44-4 being delivered this week

Photographic Canadiana 44-4

Toronto. Editor Bob Lansdale’s push despite the crummy weather resulted in the latest issue of the journal arriving this week by mail.

The editor’s cover shot is a still life of various stereo items from old cameras and cards to a View-Master and its Kodachrome disk.

Inside are a variety of articles to tempt every photography collector – those who favour cameras, or photos, or history. Toronto Notes and an insert cover four monthly presentations (October’s Lorne Shields presentation on antique bicycles and photography, November’s talk by Daphne Yuen on her thesis article about digitizing antique British photo albums, December’s traditional Show and Tell  meeting and via an insert, January’s visit to Ryerson’s RIC open house featuring a Kodak exhibit the PHSC funded).

Other articles cover tintypes, Boer War celebrations here over a century ago, the Ruby Stereo camera, our fall auction, a trip to England and the Megalethoscope, the Baillargeon letters from 1923, the transfer of historic slides to Ryerson and McCord via the PHSC, and how Kallitypes are made.

Regretfully this journal only goes to members. Not a member yet?? Easy-Peasy! Just pull out your trusty credit card and click the upper left PayPal icon. one year and three year subscriptions are offered for both domestic and international addresses. No PayPal account is necessary.

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power button

A new look at the old Kodak tag line …

Toronto. Rachel Plotnick in her book “Power Button: A History of Pleasure, Panic, and the Politics of Pushing” devotes a section to the original Kodak tag line “You push the button, we do the rest.” dating back to George Eastman’s seminal late 1800s camera which he named the Kodak.

An excerpt from her book, covering the Kodak phrase, appears on the website of Science Friday.

I received notice of this excerpt from Tom Bochsler via Bob Lansdale. Take the time to read this and  see photography (and the Kodak) in an entirely different light!

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Andreas Feininger, Photographer and the Family of Man

the photojournalist (Dennis Stock) by Andreas Feininger

Toronto. in the late 1960s, I subscribed to the TIME-LIFE series on photography. I learned many things from each book. The very first one was called “The Camera” and on page 61, it showed this photograph by Andreas Feininger of Dennis Stock called “the photojournalist”.  I was fascinated since I was thinking strongly of Leicas at the time.

This all came back to me the other day when George Dunbar sent an email about Feininger’s photograph in the famous 1955 exhibition and later book “The Family of Man“. Looking at the mass of people on Fifth Avenue in NYC taken by Feininger with a long telephoto lens, one can see how appropriate it was for that exhibition and book.

The mass of people appear in a photograph reproduced in the February 14, 1955 issue of LIFE magazine on page 139.

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Al Gilbert 96

Al Gilbert
by Robert Lansdale

Toronto. My thanks to editor Bob Lansdale for his efforts to track down details of the late Al Gilbert. Al died early this year at the age of 96. Canada’s leading portrait photographer, his studio is in Toronto. Bob Lansdale is preparing a more detailed obituary for later publication.

The above photograph of Al was published in the book “….a funny thing happened on the way to the darkroom” written by the late Margaret Lansdale in 1997 and produced by her husband, our editor, Bob Lansdale. Al Gilbert was one of the contributors to the book and provided one of the two foreword essays.

His son Michael brought an amazing camera collection to our show at the Royal York Hotel the spring of 1981. Michael and his sister Nina have been in communication with Bob Lansdale on these recent events and future plans.

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Feb 21 2019 Auction in the Big Apple

Xie Kitchen by Lewis Carroll – Lot 2

Toronto. Swann Auction Galleries in NYC will be holding their latest Photographs: Art & Visual Culture auction on February 21, 2019 at 1:30 pm. The items can be viewed in person or online. Click the Photographs: link above to see the viewing times and the various lots online.

Drop over to NYC and add to your photographic collection!

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our February 2019 PHSC News

Mitchell Movie Camera BNC

Toronto. Another great newsletter has been wrapped up in a ribbon this week. Editor Pushchak has filled this issue with many delights.

She begins with Broken Rules – the so called Motion Picture Production Code or MPPC that defined our Hollywood movies when I was a kid and a movie goer. On PHSC Presents we see a sample of February speaker Erin Levitsky’s talk on LIFE photographer Nina Leen.

As this is Black History Month, we have an article on Black Hollywood. In the Equipment Review, David Bridge compares film point and shoot cameras by Nikon and Canon before the digital era took hold. John Morden’s Light Me Up covers a unique flash gun and its risks.

And there are posters, (live) Web Links in Louise Freyburger’s popular column, a tale of corsets in the Dot Asks Vi column, and for wrap up, The Classifieds page.

Go for it! Click here or on the above Mitchell Camera icon.

 

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let’s all go to the movies

1895 Lumiere Bros Projector and more – courtesy of Bridgeman Images

Toronto. As giant screen 4k televisions and a plethora of other computer based screens proliferate, the noisy ad-filled movie house seems destined for the ash can of history – a novelty dragged out to show kids how we were in the olden days.

But over 120 years ago, there were no movies, no television, no computers, just Tom Edison‘s novel one person at a time Kinetoscope attracting viewers in a side show environment- and a whack of others experimenting with photography and motion.

When I opened Wednesday’s Globe, there it was in full colour – the Lumière Brothers Movie camera patented that day in 1895. And for the first time in 1895 Europe a movie short could be projected on a screen and seen by more than one person at a time – an audience! If the projector concept wasn’t enough to attract buyers, the Lumière device could also take and print pictures.

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a Graphic in your future?

Pacemaker Graphic ad in the December 1954 Life Magazine

Toronto. Following on yesterday’s post, the Graflex gang also caught the Christmas spirit and recommended their gear as the perfect Christmas gift on page 17 in the December 6th issue of LIFE magazine.

Besides their traditional big Pacemaker Graphic press camera, they offered  a book on the Graphic/Graflex line, a twin lens reflex camera, and a camera, enlarger column & base called the Graphic-Graflarger outfit, designed to use the accompanying  Century Graphic camera as an enlarger after using it for snaps!

Enjoy this shot of nostalgia courtesy of Mr Dunbar (and Happy Valentine’s day – you did remember didn’t you)?

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even stocking stuffers!

Stocking Stuffers under $1
click to see full Kodak Ad

Toronto. George Dunbar is having a great time researching magazines sold well over a half century ago. Looking at them, it is easy to see ads and articles for things familiar to me and George (and some others too) back in the day. In the 1950s Christmas was a big deal. Manufacturers and retailers went out of their way to encourage the purchase of goods not necessarily needed. LIFE magazine on November 29th, 1954 was full of such ads.

Kodak had a big spread on pp 76-7 that year offering gifts for everyone. The stocking stuffers for less than a dollar were just one selection. The marketing mavens at Kodak were bustling with ideas on how you could gift your loved ones to make it a memorable Christmas!

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the mail must go through

Clint (left) and Bob at Gateway in a snow storm.

Toronto. In spite of the nasty weather, PHSC President Lewko (Clint) Hryhorijiw and journal editor Bob Lansdale lugged the sorted issues of Photographic Canadiana 44-4 to Gateway Postal Centre in Mississauga this morning.

This issue is now finished and with our distributors – and hopefully with our members in a few days.

It took many hands to get 44-4 delivered with the least delay; plus the efforts of our editor. A bad situation made good by the sheer determination of editor Bob Lansdale (and some help from other members). A job well done! Oh yes, except for printing and postal service this was all done by volunteers … True dedication!

 

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