A fall 1947 article on side flash activated by on-camera flash
Toronto. In this day of smart phones, it’s hard to imagine an accessory that was about 10 pounds in weight and a six inch square ten inches high with a flashgun stuck on the top and a tripod thread stuck on the bottom. …
Worse, the accessory (right photo) was to add a modelling light (centre photo) to a face illuminated by an on-camera flash (left photo).
We take smart phones for granted with their tiny, ultra light cameras and a tiny computer set for ‘auto everything’ so every photo is technically correct (subject, steadiness, and framing may vary). The contrast of a 1947 ‘accessory’ and a 2022 smart phone reminds me of that old adage, “we get too soon old and too late smart”.
George Dunbar, our good friend and fellow photo enthusiast generously sent along this bit of history in the form of a brief article on an extra flash triggered by the on-camera flash. The article once appeared in a September, 1947 issue of Popular Mechanics. Before smart phones took over, we used off camera bounce flash to model the subject and soften the shadows – sort of a one flash lights all.
