The Techniques and Material Aesthetics of the Daguerreotype

Posted on October 23, 2014 by Robert
Mike Robinson, Modern Daguerreotypist, by Robert Lansdale

Mike Robinson, Modern Daguerreotypist, by Robert Lansdale

NEXT TORONTO MEETING: Wed Nov 19th, 2014
The Techniques and Material Aesthetics of the Daguerreotype – Mike Robinson

Mike Robinson is an artist-practitioner, teacher, and historian of the daguerreotype. He works with the AMC collection in Toronto, serving as researcher and conservator.  He has researched and written on the studio practice of Southworth and Hawes (Boston) for the Young America catalogue and for the Daguerreian Society annual.

He has made Daguerreotypes to support conservation research for the George Eastman House, The Metropolitan Museum, the Library of Congress and his own initiatives.

Come on out and share an interesting evening with Mike. The public is welcome.  Go to our Programs page for times and directions. Continue reading →

Posted in people, processes, program | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on The Techniques and Material Aesthetics of the Daguerreotype

Pictures at a Symposium

Posted on October 21, 2014 by Robert
Ashley, Judy, and Judy's pooch

Ashley, Judy, and Judy’s pooch

Toronto. Bob Lansdale took a number of pictures at the recent Rochester Symposium and is delighted to share them with everyone.

To visit his photos taken at the October Symposium in Rochester, click on this link. To see a larger view automatically, also click on the “slideshow” button just above the word “PHOTOHISTORY” part way down on the left side just above the album of thumbnails.

Note that BobLansdale is also the PHSC editor of the journal, Photographic Canadiana, founder of the Newsletter, and News sheet, official photographer for the Daguerreian Society, etc. Enjoy!

 

Posted in activities-other, people | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on Pictures at a Symposium

Yosemite OS X 10.10

Posted on October 17, 2014 by Robert
iMac Desktop Yosemite

iMac Desktop Yosemite

Toronto. Yesterday, Apple announced its OS X 10.10 operating system.  The download was free. I decided to go after the latest version of OS X called Yosemite for my aging summer of 2007 iMac.

The servers at Apple must have been busy. It took hours and hours to download and eventually install. Like all OS X releases, this one installed without a bump and although my system is now seven years old it ran fine. Initial speed was very slow, as some other applications were downloading at the time, but tonight it seems to be running very well. If you have a Mac made in mid 2007 or more recently, go for it.

If you would like a review of the changes, read John Siracusa’s review of Yosemite at Ars Technica. Worth the read. Thanks to John Gruber of Daring Fireball for the suggestion.

Posted in activities-other, miscellaneous | Tagged | Comments Off on Yosemite OS X 10.10

Montreal Camera Show – Oct 19, 2014

Posted on October 16, 2014 by Robert
Montreal Camera Show this Sunday, October 19, 2014

Montreal Camera Show this Sunday, October 19, 2014

Montreal. What a wonderful city for a fall visit. Sol Hadef will be hosting his 54th show on the west island this coming Sunday.

Click here or on the icon at left to see or print a larger poster with more details. Enjoy the city. Enjoy the show.

(Full disclosure, I spent about a quarter of my life in Montreal, went to two universities there, and my two girls were born in Montreal).

Don’t miss the latest of these long running shows in La Belle Province!

Posted in activities-other, fair | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on Montreal Camera Show – Oct 19, 2014

Newsletter 14-5

Posted on October 10, 2014 by Robert
Ziegfeld Follies showgirls Showgirls from the 1920s by Alfred Cheney Johnston

Ziegfeld Follies showgirls from the 1920s by Alfred Cheney Johnston

Toronto. The night before he left for the latest TPHS symposium in Rochester, editor David Bridge sent me this latest PHSC Newsletter.

The newsletter introduces Ms Ronit Novak, our speaker for this month whose topic is Historic and Contemporary Ambrotypes. Mark Singer offers an interesting summary of Lorne Shields’ interesting talk on 19th century bicycles which was illustrated by Lorne’s photographs and expanded by his wide wealth of cycling knowledge. Well done Lorne!

We then turn to Ken Metcalf and the Graflex Historic Quarterly and its puzzling information about the 5×7 Graflex Naturalists. Read the article and if possible give the Graflex guys a helping hand.

