No Name Blog

Coming In July - Gwen Trahan

2010-06-20T09:44:00.000-07:00

Award Winning Safford Middle School Photography Program.
Our July 1 program will be presented by Gwen Trahan who recently started a photography program at Safford Middle School. She has already led her students to great achievements—they won three of the top five awards at the Center For Creative Photography annual High School Photography Day in May of this year. Come hear Gwen talk about the program and show some of her students’ work.

Gwen is building the program at Safford from the ground up and is anxious to establish a well-equipped darkroom for the next school year. WPHS member Judy Laviolette has helped her list items you might be willing to donate:
• Any form of digital cameras
o SLR, point-and-shoot, etc.
• 35mm SLR cameras
o Fixed or interchangeable lenses
o Fresh film
o Fresh paper
• Working darkroom equipment
o Enlargers & timers
o Negative carriers
o Contact sheet makers
o Beakers, tongs, trays, etc.
• Lighting equipment
o Lights or light kits
o Reflectors, stands, etc.
• Fun stuff for experiments
o Disembodied lenses
o Gels, etc.

If you want to contact Gwen about donating items before the meeting, you can call 520-419-1329 or email her at sgtrahan13@gmail.com

June Program Summary

2010-06-20T09:41:00.000-07:00

Bill Page Tells Us About The Galapagos Islands.
Our June program was Bill Page, giving us a close-up look at the Galapagos Islands. We were expecting to see lots of birds, but learned much more. Bill talked about how the Islands were originally volcanoes, with some islands older than others. He also showed the various climate zones on the islands that are so visible even in short distances. Bill talked about why the ocean currents made these islands special, carrying some animals clinging to driftwood all the way from the mainland to this isolated group of islands over 600 miles from the coast of Ecuador. Many birds probably got to the islands by being blown along with storms. For some of the animals, there are no natural predators in this habitat and it is speculated that they have evolved accordingly.

Bill showed some incredible pictures of birds—blue-footed boobies, a heron, pelicans and frigate birds as they puffed their red chests and as they stole fish from the pelicans. There were even penguins frisking about. He talked about Darwin’s famous study of the finches and showed pictures of some of them, pointing out the differences to us.

However, Bill had photographed several other interesting types of animals. The Galapagos Islands are famous for the giant turtles that have always been fighting for their existence, usually threatened by humans. We saw a picture of “Lonesome George” the last turtle of his particular subspecies in the world. There were sea lions and Bill’s story of a too-close encounter with a particularly big one. The lava rocks make great homes (and backgrounds) for the large marine iguanas and the colorful Sally Lightfoot Crabs.

Bill Page obviously has a tremendous enthusiasm for photography and the subjects of his photos. Although the cameras are heavy, he (and his wife) carry two of them with different lenses. Thank you, Bill!! You are a master photographer and teacher and, in such a short time, we learned so much about the Galapagos Islands and their inhabitants.

Bill Page On Tap For June

2010-05-11T07:57:00.002-07:00

Our program for June will be presented by Bill Page. In 1991 Bill retired from teaching sciences in New York State. He taught grades 7 through 12 in public school and graduate courses in Long Island University. His interest in birding and photography began during his youth when he was a farm boy in Pennsylvania and continues today.

Bill and his wife Joan have traveled to the sub-Antarctic islands and the Antarctic Peninsula in 1996 and again in 2000. In 2003 they traveled to Svalbard in the Arctic Ocean. Additionally they have photographed in Africa, Alaska, Argentina, Australia, Belize, Brazil, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Galapagos, Panama, Peru, and Trinidad & Tobago.

At our June meeting, Bill will share his Galapagos show with you. Combining some of the most interesting birds in the world with Bill’s great photography will make this a special program!
And here is the rest of it.

May Meeting Notes

2010-05-10T07:55:00.001-07:00

Ed Jackson showed us some of his favorite books on camera collecting and photography. He has been a long-time photographer and a more recent collector. He says the books help him dream of what he’d like to have. He noted that the “bible’ of camera collecting is Jim McKeown’s well-known Price Guide to Antique & Classic Cameras which is over two inches thick. Paul Garrett showed us the first edition which was only about a quarter of an inch thick. There are other price guides, but Ed thinks McKeown’s is by far the best and most comprehensive. Another classification of books are those giving a historical perspective, highlighting some of the most important cameras. A beautiful and comprehensive book is Camera: A History of Photography from Daguerreotype to Digital by Todd Gustavson and George Eastman House. This book not only traces the camera’s development, but talks about the inventors and artists who use them. Another of Ed’s newest favorites is Classic Cameras by Colin Harding. The articles focus on 75 classic cameras with great pictures and history for each one.

Ed’s favorites for information on collecting cameras include the set by Ivor Matanle: Collecting and Using Classic Cameras and Collecting and Using Classic SLR’s. Other good sources are Jason Schneider’s Camera Collecting, Book One, Book Two and Book Three which include articles originally published in “Modern Photography”. He also introduced a wonderful website: http://www.camerabooks.com. It is very comprehensive and well organized.

Then there are the books that focus on a specific brand. These included books such as The Story of Kodak, Leika Manual (one of many), and Nikon Rangefinders. Two books that Ed especially recommends are Nikon - A Celebration and Canon i- A Celebration by Brian Long. Other favorites include Jason Schneider’s Camera Collecting, Book One, Book Two and Book Three which include articles originally published in “Modern Photography”.

Most of us use our camera books for reference, but Ed has read many of the books in his collection cover-to-cover. Thanks, Ed, for an opportunity to see some books that we might want to add to our collections. (We can always buy another book case…..)

MAY PROGRAM PREVIEW

2010-04-13T07:39:00.001-07:00

Our speaker for the May meeting will be our own Ed Jackson. The title of his presentation will be "Books on Camera History and Camera Collecting”. The books will be available for you to peruse to see what you will want to add to your own book collection. The “Show and Tell” for May will be after Ed’s presentation and will also focus on books for photographic history or collections. Bring your favorite book and tell us about it (if Ed hasn’t already featured it). End of Article.

APRIL PROGRAM SUMMARY

2010-04-13T07:34:00.002-07:00

Our April program certainly convinced us that photography has a great future. First we saw five high school students receive prizes for their entries in the Spring WPHS Show High School Photo Contest. Their work was considered some of the best we’ve had by judges and members alike.

The second part of the program consisted of presentations by Ashley Whaley and Claire Warden, our 2009 College Scholarship winners. Both are students at Arizona State University and demonstrated a strong sense of both the artistic and technical aspects of photography.
Ashley showed us some of her work around a variety of themes. One theme was hands—portraits where one really got a sense of something special about the person by focusing on their hands. She also had a series of “staged” work telling a story about people who had lived in a house that had been abandoned. We got a feel for their lives by looking at the images Ashley produced. Ashley works both with film and digital processing.

Claire has published a book containing some of her best images. She shoots with a 35mm camera and then scans and prints the images digitally. One of her series of works was a variety of textures, conveying the feeling just with the texture. Claire noted that she particularly focuses on networking with photographers and gallery owners and curators, so that, when she’s ready for a full time job, these connections can produce results, even in a tight job market.

Both students are interested in photography and curating exhibits. Claire currently works part time at the gallery at ASU and both have secured internships at galleries for this summer. Ashley and Clair truly appreciated their scholarships because the money went directly into their education and photography, allowing them to concentrate a little less on part time work and more on their classes.

Ashley Whaley and Claire Warden are both skilled photographers and the WPHS can be assured that we invested in good students. Thank you to Ashley and Claire for great presentations—we expect to see your work in prestigious galleries in the future.

