Toronto. A few days ago, Gary Perry sent me an email announcing his Sunday, September 28, 2025 show: He is at the same great location and time as always:
Gary says some Vendor tables ($75/8ft table) are still available if you would like to move some gear.
If you have any questions, email or phone Gary. He can be reached at cameramashow@gmail.com – or you can phone/text him at 905-550-7477
a DeMoulin camera from Rob Niederman’s collection
Toronto. Our friends in Michigan just released the latest issue (53-3, Fall 2025) of Photogram. This fascinating 24 page well illustrated edition has a mix of articles, meeting news, coming events, etc. To read the Photogram (all issues including this one), visit the MiPHS website and join the society!
Editor Jeffrey Rowe sent a copy of 53-3 to the PHSC as MiPHS is one of our exchange members. The MiPHS’s up coming event is the October 5, 2025 fair (show, sale, and auction).
In this issue the illustrated articles are Photographic Gimmicks, by Robert Shimmin; Post War Opulence – Kodak Medalist and more (lots of beautiful photos of the cameras), by Chuck Fehl; Framing the Story by Steve Hanley; Barbershop Photo by Cindy Motzenbeker; and Photography Pranks are Priceless by Rob Niederman. The photo of the DuMoulin camera is courtesy of Rob Niederman and is one of many illustrations in his story.
We have a close connection to the Michigan folks; Cindy Motzenbeker is a frequent visitor and speaker here, and our president, Clint Hryhorijiw is a MiPHS member at large.
Eaton’s stereo cards c1902
Toronto. I hope you enjoyed the airshow ending today (Monday Sep 1st). It has been running annually at the CNE for over 70 years!
Years ago, a major department store chain in Canada was Eaton’s. When stereo hit one of its peaks (early 1900s), views and equipment were offered by T Eaton & Co in their catalogues. In issue 25-2, the late Dr Robert Wilson (one of our then stereo gurus) wrote this lengthy well illustrated article titled, “Buying Stereo from the Eaton’s Catalogue”.
The article begins with this précis, “For years, people living in remote and rural areas of Canada lacked convenient access to retail stores to purchase clothing, home furnishings, farm implements and items for entertainment. They relied upon mail order catalogues to make their purchases.
“One of the leaders in catalogue sales in Canada was The T. Eaton Co. Limited, a retail store that became Canada’s largest privately owned department store chain. Included in these catalogues, as their popularity warranted it, were stereoscopic items.
“Most commonly seen today are the litho-printed stereo views showing the Eaton’s operations. But Eaton’s offering of stereo was much more extensive that just this store set. Included, at various times were cameras, viewers and a wide assortment of stereo views.”
The article can be viewed in the issue 25-2 pdf file on the ‘free’ members-only DVD/thumb drive. See ‘Membership’ above or at left to join. Email any membership questions to Lilianne at member@phsc.ca. Visit our 2025 Events to see stereo gear and views to add to your collection (lots of other stuff too). Up next is our famous fall fair. Details are in PHSC News 25-7.
a home portrait (the subject may be Paul Strand c1969 – both he and photographer taken by his wife).
Toronto. In a recent email Ken Metcalf, editor of the Graflex Journal, tells me the latest 2025 issue is now available.
Back issues (both the older Graflex Historic Quarterly and the newer Graflex Journal Quarterly) are available up to 2022 on the Graflex web site. And Mike Otto of Pacific Rim Camera has a whack of Graflex catalogues, etc. here and the journals INCLUDING this issue (GJ 2025) here.
There are some technical issues regarding more recent issues on the Graflex website at the moment, but the missing journals are all on Mike’s website. Enjoy.
Octopus ride on the CNE Midway in the summer of 1979
Toronto. When I was a kid mid last century, the start of the last two weeks of August signalled the end of summer and start of CNE time, an annual event that ended each September on Labour Day with an air show.
As a youngster, my wife and her parents went on soldier’s day to see her grandfather march in the parade.
When I was a tiny child, my mother and aunt took me to the CNE Midway. One ride stuck in my mind – the Caterpillar. A cover came over us once the ride started leaving us to soar slightly up and down in darkness as we spun around. Years later, I saw a photograph in a Focal Press text and recognized the unique seats and cover of the Caterpillar ride I once rode at the CNE Midway.
The PHSC has a connection to the CNE too. For a brief period in the 1970s, the society had a booth in the Arts and Crafts building (now the Medieval Times Restaurant). It was always a challenge to fill the schedule with members. Near the end of the CNE participation, Allan Barnes set up a free standing display that worked with no member in attendance. Our participation ended when the building went commercial and you paid a stiff fee for booth space to SELL goods (around the same time the news papers stopped reporting CNE daily attendance).
The excitement of the CNE came rushing back when journal co-editor Louise Freyburger sent me a link to a news video on CNE photographer Scooter Korek who has photographed the annual event for nearly 50 years now (be sure you turn up the video’s sound).
The photo at left is one I took about 46 years ago on the CNE Midway when there was barely enough light to properly focus and expose a colour negative. Enjoy the news clip on the work of Scooter.