Continue reading →

Posted in newsletter | Tagged , , , , , | Comments Off on Newsletter 14-5

Where Photography and Microscopy once met

Posted on October 10, 2014 by Robert
A tiny Zeiss Tessar made by Krauss in Paris. It is attached to a Leitz extension tube that converse the microscope RMS thread to a screw mount Leica lens thread

A tiny Zeiss Tessar made by Krauss in Paris. It is attached to a Leitz extension tube that converts the microscope RMS thread of the Tessar to a screw mount Leica lens thread

Europe/UK. 1839 – what an amazing year. It started with a bang when not one but two revolutionary photographic processes were formally announced… and the race was on to make the fabulous new art faster and better.

Optical houses began to manufacture special photographic lenses beginning with Petzval’s famous design for the Daguerreotype cameras. In the mid 1800s Germany’s famous microscope optical institutes blossomed. By the end of the 1800s both cameras and microscopes  were well known and refined. Early in the last century many microscope companies began to produce cameras and lenses including Leitz and Zeiss.

Continue reading →

Posted in lens | Tagged , , , , | Comments Off on Where Photography and Microscopy once met

Daguerreian Symposium Photographs

Posted on October 5, 2014 by Robert
Attendees at the Symposium

Attendees at the Symposium

Toronto. PHSC Editor Bob Lansdale sent this link to the pictures taken at the Daguerreian Symposium  held in Austin Texas in late September this year.

Bob wears many hats in the world of Photographic History, including official photographer of the Daguerreian Society.

Go through these memorable shots and enjoy the event even if you were unable to attend this year. Bob suggests you click the “slideshow” icon above the date and sit back and enjoy the full show. (See the image below.)

Safari

Posted in activities-other, events, people | Tagged , | Comments Off on Daguerreian Symposium Photographs

Eastman House exhibit documents the end of film

Posted on October 5, 2014 by Robert
Magazine from a bygone era

Magazine from a bygone era

Rochester, NY. This article in the Democrat and Chronicle newspaper of Rochester NY covers the exhibit of Robert Burley‘s photographs which are part of “The Disappearance of Darkness — Photography at the End of the Analog Era.” The photographs are on display through January 4th, 2015 at George Eastman House. Burley teaches at Ryerson here in Toronto and spoke at our society back on February 21, 2007 after he had recorded the demise of the Kodak Canada campus.

My thanks to member and past speaker Paul Pasquarello of Buffalo NY for bringing this exhibit to my notice.

Posted in activities-other, book, events | Tagged , , , , , | Comments Off on Eastman House exhibit documents the end of film

Mysterious Developments

Posted on October 4, 2014 by Robert
This is a c1960 image taken just south of Barrie but not immersed in icy water...

This is a c1960 image taken just south of Barrie by me – but not immersed in icy water…

Toronto. One winter in the early 1960s, the brother of a buddy’s girl friend had the misfortune to lose his car through the ice in Kempenfeldt Bay, Barrie. Weeks later, my buddy called me to see what I could do – he had recovered a camera from its icy grave in the car’s glove box. The car had been raised from its wet and soggy grave for scrap once the ice went out.

I removed the film from the camera in my darkroom and soaked it in room temperature water to unstick it and wash off the backing paper. Once it was developed and printed, I saw some B&W photos of interest only to those in the shots.

Recently both George Dunbar and Russ Forfar (thanks guys) emailed me about a website article in Calgary on a similar topic. CBC Calgary headlines the column as “Mysterious Developments website publishes rare gems from old rolls of undeveloped film“. Take a read and if you are intrigued, then check out the website Mysterious Developments for more finds.

 

Posted in activities-other, people, processes | Tagged , , | Comments Off on Mysterious Developments

Library? What Library?

Posted on October 4, 2014 by Robert
Photographic World from CCGB (Great Britain) - #147

Photographic World from PCCGB (Great Britain) – #147

Toronto. Did you know the PHSC has a library? No? Well it is in the North York Public Library basement – where we hold our monthly meetings. Our current librarian is Oscar Li, who hails from China. He is a very friendly Political Science student at U of T and one of our many volunteer members. The library houses back issues of those organizations world wide who exchange journals with us, plus many books and magazines (exchange organizations are listed at the bottom of the home page of this site).

Select recent exchange journals are reviewed in some detail by our Facebook editor, Louise Freyburger in her “Browsing through our Exchanges” column – usually a two page insert in each journal mailing (members receive this informative column free…)

Oscar is updating the list of holdings at present and would welcome your comments and suggestions. Once the holdings are updated, I plan to add a list to this site.

Posted in activities | Tagged , , | Comments Off on Library? What Library?