March Program - Dr. Rebecca Senf

2010-02-26T07:10:00.002-07:00

Our speaker for March is Becky Senf who is a curator at the Center for Creative Photography. She will be speaking about the real Ansel Adams. Becky has studied Ansel Adams and his photography extensively so you know her program will be interesting.
Dr. Rebecca Senf is the Norton Family Curator of Photography, a joint appointment at the Center for Creative Photography and the Phoenix Art Museum. She curates three exhibitions a year for the Doris and John Norton Gallery for the Center for Creative Photography in Phoenix and her past exhibitions include Debating Modern Photography: the Triumph of Group f/64; Richard Avedon: Photographer of Influence; Human Nature: the Photographs of Barbara Bosworth; Edward Weston: Mexico; Odyssey: the Photographs of Linda Connor; Charting the Canyon: Photographs by Mark Klett and Byron Wolfe; and Face to Face: 150 Years of Photographic Portraiture. Senf grew up in Tucson and went to undergraduate school at the University of Arizona, studying the History of Photography. She spent ten years in Boston, Massachusetts where she earned a Ph.D. in Art History at Boston University. In Boston she worked on the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston’s major exhibition Ansel Adams from The Lane Collection, for which she also co-authored the exhibition catalogue. Her current exhibition on view at the Phoenix Art Museum is Ansel Adams: Discoveries (Jan. 31, 2010 to June 6, 2010). Upcoming projects include Exposing Time: Capturing Change Through Photography (March 6-June 27, 1010) and Louise Dahl-Wolfe: Photographer at Work (2012).

Jerry Day - Toy Cameras

2010-02-22T08:25:00.002-07:00

The speaker for our February meeting was Jerry Day, a long time photographer and collector of specialty cameras. Members were immediately impressed by the array of colors on the four tables of Jerry’s display. He had toys that look like cameras and cameras that look like toys as well as a display of novelty photographic items. Jerry showed and told us about some of the “prize” cameras including those made for world fairs, Mickey Mouse (pictured), Charlie Tuna, and Santa Claus. He has cameras made for Barbie and Ken, too. Jerry has a kid’s enthusiasm for the toys and stole the show when he put one camera up to his eye and pressed the button. The camera produced a stream of water which reached Joseph Pocholczyk who was sitting on the front row. Joseph took the situation with good nature and the audience got a good laugh.
Another interesting part of his presentation was his progression as a photographer and collector. He had a copy of the folding Brownie that he started with as a young student. When he was in Korea in the military, he dreamed of owning a Nikon. Unfortunately, only one of this model came to the PX each month and he never won the lottery to purchase same. He did get a less desirable Olympus which he used to record some of his time in Korea. Later, back in the US, he got his degree and went to work for the Game and Fish Department where he did a great deal of recording using photographs. Especially since he retired, he has enjoyed scouring local yard sales for these specialty cameras.
Thanks, Jerry, for sharing your great collection and your enthusiasm for it!

World's First Commercially Produced Camera to Bring $1,000,000 at Auction

2010-02-14T20:04:00.000-07:00

The Giroux Daguerreotype is described as a very rare model of the world’s first commercially produced camera. The camera was designed and produced in Paris in 1839 by Daguerre's brother-in-law, Alphonse Giroux. Approximately 250 were produced and sold at $50 each. The camera today, after calculating inflation, would cost approximately $1000. It is one of the only cameras by Daguerre that still exists and is described as being in excellent original condition. There are only a few of these cameras that exist worldwide and most of them are in the possession of public museums.
On May 29th the camera is expected to be auctioned in Vienna. The starting price of the auction will be 200,000 Euros. The WestLicht Photographica auction house is in charge of selling the camera and expects the camera to go for as much as 700,000 Euros ($950,000 US).
The camera has a double box body and the photographer can focus by pulling the smaller box away from the 15inch lens. To bring the camera into focus, the rear box must be moved forwards or backwards along the wooden camera base. Image exposure time is quite long and can take up to three minutes depending on how well lit the image is. Images produces by the Giroux Daguerreotype are finely detailed and practically grain less. The images should also be very durable when framed in a way that excludes air. The cameras are highly sought after as a coveted collectors item.
There is also a 24-page instruction manual that comes with the camera, but the user must be able to translate German to understand the manual.

The Graflex 4x5 Super Graphic and Super Speed Graphic

2010-02-10T16:45:00.021-07:00

by William E. Inman, Sr.

Graflex introduced the 4x5 Super Graphic in February 1958. It was heralded by Graflex as “the greatest advance in press cameras in years, and is sure to catch the imagination of every advanced amateur and professional photographer. The Super Graphic is new in every way...completely new design and appearance …. new features for greater-than-ever versatility.

The Super Graphic is smaller than its predecessor, the famous Pacemaker Speed Graphic. It's styled in two-tone gray and black with aluminum trim.” A modern dream camera in every way. We need to back up to 1956, when the president of Graflex, Inc., Gaylord C. Whitaker, enlisted the services of industrial design consultant Peter Muller-Munk, who, along with the Graflex engineering staff, began the redesign of the 4x5 Graphic camera. Drawing heavily on Graflex research, they checked “human engineering” all the way from typical handholds to the mechanics of the shutter tripping. To give this camera the strength of the mahogany box of the Pacemaker, they chose an aluminum body for strength as well as lightweight properties. They went to Alcoa Aluminum for production parts, while assembly of the camera took place at the Graflex plant in Rochester, New York.

Human Engineering Features:
The Super Graphic is designed for convenience in handling. All locks and releases are readily accessible for adjustments and are large enough and properly shaped for foolproof operation. The front lens standard swings, tilts and shifts have “click-stop” neutral positions. The electronic shutter and flash tripping button can be used without changing hand position. The automatic focusing scale is on top of the camera for ease of
reading. All the flash shutter connections are internally wired to minimize dangling cords and prevent misfires from partially disconnected plugs. A removable long optical viewfinder is supplied as an accessory.

Construction Features:
For maximum strength, resilience, precision, production cost savings and minimum weight, the Super Graphic uses an extruded strip bent to shape, and butt welded at the bottom joint. Integral beads on the edges add rigidity and serve as trim strips for the leather-grained covering. For parts requiring light absorption, black

anodizing replaces paint, which ends chipping and scratching. Other precision parts are die-cast aluminum or magnesium to further minimize weight.

New Features:

1. Automatic flash setting calculator operates as part of the focusing scale on the top of the camera for determining the correct f stop.

2. Horizontal swing and forward tilt movements of the lensboard are standard, along with rising, shifting, and backward tilting movements. The horizontal shift is usable even with short lenses.
3. A spring loaded focusing track was added for stability. An improved yoke is now “V” guide, running entire length of each side of the bed.

4. A revolving back that locks in the horizontal or vertical position. The rotation works in either direction accommodating a left-handed user, if necessary.
5. A removable focusing hood for quiet, one-handed operation was added.
6. A dark slide holding clip, on the focusing hood, runs the full length on the back of the hood and is made of “phosphorus bronze.”
7. Larger, easier-to-handle rangefinder cams and a simplified mechanism for easiest changing of cams was added.
8. Rangefinder focusing from 90mm wide-angle lenses to telephoto lenses is standard.

9. Interchangeable, internally wired, lensboard assemblies for either flashbulbs or electronic flash provide connection through the camera body.

10. A double cam action slide lock on the Graflok back provides positive positioning of the Grafmatic, Film Pack, Roll Holder and Polaroid film holders.

11. A built-in electrical socket on the lower right side accepts a polarized three-prong pin cord for the Graflite and the Stroboflash, providing internal shutter synchronization and eliminates cords dangling from the shutter.

12. A Presslock Tripod Mount accessory for instant and solid attachment or removal of the camera when fitted to a tripod.

13. A new type bed lock arrangement, rotation of either focusing knob, locks or unlocks the bed, which eliminates accidental releasing.

14. The Super has a high-precision builtin rangefinder. The rangefinder cam operates the focusing scale indicator on the stop of the camera, so that the scale always matches the lens used. Shown below is the Pacemaker rangefinder, which is the same system used in the Super Graphic, with a few changes.

15. An electronic shutter and flash tripping release button are located conveniently for left -hand operation. The BC circuit is powered by two 22.5-volt Eveready batteries (number 412) for tripping the solenoid in the base of the front lens standard.
The same circuit can also be tripped from the Graflite two-cell flash unit red button with the addition of the Y cord (Catalog number 2808) for flash bulb firing.
When introduced in 1958, the Super “outfit” sold for $416, while the 4x5 Pacemaker Crown Graphic outfit with the same shutter sold for $340. The Super Graphic remained in the Graflex line through 1973,
when camera sales were discontinued. In that year, the Super outfit sold for $641 and a 4x5 Pacemaker Crown outfit for $543.
The 4x5 Super Speed Graphic
The Super Speed Graphic was introduced in 1959 and last sold in 1969, when Graflex stopped production of the Graflex 1000 shutter. The only difference between the Super Graphic and the Super Speed Graphic was the introduction of the Graflex 1/1000 leaf shutter. The bodies are the same. Up to that time, the fastest leaf shutter was 1/500. The Graflex 1/1000 shutter was a revolutionary design. For further information, see my article in the GHQ Volume 5, Number 1, titled “The Dream Shutter.”

