View allAll Photos Tagged reciprocity
The Minox 35 GT, introduced in 1981, continued Minox's successful range of 35mm compact cameras, reputedly the smallest full-frame 35mm cameras ever made. The lens retracts into the camera body when closed, fully opening the cover activates the battery. Exposure is automatic, aperture priority. Different models in the Minox 35 range were identified by shutter release buttons in differing colours: the GT is easily identified by its yellow shutter release button.
The GT improved features of its predecessors, the EL and the GL. It introduced an electronic self-timer, with a flashing LED above the camera's name. Another improvement on the previous models is the siting of the cable release socket to the side of the shutter release button, to prevent accidental triggering of the shutter.
What makes the camera remarkable (besides its small size) is the apparent lack of reciprocity error during low-light exposures. Specifically, the analog exposure system gets the exposure right at night, though the colors recorded by the film may shift somewhat due the its photo-chemical limitations. Simply set up the camera on a suitable tripod or hard surface, use the 10 second timer (to eliminate vibrations), and wait for the shutter sounds to signal that the picture has been taken. Even 1/2+hr exposures come off without a hitch, allowing you to capture star movements, for example. Later editions of the camera do not feature the same exposure system.
Specifications
Type 35mm compact camera
Size 100 mm x 61 mm x 31 mm (W x H x D)
Weight 200 grams (with battery)
Image Format 24 x 36 mm (W x H)
Lens Minox Color-Minotar, 35 mm f/2.8, no filter thread (proprietary filters simply push on).
Diaphragm Leaf diaphragm, continuously adjustable f/2.8 to f/16.
Focusing Manual scale focusing 3ft/0.9m - infinity.
Shutter Speeds 1/500 second, longest speed dependent on film speed, e.g. 30 seconds with 25
ISO, 1 second with 400 ISO. Backlight switch to double the exposure.
Viewfinder Direct finder with needle scale, markings for 1/500, 1/125, 1/30 second, shading to indicate over-exposure and slow speed warning.
Film Loading Manual, whole back slides off to load film.
Film Transport Manual dual stroke lever.
Flash Contact Hot shoe, X synchronised, automatic time switching to 1/125 second.
Tripod Socket 1/4 in.
Battery PX 27 [Mercury Oxide] or more recent S27PX Silver Oxide 6v
Serial number. is to be found inside the film compartment.
Basically the same again with the hope of improved quality o the web
My first exposures with a 5x4 camera.
reading 64 seconds, actual, 154 seconds. For reciprocity.
If any-one has a table for longer exposures with velvia, I would appreciate a heads up.
Also I had no colour correction filters, so not sure what colour It might have been! any guesses?
My first tentative go at 5x4 film use.
A little soft, (out of focus)!,
My rudimentary metering was a little out,
and first attempt at film processing at home not the best.
But its the image I went up there to get, and as a first shot, I,m fairly happy.
Still mountains (sorry couldn't help that)! to learn.
i have published a brief account of this trip on my blog, it can be found here www.csmithimages.com/csmithimages/Blog/Blog.html
Night at the New Energy Ethanol Plant at South Bend, IN. I purchased a pro-pack of expired Kodak Pro 100T in 120 format. This was my first test with this film. Other than a magenta cast, it seems to have little base fog considering being 12 years beyond the expiry date. Unlike tungsten E6 films there are some reciprocity issues for long night shots. There is also more grain than I am used to in the transparency films.
Photographed on expired (11/1999, no information on storage conditions) Kodak Pro 100T tungsten balanced print film using an RB67 and the 250mm lens. I metered on the bright plume and exposed 3 stops over.
Lyukkamera, Pinhole Camera, Appareil à sténopé , Cámara escura, Camera obscura, Estenopeica, Foro stenopeico, Hålkamera, Kамера опскура, Lochkamera, Otworek, Pinhole fotoğraf makinesi, Stenopeica, φωτογραφία, Пинхол Фотография
This picture is my submission for WPPD 2012.
