{"id":31041,"date":"2025-03-21T01:03:02","date_gmt":"2025-03-21T05:03:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/phsc.ca\/camera\/?p=31041"},"modified":"2025-03-19T00:30:33","modified_gmt":"2025-03-19T04:30:33","slug":"brodies-machine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/phsc.ca\/camera\/brodies-machine\/","title":{"rendered":"Brodie’s Machine"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

Brodie’s rear projector<\/p><\/div>\n

Toronto<\/strong>. Brodie Whitelaw (photographer) was well known to professional photographers in Ontario, especially past-editor Ev Roseborough. Brodie spoke at our May, 1989 meeting displaying a sampling of his skill via many beautiful prints<\/a>. Born in 1910, Brodie died decades later in 1995.<\/p>\n

In issue 22-3<\/a>, Ev wrote a fine article called, “Brodie and his\u00a0Wonderful\u00a0Machine”. It was a tale partly of Brodie’s life, the growth of commercial photography, \u00a0and Brodie’s experimental machine that barely predated decent Macs with colour screens and software to retouch images.<\/p>\n

I wrote the following on Ev’s article for the web site: “Brodie Whitelaw was one of Canada’s great commercial photographers and a contemporary of Ev Roseborough. In this article, Ev covers Brodie’s career, and at the same time gives an insight into the growth of commercial photography in Canada.<\/p>\n

“Late in his career, Brodie spent a dozen years in a labour of love on his ultimate tool for commercial studio shots… a rear projector with incredible light power. I had an opportunity to see the instrument in Ev’s studio earlier this year — You can see it too at the fall fair this October [1996].<\/p>\n

“Before Brodie completed the projector to his satisfaction, technology had moved on with front projection and beam splitters, and more recently, computerized image retouching.”<\/p>\n

Ev’s story has far more details (and photos). He begins his story as follows, “Thi<\/span>s i<\/span>s a t<\/span>al<\/span>e of <\/span>a p<\/span>er<\/span>i<\/span>od. S<\/span>om<\/span>e\u00a0sevent<\/span>y year<\/span>s, 1<\/span>92<\/span>5 t<\/span>o 1<\/span>995 m<\/span>or<\/span>e or l<\/span>ess.\u00a0It <\/span>re<\/span>pr<\/span>esen<\/span>ts th<\/span>e a<\/span>cti<\/span>ve li<\/span>fe<\/span>–<\/span>tim<\/span>e,\u00a0photo<\/span>gra<\/span>phica<\/span>ll<\/span>y<\/span>, <\/span>o<\/span>f Bro<\/span>die <\/span>White<\/span>law<\/span>. <\/span>It\u00a0<\/span>al<\/span>so r<\/span>epr<\/span>esent<\/span>s mu<\/span>ch <\/span>of <\/span>m<\/span>y ow<\/span>n<\/span>, <\/span>with\u00a0<\/span>cl<\/span>ose p<\/span>ar<\/span>all<\/span>el<\/span>s n<\/span>eith<\/span>er <\/span>of <\/span>u<\/span>s r<\/span>eali<\/span>sed.<\/span><\/p>\n

“B<\/span>rodi<\/span>e di<\/span>scover<\/span>ed th<\/span>e lur<\/span>e of <\/span>th<\/span>e l<\/span>en<\/span>s\u00a0and b<\/span>ecam<\/span>e a <\/span>d<\/span>evot<\/span>ee of <\/span>J<\/span>ohn\u00a0<\/span>Vand<\/span>erp<\/span>an<\/span>t, <\/span>fa<\/span>m<\/span>ou<\/span>s B<\/span>.C. pi<\/span>ct<\/span>ori<\/span>ali<\/span>st<\/span>, (see\u00a0P<\/span>.<\/span>c. <\/span>vol. <\/span>18 No.2)<\/span>. <\/span>Mu<\/span>ch <\/span>of <\/span>hi<\/span>s earl<\/span>y\u00a0soft-f<\/span>ocu<\/span>s wor<\/span>k r<\/span>esembl<\/span>es th<\/span>at <\/span>of <\/span>hi<\/span>s\u00a0me<\/span>nto<\/span>r.<\/span><\/p>\n

