent me an  email with this link to a Guardian article on Photo Booths, it immediately brought to mind the booths I saw at fairs and malls last century. We even had a journal article in in Photographic Canadiana 33-1 (May, 2007) by George Dunbar on his discovery of a Canadian photo booth called a Phototeria.

I did a couple of posts on the photo booth. The posts are “now just a minute” in Nov 2020 and “pictures at the fair” in June 2024. In July of this year, I (PHSC) received an email from Emily Botelho regarding the display in NYC which is discussed in the Guardian article. Emily spoke with George Dunbar about his discovery with hopes to have it recognized down in the Big Apple.

While it’s unlikely you will find a photo booth or any parts of one at our 2025 events, you will indeed discover items to complement your collection. Our next event is the famous fall fair on October 19th, 2025. Check out our summer newsletter, PHSC News issue 25-7 for all the gory details.

NB. The title of this post is from a song I remembered from years ago, sung here by the truly great Ms Barbra Streisand “I’m five/kid again“.

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transitions

article on the first Daguerreotype camera lens

Toronto. Years ago when the late Don Douglas and I did our dog  and pony show for the PHSC, I did a brief review of the black and white processes in the 19th century while Don used his Ansco camera collection to discuss camera evolution.

I was always amazed at the long transition period for each new process before it took the lion’s share of the market from the established process. In this century, many of us have seen in person the transition from film to digital took over a quarter century – and film continues on with a strong niche segment of film aficionados continuing to use this older technology.

My first digital camera had a 1.3mp sensor and speeds around those of fast films. Today the cameras (including smart phones) can have sensors up to around 60mp and use fancy computer code to reduce or even eliminate noise in the image.

Some professionals like the late George Hunter used a ‘split’ setup. Film cameras were used to capture the images, then the negatives were scanned into electronic files and moved to a program such as PhotoShop to make the traditional darkroom adjustments and more before printing on an inkjet printer. Scanning, PhotoShopping, and printing was far faster and allowed far more adjustment than the old darkroom setup.

I realized the decision in the 1800s to go from Daguerreotype to Wet-plate was a serious business decision. Photographers had spent money to purchase Daguerreotype materials and learn the necessary skills to be successful. To gain the technical benefits of wet-plate required a whole new process; new camera; and other equipment and training for initially no benefit to the bottom line (as the accountants would say).

Equipment for technology old and new can be found at our 2025 events. Coming up is our famous fall fair: “The Big One”, as the late Larry Boccioletti described it. The date is October 19th, 2025. Details are in our summer newsletter, PHSC News 25-7.

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sometimes its not a fake …

Nikkorex F sketch courtesy of David S Young

Toronto. … it’s just contracted out. An article in Digital Camera World by David S Young  titled, “This “fake” Nikon camera changed everything. Here’s the curious tale of the Nikkorex F …” tells how Mamiya came to make the famous camera on contract from Nikon.

We have heard how Nikon F became the darling of professionals, even causing some major German organizations like Leitz and Zeiss to add SLR cameras to their offerings. For the small Japanese company, Nippon Kogaku, who made the camera, its success overwhelmed its production capability.

Greater success meant pushing to a less expensive product focused on the amateur market. Enter Mamiya and its much larger production facilities. Nippon Kogaku contracted the manufacture of a camera called the Nikkorex F. Mamiya insisted on using the then new Copal square focal plane shutter licensed to a few Japanese companies like Mamiya but not to Nippon Kogaku.

The camera lived on after helping Nikon and was rebranded with various makes and model numbers.

Visit our 2025 events to see what sparks your interest. While we can’t say you will find a Nikkorex F – or even a Nikon F – you will find lots of things for you and your collection. Coming next month is our fall fair on October 19th, 2025. Check out our July 2025 PHSC News newsletter for the nitty-gritty details.

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autumn leaves

the autumn leaves, soon to fall

Toronto. Fall is here once again. The boys of summer are working hard to win the race for the pennant and possibly enter the ‘World Series’. If you watch baseball, you know the Jays are leading their division at the moment.

Ahhh fall! What a great time of the year. In a few weeks the leaves will begin to fall, evenings will be frosty, and we will turn to our collections once again. And the search for those items our collection can use.

Whether you collect images or cameras or photographic ephemera and history, our 2025 events have something to enhance your collection. You may find an unusual and interesting antique photograph; an odd but pivotal camera; some rare pamphlets, intriguing studio histories and more!