Author : © IMRE BECSI
© All rights reserved
Thank you for my friends : Fekete István, Murvai Ervin, Sprenc Balázs, Nyíri Judit, Hupján Attila
Location of shoot :
Vác,
Hungary,
Europe
Time of shoot :
12.04.29. (WPPD 2012)
Info of Shooting :
Film : FP-100c Color Instant (expired)
Format: 3.25 x 4.25 in. (8.5 x 10.8 cm) "Regular Size" pack film
Image Area: 2.88 x 3.75 in. (7.3 x 9.5 cm)
Filter : Polar (Tiffen 4 1/2 round) and Orange (Tiffen ser.9)
Metered expo.:
(Metered with Minolta Spotmeter)
Calculated expo.: 10 sec.
(I use my reciprocity compensation value chart to Fuji Color Instant film)
Dev.: 90 sec. (30° C)
The camera :
Body is a Film Back Adapter Plate from a Polaroid 203 camera
- focus : 33 mm
- pinhole : 0,25 mm (Lenox Laser)
- diaphragm : 132
Film back from my Polaroid 600se camera.
Shutter and Pinhole holder is a "pu(s)h" from Dr. Kai Fuhrmann with filter thread (homemade).
Picture from the camera :
www.flickr.com/photos/jonespointfilm/2837193476/in/set-72...
The parameters of camera :
(when I use 95x73 mm format instant film)
- Angle of view : 119°24'26"
- Light falloff at the corners [f/stops] : 3,6
- Resolution [lines/diagonal] : 887
Post work : (01.05.2012)
Scanner : Epson Perfection 3200 Photo (1200 dpi)
File Size : 60,164 mb - 5073X4048 pixel (the original TIF file)
Scanner software : SilverFast SE
Final work : PS
Important note:
This images are copyright protected.
Use without permission is illegal!
No reproduction in any way,
no copies,
no editing,
no publishing,
no screenshots,
no posting,
no blogging,
no transmitting downloading
or uploading without my written permission!
Thank you !
Thanks for looking !
Comments very much welcome !
British Studio Glass sculptural form by Bibi Smit. 1991 Height 17cm
Blown glass cone and two forms cut from the one piece. Wheelcut, frosted and polished. One of her early 'Double Form' works where she explores the juxtaposition and opposition of two elements united to form a whole. She went on to work with the combination of glass and wood and also stone.
Bibi, born in the Netherlands in 1965, gained her B.A. Honours in Glassworking and Design in 1988 at the West Surrey College of Art and Design, Farnham, England. In 1987 she worked with Willem Heesen, Leerdam, Netherlands before moving back to the UK in 1988 to work as assistant to David Kaplan at Lindean Mill Glass in Scotland. In 1991 she set up her own studio in the UK ,eventually moving to her present studio in Amsterdam.More information can be found at home.planet.nl/~bibi.smit/
Manifestation possesses a relative reality, lacking which this order could not be the cause of Manifestation, and therefore of what is relative by definition; this is what is expressed graphically by the Taoist symbol of the Yin-Yang, which is an image of compensatory reciprocity. That is to say, the Principle comprises at a lower degree than its Essence a prefiguration of Manifestation, which makes the latter possible; and Manifestation for its part comprises in its center a reflection of the Principle, lacking which it would be independent of the latter, which is inconceivable, relativity having no consistency of its own.
----
Frithjof Schuon
----
Image: The Sahrij Madrasa in Fez, Morocco
12-Mar-2024 15:45
Ilford FP4+ rated @ EI 100
Ebony 45SU
0.4mm Pinhole
Bellows at 118mm (pinhole to film)
Equivalent to 30mm on Full Frame
Stearman SP-645 Tank
Developed in HC110 1+31 mins (Normal) @ 20C
Agitation 30 sec then twice every 30 sec
Pre-wash : 3 mins @ 20C
Two water Stop Baths for 1 min each
Ilford Fixer (1+4) : Clearing Time 60 sec. Total fix time 120 sec
Rinse : 1 minute
Wash : 10 minutes with several water changes
Surfactant : Ilfotol for 2 mins
No Movements
No Filters
iPhone Meter 60 sec @ f320 (nearest on meter)
Reciprocity (used power factor of 1.4 instead of 1.2)
5 minutes @ f296
Zero 69 6x6
.18mm pinhole, focal length 40mm
f/235
Kodak Ektar 100
4 min exposure
It seems that this film may shift towards blue with long exposures.