If your camera needs to be repaired, I highly recommend Fred Lustig. Mr. Lustig has provided quality Graflex service for many years and has a good supply of parts for the 1000 shutter and the Super Graphic.
He can be reached by mail at 4790 Caughlin Parkway, No. 433, Reno, NV 89509, or by phone at (775) 746-0111.

References:
Graflex Trade Notes, February 1958.
Graflex Super Graphic/Super Speed Graphic Instruction Manual.
Alcoa Aluminum Newsletter, October 1959, Peter Muller-Munk Association publication.

Special thanks to Mr. William E. Inman, Sr. and the Graflex Historic Quarterly for their kind permission to reprint this outstanding and informative article.

January’s Guest Speaker

2010-01-30T08:11:00.000-07:00

Ann Simmons-Myers from Pima Community College
by Jerry O’Neill

Mrs. Ann Simmons-Myers was our guest speaker at the January general meeting. She is the director of the Photographic program at Pima Community College.

Ann’s presentation consisted of a group of unique and beautiful film photos made by her. The photos were printed on high quality paper and enhanced using special techniques that make them into works of art. If you missed this presentation we will be sure to invite her back to speak again at a later date. Thanks Ann!

Spring Camera Show - March 14

2010-01-25T08:06:00.001-07:00

Show time in Tucson March 14, 2010! We are ready for our 50th show. Set-up at 6:00 a.m. Show opens 8:00 a.m. Timing is so everyone can get in on early bird deals as well as having the public enter an hour earlier. WPHS consignment tables are again planned for opening when ready at 8:00 a.m. Exhibitors may enter from exhibitors' free parking back of the building at 6:00 a.m.
The InnSuites City Center Conference & Resort (new name) has a block of rooms set aside for exhibitors by calling (520) 622-3000 which includes Sunday breakfast. Our InnSuite hosts have the entire Restaurant open from 11:00 a.m. Sunday morning. Show closing remains at 3:00 p.m. and request not leaving early.
We will ask you to remind all customers of the list of all other exciting happenings and demonstrations throughout the show. Schedules and events will be posted and copies on every table. This show includes a participant questionnaire regarding show related thoughts to be used in planning of the Fall 2010 show set for October.
InnSuites location is 475 N. Granada at the corner of St. Marys (East/West) & where Main Street becomes Granada (North/South). Best information on routes is to Google Map Quest.
You may use the following link to the show info on the WPHS web site
(http://www.wphsociety.org/camerashow.htm). This also contains a print out of the show reservation & membership application form to mail in with your check. Note March 14th on your calendar! You may also contact via email, telephone or surface mail at my addresses below.

See you on Sunday March 14th at the InnSuites and have a great show!

Best regards,
Paul Garrett, Show Chairman
sinuoso@aol.com

February WPHS Meeting Program

2010-01-25T07:04:00.003-07:00

Our speaker for February will be Jerry Day. He will talk about his toys that look like cameras, cameras that look like toys, and other specialty items. Jerry has been collecting for a number of years and will bring many of his cameras for you to see. Jerry enjoys his collection and will talk about how he got into this area of collecting. You'll enjoy his enthusiasm and his cameras!

In March, we'll look forward to hearing about the real Ansel Adams from Becky Senf from the Center for Creative Photography. Becky has studied Ansel Adams and will have an interesting show for us.

January Program

2010-01-05T17:34:00.002-07:00

Ann Simmons-Myers first worked in a darkroom at the Ohio State University in January of 1971. Since that time, she has sustained a love of photography and its various processes through teaching and exhibiting. In 1979 Simmons-Myers moved to Tucson, in order to study alternative photographic processes with Todd Walker and fell in love with the desert. For the past twenty years she has been head of the Photography Program in the Visual Arts Department at Pima Community College, where she learns from her students every day.
Her work has been shown extensively throughout the United States as well as several foreign countries.
Ann will have several pieces of her latest work on display and will share her vast photographic experience with our members.
We urge you to attend this outstanding and exciting program.

November Program:

2009-10-29T15:43:00.002-07:00

Our speaker for November will be Andrew Bevington, Photography teacher at Amphitheater High School. Andrew is a Tucson native who began teaching in 2002 on the Tohono O’odham Reservation and moved to Amphi in 2004. He recently won a Fulbright Scholarship to Photograph Turkey: Secular & Sacred Spaces. His awards come from Photo Imaging Educators Association and Prix de la Photographie in Paris. He’s also had works in a number of publications. Andrew will talk about his experience teaching students to create bodies of work that convey a theme or idea using color psychology, symbol, metaphor, etc. to expand and extend the conceptual value of each image. It also encompasses the transition from film to digital and how he trains students to choose a form (film, digital, historical process, etc.) that enhances the meanings of their series. For the last few years, he has been trying to change the focus from preparing students to work as studio assistants to preparing them with a wide range of skills to succeed in the photographic industry.

October Meeting Recap

2009-10-29T15:32:00.002-07:00

At our October meeting, James Gregg shared the life and works of a photojournalist with us. His ability to get people to talk about their situations and then to take photos that catch the story is impressive. He called it taking “pictures with heart”. Pictures from his recent trip to Puerto Rico gave us an entirely new sense of the vibrancy of life there with glimpses of the more difficult sides of life.

James always carries a camera with him and noted that, as a photographer, he always looks for the “unexpected in the expected”. As a newspaper photographer, he is assigned some routine shoots—a high school football game, for example. James got the expected football shots, but also showed us an intriguing picture of a baton twirler performing with the band.
One of the most impressive sequences of shots was taken while James stayed with a homeless man in Tucson whom he had befriended. Taking a camera “I could afford to lose”, he went to live with the man for three days with not much more than bus fare in his pocket. James’ confidence to survive in such a potentially dangerous situation was rewarded with some amazing shots that give the viewer a real look and feel for the life of homeless persons.

There are some quieter moments when James is reviewing all the shots he takes. He may take 10,000 shots in a day in order to get just the shots to tell the stories.

James likes the life of a newspaper photojournalist and has covered stories from the difficulties along the US/Mexico border to the winter celebration at La Encantada when the fake snow rains down on the courtyard. Thanks, James, for sharing your photos and enthusiasm with us.
Late Breaking News: James Gregg just won two Rocky Mountain Emmy Awards from the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences for “His Own Fight” about a Tucson mixed martial arts fighter and in the achievement of craft/photography category.