Our next event will be the famous fall fair on October 19th, 2025. Details are listed in our summer newsletter (PHSC News 25-7) and will appear here as well next month.

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making a case …

an uncased Daguerreotype of a young man and a Hindman clock – courtesy of the Daguerreian Society talk and fair this fall

Toronto. The earliest photographic images were enclosed in a case. The first announced process, the Daguerreotype, was dubbed “the mirror with a memory”.

The use of a case with a dark background inside the cover – often velvet – allowed for the best viewing.

The case protected the delicate daguerreotype with a thin metal border for spacing and a glass on top to protect the fragile surface of the Daguerreotype. A gold foil wrapper around the layers kept daguerreotype, frame, and cover glass together, ready to be slipped into the case.

Ambrotypes also needed to be cased. The sandwich included the dark background needed behind the bleached glass negative to show the more transparent areas of the image as dark.

The uncased image shown at left is courtesy of the PHSC exchange group, The Daguerreian Society. In time the ‘case’ possibly became synonymous with a more expensive ‘likeness’ as the cases can be seen enclosing tintypes which require no special backgrounds nor protection.

The cases can also be dated by their design. However, some folk combine a good case and fine daguerreotype image to increase the package value although case and image are from different periods.

One of the primary collection societies for these earliest of photographs is the Daguerreian Society, whose members are holding a Symposium and Fair down in Hartford Connecticut this fall as noted in this quote:  “People just like you are planning to gather September 25–27 in Hartford, Connecticut for the world’s largest conference on 19th-century photography: The Daguerreian Society Symposium & Photo Fair.”

And the Symposium speakers can be heard through a ‘virtual experience‘ as described on their web site if you can’t make it to Hartford.

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memories …

c1922 family and older friend with her pet dog – taken with a trusty Kodak box camera

Toronto. In the late 1880s Eastman invented his famous Kodak and created the first roll film for it. The rest is history. Photography became easy enough and cheap enough to be attractive to everyone.

Suddenly families had shoe-boxes or albums of photos – family histories of events; children growing; friends; relatives;  pets; and more. Carefully annotated photos captured memories that showed the people and places and times in a very personal way.

Many families seemed to have at least one ‘photographer’ always ready with box camera or folder to record momentous family occasions.

The idea of such memories is the theme of the latest PhotoEd magazine (Fall 2025), issued by editor Rita Godlevskis. This edition features many articles and photographs that show the importance of photography to help recall ‘memory’ of times past.

Visit the Hey Zine link to see the digital versions of the magazine. An example photograph by marielouphotography is shown below:

Feeling lucky? Then be sure to drop by our 2025 Events. Next event is the famous fall fair on October 19th, 2025. See Patrick Gunn’s PHSC News issue 25-7 for details.

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…read all about it …

Toronto Star front page October 16, 1954 with photo of a roof top rescue

Toronto. … hurricane Hazel devastates Southern Ontario. Even before Hazel hit in October of that year, 1954 was becoming a special memorable year for me. I left high school at the end of term in June, not to return to formal education for a few years. And I joined the telephone company’s newly formed Toll Area as a technician a month later in late July.

In those days I lived about 60 miles north of the city. That October, in spite of severe rain from the tail end of Hazel, I bussed over-town to catch a flick at a local theatre just a block or two from my new job. The streets were more like rivers as the water reached curb height. The movie had barely started when the house lights went up and the owner said the night’s showing was cancelled due to flooding in the basement from Hazel.

Years later our late editor, Bob Lansdale told me how as a young news photographer, he scooped the city papers. With his large format camera, he shot a person being rescued from the raging Humber and a small part of his shot was the front page photograph on the Toronto Star (perhaps the shot shown at left – you must subscribe to Newspapers by Ancestry to see the archive in finer detail). Bob was remembered by many of the city papers.

Collectors of photographic memorabilia should consider newspaper photographs for their collection. News photographs capture history on the fly! While we encourage all to visit the PHSC 2025 events, we can’t be sure you will discover historic news photographs, but you will definitely spot some things to add to your collection or even your shooting gear whether you use digital or film technology.

Our coming event on October 19th is our famous fall fair which began years ago when one of our founders, Larry Boccioletti, sensed demand for cameras and images exceeded our annual spring fair, monthly meetings, and occasional auction.  Check out PHSC News issue 25-7 (July 2025) for more details.

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