grannie grabs 40 winks …
Toronto. Fall is here and it’s time to go to the fair. Our next 2025 event is our famous fall fair, October 19, 2025. Details are in the July PHSC News newsletter (issue 25-7).
There will be lots of interesting items to see, many to augment your collection. See friends old and new. Free parking and good food. What a terrific way to spend a Sunday!
Remember to come out – don’t be like grannie! You snooze; you lose (on a great deal for a great item)!
Daguerreotype of a fire engine from Christie’s fall auction of photographs
Toronto. What’s an auction house without auctions? Well our friends at Christie’s always seem to have an auction on the go.
This one features photographs, like the fire engine at left, from various collections. Daguerreotypes are featured plus many other more recent photographs by well known photographers.
The auction runs from 25 September – 9 October with the photos on exhibition 4 – 8 October. It’s a great opportunity for somewhat deep pocketed collectors to add to their collection.
Closer to home, our 2025 events are coming to a close now. Next is our famous fall fair on October 19th followed by our own estate auction on November 9, 2025. The fair details are in PHSC News for July (issue 25-7) and both fair and auction will be posted here closer to each event.
main stairway in the old WCH building c2013 – an example of architectural detail.
Toronto. Around 2014 there was considerable activity here as the old WCH building and garage were replaced by new, more modern facilities as the province worked hard to change their medical management process.
For collectors of old images, one segment is architecture and architectural details. Old photos of times past can provide valuable historical details as places grow and change over time.
As we near the end of our 2025 events, collectors still have an opportunity to augment their collections with many interesting items at our coming events. Coming next is our famous fall fair on October 19, 2025. Details are in the July PHSC News (issue 25-7) and will be posted here early next month.
NB. The title of this post is the title of one of the more popular Led Zeppelin songs.
December 24, 1958 – fire destroys the Schefferville, QC warehouse.
Toronto. Another reason to shop early for Christmas! In late 1958 I moved from the Labrador woods to the metropolis of Knob Lake, Quebec (renamed as Schefferville, Quebec). Its main employer was the mining company called Iron Ore and its open pit iron mine. The massive company was headed by Brian Mulroney – destined to become Prime Minister of Canada in 1984.
A few weeks later on December 24, 1958, the main warehouse for the town caught fire and was totally gutted. Which brings to mind a subset of images for many old photo collectors – fires and their aftermaths.
Be sure to visit all of our 2025 events. While we can’t promise you will find pictures of the mine or town, we can promise you will have fun and discover many choice items just right for your collection. On October 19th, 2025 we host the next event – our famous fall fair. See our summer (July 2025) newsletter for details.
night scene in the digital era c 2007
Toronto. Today we take the amazing speed of our media – sensors – for granted, but for much of the pre-digital era, media was far too slow for night scenes unless a tripod was used, subjects were motionless (or followed a known path), or artificial lighting was used.
And in movies, aside from film noir titles (which always manage to be dark and gloomy) night scenes were always a challenge. The major problem was film speed. Many movies seemed to use daylight darkened by filter or aperture and fake lights etc. while avoiding bright skies to give the illusion of night.
Stills demanded tripods and some form of artificial lighting or a tripod and very long exposures. Your collection may well include night shots taken with great skill and patience on a media that was far too slow for such scenes if fast or unpredictable motion existed. In fact street scenes in the early days of photography seemed to be devoid of people or transport – such ‘things’ were there, but hidden by motion and not captured.
Visit our 2025 events to add that special item to your collection. Next moth we host our famous fall fair on October 19th. See details here in our July 2025 newsletter.
This post was brought to light by memory of “Midnight at the Oasis” as sung by Maria Muldaur.
the good old hockey game …
Toronto. With fall comes cold weather … and hockey. Image collectors sometimes have a sub-collection of sports photos. All sort of games and sports photos over the years are candidates for collectors – action shots, individual players, or even team photos. Years back, games here were usually Lacrosse, hockey, curling or baseball.
These games have been expanded to football, soccer, and basketball. Until very recently (aside from the war years) the leagues have been male. In recent years we have seen a growth in women’s leagues.
South of the border saw mainly whites in the leagues with blacks playing in a separate league. Today the leagues have shifted to embrace all races and colours.
While our 2025 events feature all kinds of tasty things to augment one’s collection, we can’t say you will find just the right sports photo for your collection. We do know for sure that each event will offer an unusual item just perfect for your collection of photographica. In a few weeks we will be hosting the famous fall fair (October 19th, 2025), Details are in the July edition of our newsletter, PHSC News issue 25-7.
