cough, cough

Posted on March 27, 2020 by Robert

a discounted Brownie Bullet Camera

Toronto. Many companies last century offered deals on non-competing products to expand their market segment. An example was Marlboro cigarettes and Kodak (in the days before the link between cigarettes and lung cancer/heart disease was legally confirmed and tobacco products banned from advertising).

Any American for a few bits of cigarette packages could order a Kodak Brownie at a big discount. The tobacco company sells more cigarettes; Kodak moves more film burners for its non camera products; and everybody wins, cough, cough.

My thanks to fellow PHSC member George Dunbar for sending me this advertisement from page 29  on the June 15, 1962 issue of LIFE magazine. It was typical of the ads of the day promoting one product by offering another at a lower price via mail order and “proof of purchase”.

 

 

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stay home – stay inspired

Posted on March 26, 2020 by Robert

Toronto. By now we have all heard and felt the impact of COVID-19 and its repercussions. The terms – social distancing and self isolation have become common concepts as countries world wide struggle to contain this nasty virus.

For entirely different reasons, I recently stopped delivery of the Globe and Mail after decades of reading this fine newspaper including the wonderful Photo News quarterly magazine. Fortunately, Rita Godlevskis over at PhotoEd, has managed to keep her epic journal afloat with its eye catching photography and articles. Such magazines are even more necessary as we shutter our doors to avoid contagion – or transmission to those with a weaker immune system.

Here is her latest broadside encouraging subscriptions. If you haven’t done so yet, consider getting one yourself and see how we are doing in Canadian Photography.

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film savings nearly 60 years ago

Posted on March 25, 2020 by Robert

Loblaws?

Toronto. My good friend George Dunbar is a fabulous source of suggestions and inspirations as he pursues photographic history as reflected in magazine advertisements last century. Today’s item stems from George’s email a few days back showing a collaboration between Kodak, Polaroid, Sylvania and select grocery chains. Notice the emphasis on colour – both slides and 8mm movie film.

This ad is from the May 25, 1962 issue of LIFE.  George was surprised to see Loblaws mentioned since we view the chain as Canadian, which it is. But what is not so well known is that it operates many American chains too, When the ad came out, Loblaws also operated a chain of the same name headquartered in Chicago. Small world indeed!

The hints that the coupons are for the American chain are in the spelling; the other chains shown; and the fact the magazine is American. NB. At the time, Sylvania made flash bulbs, an important consumable for camera amateurs, not made by either Kodak or Polaroid.

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a snowball’s chance …

Posted on March 24, 2020 by Robert

the topic is snowmen …

Toronto. Many image collectors specialize. Some by process (like daguerreotypes), some by history, and some by topic (like bicycles).

PHSC member and speaker, Jeff Ward sent me this interesting link to a New York Times article about a collector of snowman photographs, a subject with a very short life.

The article, “To All the Snowmen We’ve Made Together” was written  by Gideon Jacobs and published on March 19th.

(Wow, 75 years today! You made it!)

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predicting glass

Posted on March 23, 2020 by Robert

As We May Think

Toronto. Wikipedia has an article on a famous essay that predicted things we take for granted today – like computers, Google Glass, AI, internet, robots and more. In 1939, Vannevar Bush published his essay “Mechanization and the Record”. After the war ended, (written before Hiroshima and Nagasaki) an expanded article was published in the July 1945 edition of Atlantic Monthly titled “As We May Think”. An abridged version was published a few months later in September, after the Atomic bombs were dropped.

Bush envisions his tiny camera using dry photography to develop the tiny negatives. The process pictured by Bush used diazo crystals developed with ammonia fumes, a system I used in the early 1960s teaching data transmission for Bell. While Bush felt his camera would snap any relevant stills under control of the wearer, Google Glass used a 5 megapixel (later 8) camera to continuously record a full colour video of all the wearer saw. Privacy concerns curtailed the promising Google experiment.

George Dunbar sent me a note on the September 10, 1945 LIFE reprint of this abridged article (beginning on page 112). Looking back, it is “Deja Vu all over again” as NY Yankee player Yogi Berra would say.