“Br<\/span>odi<\/span>e’s <\/span>p<\/span>ar<\/span>ent<\/span>s, r<\/span>esi<\/span>dent<\/span>s of\u00a0<\/span>M<\/span>eaford<\/span>, <\/span>Ont<\/span>ari<\/span>o, <\/span>di<\/span>ed <\/span>at <\/span>an <\/span>earl<\/span>y age.\u00a0Th<\/span>e youn<\/span>gs<\/span>t<\/span>er<\/span>, <\/span>af<\/span>t<\/span>er <\/span>recei<\/span>vin<\/span>g a fo<\/span>unt<\/span>ain\u00a0<\/span>pen <\/span>from <\/span>hi<\/span>s fell<\/span>ow stud<\/span>ent<\/span>s at M<\/span>apl<\/span>e\u00a0L<\/span>eaf S<\/span>ch<\/span>ool <\/span>on O<\/span>ct<\/span>ob<\/span>er <\/span>31<\/span>, 1919, was put\u00a0<\/span>a<\/span>boa<\/span>rd <\/span>the <\/span>tra<\/span>in <\/span>bo<\/span>und fo<\/span>r Va<\/span>nco<\/span>uve<\/span>r\u00a0wh<\/span>er<\/span>e h<\/span>e was t<\/span>o li<\/span>ve wi<\/span>th <\/span>an uncl<\/span>e.<\/p>\n

“Grad<\/span>ua<\/span>ting f<\/span>ro<\/span>m U.<\/span>B.<\/span>C. <\/span>in <\/span>Arts <\/span>in\u00a0<\/span>1933, <\/span>h<\/span>e d<\/span>et<\/span>erm<\/span>i<\/span>n<\/span>ed t<\/span>o n<\/span>o l<\/span>on<\/span>ger imp<\/span>ose\u00a0on th<\/span>e resour<\/span>ces of <\/span>hi<\/span>s uncl<\/span>e an<\/span>d set out\u00a0<\/span>for <\/span>To<\/span>ro<\/span>nto. <\/span>He <\/span>bro<\/span>ug<\/span>ht in <\/span>a<\/span>dd<\/span>itio<\/span>n to a\u00a0<\/span>p<\/span>or<\/span>tf<\/span>oli<\/span>o of print<\/span>s, <\/span>a con<\/span>sid<\/span>er<\/span>abl<\/span>e\u00a0kn<\/span>owl<\/span>ed<\/span>ge of <\/span>archit<\/span>ectur<\/span>e and m<\/span>ec<\/span>h<\/span>ani<\/span>cal\u00a0<\/span>desi<\/span>gn<\/span>.<\/p>\n

“Hi<\/span>s ambi<\/span>ti<\/span>on w<\/span>as to h<\/span>ave studi<\/span>ed\u00a0<\/span>aer<\/span>on<\/span>auti<\/span>cal <\/span>en<\/span>gin<\/span>eerin<\/span>g but th<\/span>er<\/span>e wer<\/span>e\u00a0n<\/span>o cour<\/span>ses in <\/span>Can<\/span>ad<\/span>a and <\/span>onl<\/span>y on<\/span>e in <\/span>th<\/span>e\u00a0St<\/span>at<\/span>es wi<\/span>th <\/span>fees ou<\/span>t–<\/span>of<\/span>-r<\/span>each<\/span>. <\/span>Thi<\/span>s\u00a0int<\/span>er<\/span>est b<\/span>ec<\/span>am<\/span>e a m<\/span>aj<\/span>or <\/span>fact<\/span>or <\/span>in\u00a0<\/span>de<\/span>te<\/span>rmining <\/span>hi<\/span>s <\/span>future<\/span>.<\/span><\/p>\n

You can read all of Ev’s story in the issue 22-3 pdf file on the free members-only DVD. To join or renew, see the appropriate paragraphs above and at right. Problems? Questions? Email Lilianne at member@phsc.ca<\/a>. NB. Please help us by indicating whether your membership is new or renew.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Toronto. Brodie Whitelaw (photographer) was well known to professional photographers in Ontario, especially past-editor Ev Roseborough. Brodie spoke at our May, 1989 meeting displaying a sampling of his skill via many beautiful prints. Born in 1910, Brodie died decades later … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1944],"tags":[2017,5,220,4708],"class_list":["post-31041","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-history","tag-article","tag-photographer","tag-photos","tag-rear-projection"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/phsc.ca\/camera\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31041","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/phsc.ca\/camera\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/phsc.ca\/camera\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/phsc.ca\/camera\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/phsc.ca\/camera\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31041"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/phsc.ca\/camera\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31041\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":31045,"href":"https:\/\/phsc.ca\/camera\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31041\/revisions\/31045"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/phsc.ca\/camera\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31041"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/phsc.ca\/camera\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31041"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/phsc.ca\/camera\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31041"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}