Taken : 17:16 23-Aug-2020
Ebony 45SU + Schneider Super Angulon XL110 f5.6
bed tilt : 45 deg
Mid Tone : 8
Highlight : 10 sky reflection
Shadows : 6 dark water
Bank Shadow : 7
Filters : Yellow -2/3 (1.5 stops HG to top to favour FG)
Final LV : 7 1/3
Exposure
4 sec @ f30, reciprocity requires 8 sec @ f30
Developed : 5:00 @ 20C in Bellini Hydrophen
Lyukkamera, Pinhole Camera, Appareil à sténopé , Cámara escura, Camera obscura, Estenopeica, Foro stenopeico, Hålkamera, Kамера опскура, Lochkamera, Otworek, Pinhole fotoğraf makinesi, Stenopeica, φωτογραφία, Пинхол Фотография
The CAMERA OBSCURA
(Latin; “camera” is a “vaulted chamber/room” + “obscura” means “dark”= “darkened chamber/room”)
is an optical device that projects an image of its surroundings on a screen.
Author : © IMRE BECSI
© All rights reserved
Location of shoot :
Enying,
Hungary,
Central-Europe
Time of shoot :
09.22.12.
Info of Shooting :
Film : Fuji FP-100b B&W Instant (expired)
Format: 3.25 x 4.25 in. (8.5 x 10.8 cm) "Regular Size" pack film
Image Area: 2.88 x 3.75 in. (7.3 x 9.5 cm)
Filter (Tiffen) : Wratten-85B (4 1/2 inch) & Soft Contrast 2# (Ser.9)
Metered expo.:
(Metered with Minolta Spotmeter)
Calculated expo. : 15 sec.
(I use my reciprocity compensation value chart to Fuji B&W Instant film)
Dev.: 60 sec. (20° C)
The camera :
Body is a Film Back Adapter Plate from a Polaroid 203 camera
- focus : 33 mm
- pinhole : 0,25 mm (Lenox Laser)
- diaphragm : 132
Film back from my Polaroid 600se camera.
Shutter and Pinhole holder is a "pu(s)h" from Dr. Kai Fuhrmann with filter thread (homemade).
Picture from the camera :
www.flickr.com/photos/jonespointfilm/2837193476/in/set-72...
The parameters of camera :
(when I use 95x73 mm format instant film)
- Angle of view : 90°
- Light falloff at the corners [f/stops] : 1,8
- Resolution [lines/diagonal] : 959
Post work : (29.09.2012)
Scanner : Epson Perfection 3200 Photo (400 dpi)
File Size : MB (TIF)
Pixel :
Scanner software : SilverFast SE
Final work : PS
Important note:
This images are copyright protected.
Use without permission is illegal!
No reproduction in any way,
no copies,
no editing,
no publishing,
no screenshots,
no posting,
no blogging,
no transmitting downloading
or uploading without my written permission!
Thank you !
Thanks for looking !
Comments very much welcome !
Handheld Shoot
With Homemade Pinhole Camera (Camera Obscura/Lensfree/Lensless / Without Lens) To Expired 3x4 Color Instant Film
Author : IMRE BECSI
Location of shoot : Budapest, Hungary, Central-Europe
Time of shoot : 26.04.2008.
Shooting
Film : Polaroid Polacolor 690 gloss (expired : 06-2004)
Filters : Tiffen Cir.Polar
Metered expo.: Minolta Auto Meter III + spherical diffuser head
Calculated expo.: 5 sec.
