Photographic Canadiana 42-2

Posted on September 15, 2016 by Robert
Wray Mystery Camera

Wray Mystery Camera

Toronto. The latest issue was packaged Wednesday and hits the mail routes shortly. Members will see this issue in a few days. As mentioned recently this edition is the first to use our new layout.

The main article was first published earlier this year in Photographic World and asks the question “was This England’s First 35mm Camera?”. The article is well researched by author John Wade who was fortunate to be able to interview the late Arthur Penwarden a retired Director of Wray who was 97 at the time. Continue reading →

Posted in journal | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Photographic Canadiana 42-2

Snapshot – First Fall talk in Rochester by TPHS

Posted on September 14, 2016 by Robert
Brian Coe and the Snapshot Photograph book

Brian Coe and the Snapshot Photograph book

Toronto. Our friends across the lake in Rochester have started their fall series of speakers too. Marian Early, Treasurer of TPHS in Rochester sent me an email announcing their first monthly speaker, Joe Struble of GEH. Joe will speak on the ubiquitous snapshot photograph. His talk is announced as:

“Snapshot… In 1860, the eminent British scientist Sir John Herschel adapted a hunting term for shooting from the hip without taking careful aim to the possibility of someday being able to take a photograph in 1/10 of a second.

“More than 100 years later, the photographer Steven Halpern wrote, “The family albums of my great-grandparents are filled with serious and severe people looking as if they were bringing their souls to judgement. The snapshots in the albums of my parents show Mom and Dad throwing snowballs at each other in the storm of 1947.

“Joe R. Struble was Collections Manager of the Photography Collection at George Eastman House / International Museum of Photography and Film, Rochester NY. He retired in April 2015 after 26 years there.”

Continue reading →

Posted in activities-other, book, processes | Tagged , , , , , , | Comments Off on Snapshot – First Fall talk in Rochester by TPHS

Everything Old is New Again III

Posted on September 13, 2016 by Robert

Toronto. As mentioned earlier, our society is being revitalized. A new Toronto programme, a new layout for Photographic Canadiana, and now a revitalized pdf newsletter. The next issue of  the 16 year old newsletter will be called simply News. The layout is fresh and clean. Articles are a single page long – or less (longer articles are in our printed journal).

Kudos to editor David Bridge and his collaborators Sonja Pushchak and husband John Morden, both PhD candidates at York University in Toronto.

samples from the draft version of News(letter) 16-4. The final pdf will be issued this weekend.

samples from the draft version of News(letter) 16-4. The final pdf will be issued this weekend.

Posted in activities, newsletter | Tagged , , | Comments Off on Everything Old is New Again III

QR Codes and Generators

Posted on September 13, 2016 by Robert
www.phsc.ca QR code by http://goqr.me/

www.phsc.ca QR code by
http://goqr.me/

Toronto. A few years back, the Globe and Mail ran some advertisements and suggested we “read” the ad for more information using a QR reader. Curious, I searched for such a reader on my iPod Touch and an app called Layar showed up. I downloaded this free app and “viewed” the ad using this app. To my surprise a web page was opened with much more detail. (Layar also generates QR codes, apparently.)

The other night at a PHSC executive meeting a question was raised about using a QR code for the society journal. To my surprise, our VP Ashley Cook casually mentioned QR generators can be found for free! Tempted, I did a Google search and downloaded a “free” generator. The first one claimed to be free, then asked for a small monthly fee. The second one did indeed create a free QR code and only asked for a Facebook “like” in return.

It worked and I gladly gave it a “like” The icon at the upper left of this post was created using this free service and takes you to our web site’s home page if you use a QR reader. Truly magic!

Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off on QR Codes and Generators

Das Boot, Das Leica

Posted on September 12, 2016 by Robert
Stock Photo

Stock Photo

Toronto. I saw the film Das Boot in the Kingsway Theatre on Bloor in the west end of Toronto. Kingsway was by then a revival theatre. The building was musty and damp, fitting for this movie.  In March of 1983, I bought a large size Bantam paperback called “U-Boat War“. Written by Lothar-Gunther Buchheim, author of Das Boot (1975), and translated into English by Gudie Lawaetz.  This video on Youtube gives the Allies’ point of view on the U-Boats.

