Review of 2016 December Show and Tell

President Clint Hryhorijiw opening a picture taken over a century ago of two native women

Toronto. I presented at the meeting last month and also wrote this brief review. Thanks to those who kindly reviewed my draft and corrected any errors. A special thanks to Bob Lansdale for doing most of the photographs and Lorne Shields for his supportive input. I took the photos of Felix, Ed, and Bob Lansdale with a smaller, noisier sensor, slower speed, higher ISO  and no flash.

President Clint Hryhorijiw began the meeting with some announcements: He encouraged all to sign up for the PHSC News which was promoted by John Morden. Wayne Gilbert was introduced and attendees were asked to sign up if not already a member. The 2017 PHSC events were noted (Auction, March 19; Spring Fair, May 28). Bob Lansdale noted he had a few copies of Mike Smith’s new book on Reuben Sallows for a special price of $45.

The evening’s presentations followed next while attendees were encouraged to monitor the silent auction items and sign up for the gift exchange to be held at the end of the evening. Since the theme was “Small” a video camera and projector would have helped the audience to see the various tiny gizmos and photos presented tonight.

Felix Russo and 3rd edition of his Guide

FELIX RUSSO. Felix showed his new 3rd edition of the PhotoEd GUIDE to Photography. Some digital items were added after consulting various schools (resolution, white balance, etc).

Felix said his magazine, PhotoEd,  was given notification that a government grant was forthcoming and would permit his spring issue to be double the size with added articles on Canada. This will be the magazine’s part in celebrating Canada’s 150th anniversary.

 


Manuel Nunes and two lenses adapted for digital mirrorless cameras

MANUEL NUNES. Manuel showed a book on Astro Photography and discussed his personal experiences using  the popular 4/3 sensor (G2) and APS-C (Sony) digital cameras and two used film camera lenses.

One was a Takumar 300mm f/4  (450mm on an APS-C camera). It was bought at our fall fair and Manuel had me try it out on my Sony NEX-6. Manuel explained some basics on astronomy and handed out 4×6 postcards of  his super moon photographs taken last November.

The other lens is a 200mm lens that fills an APS sensor. They can be found at places like Value Village for $10 or $20 dollars.

 

 


Ken Bowes and his tiny Manfrotto tripod

KEN BOWES. Ken challenged members to guess his “small” offering for the evening to blank response. He mentioned the maker – the Italian firm of Manfrotto. Many in the audience recognized the name but still drew a blank on the little device.

Ken finally explained that it was a Manfrotto mini pocket tripod for mini cameras and demonstrated its ability to be tilted.


Bob Wilson and mini Stereo Viewer

BOB WILSON. Bob usually sticks to stereo subjects at these events. Wikipedia has a good summary on Stereoscopy techniques. Plus this article in Collectors Weekly.

Tonight, Bob showed us both miniature stereo views and compact viewers.

They were very interesting and timely items in this age of virtual reality.

 


Harold Staats and his Daguerreotype

HAROLD STAATS. Harold had a different slant on things. He told a sad story about a daguerreotype he owns. It is a small cased image of a lady and child. Harold relates how he managed to lose the daguerreotype and to his delight discovered it once again while doing renovations. Once discovered, he dropped the case and managed to break its protective glass. He found a piece the right size for replacement and as he disassembled the case he noticed some glass chips on the surface of the image. He picked up a tissue and carefully rubbed the surface to remove the chips. To his dismay, the cloth rubbed off the image too, creating a narrow silvery line across the image. Blowing on the image, the image reappeared even more contrasty only to disappear moments later. His question was, “what do I do now to restore the image”? The audience immediately responded, “call Mike Robinson”!


Bob and an early Leitz table tripod

BOB CARTER. Bob (author of this review) did a brief recap on use of the telegraph in business a century ago and the clever alpha and numeric codes used by manufacturers to reduce the cost of the pay per word telegraph service.

He suggested a big plus to collecting Leicas was the many accessories Leitz sold for their little cameras.  He showed off some half dozen of the less common accessories such as the FIBLA bubble level of the 1920s and 1930s, the FODIS rangefinder of the 1930s, the little post war Chico flash, the HEBOO slow speed device, the APDOO self timer, and couple of table tripods.


Clint with his tiny folder of EIIR souvenirs

CLINT HRYHORIJIW. Clint had a tiny EIIR photo album – c1953 coronation souvenir. It is an accordion style string of photos with a clip for a purse or clothes zipper. The enlargement shows the detail better. Click icon at left.

He followed that treat with two portraits of first nations people he had just acquired. He commenced to open the back of one photograph to see if any studio was noted. And there it was – taken by Baker and Johnston of Wyoming. The photo appeared to be 1885-1900. The subjects may even be Canadian natives since these photographers ranged north as far as southern Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba.


Ed Warner and a little self timer

ED WARNER. Ed presented three small items. The first was a pocket knife. What made it memorable was its engraving,  “The Photographic Historical Society of Canada”. Ed recalled getting it at an executive meeting,but not the date.

He then showed two other small items popular in the mid last century – a non-Leitz timer, and a non-Leitz rangefinder.

 

 

 


Lorne Shields and one of his cycle cards

LORNE SHIELDS. Lorne is a well-known bicycle collector and popular speaker. Lorne has collected bicycle photos for over 40 years. He noted while virtually all his photos have bicycles on the obverse (front), rarely do they have have bicycles on their reverse (back) in the photographer’s studio stamp. He commented on and showed a recent (and favourite) find – the obverse having a pair of cyclists with the reverse having both bicycling reference in the text and a vignette of a cyclist. The photo as taken by a photographer in North Shields, England and since Lorne’s last name is Shields, it was for him, a fortuous acquisition. Lorne wrapped up his brief talk with a rare photograph that had a bicycle image printed on the image’s covering tissue.


Bob Lansdale shows how he used his two cameras in a cover still shot.

BOB LANSDALE. The last speaker of the evening was our editor, Bob Lansdale. Bob displayed his two miniature cameras, a rare Eho baby box camera and newer sub miniature 16mm Steky II.

He used them plus some CDVs to complement the far bigger Shew camera from John Kantymir’s collection. You can see the result on the cover of Photographic Canadiana 42-2.

 

 

 


The Gift Exchange Folks

After the presentations, People made a last round of the silent auction items before joining Mark Singer for the gift exchange around his miniature silver Christmas tree. Bob Lansdale took a group photograph of the gift exchange folks.

Clint thanked one and all for attending and especially those who brought Christmas cake or short bread cookies for sharing over our coffee.

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