Spy Cameras

2009-09-28T08:32:00.002-07:00

September Meeting 2009

Our September program exhibited some of the cameras that have been made to take pictures surreptitiously. Why anyone would create a camera that required wet plates and looked like a big brass pistol is beyond anyone’s guess, but that was the first (from 1862) in a long line of disguised cameras. After that, Liz Whitaker showed slides of cameras disguised as purses, cravats, canes, binoculars and even bowler hats. Anyone attending WPHS meetings wearing a hat with a lens sticking out the top of it will be asked to remove the hat! Gerry Whitaker shared some cameras from his collection including the Expo (disguised as a railroad pocket watch, popular in early 1900s) and the Petal (a really small watch-looking device, featured in October, 1987 issue of the Smithsonian magazine). He also showed us a camera that could be hidden in a cigarette package, worn on the wrist or hung on a chain around one’s neck—the Tessina made in Switzerland in the ‘60’s. One of these was used in the Watergate burglary, but we don’t know who carried it. Gerry also had a special version of the Robot camera made for the Luftwaff in WWII which had a spring that would enable the camera to take several pictures with one winding. History has it that the pilot was to trigger the camera and then hold it out the window, taking pictures of whatever was below. (Should have just used Google Earth….)
Paul Garrett brought in a prized cigarette lighter camera, and it really works as a cigarette lighter. He also showed a large collection of miniatures including the Kombi, the first miniature roll film camera made in 1892. The little brass box was elaborately decorated and called a “Kombi” because it could be used both as a camera and as a viewer. Paul also showed us very small cameras from all over the world made in the 40’s and 50’s. The Mikronas from Czechoslovakia, the Minicord from Austria, the Rollei 16’s from Germany and the Mamiya’s and several “Hit” type cameras from Japan. He also had Hit style cameras from Germany and the US.
Jerry O’Neill presented miniature cameras from his collection and also from Joseph Pacholczyk. He showed us several of Joseph’s Minoltas that could easily be hidden in a pocket and used when no one was looking. Jerry’s Pentax 110 is still a very usable camera and was manufactured with a variety of lenses. The little Minolta XA4 took only macro shots and was intended for copying documents.
Any respectable spy in the late 20th century would have some Minox equipment. Paul brought in a whole collection of Minox cameras and accessories—lenses, tripods, flashes, right angle viewers and even an enlarger.
Of course, now all these great cameras have been replaced with digital spy cameras also in watches, pens, and even eyeglasses. The really great film cameras will live on in collections such as the ones we saw. Thanks to Gerry, Paul, Jerry and Joseph.

The Return of Instant Film?

2009-07-21T10:48:00.002-07:00

According to a recent article in Time Magazine a pair of Polaroid enthusiasts are making a run at once again manufacturing instant film. Florian Kaps and Andre Bosman, armed with almost three million dollars in private capital, founded a company named Impossible and have set out to come up with new formulas for the instant film. The first trial version of the film will go into production in October. Hang on to your old Polaroid camera.

Links:

Instant Photography After the End of Polaroid Cameras - TIME

Polanoid.net

Polanoir.com

Pieces of Time

2009-06-20T06:14:00.001-07:00

A little piece of time. If you think about it, every time you take a photograph you capture a little piece of time on film. (I do, of course, refer to traditional photographic media for the purposes of this discussion as well as any other discussion I am likely to have in the forseeable future.) Everything stands still in the image, more or less, depending on how big a slice of time you have caught. Looking at images, you can see things exactly as they were when the images were made, be it a hundred years ago or yesterday.
Finding a cache of images from the past is a bit like traveling back in time. Kaye Treese has been traveling in time back to the the early 1900s, courtesy of his collection of glass plate negatives.
In 1948, Treese's family bought a house in Altoona, Pennsylvania from the family of local pharmacist Charles Rhodes. Although his profession was pharmaceutical, Mr. Rhodes interests were varied and obviously included the serious pursuit of photography; because in the attic of that house were the results of that interest, hundreds of glass plate negatives.
Prior to his death in 1948, Charles Rhodes, using a 4x5 camera recorded life in a small, early 20th century Pennsylvania town. Self portraits, parades, political rallies, social gatherings, all were subjects for his photography. It is interesting to reflect that the passage of time has lent a certain exoticism to these once everyday scenes and will do the same to the images that we make today, causing our everyday scenes to look quaint and old-fashioned 100 years hence.

Argus, Vershoor And Vokar

2009-06-02T16:46:00.002-07:00

By Ron Kuykendall

In the early 1920’s,Charles Vershoor was an engineer in Ann Arbor, Michigan. He started the Cavac Co. radio business about 1924. His first real success came in marketing his Arbor Phone radio. In 1931 he formed International Radio Corp on the success of his Kaydette –a 4 tube ac/dc home radio in a phenolic resin case available in many colors. A kit allowed the Kaydette to be used in an auto (first car radio ?). Another offering was a kit that allowed the Kaydette to be controlled from any room in the house. A two tube pocket radio (personal radio), and the Autime the first clock radio soon followed. Vershoor marketed thru neighborhood drug, jewelry, sporting goods and similar smaller retailers. There was a problem with the radio business however- in the summer people were outside and the radios were inside. The summer lull in sales forced Charles to lay off his workforce. A vacation in Europe looking at Leicas, Contaxes and Retinas made an impression. Cheap box and rollfilm cameras using 120,118,122,127 etc. were plentiful. Good cameras like he saw in Europe were expensive-$58 at the least. Why not market a summertime item (camera) priced so advanced camera users could desire and afford it.
He asked Gustave Fassin to design a small compact camera using the new 135 cartridge, with retractable lens, and a phenolic resin body. The first Argus had an Ilex fixed focus 4.5 lens with a diaphragm, sold in 1936 for $12.50. Once again Vershoor judged the market rightly-30,000 cameras in the first week- and his factory ran all summer,making Argus A’s from the same plastic as his Kaydette. Next was a full line of support items-enlargers, darkroom items, light meters and exposure guides, filters, flash units, and slide projectors for the new Kodachrome. His A became a series-A2, AF, A2f, A3,etc. Marketing of the C, C-2, C-3, was started. Graf Optical was bought to provide an in house optical department. The first non-135 film camera, the Argoflex was marketed and the line of radios was sold to concentrate on photography. Argus was second only to Kodak in the U.S. Suddenly Vershoor was ousted- a stockholder revolt- a little matter of excessive compensation from himself, shoddy fiscal management, undocumented expenses-sounds familiar.
With the wealth and reputation amassed from his Argus experience, Vershoor bought a smell factory and started a business. He engaged Richard Bills to design a new camera. The Vokar I was a heavy cast metal camera for 135 film with 2.8 three element anastigmat lens, a combined viewfinder rangefinder, and a shutter that was cocked as the film wind knob was turned-double exposure prevention. It shared the stamped metal aperature plate assembly and the captive take up spool of the Argus A-3 as well as the basic layout(although reversed) of the new C. The camera would be noted however for its film knobs enclosed in the top housing.
The Vokar A was marketed in 1940 while Argus marketed his A3/CC, the C and Argoflex. The Vokar A was simple a 6x6 120 rollfilm folding camera, with a 3 speed self cocking shutter, Ilex 6.3 lens, plastic body with film knobs on the bottom. The first series had a folding viewfinder-later Vokar A’s had a chrome top plate with an optical viewfinder. This unremarkable camera became quite remarkable in its marketing. Development of the Vokar I was delayed by WW II and Charles died in 1943.

With the return to civilian lifestyle,the Vokar B with cast metal top and bottom plate was marketed in1946. Some had a simple shutter and a meniscus lens in a plastic housing, a better version had a Wollensak anastigmat lens/shutter unit. Film knobs appeared both top and bottom. A mysterious Voigt( in Voigtlander script) identical to the simpler Vokar A without the cast metal plates appeared. A Voigt Jr was marketed with the meniscus lens assembly, top and bottom cast metal plates and with knobs on top. There was also a Wollensak version. Unlike the Vokar series, some of the Voigt series did not have lugs for a neckstrap-instead they sported a swivel ring in the center of the plastic back case.
A Wirgin Deluxe joined the party- with stamped metal plates, art deco graphics, and a hinged back- was identical to the Voigt Jr. A model 4.5 sported a Wirgin 4.5 Anastigmat and three speed shutter very similar to the Voigt Wollensak,with cast metal top and bottom plates and film knobs on top. A model 51 was the Voigt with chromed top and bottom plates, the Wollensak Velostigmat 4.5 and Alpax shutter. In most cases film knobs could appear top or bottom.
All body components of all versions were nearly identical or inverted. I have owned several of these cameras and have counted five lenses, three body variations, three viewfinders, three variations in strap attachments, and three different top/bottom units. The Wirgin brothers had escaped Germany before 1940, had established a Wirgin U.S.A. factory, possibly in N.Y. and may have manufactured at least the parts for these multiple versions. Vokar also marketed a number of darkroom items, a tank electric agitator and a slide projector very similar to the Argus PA, which also appeared under the Voigt, Sears and Vokar names.

