a day in the far north …

Posted on February 3, 2024 by Robert

c1928 an uncle with arctic fox pelts in Manitoba – photographer unknown

Toronto. I received an email a few weeks ago from my good friend and fellow PHSC member, George Dunbar, about the late Canadian Photographer Richard Harrington. A book of his Arctic photographs taken around 1948-1953 was featured in Canada’s History magazine. The book was self titled and appeared in an article by Phil Koch called “Intuit Life in Transition“. The article states “Posted January 10, 2024”.

The arctic fox pelts photo from the book struck a chord! An uncle with a similar cape of white arctic fox pelts (image at left) was snapped  by an unknown photographer around 1928. Back home, he generously gave us one of his pelts. It was made into a stole.

Photographs of the people and landscape of the far north are part of our history, not simply collectible images. Some years back I saw a series of Inuit portraits taken by that iconic photographer, the late George Hunter and on display at Mississauga City Hall. George was a fabulous photographer, amateur pilot, and raconteur who spoke at our Toronto meeting years ago.

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I, said the photo, beginning to fade …

Posted on February 2, 2024 by Robert

a digital photo with fake fading

Toronto. Digital technology brought with it many amazing changes to the photo industry. One of which is the plethora of software tools available today to improve and resurrect old photographs – along with an ethical issue.

My long time contributor and good friend, George Dunbar, asked a very good question, “Should archived images from online sources ever be subject to alteration?”

After some thought and discussion, we agreed that improvements like increased contrast and sharper focus could help one gain more information from the photograph, BUT not if the posted photo was intended to be for sale or was archived with the intent to show the impact of time. A photo for sale must be shown ‘as is’ lest the prospective buyer be fooled; while archiving demands some consistency and standards.

Click on the small icon at left to see a before and after adjustment of a faded print archived by the University of Guelph. Our thanks goes to George for his sharing of the photos and link.

Note: The post title is a riff on a line from the old Pete Seeger song, “Who Killed Norma Jean” about the death of Marilyn Monroe. Seeger’s song is reminiscent of a much older nursery rhyme, “Who killed Cock Robin” that is itself based on an even earlier rhyme.

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close call

Posted on February 1, 2024 by Robert

iPhone 13 Pro + Reeflex G-Series Macro Lens courtesy of Brian Matiash

Toronto. One of my favourite past times is closeup photography. With the digital era this is like Dickens and his “Tale of Two Cities” – “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times …”. Digital technology makes colour images far more crisp but the auto focus makes it very hard to capture a sharp image of what you see.

Modern day Smartphones are very often the camera of choice and in Brian Matiash’s latest “lightroom everywhere” blog, he offers the article, “My Must-Have Smartphone Photo Gear” showing the photographer of today (amongst other things) how to get closeup shots with a Smartphone.

No, digital technology and Smartphones aren’t quite history yet, but give them a few more decades and voilà! Histoire!

By the way, this is the start of BHM,  2024 edition.

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the Scots who pioneered photography

Posted on January 31, 2024 by Robert

Early Scottish photograph courtesy of the National Gallery of Scotland via BBC News

Toronto. George Dunbar writes, “The Scots Who Pioneered Photography” [is] A BBC review of a 2017 show at the National Galleries of Scotland. Many unique and unusual images here.”

Indeed, this fine 2017 review brings to mind many Scots famous for their imagery in the early years of the new art. The review begins, “More than 200 of the oldest photographs taken in Scotland are to go on display at the National Galleries of Scotland [in May, 2017].

“The influential partnership of David Octavius Hill and Robert Adamson lasted for less than five years before the premature death of Adamson, aged just 26. But it produced thousands of images which are admired by photographers to this day.

“Within four years of the invention of photography being announced to the world in 1839, Hill and Adamson had mastered the new medium and were producing innovative work from their studio in Edinburgh.”

Click on the BBC article for further information and a sampling of images from those heady days when Daguerre and Talbot reigned supreme in the art world.

 

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did ja ever …

Posted on January 30, 2024 by Robert

a Century Studio Master camera from the early 1900s (December, 2007 photograph)

Toronto. … see any of deez? When photography began some enterprising folk opened studios to make and sell a ‘likeness’. People wore their Sunday best clothes and flocked to the local studio for a family portrait which was pricy but affordable which could not be said of a comparable painting.

Studios continued to exist throughout photographic history. They exist even today for that large or commemorative photo be it of an individual, family or group.

The maker of the dry plate studio camera shown at left was bought by various firms and eventually became part of Kodak’s Folmer and Schwing division. Cameras like this one labelled as made by the Century Camera Company were likely made around 1900.  The desired size of the contact print or finished Daguerreotype dictated the size of the camera. These heavy, slow machines needed a sturdy stand to keep them steady.

Initially, the media of the day were painfully slow taking seconds or even minutes to receive sufficient light from the subject via the camera and lens. The Studio Master is  a dry plate camera with the potential of sub-second response in bright daylight, but still seconds response in the studio setting.