( I use my reciprocity compensation value chart to Polaroid film)
Developing time : 90 sec. /+25 C°
The camera :
Body is a Film Back Adapter Plate from a Polaroid 203 camera
- focus : 35 mm
- angle of view : 119°24'26"
- light falloff at the corners [f/stops] : 3,6
Pinhole : 0,25 mm (Lenox Laser)
- diaphragm : 140
- resolution [lines/diagonal] : 887
Film back : Polaroid Land Pack Film Holder to medium format type pack film (from my Polaroid 600 SE set)
Viewfinder : Door peeping (from OBI store) calibrated to the Polaroid pack film size
Shutter and Pinhole holder is a "pu(s)h" from Dr. Kai Fuhrmann
with filter thread for series 9 and 4 1/2 size tiffen filters (homemade).
Post work : (18.08.2008.)
Scanner : Epson Perfection 3200 Photo (1200 dpi)
Scanner software : SilverFast SE
Final work : PS
If interesting for you my other work please see my all pictures on one page :
www.flickrleech.net/user/jonespointfilm
Thanks for looking !
Macro detail of studio glass bowl by British artist Jane Charles. 'Reflective Form' from her first solo exhibition in 1991.
I will be posting a full shot of the bowl soon. In the meanwhile I wonder what you see in this image? The full vew of the bowl can now be seen here.
Interesting photo taken in Ika, Croatia.
Came overexposed, since there is on Reciprocity Failure for Retro 80s, I've been using Ilford FP4+ as guide.
Got a really dense contrasty negative at the end. It was foggy but not that much. Probably overexposed film, 30 sec of exposure and red filter made it all white. There is an island in distance in middle of photo, for those with good sight.
And negative got so many black and white dots (it is visible in sea rocks at bottom of image, nasty black dots), not sure what was problem?
Mamiya RZ67 Pro II - 110mm F2.8 Z (#25 Red Filter & 0.9 GND Soft)
Rollei Retro 80s @ ISO 20
Spur HRX (1+17) @ 20°C 8:40 (N+1)
Agitation: 2 inverts at start, then 1 invert each minute.
Stop bath: Ilford Ilfostop 1 min with 4 inverts at start.
Fixer:
Kodak TMax Fixer 4 min. Agitation 30 sec at start, then 5 sec each 30 sec.
Hypo Clear Agent:
Formulary's Hypo Clear Agent with 30 sec pre soaking, then 2 min with agent.
Washing/Wetting Agent: 5 min rinse then Rollei RWA wetting agent.
Scanner: Canon CanoScan 9000F
Some digital adjustments: dodge and burning mostly
Ebony 45SU
Adox CHS 100 II @ ISO 100
Nikkor 90mm f4.5 SW
02-Nov-2021 14:15
Developed in Ilford ID11 1+1 @ 20C for 8 minutes
Front Shift - 1 cm up
Mid tone LV = 10
Highlight = 14
Shadow = 9
Polariser (- 1 2/3)
Centre Filter (-1 1/2)
Final LV=5 2/3
Reciprocity - 8 sec goes to 20s
Shutter speed 20 sec @ f22
24-Oct-2021 15:30 - Ilford Delta 100 @ ISO 100
Developed in ID-11, 10 mins (pulled 1 min) @ 20C
Bronia SQAi + 80mm
Highlight = 8
Shadow = 5
Midpoint = 6
No Filters (did try yellow 12 but too contrasty)
Final LV=5
Reciprocity, 8 sec goes to 13 sec
16 sec @ f22
Shot at Arroyo Verde Park, Ventura, CA.
This has so many weird aspects to it...
Camera: Toyo-View C
Lens: Goerz Dagor 6" lens in a Rapax shutter. Shot at f/8.
Testing also my new homemade lens board, made out of plywood.
Why f/8? Because I was using high-contrast ortho-litho duplicating film instead of continuous-tone film, and this film has an ASA of about 3. Yes that's right, ASA 3. I didn't want to sit there forever at f/64 and had no idea if and when the film would suffer from reciprocity failure. So I went with f/8 and have some un-landscape-like bokeh in the background.