In 1947 the delayed Vokar I appeared, a model II followed a few months later- identical except for the addition of two screws to the top cast metal housing. The Vokar lens/shutter unit was manufactured in a plant in Celina Ohio-apparently with little quality control. The shutter was a source of failure of as many as half of the cameras produced- a flood of returns bankrupted the company about 1950. One Vokar I have owned had a non working shutter-seemed to be of acceptable design but needed cleaning from a sticky lubricant. Another had an acceptable shutter but the lens image was terrible. They both looked nice sitting on my shelf- with their smug enclosed film knobs. The Vokar A and B series were priced at $15 to about $35 depending on the lens while the Vokar was advertized at about $75.

June Program

2009-06-02T16:32:00.003-07:00

Local amateur photographer, Kaye Treese, will make a presentation on June 4th from his collection of over two hundred 4” x 5” glass negatives he rescued in 1948 from a third floor attic of a house in Altoona, Pennsylvania. Kaye grew up knowing the photographer and his family well. Kaye will show samples of the negatives to illustrate the various aspects of his presentation.

Kaye lived in the area depicted in many of the shots that were taken circa 1910. He will describe the technology of glass negatives and how he acquired this group.

Kaye will give a brief history of the photographer, Charles Rhodes, and describe some of the techniques and equipment he used. Mr. Rhodes seemed to enjoy taking two shots and splicing them together into one interesting picture. The collection also has historical content and depicts life in the 1900s in small town Pennsylvania showing clothes, parades, political rallies, home interiors, funeral wreaths, parks and hunting parties.

Since moving back to Tucson in 1997, Kaye has spent many hours in darkrooms over a period of five years using various processes and media in an attempt to preserve the negatives and the images on them. He will describe the materials and processes he has used in these tasks that included contact printing, 8 x 10 printing, Kodak duplicating film making and now digitizing of the negatives.

Where The Money Goes

2009-06-02T16:11:00.005-07:00

Liz Whitaker visits with Scholarship recipients Jessica Livengood (left) and Beatirz Duran (right)
By Ria Ryne

As everyone familiar with the Western Photographic Historical Society knows, each year we solicit scholarship applications from full-time college students majoring in photography. At $5,000 each, these scholarships enable our organization to have a significant impact on the lives of the students who receive them.
At the May meeting WPHS members and guests were given an opportunity to see where the money goes, when two scholarship recipients, Beatriz Duran and Jessica Livengood presented a program showing us how they spent the scholarship money awarded them and giving us a glimpse into their photography.
In the current economic climate, belt-tightening is going on everywhere, many organizations are forced to cut back on the assistance that they are able to provide to students and for many the much-needed help simply isn't there. At times such as these, it is important for us to reflect upon the difference we can make to an individual and by extension to the community at large. It is important for us to consider that a $5,000 scholarship may very well make the difference between realizing a dream and having to give up its pursuit. It is important for each one of us, as members of the Western Photographic Historical Society and therefore presumably in agreement with our mission of education to do whatever it is within our power to do to ensure that the WPHS is able to continue that mission.
So volunteer your time at the sale or auction, write an article for the newsletter, donate equipment you are no longer using. Remember, we're all in this together.

Spring 2009 Show Highlights

2009-04-23T12:51:00.004-07:00

By Paul Garrett, Show Chairman
Our Spring 2009 show is behind us and was successful in attendance of public, show exhibitors, WPHS volunteer show committee participants and was within budget in all categories. All in attendance were very complimentary about all aspects and many indicated it was the best show we have fielded. All tables we had ended up selling and a couple of them twice. If you noticed, we used less space than the Fall 08 show but actually sold more tables, had more traffic and experienced a more vibrant and exciting show all day long!
Our Exhibitor count was up with some new faces from national dealers, international dealers from Canada & Germany as well as some additions from out of state. Our favorite out of town and in-state regular exhibitors also returned to complete a wide range of local, professional and WPHS member show participants.
We are very fortunate to have such a willing show committee with so many selfless individuals, many who have been with us for every show since they have joined.
Two shows annually, plus an auction, that are all successful, is not an accident but all because of the planning, preparation & follow through of all members of the committee. Had WPHS not been innovative, with so many involved members over the past 15 years, we would not be in such an enviable position and able to offer so many programs for photography students at all educational levels.
The show committee can always use more help and we invite you to join our ranks to help spread the load. Any questions or comments are always welcome. You can call me at 520-299-9117 or the WPHS phone 520-529-5072 or sinuoso@aol.com

Photo Auction

2009-03-19T15:17:00.001-07:00

Huge Auction
Hundreds of items: still cameras, cinema and over 150 large-format lenses. Auction date: Saturday, April 4, 2009 starts 12:00 noon, 38016 Euclid Ave. in Willoughby, Ohio, (outside Cleveland). Presented by Paul Fusco Auctions. 440-975-0163, pfusco@fuscoauctions.com or check www.fuscoauctions.com
Bid on-line from the comfort and privacy of your own home.

A Survey of the Photographic History of Arizona

2009-03-19T14:15:00.002-07:00

Dr. Jeremy Rowe has collected, researched, and written about 19th and early 20th century photographs for twenty-five years. He has written Arizona Photographers 1850 – 1920: A History and Directory and Arizona Real Photo Postcards: A History and Portfolio, and curated exhibitions with many regional museums. He worked with the Library of Congress American Memory project, a digital historic photographic collection, and manages vintagephoto.com. He is the Director of Research Opportunity Identification for the Office of the Vice President for Research and Economic Affairs at ASU.

He will provide a survey of the photographic history of Arizona, stepping through by process, using images from the cartes-de-visite, stereo, cabinet and boudoir eras, emergence of amateur photography in the 1890s and into the post card era. He will be using examples from his extensive collection in an interactive presentation..

48th Semi-Annual WPHS Camera & Photographic Show

2009-03-18T07:17:00.001-07:00

Our 48th Camera Show is coming up on March 22 at the Inn Suites. Dust off your excess equipment and bring your checkbook. The WPHS will be offering “Digital Photography Demonstrations” during the show beginning at 11:00 AM and is free to all show participants. These sessions will cover ‘Introduction to Digital Photography’ and other subjects of interest to aspiring or prospective Digital photographers.
And here is the rest of it. We are continuing the streamlined approach of the offerings at the WPHS Consignment Table Area to afford more convenient access to our widely ranging types of photographica collectables, user equipment and other interesting material to our members, show exhibitors, local students and other interested “photo bargain hunters”. It’s a continual improvement attempt to make shopping friendlier & easing the pressure on our limited volunteer member helpers. Need a table? Call Paul Garrett at 520-529-5072 or e-mail sinuoso@aol.com.

Get The Hell Out Of The Way!

2009-02-12T10:00:00.002-07:00

From time to time when we’re working to get that perfect shot something, or in this case, someone gets in the shot at the critical moment. Notice the guy at the bottom of the frame? Good Grief! Is that our own Norwood Hazard? Sorry, Norwood. I just couldn’t resist taking the shot.
Ria Ryne and I arrived at 4:00 p.m. to get a prime parking spot to photograph the newly unveiled Mission San Xavier del Bac as they turned on the lights for a one night only event. After Ria set up her Deardorff 8x10 as well as her 12x20 banquet camera we attracted a lot of attention. In fact we were featured on the front page of The Northwest Explorer. There were an estimated 200 photographers present for the event, including Norwood Hazard.
More photos coming soon. Sorry girls, this is the only shot of Norwood.

WPHS 2009 Scholarships

2009-02-07T09:03:00.001-07:00

The WPHS is offering two (2) scholarships in the amount of $5000 each for qualified juniors and seniors who are enrolled full time in a four-year college or university in Arizona and are pursuing degrees in photography or related fields.

The deadline for applying is April 15, 2009. The students selected will be notified by May 15, 2009.
Additional information can be obtained from the WPHS web site www.wphsociety.org.

Consign Your Old Photo Equipment

2009-02-07T07:13:00.005-07:00

The Western Photographic Historical Society is now accepting consignments for its March 22 Camera Show and Sale to be held at the Inn Suites Hotel. Let the WPHS (a non-profit organization) handle the details of pricing and selling your excess photo gear. The WPHS supports higher education for students interested in a career in photography. Call 520-529-5072 for details.

