montreal photographer
Posted by fallenx888x on Monday, September 10, 2012
Even though it's one of
the great cities of North America and the largest in Canada, Toronto
isn't necessarily well-known as an incubator of noteworthy
photographers. To get a good picture of the city's photographic family
tree you need to do just a little digging.While several studios are
known to have flourished in the city's downtown area in the early-to-mid
19th Century the output of these pioneers has sadly been lost. The
first Toronto photographer still remembered today who gained notice for
his craft was one Eli J. Palmer. Palmer won an Honorable Mention at the
Paris Exhibition of 1855 and worked in Toronto from the late 1840's
until around 1870. He produced portraits as well as cartes de visite,
small scenic cardboard-backed images that were the precursors of the
modern picture postcard.From the late 1850's onward a huge figure in
Toronto photography and indeed for all of Canada and parts of the
Northeastern United States was the prodigious William Notman. Though he
was a native of Scotland and lived in Montreal, Notman was so successful
he opened studios in various cities, Toronto included. Notman trained
all the shooters at these studios and his style of portraiture was
influential for many decades. He often made 'composite photographs' in
which various images taken in a studio were combined on a pre-drawn
background and then retouched and rephotographed to look as polished as
possible.By 1878 F.W. Micklethwaite had set up shop and would soon
become the quintessential visual documentor of Toronto cityscapes and
vistas in the era around the turn of the century. Micklethwaite ran a
successful commercial photography business that was passed on through
his family for two generations. He was also well-known for his shots of
the Muskoka region, an upscale vacation area to the north of the
city.For more info,Please visit montreal photographer
Micklethwaite's work is important enough that it is now largely held by
the Canada and Toronto archives; some of his output can also be viewed
online.Jumping toward the middle 1900's, long-time Toronto resident
Richard Harrington gained world acknowledgment for his images of
Canadian Inuit and their struggle for survival during the waning days of
their nomadic culture. Born in Germany, Harrington first worked in
Toronto as an X-ray technician before making the jump to freelance
photography. His work was featured at the Smithsonian, the Museum of
Modern Art, as well as in Life magazine and in several books. Richard
Harrington lived until the age of 94, dying in 2005 and bridging the gap
right into the current century and the present day.Information on this
can be found at this site