Our 2025 events have many interesting items to add to your collection. Our next event is the famous fall fair on October 19th at the Trident Hall in the west end. See PHSC News 25-7 for details. The poster etc. goes up here in later September/early October. Meantime, enjoy the PHSC News and the CTV news clip!
winter’s night in early 2014
Toronto. For many decades after the invention of photography, it was a daylight – bright daylight – pursuit unless one resorted to bright artificial lighting – flash powder, flood lights, flash bulbs, electronic flash, etc.
Sensitive media of the day was painfully slow. Initially even street scenes demanded a tripod while studio subjects also needed a means of subject support – hidden (sort of) or obvious.
When film began to die out and digital took over, the sensors slowly increased in both sensitivity and resolution. In this example, a winter scene was taken in early February, 2014 around 11 pm as graders fought a snow storm softly trying to fill the streets.
Early night scenes on film demanded the use of a tripod or other means to steady the camera. Long exposure times meant only stationary objects were recorded (or streams of head/tail lights) moving people and vehicles were not recorded. Night shots were usually street scenes or sky scenes (moon, stars) when glass-plates and film were king.
Our 2025 events offered many photographs, not necessarily night scenes. Come out to our 2025 events and augment your collection! The next event is our fabulous fall fair on October 19th at the Trident Hall (Evans/Islington) in the west end of the city. Details appear in the issue 25-7 of PHSC News. The details will be posted here closer to the event.
Autochrome c1908-10 – see Cally Blackman’s video
Toronto. From the beginnings of photography until the early 1900s, photographic processes were all monochrome – unless the image was hand coloured!
Around the turn of the 20th century, a variety of additive colour processes were invented, the best of the bunch appears to have been Autochrome. First marketed around 1907, it continued to be a glass-plate-only product until 1930 when it moved to film, only to disappear a few years later when it was replaced in the market by newer (and faster) subtractive processes such as Kodachrome.
During its reign, Autochrome portraits displayed the latest in fashionably attractive clothes. Recently Cynthia Motzenbecker sent me a Youtube link to a short British video by Cally Blackman, part of the Royal Photographic Society (RPS) materials. The Blackman video covers Autochrome and fashion from 1907-1930.
The image at upper left, “C1908-10 La broche de pâquerettes:© Collection AN, Paris”, is from Cally’s video. Please note that Autochromes are naturally soft and low contrast. This image was slightly electronically sharpened and increased in contrast.
While you may find an Autochrome at one of our 2025 events, we can’t say for sure, BUT we can say you will find an item to complement your collection! Our next event is the famous fall fair initiated by the late Larry Boccioletti. It will be held October 19th at Trident Hall. PHSC News 25-7 carries the poster and details. Don’t miss it!
Building the Bloor St Viaduct – looking west in 1917
Toronto. …. with a nod to Christie’s tag line for the idea.
If you have ever crossed the Don Valley on Bloor or Danforth, you used the Bloor Viaduct shown here at left (July 18, 1917) while it was under construction. Forward thinking city officials added a passageway below the road level for future use as a subway (in use today). The photograph in 1917 was taken by city employee Arthur Goss on that sunny summer’s day.
Arthur Goss was the first city photographer, hired well over a century ago to record the works of various city departments. Surprisingly, Mr Goss was not just a recorder, but a true photographer. He was City Photographer from 1911 to 1940 (when he died). His works are held in the City Archives (once the Records & Archives Division of the City Clerk’s Department at City Hall).
In early 1980, the City of Toronto Archives exhibited an overview of his work in the Market Gallery. The event included an illustrated brochure with a foreword by his friend, artist A J Casson of the ‘Group of Seven’. The two met at the Arts and Letters club (downtown on Elm street these days).
Those readers who collect photo memorabilia should visit our 2025 events. While we can’t say you will find a Goss photo (many are available at the city archives …), you are sure to find items that complement your collection. Our coming event is the fabulous fall fair to be held October 19th this year. For full details, see PHSC News 25-7 or this web site (closer to the event).
photographer Butchart and wife – photos courtesy the Jessie Stenberg collection
Toronto. In our journal, editor Bob Lansdale worked hard to present Canadian photographic history, often drowned out by the cacophony from across the border. While older Canadians learnt British history; younger ones through products, movies, magazines, TV, etc. learned about how great things American were.
Any Canadian business, once it grew to the point of being a potential threat, suddenly moved south to where vast markets and demand held forth.
In the times when we were a British colony; a British linked dominion, the influx of many people and ideas were from the UK. As an example, photographer David Coutts Butchart emigrated from Scotland to become an early Toronto photographer (first noted in 1859, before the Dominion was established). In issue 25-2 (over 60 pages) Walter J. Balfour ©1999 wrote an article titled, “DAVID COUTTS BUTCHART: An Early Toronto Photographer” about his great grandfather.
Walter begins, “In 1985, while visiting my mother in Scotland, our conversation turned to a discussion of my activities at the University of Victoria. I told her that part of my research involved photography which prompted her to remark that I might have come by that naturally since her maternal grandfather had been a photographer by profession. His name was David Coutts Butchart, with a studio in Toronto.