Kodak: The 20th century in Cameras and Advertising

2009-01-28T11:39:00.005-07:00

With Liz and Buster
(Keaton, That Is)
by Ria Ryne

Kodaks everywhere. Big Kodaks, little Kodaks, your first Kodak, your Grandfather's first Kodak--they were all there, in spirit if not in fact, as Liz Whitaker was our tour guide on a trip down Kodak's Memory Lane. As impressive as the wide variety of cameras was, equally intriguing was the broad array of advertising materials on display.
Looking at the history of Kodak allows not only a look at the history of photography in this country, but also glimpses at fashion as well as significant events in world history. As an example of the latter, in 1892 a Kodak camera accompanied Peary to the North Pole.

The early Kodaks for the amateur photographer took advantage of George Eastman's pioneering work in developing a flexible film base, which eliminated the necessity of using cumbersome glass plates. Photography became accessible to non-photographers, to people who just wanted to take some photos on a picnic or a vacation.
Folding cameras, an even more convenient form, began appearing around 1890, the Brownie made its debut in 1900. As in indication of how popular these Kodak cameras were: around 1,750,000 Vest Pocket Autographic were sold.
The first 35mm cameras, (or as they were referred to then- "miniatures"), developed to utilize the film that was being produced for motion pictures, came on the scene in the 1930's.
The Kodak Retina series, still popular with shooters and collectors alike, was launched in 1934-35 with the original Retina (Type 117) and continued until 1960's when the Model S2 was the last of the line.
The Medalist, a photographic handful is ever there was one, the myriad 127 roll film Brownie cameras that were the first cameras for legions of budding photographers. (My first was a Brownie Starmite II, Christmas 1963. I still have it. I still shoot with it.) Who could forget the ubiquitous Instamatics? The ill-fated foray into the instant photo domain staked out by Polaroid?
So many cameras, so little time.

The presentation wound up with a film featuring Buster Keaton, the Great Stone Face himself, struggling through the ages to take a photo of his beloved, and stay out of the way of his beloved's Mother. I am sure that most in the audience could empathize with his photographic problems as well as his difficulties with his incipient mother-in-law.

Tandy Leather Factory Opens Retail Store in Tucson

2009-01-19T08:26:00.003-07:00

Tandy Leather Factory, Inc. announced today that it is opening a new retail store in Tucson. Tandy Leather has possibly the largest array of leather available for camera repair and restoration in an accessible retail location. The new store is located at 6061 East Broadway Boulevard, Suite 118, between Craycroft and Wilmot and is open for business as of today.
Chief Executive Officer, Ron Morgan, commented, “We are excited to be opening a Tandy Leather retail store in Tucson. It should be a nice compliment to our Leather Factory wholesale store located approximately six miles away. We have a solid retail customer base in the Tucson area and believe we can expand that base with a local store. Krystal Wright will be managing the new store. She has been training in our Austin store for six months under one of our best training managers and has several years of customer service experience in the retail industry. I have no doubt that she will do well managing her own store.”

John Thomson, Photographer (1837-1921) (Part One)

2008-12-18T07:36:00.005-07:00

King Mongut of Siam

The August 2008 issue of the magazine Architectural Digest contained an article entitled "China, Cultural Reflections". The article featured some of the work of 19th century photographer John Thomson. His remarkable images from 1868-1872 showed a China previously unknown to most of the rest of the world.

I only read the Architectural Digest intermittently but my wife, Sally, reads it more often. Most of the articles are very interesting albeit picturing things that are usually way beyond desires or prudent economic inclinations. Sally called my attention to the article mentioned above. However reading the somewhat abbreviated facts regarding Thomson's life left me wanting to know more. Here is a somewhat condensed version of what I learned about Thomson's life and photographs. And here is the rest of it. John Thomson was born in Edinburgh in 1837, the son of a tobacconist. This also being the year of Queen Victoria's accession to the throne and the golden age of the British Empire, Thomson was in every sense a true Victorian.

In the early 1850's Thomson was apprenticed to a local optical and scientific instrument manufacturer where he learned the principles of photography. Thomson completed his apprenticeship in the 1858 having concurrently attended classes at the Watt Institution and School of Arts where he received the "Attestation of Proficiency" in Natural Philosophy in 1857 and Mathematics and Chemistry in 1858.

In April 1862, Thomson left Edinburgh for Singapore. Initially, he established a joint business with his older brother, William, to manufacture optical and nautical instruments.

In 1863 Thomson established a studio and photographed many of the merchants that lived in and traveled to Singapore. These included according to Thompson “descendants of early Portuguese voyagers, Chinese, Malays, Parsees, Arabs, Armenians, Klings, Bengalees and Negroes from Africa". Thomson soon discovered that more interesting subjects lay outside the studio in the streets and countryside. To this end he equipped himself with a small stereoscopic cameras and a variety of large plate cameras (some contact prints were as large as 14X19 and were probably not full frame) and traveled from 1865 to 1868 to Siam, Cambodia and Vietnam.

The King of Siam was photographed by Thomson. This of course was the same King who engaged the English governess Anna Leonowens the inspiration for the musical play The King and I.

Thomson remained in Siam for 6 months photographing every aspect of the country and people before moving on to Cambodia.

Traveling in Cambodia by boat was not all that pleasant according to Thomson who noted that " Every brush of our oars brought forth myriads of mosquitoes------blood thirsty assailants kept torturing us-----they even swarmed in our mosquito nets, under which we vainly endeavored to sleep". When one of the buffalo carts overturned ruining much of the food supply Thomson, also suffering from a raging fever came across a shrine and two fragmentary "idols" which was his first glimpse of what we now know as Angkor Wat. At the request of the King of Siam, Thomson made a photographic record of ruins including the ruined ancient city that surrounded the temple.

In 1866 Thomson returned to Edinburgh hoping to establish a reputation for himself at the Royal Geographic Society that would hopefully result in some recognition and perhaps even some income. His work was highly praised by a critic in The British Journal of Photography. He found a publisher for an album of the Cambodian photographs. This came out as a very small edition as it was illustrated with actual photographic prints and not printed reproductions.

Returning to the Far East in 1867 Thomson spent three months in Vietnam before moving to Hong Kong. Thomson had met his future wife, Isobel Petrie, in Edinburgh in 1866 and they were married in Hong Kong in 1867. For the next four years Thomson traveled up and down the coast of China venturing inland on some of the many rivers that flow down to the sea.

Bear in mind that all of Thomson's photographs were taken using wet plates. Glass plates and chemicals had to be shipped in by sea from distant sources. His equipment had to be able to stand up to a very humid, tropical environment. In an 1866 article for The British Journal of Photography Thomson wrote " Glass plates have been a fertile source of annoyance to me while in the East ---- When I opened the box I found every glass----useless." and " --a Coolie of artistic taste and oily fingers had ------lifted out each negative-----left two indelible thumb prints (sic) on each--".

By 1870 Thomson had traveled North to Foochow, the river Min and Formosa.

While in Foochow Thomson photographed all levels of the social scale. This included criminals, lepers and beggars. His sensitivity to the lives and misfortunes of others was to become a strong influence on his later work when he moved to London. Part 2 of this article will treat this in more detail.

References:
1. China The Land And Its People,
Early Photographs By John Thomson
(First published in 1873)
ISBN 962 7015 02 4

Notes:
1. This picture was included in a book entitled Foochow and the River Min published by Thomson in 1873. A recent auction by Sothebys in NY saw an original copy of the book going for $180,000.

Paul Garrett Recognized

2008-12-08T16:39:00.003-07:00

At this year’s WPHS Christmas Party Paul Garrett was recognized for his many years of dedicated service to the WHPS with a beautiful, engraved pen set. President Rick Soloway said in his remarks preceding the annual gift exchange that "Paul Garrett has been the glue that has helped bond the Western Photographic Historical Society together”. Congratulations Paul.