The height and distance determine the subject size on the metal/glass plate. Studio cameras like the Studio Master could make smaller plates, but not larger. If you desire one of these beasts (or any other camera/lens) for your collection, be sure to visit one of the PHSC events like the coming auction or fair (see the right side bar on this web site).

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studio daze

Posted on January 29, 2024 by Robert

O to be in England …

Toronto. When it took some skill to capture an image for a special event, many folk chose to visit a studio. This image was shot in just such a studio in Southern England around 1917 – over a century ago.

The young couple wanted to capture a likeness to savour down the years of their planned wedding date. The young soldier from Canada was in hospital recovering from injury when he met and fell in love with this young volunteer. Once recovered enough to  walk outdoors, a studio was chosen to photograph the young couple.

The backdrop was intended to add a bit of interest to the photograph. The chair and table were props needed to help steady and support the couple during the few seconds exposure needed to get a good negative on the rather slow media of the day.

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mon dieu! une autre Sept!

Posted on January 28, 2024 by Robert

The c1922 Sept courtesy of John Wade

Toronto. Like the Ansco Memo, the French camera called the Sept, uses 35mm cine film. A 1920’s camera, it is spring-wound and uses a 5m length of cine film in a unique cartridge.

Originally an Italian design, it was made in Paris by Andre Debrie and sported the name “Sept” for good reason. Sept is French for number seven and the small, heavy camera performed seven different functions (some functions needed special accessories).

Two of the functions are a singe shot ‘still’ camera and a movie camera. Exposures used a single movie frame of the 35mm film or what was later called half frame. (after the Leica took off)

I actually saw a Sept some years ago owned by a member. Today, many sites  (like John Wade or Camera-wiki) cover the unusual little camera. In fact, the image used at left is courtesy of the John Wade site.

The camera came on market a couple of years earlier than the famous Leica which used two ‘movie’ frames per exposure, hence the use of half frame for a traditional movie frame.

Now-a-days most digital cameras sport both ‘still’ and video (movie) functions so the younger folk don’t see just what a big deal it was for a single camera in the 1920s to offer both stills and movies.

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one grand

Posted on January 27, 2024 by Robert

c1932 babies born at 2 year old Eastern Kins Memorial in Wolfville, NS courtesy of its Randall House Museum via Saltwire

Toronto. A few days ago, Wendy Elliott wrote the article “Continuing the health-care work“. Her article is on Saltwire in the Opinion section of its Atlantic Canada file. To read the article you will need to sign in with your email address.

The site does show the 1932 photograph of the babies born in that hospital (Eastern Kings Memorial at Wolfville, NS). The image, shown on the Saltwater site and here (at left), is courtesy of the Randall House Museum in Wolfville’s collection. The Saltwire cut-line states, “This 1932 photograph shows a gathering of babies born at the [EKMH] … since the facility opened in 1930.”

Well, it’s said a picture is worth a thousand words … do you agree too? In any case, I would thank my good friend and fellow photo historian, George Dunbar, for discovering this photograph and sharing his finding with us.

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up, up, and away

Posted on January 26, 2024 by Robert

Topaz Lab’s Gigapixel 7

Toronto. After minicams became common, time and effort was spent to create developers that would reduce film grain and provided finer detail so negatives could be enlarged more without resulting in so called ’empty magnification’.

A similar situation in digital images results in pixelization as the image size is increased. In the early days of photoshop, many practitioners tried to ‘upscale’ images by carefully repeating smaller increments feeling such a process would offer better images.

In his “Lightroom Everywhere” blog #10, Brian Matiash’s article, “Three Reasons to Upscale Your Photos” extols the virtues of upscaling digital images using AI. His talk reviews the latest release of Topaz Labs’ Gigapixel 7 comparing the result to using the latest Photoshop technology with various settings.

So unless you are a dyed-in-the-wool aficionado of film, have a read of the blog #10 above. And remember, our fairs and auctions often offer both film and digital fans added gear and ideas. Don’t worry too much about this article – in 50 to 100 years it will be history 🙂

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pushing all buttons

Posted on January 25, 2024 by Robert

you press the button …

Toronto. The invention of the dry plate in 1871 opened the door to sub-second exposures in sunlight through a normal photographic lens. And with sub-second performance came a need for shutters. And with shutters came a need for shutter buttons.

In the 1880s, roll film came into being allowing many shots to be taken on a single roll. And in 1888 the famous Kodak camera went to market and success. A typical Kodak instruction sheet is shown if you click the icon at left. Film and Kodak opened the door to many, many more ‘amateur’ photographers and expanded the use of photography to help record family history.

To differentiate its products from those of Kodak,  Ansco, photography’s distant number two, elected to use a red shutter release button on its cameras. As the late Don Douglas said, “just pass the camera to ‘aunt Tilley’ and tell her to hold it steady and press the red button ..”.  Even today in the era of digital technology, a button triggers the ‘shutter’ to time the light exposed to the sensor cells. But for most folk, the ‘P’ setting on a digital camera (or using a smart phone) avoids any need to understand or set the shutter speed.

Does this post ‘push your buttons’? Then you are showing your age or enthusiasm.

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