Museum voor Fotografie …

Posted on December 11, 2024 by Robert

Antwerp Photo Museum about three decades ago

Toronto. … or getting in Dutch! In issue 19-2, an anonymous writer (editor Roseborough) writes about a famous museum in Antwerp. He begins, “Covering an area of more than 1000 square meters, the Antwerp Museum of Photography explores the fascinating history of photography.

“Its exhibits range from the camera obscura to the electronic camera and from the earliest daguerreotypes to holograms. Stereo photography, colour photography, scientific applications, photomechanical printing techniques and digital image processing are displayed in different sections.

“Two ground floor galleries offer an intensive and varied exhibition program. Currently, on exhibition is ‘Young Heroes’, the concept of which contain a tragic contradiction. It  implies both victory and defeat. This ambiguity is obvious in the work of many contemporary artists. Featured until mid-September [1993], are these works by Belgian artists.”

You can see some of the  works, and read the rest of the article in the paper copy of 19-2 or as a pdf on the free members-only DVD. WHAT! You aren’t a member? See the MEMBERSHIP sub-menu above (form) and the article at right (PayPal). Send us a cheque with the form or send the form and use a credit card/your PayPal account . Questions? Email Lilianne at member@phsc.ca.

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of collectors and columns

Posted on December 10, 2024 by Robert

collector Ron Walker and his milling machine

Toronto. When Ev became editor of Photographic Canadiana, he began changes that pushed our journal into the area of a true magazine. Each issue had an index of contents. Small items of interest to collectors peppered his column “Editor’s Notebook“. Articles covered the society activities: talks, meetings, fairs, auctions. Formal columns were established for the President’s Message, Book Reviews, Toronto Notes, Coming Events, Photographic Museums etc..

Ev recognized that collectors and collecting varied widely and the collectors were our life blood. In that spirit, his newest column, “Meet The Collector”, was established. In issue 19-2 the chosen collector was the late Ron Walker who collected  both Zeiss cameras, and various old Microscopes. Ron also enjoyed repairing the old microscopes.

Ev begins, “It’s very easy to meet this collector. Just come to the Gold Room on the third Wednesday of each month. There, Ron and his wife, Joan, graciously supply refreshments which are a highlight of each meeting.

“Ron was born in England. When he was three months old his family immigrated to a Saskatchewan farm. In the tranquil countryside Natural History became a focus for his inquiring mind and when he learned to read, our colleague became a devotee of the writer Ernest Thompson Seton.

“At the age of twelve Ron acquired his first microscope and a Voigtlander Brilliant camera, beginning a life-long interest in science and optics in particular.

“After high school graduation in 1939 the young naturalist enrolled at Queen’s University, Kingston. and was completing the pre-medical course when WWIl intervened. Ron became a pilot in the RCAF, logging many hours in Hudson and Dakota aircraft. …”

Follow the usual routine to read the rest of the article about Ron in the paper copy of 19-2 or as a pdf on the free members-only DVD. Not a member? Follow the MEMBERSHIP stuff above (form) and at right (PayPal). Easy peasy – send a cheque with the form or send the form and use a credit card or your PayPal account . Questions? Email Lilianne at member@phsc.ca.

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Executive Meeting No 52 via ZOOM

Posted on December 9, 2024 by Robert

PHSC President
Clint Hryhorijiw

Toronto. The December 2024  session was held via ZOOM on Dec 4th.  Between the fair and the auction, I completely missed doing a post on the Oct and Nov exec meetings. Thank goodness it was a quiet period other than Mr Patrick Gunn taking on the newsletter duties. His first newsletter is planned for this month and non-time-sensitive material has been accumulated for the next few issues.

We had a visitor in editor Rita Godlevskis who covered the activities of PhotoEd magazine this year and her plans for 2025. We were pleased to renew our support. You can too – subscribe to the magazine. It’s the only one we know about that is devoted to photographic education.

Membership Secretary Lilianne Schneider advises things have been quiet giving her time to assist with the auction. Joining us is sooo easy and inexpensive. See the MEMBERSHIP menu above (form and cheque submission) and/or our PayPal button at right (PayPal account or credit card). New/Renew memberships received after October  begin January 2025.

As our journal is in ‘pdf format only’, an email address is essential. Issue 50-2 is available after a MailChimp notification. Important: if  you have UNSUBSCRIBED to our list, you will not receive notification nor Photographic Canadiana nor other info. MailChimp does not permit me to reinstate that specific email address. Renewal of such addresses are only possible via a form, not on our site. Also, if you change email addresses, please tell us – MailChimp will tag the old address as CLEANED (they cannot add your new address automatically). If you are a member but HAVE NOT seen any notification for Photographic Canadiana since you registered/renewed, please email Lilianne at member@phsc.ca.

*Note that as of 2022, our membership year ends December 31st.* As of 2024, membership fees are $35/$100 1 yr/3 yr Canadian regardless of the member location (one of the perks of pdf).

Celio Barreto reports a Holiday Show and Tell (plus the AGM) will be held December 18th. A speaker (Janine Freestone, Oxford, UK) is set for January 2025. Please note Celio is presently  populating our YouTube channel with past presentations.

Next year’s (2025) fairs to be held May 25th and October 19th. Happy Holidays, folks!

the gang’s (almost) all here …

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this will grab ya!

Posted on December 8, 2024 by Robert

ad for a 1912 Ellis Graber printing and cutting machine for photographic postcards

Toronto. In issue 19-2 of our journal, editor Ev Roseborough asks, “Ever wonder how the millions of “real photographic postcards” were made? These [machines] were used in almost every country in the world.”

This is the cut line under a photograph of a 1912 BJ Almanac advertisement for the Ellis Graber of Tunbridge England machine.  Most of the photo collectors around have a postcard or two in their collection. It sets the mind at rest knowing how photo postcards could be made and sold so cheaply.