At the Center for Creative Photography

2008-11-20T07:21:00.002-07:00

Oh l'amour: Contemporary Photography from the Stéphane Janssen Collection
November 22 — March 1, 2008

Love — l'amour — is one of art's enduring themes. From classical antiquity to contemporary America, this profound idea, both abstract and physical, has inspired collectors as well as creators. Stéphane Janssen, Belgian by birth and resident in Arizona, is one such collector. Beginning with a love of art that emerged in his teenage years, Janssen went on to assemble an extensive and entirely unique collection that includes almost every creative medium: painting, ceramics, photography, and more. For this exhibition, Janssen generously shares a group of contemporary photographs that reflect his vision as a patron. Sharing elements of fantasy and physicality, exuberance and emotion, these photographs — by artists such as Philip Lorca diCorcia, Sally Mann, Duane Michals, Vik Muniz, and Spencer Tunick, among others — depict love in myriad forms and guises.
The Center for Creative Photography is located in the Fine Arts complex in the northwest corner of the University of Arizona campus, between the Architecture and Harvill buildings. Convenient pay parking is available at the Park Avenue Garage on the northeast corner of Park and Speedway, with direct access to the Center’s front door via a pedestrian underpass. The Center is near several Sun Tran bus routes.
Image Credit:
Anthony Goicolea. Window Washers, 2001. Color c-print. Collection of Stéphane Janssen. © Anthony Goicolea.

Some Camera Designs of Arthur Crapsey, Henry Dreyfuss and Raymond Loewy

2008-10-14T06:45:00.004-07:00

by Rick Soloway and Ralph London
During our exploration into the cameras that famed industrial designer Walter Dorwin Teague designed [5], we were tentatively speculating that he may have designed Kodak cameras such as the Brownie Hawkeye, Bantam RF, Chevron and perhaps the Ponys and Signets. Soon our search for Kodak postwar photographic design patents demonstrated to us that Teague had designed none of these cameras. The search also revealed who did.
Teague was certainly involved with Kodak at the time. A former Kodak designer, Arthur Crapsey, Jr. recalls, “In 1946 or 1947 Teague was retained as consultant to the Industrial Design Group being formed under Ted Clement” that already included Crapsey. Fred Knowles and Ken Van Dyck soon joined. Through at least 1958, “Teague was visiting us on a regular basis two to six times a year.” [2] We suggested that Teague might have helped or inspired other designers to create postwar designs.

So if Teague did none of the designs, who did, with or without Teague’s inspiration? Clement started with a 1947 design patent filing for the Tourist. From 1948 to 1958 Crapsey produced a long list of design patents: Brownie Hawkeye, Pony 828, Pony 135, Signet 35, Brownie Holiday, Brownie Bull’s-Eye, Bantam RF, Kodak Stereo, Signet 40, Brownie Starflex, Brownie Starlet, Brownie Flash 20, Signet 50, Pony II (with Frank Zagara), Signet 80, Brownie Starmatic (with Mary Eaton) and the Automatic 35. Crapsey might also have done the 1953 Chevron. Richard Olson and Zagara created the Brownie Super 27 in 1962, and the same year Olson did a camera similar to the Brownie Fiesta. Zagara is responsible for the Instamatic 100, 500 and 300, and Olson the Instamatic 700, all filed on February 14, 1963. Finally, David Hansen has a design patent for an Instamatic filed in 1963. Hansen wrote us, “Arthur Crapsey and Fred Knowles were the industrial designers for the Star line of cameras.” [4] A table of detailed information on these design patents is available from the authors.

Actually, we found no evidence of specific Teague camera designs for Kodak after 1944. Some people might quickly decide that a few of these postwar designs were done by Teague himself. Several websites incorrectly credit the Brownie Hawkeye to Teague. It is noteworthy that in all of our patent searches (which covered 1926 to 1965), Mary
Eaton is the only woman we discovered on a design patent, and this Starmatic patent is her only patent. At Kodak she replaced Gloria Baldwin.

Teague’s camera designs were not limited to Kodak. Teague also played a major role in the early design of the Polaroid Land Cameras. Design patents cosigned by Teague involve the Polaroid Model 95 in 1948, the Highlander Model 80 from 1954, and the 1960 Electric-Eye 900, the first fully automatic Polaroid.

Teague is sometimes discussed together with three other famous contemporary industrial designers: Henry Dreyfuss, Raymond Loewy and Norman Bel Geddes, the first two of whom also designed cameras. Dreyfuss is credited with the design of the 1963 Polaroid Automatic 100 and the 1973 SX-70, the latter design more specifically credited to James M. Connor of Henry Dreyfuss Associates and Edwin Land himself. The SX-70 “was to be the last product worked on by Henry Dreyfuss (1904-1972) before his untimely death.” Henry Dreyfuss Associates also designed the 1965 Model 20 (the Swinger) and the 1976 Pronto. [3] For Ansco, Dreyfuss did the Automatic Reflex (design patent 157,847), the Pioneer or Chief (121,408), and packaging including the red, white and dark blue design. Loewy also designed for Ansco and is credited with the Anscoflex, Flash Clipper outfit, Rediflex outfit, 2A Home Developing outfit and the luggage style case for the Pioneer (Ansco Jr. Press outfit). [6] The British Purma Special is a 1937 Loewy design. [1] We found no relevant effort by Bel Geddes.

References

1. Patrick Cook and Catherine Slessor, Bakelite: Illustrated Guide to Collectible Bakelite Objects, Chartwell Books, 1992.

2. Arthur Crapsey, Jr., Transcription dated May 10, 1988 of handwritten notes in response to request to summarize the history of industrial design at Kodak, 2 pages.

3. Carroll Gantz, 100 Years of Design, Industrial Design Society of America website. http://new.idsa.org/webmodules/articles/anmviewer.asp?a=51&z=23

4. David Hansen, email, March 15, 2006.

5. Ralph London and Rick Soloway, “Walter Dorwin Teague: Master American Camera Design,” Symposium on the History of Photography, PhotoHistory XIII, Rochester, N.Y., October 20-22, 2006. Also “Camera Designs of Walter Dorwin Teague,” Photographic Canadiana, The Photographic Historical Society of Canada, 2006, to appear.

6. William and Estelle Marder, Anthony: The Man, the Company, the Cameras, Pine Ridge Publishing, 1982. [Loewy is indexed as “Lowey.”]

Rick Soloway (ricksoloway@hotmail.com), born and raised in Detroit, graduated from Wayne State University with a concentration of study in the History of Science. Since graduation, he has been a commercial photographer specializing in images for the biomedical sciences. His work has been published in numerous medical journals, textbooks and atlases. Rick's collecting interests include streamline/deco era camera designs as well as compact, miniature and subminiature cameras. Now living in Tucson, he is treasurer and a member of the board of directors of the Western Photographic Historical Society.

Member Ralph London (London@imagina.com) collects mainly early wood and brass cameras from the 1840s to the early 1900s plus the catalogs and ads in which they appear. He and wife Bobbi have many of Teague’s cameras. A retired computer scientist living in Portland, Oregon, he contributes frequently to photo history publications. For many years he edited the Cascade Panorama for the Cascade Photographic Historical Society. He also maintains an extensive topical collection of postage stamps on cameras and photography.

Volunteer Photography Mentors Needed!

2008-10-07T15:58:00.005-07:00

VOICES: Community Stories Past and Present, Inc. is looking for photographers to work with Tucson youth in a dynamic and creative environment. The 110º After-School Magazine Project provides 30 low-income, high-school-aged youth the opportunity to publish self-driven, personal and community stories in the magazine 110º - Tucson's Youth Tell Tucson's Stories. We are looking for energetic, passionate, self-motivated, and responsible adults to mentor the magazine's youth staff on a weekly basis. Volunteers are an invaluable asset to our magazine project and we need your help finding these qualified individuals.

Volunteers mentor youth in writing, researching, interviewing, photography, editing, professional development, and life skills. We require volunteers to commit to a minimum of 2 hours every week from October 6, 2007 through May 14, 2009. Youth staff work from 4-6:15pm, Monday through Thursday and volunteer mentoring during these hours is key to the success of our program.

Volunteers must be comfortable using collaborative mentoring techniques with youth ages 14-21. In a collaborative mentoring setting, mentors focus on engaging the youth staff in dialogue and critical thinking. Volunteers present their professional skills and knowledge as accessible resources.

If you are interested, please contact Photography Director Krista Niles at krista@voicesinc.org or 520.622.7458, ext. 310.

For more information, please visit our web site at www.voicesinc.org.

