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Color Photography – Dr Paul Wolff

Toronto. It was an exciting time for colour photography post 1945. 35mm colour slides were becoming common and more importantly, being accepted by professionals in the publishing industry.

In the USA, Kodachrome was the most prominent slide film while in Europe it was Agfa (which became the basis for Ektachrome – the spoils of war going to the victors).

Dr Paul Wolff was born in Strassbourg in February of 1887. He was a medical doctor for many years before embracing photography, and in particular the Leica.

In 1935, his book called, “Meine Erfahrungen mit der Leica ” (My Experiences with the Leica) illustrated with his black and white photos taken over the decade since he first acquired a Leica, plus a few now common photos taken by Leitz, was first published adding to the growing recognition of the Leica and its “small negative – big photograph” concept in the days when 4×5, 5×7, 8×10, or larger negatives were king.

This book on colour photography with a Leica was published first in German in 1948 and then in the States in English in 1952, a year after the death of the author. Jacob Deschin, Photographic Editor of the NY Times newspaper at the time, wrote an “appreciation and supplement” to Dr Wolff’s German text as translated by Warner S Victor.

Deschin also wrote a book called “35mm Photography” and in 1955, the first book I ever bought on the Exakta – his “Exakta Photography”.