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wishful thinking …

Posted on March 22, 2020 by Robert

Polaroid Ad in spring, 1962

Toronto. When Edwin Land announced the famous Polaroid Land system a few years after the war, dealers had difficulty keeping the “picture-in-a-minute” cameras and film in stock.  By the time this ad showed up, the Polaroid system was down to a brief 10 seconds from start to finish for B&W prints.

However; many folk decided waiting for far less costly prints was better than seeing the results in 10 seconds using a very expensive process. Many users realized that taking a “perfect” photo like the ads showed was far more complicated than just pointing and shooting the camera.

In the days of “picture-in-a-minute” excitement, many amateurs had a Polaroid used with only a few rolls before the camera was quietly shelved, and it was back to the Kodak again with its cheap film and processing. With other cameras, bad prints were tossed; good ones were kept in an album or shoe box for future generations.

This April 6, 1962 ad in LIFE (p 25) was typical of the day, promising great photos of that special event (like an Easter outing) in just 10 seconds. Ironically, LIFE devoted this issue to ways to stretch your money – too bad everyone wasn’t using a Polaroid camera … A big thanks to my friend George Dunbar for this ad reminiscing what might have been.

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Bill’s World

Posted on March 21, 2020 by Robert

Notman Studio Portrait of Lillie Langtry of Boston in 1886/7

Toronto. In 1995, McClelland & Stewart, Inc (then a famous Canadian Publishing House) published a Canadian edition of “The World of William Notman” written by Hall, Dodds and Triggs. The lavish book had a history of the Notman Studios and a beautifully printed collection of Notman photographs with exceptionally high resolution and deep blacks.

The 230+ paged hard cover book carried a suggested list price of $100 with a 25% discount for the first months of publication. It was originally published in 1993 by the American publisher, David R Godine, Publishing in Boston.

I bought my copy as a remaindered book for the sum of $24.99 at Edwards Books on Queen just before Spadina. The last named author, Stanley Triggs, spoke at the PHSC decades ago. At the time, Stan was a curator of Notman photographs at McGill’s McCord Museum. By 1995, he had authored two other books on Notman (Portrait of a Period in 1967 and The Stamp of a Studio in 1985).

Anyone interested in Notman, Canadian history, or Photographic history should have, or at least read, this book.

 

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OCCS for April cancelled too

Posted on March 20, 2020 by Robert

Toronto. News from our friends in Ohio of another closing to offset risk of infection.

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Yashica 44LM in LIFE

Posted on March 19, 2020 by Robert

YASHICA 44LM from LIFE ad

Toronto. Yashica were very busy mid last century. One series of Yashica cameras took on the mighty Rollei TLRs. The Yashica versions came in the identical 120 roll film size and in the smaller size using 127 roll film.

I bought my sister the 44LM in a grey finish. The little beauty used 127 film, gave oversize 2×2 inch slides, and had a built-in light meter making day-time photos “a snap”. She took many photos with the Yashica until it met an untimely death. Always kept on a shelf in her bedroom, one day it was accidentally pulled down and crashed to the hardwood floor, never to focus again.

The quarter page ad is from page 72 of the March 9th, 1962 issue of LIFE magazine. A tip of the hat to my friend George Dunbar for suggesting this ad  and bringing back memories of my sister’s enthusiastic use of her Yashica camera.

 

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bean bag boogie

Posted on March 18, 2020 by Robert

Bean Bag Photography for wildlife

Toronto. With the proliferation of fast cameras and films, photographers began to search for a simple support to rest the camera or long lens on. More flexible than a tripod; steadier than hand held, especially when depth of field was narrow.

Impromptu supports could be made from clothing sitting between the gear and the ground on a car hood, door window opening, rock etc.

A bag began to be offered without stuffing, The buyer could use what ever media he desired. As one wag (Lester Lefkowitz) put it, “… if you get lost in the woods, you can eat the beans.”. And, even today you can  find these bags at various price points.

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