Buchheim was an artist in his early 20s when he went to sea in a WW2 U-Boat. Designated U-96, it first saw service in September 1940 and survived the war until the end of March 1945 when it was sunk by aircraft bombardment, just weeks before the war ended.  Continue reading →

Posted in book, camera | Tagged , , | Comments Off on Das Boot, Das Leica

Everything Old is New Again II

Posted on September 11, 2016 by Robert

Toronto. The PHSC is undergoing a revitalization: A downtown Image Show, a redesigned programme for our Toronto meetings,  a revised PC journal, and (coming soon) a revitalized pdf newsletter…. Thanks to Rita Godlevskis (via Felix Russo and PhotoEd) and Bob Lansdale for the new look to the journal (still under slight modification). Here is a preview – coming in the mail shortly.

photo-canadiana-new-600

Posted in activities, people | Tagged | Comments Off on Everything Old is New Again II

Everything Old is New Again

Posted on September 10, 2016 by Robert

Fojo-EnlargerToronto. George Dunbar reminded me that the TPHS newsletter put out a few months back by our friends in Rochester mentioned this interesting site. The Fojo Shop has a new version of an enlarger, easel, app, darkroom light, and supplies.

The twist is that the app converts your smart phone photo images to a monotone (B&W) negative image.

You place the smart phone in the enlarger and focus and re-size the image. Snap your fingers and the enlarger goes out. Load the paper in the easel. Snap again and the enlarger comes on and auto times. Develop, Stop, Fix and Wash using a snap to set the timer at each step.

The link explains it all and has a Vimeo video to take you through the steps even if you have never processed a print before. And yes, you can also print a film negative!

Posted in activities-other, processes | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on Everything Old is New Again

Shades of Polaroid!

Posted on September 9, 2016 by Robert
New Lomo'Instant Automat camera

New Lomo’Instant Automat camera

Toronto. Lomography has initiated a Kickstarter program funding their new camera, the sophisticated Lomo’Instant Automat which uses Fuji instant FILM in a retro camera promoted to give wings to the user’s creative juices.

Katherine Phipps of Lomography sent me an email and this pdf promoting the company’s newest imaging instrument. The camera looks like an old Kodak Instamatic, uses the Fuji Instax Film, and has the automation common to digital cameras of today.

Posted in activities-other, camera | Tagged , , | Comments Off on Shades of Polaroid!

PHSC Image Show this Fall

Posted on September 9, 2016 by Robert
PHSC Image Show

PHSC Image Show

Toronto. PHSC VP Ashley Cook is coordinating our Image Show this fall (November 27th) at the Arts & Letters club, 14 Elm street in Downtown Toronto. Ashley writes:

“The PHSC Image Show is BACK on Sunday, November the 27th!
Join us from 12 noon to 4 pm downtown at a new location!

“Currently joining us with their photographic selections are:
Clint Hryhorijiw,Laura Jones,Les Jones, and John Kantymir.

“Are you interested in vending at the Image Show?
We have a very limited number of tables remaining for dealers.
Contact the Image Show chairman, Ashley Cook here for more information.”

Like the logo for the Image Show? It is courtesy of the Graphics Fairy!

Posted in activities, fair | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on PHSC Image Show this Fall

A Few Musings by George Dunbar

Posted on September 8, 2016 by Robert
Aunt Lizzie on her farm with my baby sister c1950. I used a Kodak box camera.

My little sister and our Aunt Lizzie on her farm c1950. I used a Kodak Brownie camera…

Toronto. My friend George Dunbar sent me a note after he visited this year’s CNE. His observations fit in with the posts I have been making over the last while – often based on material George himself provided. He muses here about the impact of the ubiquitous smart phone camera on the career of the professional photographer. Have a read…

Photography — What’s happened?
A Few Musings By George Dunbar

The explosion that’s taken place in amateur photography in the last 5-10 years is absolutely astounding! When I visited the CNE recently, I was surrounded by thousands of other camera-toting enthusiasts. They were shooting everything and anything with their modern, thin, flat devices that were unheard of only a decade ago. The multi-use camera phones are everywhere. I was embarrassed to be seen with my bulky Nikon SLR.

Every event is now captured by a multitude of camera-phones both still and video. Tourists appear to photograph everything in sight; weddings are photographed by most of the guests. Have these devices become an addiction? Some have been seen to photograph the Mona Lisa in the Louvre without so much as a second glance to absorb the actual object before their eyes. Millions of the images are quickly uploaded to Web sites for all to share. When one witnesses the phenomenon of these activities, it’s not unusual to see “selfies” being produced by the dozens. The “selfie stick” has achieved a reputation of its own!
Continue reading →

Posted in camera, people, processes | Tagged , , , , , , , | Comments Off on A Few Musings by George Dunbar