Oh and because it's ortho film, it's only blue-green sensitive. Just like in the olden days, before 'panchromatic' black and white film.
It was developed in the Anchell/Troop TD-200 two-bath developer, which compensates the highlights a bit. The negative is contrasty, but certainly scannable. I could have used a little more detail in the shadows, so either I metered incorrectly, or the film speed is slightly slower.
Pinhole/Camera Obscura /Lensfree/Loch camera/Lensless / Without Lens/Sténope/Estenopeica/Lyukkamera
Author : IMRE BECSI
© All rights reserved
Location of shoot :
Budapest,
Hungary,
Central-Europe
Time of shoot :
2011-04-20
Info of Shooting :
Film : Fuji FP-100c 45 Color Instant (expired : 01/2004)
Filter : Polar, Red Enhancing, Orange (all Tiffen)
Metered expo.:
Calculated expo.: 6,85 Ev - 300 second
( I use my reciprocity compensation value chart to Fuji Color Instant film)
Dev.: 180 second (10° C)
Picture made with Home-made assembled pinhole camera be composed of
few original photography equipments.
The Camera set info :
Camera body (the base) : Cambo 4x5 base
Filmholder : Cambo 4x5 rotating filmholder back (without focusing glass)
Film back : Instant pack film holder (550)
Shutter : Polaroid MP4 (made by Compal)
Pinhole socket : Homemade (fit to filter holder)
Filter holder (82mm) : Homemade (fit to shutter)
Viewfinder : Door peeping (from OBI store) calibrated to the 4x5 format instant pack film size (I made it myself)
Cable releasers : Nikon
Tripod & Head : Velbon
Quick release plates : Manfrotto
The Camera technical info :
Focus : 66 mm
Pinhole : 0.35 mm (from Lenox laser)
Diaphragm : f189
Angular field (horiz) : 96°27’51”
Light falloff at the corners [f/stops] :
Resolution [lines/diagonal] :
Post work : (21.04.2011)
Scanner : Epson Perfection 3200 Photo (1200 dpi)
Scanner software : SilverFast SE
Final work : PS/Tiff
Important note:
This images are copyright protected. No reproduction in any way,
no copies, no editing, no publishing, no screenshots, no posting,
no blogging, no transmitting downloading or uploading
without my written permission!
Thank you !
Thanks for looking !
Comments very much welcome !
Real film speed of Kodak T-max 100 in 510-Pyro is ASA 64!
For night shots I did a contrast adjustment of exposure @ ISO 25 and development of N-2.
Finding the right exposure for night shots is quite simple.
1. Overall contrast is quite high, so: Pull, don't push!
2. Measure for the high-lights (street lamps) and define them as Zone VII. Then open 2 stops (or increase exposure time accordingly) for shooting at Zone V.
How far the lamp lights reach out depends on how strong you pull.
3. Take reciprocity failure into account.
Development in 510-Pyro (100 ml TEA, 10g pyrogallole, 5g ascorbic acid, 0.375g phenidone)
11 mts @ 22°C
wherefrom the first minute is initial agitation plus 1 inversion at 10th. minute.
Una foto que desde hace días quiero colgar es esta. El Faustino en su camioneta dirige con acierto el camino que deben seguir sus ovejas y cabras. Mi abuelo siempre me decía que las ovejas y las cabras tienen muchas semejanzas. Por ejemplo, están acostumbradas al paso de los trenes.
Y yo creo que ahí en ese lugar, no sólo las ovejas y las cabras festejan el paso de los trenes, sino que estos también poseen cierta reciprocidad hacia estos animales, porque cuando ven a las ovejas y las cabras del Faustino, ralentizan la marcha y les rinden honores. Y es que este rebaño ya es una institución, un elemento más del paisaje. Por muchos años Faustino
----------------
Una foto que des de fa dies vull penjar és aquesta. El Faustino en la seva camioneta dirigeix amb encert el camí que han de seguir les seves ovelles i cabres. El meu avi sempre em deia que les ovelles i les cabres tenen moltes semblances. Per exemple, estan acostumades al pas dels trens.