The Ainger Hall Photometer

2008-10-06T17:57:00.003-07:00

copyright 2008 R. A. Suomala
In the process of researching the previous articles dealing with the SEI Photometer I came across reference to an earlier "Spot" meter known as the Ainger Hall Photometer.

British Patent 508122 was issued for this invention on June 27, 1939 having been first applied for on March 25, 1938. The inventors are listed as John Ainger Hall, Francis Harold Schofield and William George Haughton Turl (Note 1).

The patent document describes the invention as "A photographic exposure meter comprising in combination an optical system consisting of an objective lens for forming an image of the field to be photographed and an eyepiece for viewing same; means whereby a small part of the image plane viewable through the eyepiece is illuminated by an independent light source, means for adjusting to equality the brightness of the image of a selected object in the field and said illuminated part, and means for indicating said brightness".

The years 1938 and 1939 (remember WWII?) were probably the worst time to try and market a photographic exposure photometer that was not particularly suited for use by military photographers. This instrument was originally manufactured by the Bowen Instrument Company in England. One source (Ref. 1) indicates that some of these instruments were still being hand made on special order in the 1950's by one of the inventors, W. G. H. Turl.

The Ainger Hall exposure photometer (Schematic shown in Figure 1) has an equivalent acceptance angle of half a degree and its range is just over 1,000,000 to 1. The spot intensity is effected by withdrawing the lamp, the lower part of the body pulling out and turning at the same time under the control of a spiral guide slot (Indicated by arrow in Fig 2). No spot color control or self-calibrating feature is included, but a single adjustable wedge is incorporated for resetting the calibration against a candle flame (Note 2) in a darkened room.

During the October 1945 meeting of the Scientific and Technical Group of the Royal Photographic Society J. F. Dunn and G. S. Plant presented a paper (Ref. 2) describing an improved exposure meter based on the same commonly known principle used in the Ainger Hall instrument. This new instrument was the SEI Exposure Photometer. Whereas the Ainger Hall instrument relied on calibration with a candle flame in a darkened room and depended on stable battery voltage between calibrations, the SEI provided a photocell and rheostat that allowed for calibration at any time. During the discussion that followed Mr. Ainger Hall described the possible problems that the SEI might encounter by the introduction of a rheostat, photocell and ammeter. Some of Ainger Hall's other remarks were recorded as follows: " He thought when he designed his instrument that the twenty-five percent accuracy, which meant about seven percent voltage on the lamp would be a great trouble, but to his surprise using an ordinary unit cell, he found he had not yet used a cell so long that needed any change. He usually took the cell out of the instrument for safety's sake when it was in store and he had always lost the battery before it changed from the first calibration". My experience with the SEI photometer verifies Ainger Hall's comments regarding battery life.

References:
1. J. F. Dunn, Exposure meters and Practical Exposure Control, The Fountain press, London, 1952.
2. The Photographic Journal, Vol. 85B, 1945, pages 114-119.

Notes:
1. John Ainger Hall, 10 Kitson Road, Barnes, Surrey.
Franicis Harold Schofield, of 8 Seymour Road, Hampton Hill, Middlesex.
William George Haughton Turl, 15 Cambridge Road, Hampton, Middlesex.
2. I tried this with an SEI photometer using a cheap store bought candle and it works but the flickering of the flame makes it a chore. Initially the standard of luminance was that of a special spermaceti candle weighing six to the pound and burning at the rate of 120 grains per hour or 2 grains per minute (The sperm whale was named after the milky-white waxy substance, spermaceti, found in its head and originally mistaken for sperm. This substance was used in making candles of a standard photometric value). As the requirement for a more precise standard became necessary the term "candela" was adopted to differentiate it from the term "standard candle". Initially, the candela was defined as the luminous emission of a Planckian radiator, a type of blackbody, at the temperature of freezing platinum (2045 K). This correlated roughly to the light emitted by a typical candle, making it a more precise measure. In the late 1970s, it was determined that the experimental difficulties in creating a Planckian radiator at such high temperatures made the existing definition of candela less than desirable. Breakthroughs in radiometry allowed scientists to have a more specific definition, and so the current hertz/watts definition of candela was adopted. It is technically defined as the intensity in a given direction of a source that emits monochromatic radiation of a frequency of 540 x 10^12 hertz and which has a radiant intensity in the same direction of 1/683 watts per steradian. Personally I rather like the idea of using a real candle since this seems to produce results accurate enough for practical photographic purposes.

Kodak Flash Bantam

2008-10-06T17:24:00.006-07:00

copyright 2008 R. A. Suomala

Back in the 1950's the gracious lady who would become my wife and has remained so for the past 57 years took her whole weeks paycheck plus and bought a Kodak Flash Bantam which she presented to me on Christmas eve. How can anyone not love this kind of woman?

Sometime in the 1970's I had this camera rebuilt by Kodak at a cost that exceeded the original price. By the 1980's I had completely transitioned to 35mm SLR's and the supply of 828 film dwindled so I reluctantly sold the camera to a collector.

The 828 format uses the same basic film stock as 135 film but the film lacks the sprocket holes of 135. The 828 image format is 40 × 28 mm. This provides a 30% larger image compared to 135's standard 24 × 36 mm, yet on the same film stock. Because Kodak targeted 828 at a lower-end consumer market, the film provided only eight exposures per roll. The 828 film originally has one perforation per frame and uses a backing paper with frame numbers that can be seen through a colored window on the back of the camera. The original folding Bantams utilized the single perforation to stop the film at the correct location. One has to press a button on the back to wind the film to the next frame. This is a thinking persons camera as there is no double exposure prevention.

Kodak ceased production of 828 film in 1985. The Traid Fotron camera sold in the late 1960's used 828 format film. This film was enclosed in a proprietary pop-in cartridge that the consumer returned to Traid for processing. The Fotron was a classic scam with door to door salesmen peddling them for 5-10times what they were worth.

I always found that the eight exposures tended to make me much more selective in deciding what pictures to take, unlike today's digital cameras that tend to produce quantity over quality. When wandering about with a small camera in my pocket (like the Olympus XA) I very rarely shot all 20-36 exposures on 35 mm film before processing.

At a recent WPHS meeting I noticed a Flash Bantam on one of the tables and decided to renew my acquaintance with this truly pocket sized film camera

This particular camera had an inoperative shutter but the lens and bellows looked OK. I recently read an article detailing the repair of this camera's shutter on the Internet(1) so I decided to take a shot at it.

Removing the front focusing lens element was easy. Removing the next element was more complicated. The article describes it this way. "Next remove the center lens element. This element simply unscrews, but there are no spanner slots or holes and then lens is likely to be very tight. Use solvent on the threads to loosen them. I had to file two slots in the flange in order to use a spanner wrench before I could get the lens out. Try using a friction tool first".

My friction tool did not work so I filed the slots (see figure 1 below), used a little acetone and a lens spanner wrench to remove the lens.

The shutter assembly was quite dirty. A little solvent was used to remove the visible contamination. A miniscule amount of my favorite lubricant, Breakfree CLP (3), was applied to the pivot pin pins indicated with arrows in figure 2. A touch of shutter grease applied to the speed setting cam (arrow in figure 1) will help keep the shutter working properly.

There seemed to be quite a bit of hand fitting of the parts that made me a little uneasy regarding the results of my efforts. But all was right with the world when the shutter was tested. The 1/25 second speed was right on. The 1/50 and 1/100 second speeds were approximately less than 0.2 stop fast while the 1/300 second speed was 0.5 stop fast. It's a little fast but it will most likely slow up over time.

Now I have to bite the bullet and buy some film at about $20 per roll (4). Just thinking of all the hundreds of 828 film spools I discarded makes me gag.

1.www.daniel.mitchell.name/cameras/index.php?page=fbantam&WEBMGR=4d89d711dc13cf31246d02170bcdfa92

2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/828_film

3. http://www.break-free.com/

4. http://www.centralcamera.com/Film/Film-for-Older-Cameras/index-s-orderby-sd-0-pg-2.html

Note: If you find any errors or tortured English in this article it is all my own doing. Sally, my wife and super editor, is in a hospital in Bangor Maine getting a bunch of pins, plates and screws installed to repair her badly broken leg. I am on my way to Maine tomorrow. RAS 7/31/08