The Photographic Historical Society of Canada

Annual Speaker Program Summary
May 2008 to April 2009
2008 Program

Dr IRWIN REICHSTEIN: The Multigraph
- May 21st, 2008

Dr Irwin Reichstein is an associate professor at Carleton University's School of Computer Science (Ottawa).

Photographic Canadiana 33-1 from last May/June, carried Dr Reichstein's article "A Multigraph from Montreal". His interest in the odd process was sparked by his acquisition of a photo-postcard taken at the "Funland Multigraph" on Montreal's (in)famous St Lawrence Boulevard.


woodcut of a multigraph portrait sitting

PAUL PASQUARELLO: "My Two New Best Friends" or "I'm in Love with Anna Morfix"
- June 18th, 2008

Paul PasquarelloThe PHSC hosts Paul Pasquarello and his panoramic stereo imagery. Paul calls his show "My Two New Best Friends" or "I'm in Love with Anna Morfix". The Buffalo, New York native has studied, taught, and practiced photography. His work has appeared in numerous national and international magazines. His wide and varied photographic career includes a stint as a newspaper photographer and currently as the supervisor of photographic operations for the New York Power Authority. Two areas of personal interest are Panoramic and stereo imagery.

Paul has combined the two techniques. His forty-five minute wide screen stereo show is preceded by a talk on how he makes the images. Don't miss this unusual aspect of stereo - his photos aren't your grannie's parlour stereo card views!


Christopher SchnebergerCHRIS SCHNEBERGER: Stereo Stories
- September 17th, 2008

Christopher has an MFA degree and teaches photography at the Evanston Art Center and at Columbia College, Chicago. He is twice recipient of an Illinois Arts Council individual artist grant, and twice winner of the National Stereoscopic Association's Paul Wing award for best stereo theater presentation. The shows Chris plans to present are "The Strange Case of Dr. Addison and the Crosswell Twins" , "A Case of Levitation: The Story of Frances Naylor" , and (if there's time) "Master William and The Governess. " You can see a small sample of Christopher's work on his web site.


Paul BurnsPAUL BURNS: Origins if Images & Beginnings of Cinematography
-
October 15, 2008

Paul Burns is a film historian, researcher, author, former journalist and photographer living in Canada. Paul has worked in print, radio, and television. He is a member of both the PHSC and The Magic Lantern Society as well as listed in The International Directory of Photography Historians. Paul has spent 18 years studying pre-cinema history and published his work online at precinemahistory.net. His story begins with the pinhole images observed by the early cave dwellers and travels chronologically to the end of the 19th Century. In his talk, he will take us through a clear and concise illustrated story of pre-cinema history.


FELIX RUSSO: Modern Panorama Technology - The Broader View.
- Wednesday, November 19, 2008.

Felix Russo

We have all seen old panoramic images taken with a variety of gadgets- cameras with a pivoting lens, cameras with a super wide angle lens and a film plane cropped to give a panoramic aspect ratio, cameras geared to rotate during the exposure - think Cirkut - to modern stitching programs for digitized images.

The Ontario Archives recently restored two massive panoramic prints discovered in the attic of the Ontario parliament buildings at Queen's Park as we reported in a recent E-Mail Newsletter.

Tonight, Felix Russo, editor of PhotoEd, will present modern panoramic technology such as the GigaPan Imager. Felix's talk is based on the theme of the Winter 2008 issue of his PhotoEd magazine - Panoramic photography. Below is a huge panoramic picture taken by Felix (yes, he is in the picture too) using the technology he discussed during this presentation.

PHSC Meeting Gigapan image
        Visit http://www.gigapan.org/viewGigapanFullscreen.php?id=12862 to see this in its 0.68 GPix glory.

spotted slug

Note: Our original illustration for this talk was this fine example of the Limax maximus Linnaeus or spotted garden slug from my neighbour's garden. About seven inches long, it is also called a Leopard Slug and is most common in British Columbia. It can live for three years or more.


SHOW & TELL, SILENT NIGHT
Wednesday, December 17th, 2008.

Felix RussoSHOW & TELL. Its that time of year again. Members will be taking their treasures out of moth balls to share with us at this meeting moderated by our President. The Show & Tell sessions are always interesting. It's fascinating what members have found over the years. Come out and learn about some of the strange items from photography's yester-years.

SILENT NIGHT. Past President Ed Warner will be conducting a silent auction of some interesting items from the PHSC's collection. As many of you know, the PHSC acquires such items through donations and occasionally has to make room by offering everyone a chance to bid on the goods. As usual, the auction is cash only. Only items owned by the PHSC will be auctioned at this meeting.


Dr. JOAN SCHWARTZ: Photographic Sleuthing: Archival Stories and Academic Tales
Wednesday, January 21st, 2009

Joan SchwartzDr Schwartz has a deep background and interest in photographic history. She was the guest editor of the prestigious History of Photography magazine for the Summer 1996 issue on Canadian Photography. A Queen's National Scholar, she has associations with the Portrait Gallery of Canada, the Royal Canadian Geographical Society, Carlton University, the National Archives, and Queen's University. She sub titles her talk as "My Travels with Fred". Check the current E-mail newsletter for more on Joan's "Travels with Fred" - 19c photographer Frederick Dally.

Dr Schwartz, an inspirational photo historian, gave a thrilling talk on her tales and experiences researching photo-history and some fresh insights into looking at art and photos.


A Night at the Gallery (AGO) with Maia Sutnik
Wednesday, February 18th, 2009

AGO Walker Court and Baroque Stairs by Sean Weaver ©20098
Walker Court and
Baroque Stairs, AGO
This is one of our occasional meetings NOT at the Memorial Hall. Maia Sutnik, Curator of Photography at the AGO, has graciously invited us for a special tour of the new and recently re-opened Art Gallery of Ontario. Please be at the AGO main entrance (317 Dundas St West at McCaul) by 7 pm. The tour will begin at 7:15 pm sharp and end an hour later with refreshments. Click here for AGO photos taken recently by George Dunbar.

This will be a great opportuniy to see the new and exciting AGO designed by architect Frank Gehry and meet with Maia who spoke to us on May 16, 2007 about the AGO's photographic holdings.


ANDREW PATRICK: Fine Digital Printing
Wednesday, March 18th, 2009

R1900

Epson is one of the leading firms in digital printing technology. Andrew Patrick of Epson Printing will be presenting a talk on “Fine Digital Printing.” Bring all your problems to get explanations from Andrew, or just come and learn about the finer techniques of digital colour printing. See our note below on an all day seminar being held a few days after Andrew's presentation for those wishing to learn more about fine digital printing.



MICHAEL TOROSIAN: Lumiere Press-- Making Limited Edition Photography Books
Wednesday, April 15th, 2009

Toronto's Lumiere Press, founded in 1986 by Michael Torosian, has established itself in the art world as the only fine press devoted to hand-made, limited-edition books on photography. The books, acquired by more than 100 public institutions around the world, have been recognized for design and production excellence - notably, inclusion in the American Institute of Graphic Arts venerable "Fifty Books of the Year" and two successive First Prize awards from the Alcuin Society. Lumiere Press has been the subject of numerous profiles and reviews in periodicals including The Globe and Mail, Applied Arts, American Photo, and Black & White Magazine. In 2006 the press was short-listed for "Best Book Design From All Over the World" at the Leipzig Book Fair and in 2007 was showcased in an exhibition at the Howard Greenberg Gallery, New York. Michael will talk about the history of the press and how the books are made.
Lumiere Press
Michael Torosian


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