“I thought little more of this conversation until some years later while visiting the National Archives building in Ottawa I chanced to notice a drawer labeled Canadian Photographers.
“On checking its contents I discovered, much to my surprise, a file on my great-grandfather with references to some of his work preserved in the National Archives collection. This prompted me to talk to a staff member who then introduced me to a photo-archivist in Photography Acquisition and Research, Mr. Andrew Rodger.
“He knew of Butchart’s work but said he had no biographical information and would like to have some. I thus decided to see what I could discover… this sketch [see pdf file or journal] is the result.
“David Butchart was born in the Scottish parish of Barry in what was at the time Forfarshire, now Angus, on the last day of the year 1831. He emigrated with his parents to Canada in his twenties and became one of Toronto’s early portrait photographers.
“The Statistical Account of Scotland of 1791 describes Barry as principally a farming and weaving community of some twelve square-miles area, hosting a population of 796. The region remains agricultural today. David’s father, Alexander Butchart, was a farm laborer. We learn from the parish record that Alexander had married on 29 March 1829 a girl from the adjoining parish, Margaret Todd.
“David was their second child and eldest son in a family of eight children. There have been Butcharts recorded in the district from the middle of the 15th century. The surname is probably an anglicized form of the French Bouchard, brought across the English Channel by the Normans. Earlier spellings of the surname range through Bowchart, Bowchard, Bouchard, Bouchart and Buschart.” …
The entire article and its many illustrations were viewed by members in the issue 25-2 pdf file on the free members-only DVD/thumb drive. Joining the PHSC is easy and inexpensive – follow “Membership” above or at right. And email any membership questions to Lilianne at member@phsc.ca.
And while we can’t promise that you will spot a Butchart photo at one of our events, you will see lots of items that complement your collection. Our fall fair on October 19th is coming up fast. See the PHSC News 25-7 for details.
NB, The title idea came from Quentin Taratino’s 2019 movie, “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood“.
c1544 drawing of a camera obscura showing an eclipse
Toronto. At left is a c1544 drawing of a camera obscura showing a solar eclipse. In the image, the left wall has a pin-hole to let in the light. The right wall acts as a screen to allow the image of the sun to be projected and viewed. The construction between the two is a light tight box (one wall is removed in the drawing to show how it works). The image shown is courtesy of the Gernsheims’ book “The History of Photography“, long out of print (mine is the 1969 Thames and Hudson edition).
The most basic description of a camera is essentially the same: a light-tight box with the sensitive media at one end (instead of the wall) and a lens (instead of a pin-hole) and shutter mechanism at the other with the distance between them suitable to sharply focus a subject (about 10 feet away from the box) on the sensitive media.
In the days when media were crushingly slow, a hat, hand, lens cap, etc over the lens served as a shutter. Exposing the lens for a few seconds (or longer) allowed enough light to hit the sensitive media to record a latent image suitable for development.
Improvements at the media end of the light-tight box permitted rapid exchange of plates and later film without further unintended exposure to light.
Improvements at the lens end of the box were often more complex including a means to focus on a subject closer than 10 feet, a reduced ‘aperture’ to increase the amount of the foreground and background in focus (faster lenses used Waterhouse stops or variable aperture leaves to reduce or ‘stop down’ a lens and improve the depth of focus). Different combinations of elements were used to flatten the image projected on the media and correct various imperfections. Some worked; some didn’t.
While today many cameras use variable focal length (zoom) lenses to vary focal length (and angle of view) others use interchangeable prime lenses or at least their front elements. Many zooms are also interchangeable to expand the focal length covered, or allow the use of prime lenses with special attributes.
Traditionally, lens elements were spherical (convex or concave) or plane and made of glasses with differing densities. Post WW2 special element coatings became common reducing inter-element reflections and improving contrast. A few decades later we began to see aspheric elements too. The goal was always to improve resolution, expand coverage, flatten the plane of focus and reduce or eliminate distortion – geometric, astigmatic, colour etc.
Digital technology brought with it a whole new science of photography. Quickly sensors had ISO ratings that began where the fastest film left off. Sophisticated computer chips reduced noise, sharpen images, changed saturation, auto focussed the camera, etc. Once shot, results could be displayed almost instantly. Thousands of shots could be taken on a sensor. No need to buy more film!
And lenses changed too. The smaller the size of the media (sensor), the shorter the focal length of the lens for the same angle of view. With smart phones, the sensor is so tiny a focal length of 2 or 3 mm has the same angle of view as a 35mm camera with a 35mm lens. With the strides in technology, some modern digital cameras can be bought with sensors of over 60mp allowing the use of electronic ‘zoom’ to create an image as if a zoom or longer focal length lens was used – just crop the 60mp size down!
So what is a camera … really! Visit our 2025 events to add to your collection – Next in line is our fall fair on October 19th. Details are in issue 25-7 of our PHSC News.
EVENTS
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Stan White – Poems & Photos
Mise Au Point – sur la photographie Quebecois
