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Toronto. In the days when emulsions were slow, decent photos needed a few seconds of absolute stillness by the subject. To help, studios added a mechanical ‘bird’ to their camera and for portraits (especially of children) the photographer would exclaim “watch the birdie” before making an attempt at capturing a good, sharp, ‘likeness’.
At each PHSC fair, our late editor, Bob Lansdale, collected interesting items from the exhibitors and brought them back to his ‘mini-studio’ to be photographed for a journal article. At our fall fair ‘way back in 1996, he included a typical mechanical bird as shown here.
“A working tweety-bird for $130 from Bruce Attfield (maker unknown)” is the cut-line written by Mr Lansdale.
Join us at our 2025 events (see PHSC EVENTS at the right). You may not find a ‘birdie’ but you will find lots of other unusual items, some of which will complement your collection!
