Alice Austen of Staten Island, photographer

Posted on July 12, 2018 by Robert

Alice Austen c1892
at Clear Comfort, Staten Island

Toronto. George Dunbar dropped me a note the other day about an early American woman photographer who was discovered by a wider audience only near the end of her life. Like Vivian Maier, she embraced photography as a hobby, but took her photographs more like a professional.

Austen lived a life of luxury in her parent’s estate, a vast mansion and grounds on Staten Island called Clear Comfort. Never marrying, she spent a life of leisure and photography in the company of friends until the market crash of 1929 when she was wiped out. Shown here at 75 years old, Austen died a pauper a year later in 1952.

A fine biography of her and her work was published in 1976. Called Alice’s World: The Life and Photography of an American Original, Alice Austen, 1866 – 1952, it was written by author Ann  Novotny. Austen made only about 7,000 glass plate negatives over her life-time, but they offer an insightful record of a life of wealth in the NYC area, and Staten Island in particular.

Just a year before her death, LIFE magazine did a seven page essay on Austen with many of her photographs in the September 24th, 1951 issue beginning on page 137 of that issue (by the way, you can read the entire issue on the above link courtesy of Google. Use the little dropdown menu – top right on my browser – which says Front Cover to link to the article on page 137 entitled “The Newly Discovered Picture World of Alice Austen” ).

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freezing motion at slow shutter speeds

Posted on July 11, 2018 by Robert

 

Baby Brownie in NYC
LIFE Sep 17, 1951

Toronto. In the days of film, photographers used a trick to freeze a subject into sharp focus – scanning.  An article in a very old issue of LIFE magazine (Sept 17, 1951, p 121) shows the effect at a ball game using the primitive shutter in a box camera (about 1/30th second top speed).

The article shows how a NYC photographer, Hy Peskin, ditches his professional gear for a cheap $3 Baby Brownie (This is an older model, Hy used one like I had as a kid). Hy took two shots, first panning the runner as he hit first base – runner sharp everything else blurry. Then second, holding the tiny camera still – base runner blurry, all else more or less sharp.

Another trick, often used (by me and many others) is to snap the shot just as the subject reached peak motion – e.g. a child on a swing. The subject slows, stops, then accelerates back. With a bit of skill, the photo is snapped just as the subject stops and reverses direction.

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why a Leica?

Posted on July 10, 2018 by Robert

Why a Leica?
c1954 brochure

Toronto. After the second world war, Leitz found itself competing with an old outmoded design in the screw mount series of cameras. In the 1954, it began to market the bayonet mount series of M Leicas. The M series is still available to-day, over 60 years later, as high end digital cameras.

The question of why remains relevant. In the late 1950s, I was unfamiliar with the M series or mirror boxes since I had only seen screw-mount IIIf cameras. The question of purchase came down to a Leica with what I thought was a squinty little viewfinder for 5cm lenses only or a beautiful Exakta with through the lens viewing in a bright waist level finder interchangeable with a bright eye level finder. No contest. We (me and two other potential buyers) spent weeks mulling over the various lens options. I chose Steinheil and Angenieux even though the lenses of choice were Zeiss. At the time, an Exakta cost far more than a IIIf Leica.

Continue reading →

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movie film stats c2009

Posted on July 9, 2018 by Robert

NFB Statistics from
The Beaver c2009

Toronto. George Dunbar sent me an email the other day on statistics from spring 2009 issue of The Beaver. The statistics relate to the National Film Board (NFB) Vault. We have a gem in the NFB which was established in 1939. The board has even won an Oscar back in 1953.

I did a brief obit post on Grant Munro who collaborated on the Oscar winning short called  Neighbours with Norm McLaren, all the more relevant today with the Donald romping around down south…

 

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the first 35mm camera was?

Posted on July 8, 2018 by Robert

Part of Jack Naylor’s collection
showing pre-Leica
35mm film cameras

Toronto. The late Thurman “Jack” Naylor of Massachusetts was a famous and well known collector of cameras and photographica in the States. In May of 1991 we had the pleasure of hosting Jack in Toronto where he gave a speech  to the PHSC after we enjoyed a dinner in his honour. Mo Patz was our president. Mark Singer was both our past president and author of Toronto Notes. Bob Lansdale was our official photographer and I acted as membership secretary. While John Alldredge was programs by the time the meeting was recorded in our journal, Les Jones had arranged for Jack’s talk when he was programs some months earlier.

As part of that talk on his (first) collection, Jack handed out to the audience of 50+ a brochure he wrote for the  PHSNE and later was published as an insert in the LHSA’s Viewfinder magazine. The brochure was titled “A New Look at the Old 35”.

In the summer of 1980, Leitz made  a lot of noise in its advertisements that Leica was the first camera to use 35mm film. While many sources credited the tiny Leica as the first 35mm film camera to be popular, at least 27 35mm film cameras preceded its entry in the marketplace in 1925, many of which were included in Jack’s well documented collection!