The title for this post is a line from the late Stompin’ Tom’s iconic hockey song. I should also mention he is one of my favourite song writers and singers.
a colour strip from the more recent photo booths. Earlier last century the tiny positives were always monochrome – photo courtesy of the Guardian article
Toronto. … doing what I did again. When PHSC president Clint Hryhorijiw sent me an email with this link to a Guardian article on Photo Booths, it immediately brought to mind the booths I saw at fairs and malls last century. We even had a journal article in in Photographic Canadiana 33-1 (May, 2007) by George Dunbar on his discovery of a Canadian photo booth called a Phototeria.
I did a couple of posts on the photo booth. The posts are “now just a minute” in Nov 2020 and “pictures at the fair” in June 2024. In July of this year, I (PHSC) received an email from Emily Botelho regarding the display in NYC which is discussed in the Guardian article. Emily spoke with George Dunbar about his discovery with hopes to have it recognized down in the Big Apple.
While it’s unlikely you will find a photo booth or any parts of one at our 2025 events, you will indeed discover items to complement your collection. Our next event is the famous fall fair on October 19th, 2025. Check out our summer newsletter, PHSC News issue 25-7 for all the gory details.
NB. The title of this post is from a song I remembered from years ago, sung here by the truly great Ms Barbra Streisand “I’m five/kid again“.
article on the first Daguerreotype camera lens
Toronto. Years ago when the late Don Douglas and I did our dog and pony show for the PHSC, I did a brief review of the black and white processes in the 19th century while Don used his Ansco camera collection to discuss camera evolution.
I was always amazed at the long transition period for each new process before it took the lion’s share of the market from the established process. In this century, many of us have seen in person the transition from film to digital took over a quarter century – and film continues on with a strong niche segment of film aficionados continuing to use this older technology.
My first digital camera had a 1.3mp sensor and speeds around those of fast films. Today the cameras (including smart phones) can have sensors up to around 60mp and use fancy computer code to reduce or even eliminate noise in the image.
Some professionals like the late George Hunter used a ‘split’ setup. Film cameras were used to capture the images, then the negatives were scanned into electronic files and moved to a program such as PhotoShop to make the traditional darkroom adjustments and more before printing on an inkjet printer. Scanning, PhotoShopping, and printing was far faster and allowed far more adjustment than the old darkroom setup.
I realized the decision in the 1800s to go from Daguerreotype to Wet-plate was a serious business decision. Photographers had spent money to purchase Daguerreotype materials and learn the necessary skills to be successful. To gain the technical benefits of wet-plate required a whole new process; new camera; and other equipment and training for initially no benefit to the bottom line (as the accountants would say).
Equipment for technology old and new can be found at our 2025 events. Coming up is our famous fall fair: “The Big One”, as the late Larry Boccioletti described it. The date is October 19th, 2025. Details are in our summer newsletter, PHSC News 25-7.
Nikkorex F sketch courtesy of David S Young
Toronto. … it’s just contracted out. An article in Digital Camera World by David S Young titled, “This “fake” Nikon camera changed everything. Here’s the curious tale of the Nikkorex F …” tells how Mamiya came to make the famous camera on contract from Nikon.
We have heard how Nikon F became the darling of professionals, even causing some major German organizations like Leitz and Zeiss to add SLR cameras to their offerings. For the small Japanese company, Nippon Kogaku, who made the camera, its success overwhelmed its production capability.
Greater success meant pushing to a less expensive product focused on the amateur market. Enter Mamiya and its much larger production facilities. Nippon Kogaku contracted the manufacture of a camera called the Nikkorex F. Mamiya insisted on using the then new Copal square focal plane shutter licensed to a few Japanese companies like Mamiya but not to Nippon Kogaku.
The camera lived on after helping Nikon and was rebranded with various makes and model numbers.
Visit our 2025 events to see what sparks your interest. While we can’t say you will find a Nikkorex F – or even a Nikon F – you will find lots of things for you and your collection. Coming next month is our fall fair on October 19th, 2025. Check out our July 2025 PHSC News newsletter for the nitty-gritty details.
the autumn leaves, soon to fall
Toronto. Fall is here once again. The boys of summer are working hard to win the race for the pennant and possibly enter the ‘World Series’. If you watch baseball, you know the Jays are leading their division at the moment.
Ahhh fall! What a great time of the year. In a few weeks the leaves will begin to fall, evenings will be frosty, and we will turn to our collections once again. And the search for those items our collection can use.
Whether you collect images or cameras or photographic ephemera and history, our 2025 events have something to enhance your collection. You may find an unusual and interesting antique photograph; an odd but pivotal camera; some rare pamphlets, intriguing studio histories and more!
Our next event will be the famous fall fair on October 19th, 2025. Details are listed in our summer newsletter (PHSC News 25-7) and will appear here as well next month.
EVENTS
Click the above icon to download the form and mail a copy with your cheque. You can include your donation with the join/renew form too.
Stan White – Poems & Photos