I jo crec que aquí en aquest lloc, no només les ovelles i les cabres celebren el pas dels trens, sinó que aquests també tenen certa reciprocitat cap a aquests animals, perquè quan veuen a les ovelles i les cabres del Faustino, alenteixen la marxa i els rendeixen honors. I és que aquest ramat ja és una institució, un element més del paisatge. Per molts anys Faustino.
------------------------------
A photo hanging for days I want is this. The Faustino in his truck rightly directs the way they should go their sheep and goats. My grandfather always told me that sheep and goats have many similarities. For example, are accustomed to passing trains.
And I think there in that place, not only sheep and goats celebrate the passage of trains, but they also have some reciprocity towards these animals, because when they see sheep and goats Faustino, slow gait and render them honors. And this flock and is an institution, an element of the landscape. For many years Faustino.
MicroWorld #21 The story continues.
Slowly, beneath the fractured sky, small figures began to emerge from the deep recesses of the planet. For several generations now they had survived deep in the maze of labyrinths hewn out by their ancestors. Living in temperatures that mere earthlings had little knowledge, the inhabitants of MicroWorld had been nurtured by the heat from the planet’s molten core. Now the polluted atmosphere had been almost completely stripped away by the cataclysmic blast of the supernova and the fierce heat of the remaining suns could at last radiate down to the planet’s surface with their life giving heat. It was time for them to return home.
The first to reach the surface were the elders. Although they were young when the effects of global cooling had forced them all to retreat to the relative safety of the subterranean world, this special group had been selected and trained to lead the new generations eager now to reconstruct the outside world. There was much work to be done.
The mountainous pyramidal food stores lay open and exposed, their skeletal frameworks glistening in the suns’ rays. New translucent protective sheets of crystal would have to be mined and cleaved if they were to survive into the next cycle. The old quarry workings would once again resound to determined activity. By contrast their dwellings were complete. The heat and gases had now penetrated deep into the softened walls and floors, slowly reacting to solidify the houses once again. They now lay empty waiting for their owners to return.
In the distant past this cycle of events had commenced with the explosion of the first of the seven suns. In those early days of occupation only brief intervals were required of them as they retreated into the natural subterranean passages, but as the planet cooled it was realized that more permanent refuges would be needed.. Over the eons as the supernova cycle continued and the heat-blocking polluted atmosphere was stripped away again and again the planet was reheated for but a few generations and then began to cool more rapidly. The inhabitants were forced to survive underground for longer periods of time, sustained by the heat from the molten core. But now this was beginning to cool and calculations indicated that in twenty to thirty generations the planet would be too cold for them to survive. Their ancestors had set up observatories to search the heavens for suitable solar and planetary systems able to sustain them. Now the globular structures that had seemed so strange to our explorers were humming as the power began to surge through the equipment and the telescope drives stuttered into action. The large shutters groaned and slowly began to open. Time was running out, the search must continue. Even when or if a future habitable planet was ever found it would still take a generation to prepare for the exodus. But for the moment the inhabitants were happy, happy to be out in the suns light once more.
High above the planet our heroes were completely oblivious to the happenings below them. Their eyes and flight path instead were fixed on the distant entrance to the black hole through which they must now travel if ever they were to reach home. The only problem now was that the hole, distorted by the solar blast, was starting to close!
… to be continued.
For new readers the adventures in MicroWorld begin here or you can dip into any of the chapters in the MicroWorld set.
Pinhole (Camera Obscura/Lensfree/Lensless / Without Lens) Photography to 3x4 Instant Film
Author : IMRE BECSI
Location of shoot :
Lovran,
Istria,
Croatia,
Europe
Latitude : 45°17'29.53"N
Longitude : 14°16'32.48"E
Time of shoot :
08.07.2008.
Shooting
Film : Polaroid 125i (expired : )
Filters : Tiffen Cir.Polar (4 1/2) and ND.6 (ser.9)
Metered expo.: 11 EV (with Minolta Auto Meter III + spherical diffuser head)
Calculated expo.: 8 Ev - 1 min. and 17 sec.
