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Toronto. The Daguerreian Society sent me notice of this auction to be held today in Ottawa Illinois. Includes live auction online!
Here’s a chance to add more images to your collection. Click here or on the icon at left for full details.
Stereo Photographer at 1904 Wedding
Toronto. George Dunbar turns up the most unusual sources. The other day he suggested we look a a web site for the American National Public Radio (NPR). The NPR site published this article by Colin Dwyer yesterday (February 16. 2017) called “WATCH: Is This [Marcel] Proust? Scholars Say They’ve Finally Found Author On Film“.
Included is a short movie clip taken at a 1904 wedding. Colin Dwyer says, “Jean-Pierre Sirois-Trahan, professor at Laval University in Quebec City, Canada, says he has found the notoriously solitary writer in footage of the 1904 wedding of Élaine Greffulhe.” This clip is courtesy of the Minstere de la Culture, Les Archives du film du Cenrew ational de la cinematographie in France.
Of even greater interest to photo historians are brief images of the photographers of the day. Early in the clip, a photographer takes hand held shots with a stereo camera, its case strapped over his shoulder. Moments later sharp eyes will see another photographer carrying a huge tripod mounted stills camera down the stairs. Later in the movie there is a third fellow carrying a hand held bellows camera and then a fourth man slipping what looks like a movie camera or a glass plates case into its leather bag. Perhaps there are even more cameras – take a close, a really close look!
Ad from LIFE Magazine, September 19, 1938. Click on it to see it larger.
Toronto. I remember LIFE magazine as a Saturday afternoon read in the barbershop as I waited for my turn under Nelson MaGee’s sharp scissors and clippers. It was founded in 1883 as an American version of England’s Punch. The version most of us remember is Henry Luce’s big brash photojournalism magazine boldly touting American ideals and principles.
It was a wonderful magazine, full of black and white pictures and interesting bits of text and cut lines that clarified the photographs. When I looked at it, the magazine (and I) was about a decade old.
My friend George Dunbar found this interesting two page spread LIFE published in their September 19, 1938 issue. The revitalized LIFE had published as a photojournalism magazine for three years by then and felt a need to educate its readers about photography and its importance in illustrating the world of the day to its readers not just as entertainment but as serious news too.
Toronto. Tonchi Martinic of the Vancouver Society sent me a note announcing the Vancouver Camera Swap Meet this coming April 2nd, 2017.
This is the show Siggi ran for many years before passing it on to Tonchi. If you can’t make it to Montreal, then by all means join the folks in Vancouver and enjoy the great spring weather (hard to believe with all the snow there just now, but by April the sun will be shining and balmy weather will have set in). Click here or on the icon for details.
Harold Edgerton at MIT – Strobe of a girl skipping
Toronto. George Dunbar sent me this fascinating link to a short video on the TIME MAGAZINE website showing Edgerton’s high speed photography experiments using custom made strobes. Wait for the video – it starts after a short ad.
Dr Edgerton set up various arrangements to record everyday things in a way we do not see them. His high speed electronic flash (strobe) allows recording of incidents a fraction of a second long. For example he recorded fifty images of a tennis swing on a single print using a large plate film camera and a custom made strobe. He created a high speed movie camera capable of taking 6,000 frames a second to record some of his experiments.
The stills and movies record everyday activities in a fresh new light – now over a half century old (dating back to c1930 at MIT)! Dr Edgerton insisted he was an engineer, not an artist but today, his high speed photography prints sit in the Museum of Modern Art (MOMA), a respected New York Museum. Look at this thought provoking video capturing the great man and his images in action.
Montreal Camera Show April 2nd 2017
Toronto. My Friend Sol Hadef sent me a note the other day. His spring camera show in Montreal will be held once again at the Holiday Inn in the West Island (Pointe-Claire), on April 2nd. Write Sol to reserve a table!
Take a trip to Montreal and enjoy the weather and fine food in this part of La Belle Province – and be sure to drop By Sol’s show to pick up some new items for your collection.
You can even find things to use in the popular niche photography area of film photography.
Stan’s Mystery 35mm Sears Tower camera
Toronto. Years ago it was common practice to rebrand products from national factories for sale in large chain stores. Sears was no exception. Its line of cameras were branded “Tower” but actually made by mainstream companies in Europe and Japan with slight modifications to the originator’s other models.
It was common practice as well to use leaf shutters and a removable front element to adjust a better quality camera’s focal length. Steinheil, now long disappeared, made excellent quality photographic lenses last century.
The body, lens and shutter choice suggests this particular camera was a product of Germany’s famous Braun factory. Confirmation and more historical details are most welcome – drop me a line.
Bolex H16 camera famous as a high end consumer movie camera.
Toronto. The latest issue of PHSC News, issue 16-9 has been distributed. With this issue, we shift the editorial duties from David Bridge to Sonja Pushchak. Sonja was instrumental in redesigning the newsletter to modernize the approach of PHSC.
A big tip of the hat to David for his successes in editing the newsletter and seeing it was released on time. David was the spark to moving the distribution list from a private system to MailChimp with its wealth of statistics. David remains the Assistant Editor, testing cameras, writing a column on cameras, and distributing the newsletter.
You can click here or on the Bolex icon to see this edition. The lead story has a Valentine’s theme; our February speaker is introduced; and film revival is discussed along with the first of a series of articles on trying traditional film photography. We wrap up this issue with the popular Ask Vicky column, coming events, and classified.
New film for old 35mm cameras
Toronto. George Dunbar mentioned this wonderful link to CBC news the other day. Journalist and native of PEI, Sara Fraser of CBC wrote this article about a little camera store on Queen Street in Charlottetown.
The store, P.E.I. Photo Lab, has operated for over 3 decades. With film photography experiencing a small renaissance, it’s happy to be part of the excitement. The operators will develop and print film both new and old, keeping the customer cost down by processing below their cost. Students from nearby Holland College make frequent visits to the store.
Photographer Alhan Ashnaei purchased the store in 2012. In addition to selling photographic goods and services (film and digital), he and his brother display many old cameras including a view camera once used by his grandfather in Iran. The family moved to Kuwait and founded a successful photographic studio there before deciding to emigrate to Canada.
EVENTS
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Stan White – Poems & Photos
Mise Au Point – sur la photographie Quebecois