He published this brochure to clarify facts on early 35mm cameras. The Photographic Historical Society of New England, the Leica Historical Society of America, and our PHSC were logical recipients of Jack’s wisdom and research. And the first 35mm camera? The earliest recorded 35mm camera is the patent by Dr Alberto Lleo of Spain recorded on March 9th, 1908!

 

 

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camera brochures

Posted on July 7, 2018 by Robert

Exakta Camera Brochure

Toronto. Camera makers offered many, many brochures to explain the virtues of their products to the common man. I have a few these days, mostly published by Ihagee, Leitz, Hasselblad (or their importers and distributors), or Kodak.

These brochures give a great historical lesson to the camera collector today. In The Ultimate Eye, Leitz in Rockleigh NJ stress  the precision and testing of all parts of their famous optics (the choice of  a Leitz Canada lens on the cover acknowledges the world renown lens designer Walther Mandler who emigrated to Midland, Ontario with the establishment of the Leitz factory there). Other brochures like the Leica M4-P cover each model and its features from a user’s point of view.

The whole gamut of Leitz lenses offered in 1969, including the Visoflex housing were marketed in a delightful little pocket sized brochure titled simply Leica Lenses.

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camera magazines

Posted on July 6, 2018 by Robert

Toronto. Before the days of the internet, manufacturers and importers needed some way to advertise their wares. Many makers used traditional camera magazines or annuals like the British Journal Photographic Almanac (often available at our fairs). The only down side was the promotion of all your competitors in the same issue.

One clever way to avoid this was to publish a magazine free or for a nominal fee devoted solely to one product line. Leitz did it for years to tout its cameras and lenses.

The Exakta Camera Company in Bronxville, NY, North American importer and distributor of the Exakta line made by Ihagee in Dresden, Germany,  part of the USSR after the second war, printed and distributed a free Exakta magazine that showed who used the camera, how to use it, and new of new products. The issue shown, was printed in the spring of 1958 and reviewed the features of the new model 35mm Exakta VXIIa. I was sent a copy when I bought this model of the Exakta over a half century ago.

 

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made in Chicago

Posted on July 5, 2018 by Robert

Clcik to see Charlie Chaplin
and a professional B&H
film camera

Toronto. One of the most famous names in movies was Bell & Howell who made cameras and projectors  in the windy city. The history of the company, once famous as the premier maker of movie cameras for Hollywood, is featured here in the Made in Chicago Museum.

Click on the above link and read how famous the B&H marque was in the many decades before it became synonymous with schlock gadgets made in  China and promoted to fleece the unwary consumer of his hard earned dollars.

I remember a close friend and one of our executive who at one time held a senior position in Canada with B&H. He was shocked after encouraging friends to buy a Bell+Howell digital camera that touted amazing bogus specifications in its advertisements. A hard way to learn that the once proud company had sold its name to the highest bidder and no longer controlled it or the quality of products carrying its once proud name.

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exhibition of “Skins” by Manolo Chretien of France

Posted on July 4, 2018 by Robert

Opalocka Dakota

Toronto. I often post the latest exhibition in the Galerie GADCOLLECTION in Paris, France. This time the Galerie is featuring Manolo Chrétien from July 5 through 31st. The gallery writes in part, “In his Aero series Manolo CHRÉTIEN puts sky on honor.

“It reflects on the aircrafts’ hulls, turning them into bright mirrors. The rivet holders and the fuselage draw lines that tend to abstraction, sometimes only a number or an inscription allow one to guess that it is an aircraft body.

“The reflection theme also shows through the materials used. Indeed, Manolo CHRÉTIEN prints his photos on aluminum plates, brushed and anodized, normally used to build planes. Thus, the prints also interact with the ambient light and change according to the spectator’s point of view.

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so what’s a Turmon?

Posted on July 3, 2018 by Robert

The little Turmon
8×21 monocular

Toronto. You never heard of a Turmon? Well, where have you been? The little Turmon is nearly one century old! See the above Autumn 1987 Zeiss Historica article on page 7 by Joe Brown of Texas.

In the mid 1800s a number of German optical houses were established. Their bread and butter products were microscopes. One house, Carl Zeiss, was established in the tiny university town of Jena. Zeiss was a clever businessman surrounding himself with serious scientific people who could make his products world renown.

After the death of founder Carl Zeiss, the company expanded rapidly making all things optical or scientific. In 1921, the company began to market a tiny well designed and well made Turning monocular. The little gadget was an 8x, 21mm diameter device code named Turmon. Easily unfolded to drop in a waist-coat pocket, the tiny device when folded gave a upright image correct from left to right thanks to the built-in roof prisms borrowed from a binocular. Five years after it was marketed, mighty Zeiss was tapped to bring order to the chaotic post-war German camera market and Zeiss-Ikon was formed.

The second world war was not easy on Zeiss. Its camera business in Dresden was levelled  in 1944 and its main factory in Jena went to the Russians at the end of the war. A western optical house called Docter Monocular made a look alike version of the tiny Turmon which was still being made by the East Germans in Jena.

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