( I use my reciprocity compensation value chart to Polaroid film)
Developing time : 120 sec. /+25 C°
The camera :
Body is a Film Back Adapter Plate from a Polaroid 203 camera
- focus : 35 mm
- angle of view : 119°24'26"
- light falloff at the corners [f/stops] : 3,6
Pinhole : 0,25 mm (Lenox Laser)
- diaphragm : 140
- resolution [lines/diagonal] : 887
Film back : Polaroid Land Pack Film Holder to medium format type pack film (from my Polaroid 600 SE set)
Viewfinder : Door peeping (from OBI store) calibrated to the Polaroid pack film size
Shutter and Pinhole holder is a "pu(s)h" from Dr. Kai Fuhrmann
with filter thread for series 9 and 4 1/2 size tiffen filters (homemade).
Picture from the camera :
www.flickr.com/photos/jonespointfilm/2837193476/in/set-72...
Post work : (05.12.2009.)
Scanner : Epson Perfection 3200 Photo (1200 dpi)
Scanner software : SilverFast SE
Final work : PS
Thanks for looking !
While I would normally think that shooting Ektachrome and then converting it to black and white should be a crime punishable by fifty lashes with something terrible...it just seemed to work in this case. The black and white version just seemed to have much more impact, so here it is. While it was shot with a 6x6, I have cropped it from the original square format for composition.
Camera: Mamiya C220f
Lens: Mamiya-Sekor 55mm f/4.5 w/Seiko #0 Shutter
Exposure: 40 Seconds @f/11 and metered with Gossen LunaSix 3 w/7.5 degree attachment with adjustment in exposure time for reciprocity failure characteristics of the film
Film: Kodak Ektachrome 100G Professional
Tripod: Benro A-169 w/B-0 ball head
Scanner: Epson V750-M Pro
This image is © Douglas Bawden Photography, please do not use without prior permission.
Enjoy my photos and please feel free to comment. The only thing that I ask is no large, flashy graphics in the comments.
Lyukkamera, Pinhole Camera, Appareil à sténopé , Cámara escura, Camera obscura, Estenopeica, Foro stenopeico, Hålkamera, Kамера опскура, Lochkamera, Otworek, Pinhole fotoğraf makinesi, Stenopeica, φωτογραφία, Пинхол Фотография
Author : © IMRE BECSI
© All rights reserved
Location of shoot :
kArton Gallery,
Budapest,
Hungary,
Europe
Time of shoot :
23.05.13.
Info of Shooting :
Film : Fuji FP-100C Color Instant (expired)
Format: 3.25 x 4.25 in. (8.5 x 10.8 cm) "Regular Size" pack film
Image Area: 2.88 x 3.75 in. (7.3 x 9.5 cm)
Metered expo.: 10 Ev (face)
(Metered with Minolta Spotmeter)
Calculated expo.: 9 Ev
Shooting : 300 second
(I use my reciprocity compensation value chart to Fuji Color Instant film)
Dev.: 90 sec. (25° C)
The camera :
Body is a Film Back Adapter Plate from a Polaroid 203 camera
- focus : 33 mm
- pinhole : 0,25 mm (Lenox Laser)
- diaphragm : 132
Film back from my Polaroid 600se camera.
Shutter and Pinhole holder is a "pu(s)h" from Dr. Kai Fuhrmann with filter thread (homemade).
Picture from the camera :
www.flickr.com/photos/jonespointfilm/2837193476/in/set-72...
The parameters of camera :
(when I use 95x73 mm format instant film)
- Angle of view : 90°
- Light falloff at the corners [f/stops] : 1,8
- Resolution [lines/diagonal] : 959
Post work : (16-17.11.2013)
Scanner : Epson Perfection 3200 Photo (50x40 cm output / 480 dpi)
File Size : 207 MB (TIF)
Pixel : 9419 x 7499
Scanner software : SilverFast SE
Final work : PS
Important note:
This images are copyright protected.