For an even less expensive, but a much reduced resolution postcard, publishers used a half-tone process – one reason for collectors to pour over the cards offered before purchasing to ensure a ‘photo’ postcard was indeed a ‘photo’ postcard and not a half-tone print of a photo.

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Eaton Drug Catalogue – again

Posted on December 7, 2024 by Robert

remember this cover?

Toronto. Back in 2017, I uploaded the c1911 Eaton Drug catalogue provided by Robert Wilson. Recent [December, 2024] analysis using a different criteria determined it to be a 1910 catalogue.

Author David Kenny writes, ” … It was a chance finding while working on an article on Canadian mail order photography sales from 1898 to 1920. When I reread the drug catalogue I saw Bob Wilson’s introduction and then, bingo, Thomas Bradt stamp. 

“Bradt moved from Orwell to north of Aylmer in 1911 so that is final verification that the catalogue was 1910, Wilson got it to within one year based on cameras displayed… I love history research. It is evidence based just like science …” 

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kid stuff

Posted on December 6, 2024 by Robert

relaxing outdoors in a child size chair

Toronto. Professional photographers seem to use a particular niche as a specialty. Some handle portraits, others news stories, or pets, or, beauty, or children.

At left is an example of a shot of a young child relaxing outdoors. In this shot, a simple chair is used . Some photographers use indoor studios, others ponies, or toys. Anything to amuse and distract a child allowing a natural expression.

Have a look in your photo collection and you just might spot a sub-category of child photos and portraits showing changing dress and toys over the years. Some such photos have graced the covers and pages of our journal. So take a closer look at your collection for ‘kid stuff’!

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one man’s junque …

Posted on December 5, 2024 by Robert

Leitz negative punch c1932 missing its glass elements but with added opal glass

Toronto. … is another’s treasure. Around 1980, my friend Ron had picked up a bag of lens elements and offered me a glued pair for a magnifier. As I was leaving, he handed me a strange looking nickel plated square viewer engraved ‘E. LEITZ’ with the familiar condenser design. Ron collected Ernemann cameras like the huge studio camera he had, so this piece, with its missing bits was of no value to him.

In the days before small negative viewers became common, Leitz added some with 5x magnification to its repertoire for regular strips and 250 shot rolls of negatives. A punch was added so selected frames were easily identified.

The diameter of the viewer eye piece looked to be the same as that of a LOOCG which I happened to have (5x magnifier for a 1938 era focussing stage). Since I collected Leica gear at the time, I checked the ‘gift’ and it was a NATRA negative viewer/punch c1932 with the added opal glass (NAMAS) assembly behind the negative rails, but missing its glass elements in the eye piece. Sure enough, the 5x viewer for the LOOCG was an exact fit.

Had I not recognized what it was, the old Leitz accessory would have ended up in the local dump. So as they say, one’s junk is another’s treasure.

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a camera for my lovely …

Posted on December 4, 2024 by Robert

image of original crystal 500C/M courtesy of Leica Classic

Toronto. … with apologies to Ray Chandler and his 1940 dark mystery, “Farewell, My Lovely“. Sometime late in the last century, Hasselblad sold a life size crystal version of its 500C/M model. The crystal model was made in Sweden and its details engraved by a well known engraver. They are still available to day in places like Leica Classic in Europe. A 2/3 size crystal version in a luxury box is also sold by Getty in California.

Hasselblad lived well beyond its originator, Victor Hasselblad (d. 1978) and even today Hasselblad is a maker of extremely expensive high resolution digital cameras.

Many older film designs of Hasselblad cameras are sought after by camera collectors. The medium format SLR camera was originally created by Victor Hasselblad for his personal use.  Various models became the work horses of studios and other photography professionals who preferred medium format to the tiny 35mm cameras. As digital took over from film, the owners of Hasselblad realized that digital cameras had to be designed and sold to stave off extinction. But camera collectors with shallow pockets can still own a Hassy – if only the 2/3 crystal variety …

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toy land, toy land, dear old …

Posted on December 3, 2024 by Robert

a kid and his toy camera …

Toronto. … girl and boy land … It’s that season once again. Some folk collect toy cameras. In the days of film, these cameras may or may not have worked. If they did, the result was even worse than a ‘snap-shot’ with a box camera.

This has changed with the digital era. Very quickly, the image quality over-took toy film cameras and digital images from toys began to match those of better cameras – if the lighting and skills were there.

In today’s world, every (almost every) digital phone comes with a camera module. As tiny computers took over, the limitations of the tiny sensors disappeared and the very short focal length became an asset. One need only point and shoot to get a technically sound image. A steady hand, understanding of light, and skill in subject choice and framing are still essential for great photos.

The short focal length gives an incredible depth of field which the ever improving tiny computers can even ‘blur’ in some image areas as if a longer lens and wider aperture had  been used. Since smartphones quickly become obsolete, toy cameras are fading into history. Toy land, toy land, …

 

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gizmos and gadgets …

Posted on December 2, 2024 by Robert

be a photographer – earn big money …

Toronto. Folks in the US were busy flogging everything that was popular, most ads seem to tell how easy it was to earn more money if you just bought the latest gizmo, gadget, or took ‘free lessons’.

In the heyday of the minicam, the ads promoted special cameras at a fraction of the cost of ‘foreign’ cameras. Most seemed to be based on box cameras but molded to look like the pricier  minicams to the naive eye.

Post war; radio, television, auto repair, and electricity were advertised as a means to instant well paying jobs. Photography in the form of cameras pretty much disappeared while the odd ‘education’ ad like this one from NYC hung on.

One of our members once spent a long winter in NYC at such an institution, busy ‘marking’ papers from dawn to dusk.

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