Use without permission is illegal!
No reproduction in any way,
no copies,
no editing,
no publishing,
no screenshots,
no posting,
no blogging,
no transmitting downloading
or uploading without my written permission!
Thank you !
Thanks for looking !
Comments very much welcome !
"Dear brothers and sisters, let us look at Christ pierced on the Cross! He is the unsurpassing revelation of God's love, a love in which eros and agape, far from being opposed, enlighten each other. On the Cross, it is God himself who begs the love of his creature: He is thirsty for the love of every one of us. The Apostle Thomas recognized Jesus as "Lord and God" when he put his hand into the wound of his side. Not surprisingly, many of the saints found in the Heart of Jesus the deepest expression of this mystery of love. One could rightly say that the revelation of God's eros toward man is, in reality, the supreme expression of his agape. In all truth, only the love that unites the free gift of oneself with the impassioned desire for reciprocity instils a joy which eases the heaviest of burdens. Jesus said: "When I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw all men to myself" (Jn 12: 32). The response the Lord ardently desires of us is above all that we welcome his love and allow ourselves to be drawn to him. Accepting his love, however, is not enough. We need to respond to such love and devote ourselves to communicating it to others. Christ "draws me to himself" in order to unite himself to me, so that I learn to love the brothers with his own love."
- from Pope Benedict XVI's Lenten Message for 2007.
This cross is from Oscott College seminary chapel.
28-Jun-2022 10:50
Ilford FP4+ ISO125 rated @ EI 100
Tachihara Hope 10x8 two-rail
Rodenstock 240mm f/5.6 Apo-Sironar-N (33mm equivalent in 35mm)
Developed in Rodinal 1+50 at N-1 for 9 mins (N=12 mins) @ 20C
Water Stop Bath
Tetenal Neutral Fixer (1+4) for 4 mins
Bed tilt : none
Front Shift : 25mm down
Back Swing : 5cm back on left
Mid tone LV = 10 window return
Highlight = 14
Shadow = 8
Filter : none
LV=10, 2sec goes to 3 sec for reciprocity
Shutter speed 3s @ f45
Wista Field 4x5 - Nikkor 210 5.6
Measured 4sec @ f11
Bellows extension 35cm + Reciprocity = 29 sec
Xtol 1+1 20 degC in Jobo at minimum speed
Expert 3006
7,5 min
14-Jul-2023 15:30 - Ilford Ortho+ 80 @ EI 50
Developed Semi-Stand in PyrocatHD 2+2+500 : 60 mins @ 20C
Inversions for first minute
inversions for 10 sec at 10,20,30,40 mins
Two "stop" washes in water, 1 minute each
John Finch Alkali Fixer : 4 mins
10 Minutes washing with several water changes
2 mins Ilford Ilfotol (1ml + 500ml)
Bronica SQAi + 150mm
Highlight = 10
Shadow = 5
Midpoint = 7
Filters : None
Final LV=7
Reciprocity : 15 sec goes to 30 sec
30 sec @ f32
30-Dec-2024 14:00
Ilford FP4+ 125 @ EI 100
XTOL 1+1 : 10 mins @ 20C
Pre-Wash : None
Inversions first 30 sec then 5 sec every 30 sec
Two water Stop Baths - 1 min each
Zero Image Eco Alkali Fixer
Clearing time 1½ min. Total fix time 3 mins
Initial wash to remove fixer : 1 min
Washing : 10 mins with frequent water changes
Ilfotol : 1 ml in 800ml for 2 minutes
Bronica SQAi + 135mm
Highlight = 12
Shadow = 8
Midpoint = 10
Filters : None
Final LV = 10
Reciprocity ; 2 sec goes to 3 sec
1/4 sec @ f16
Twisting Light #4 Continuing the experiments studying the refraction patterns of light through formed and moulded plastics.
These are analog images taken directly on to 35mm slide film. For the moment the images are mainly in B/W.
I hope this is a little less scary than the previous one!
I took advantage of the reciprocity between Desert Botanical Garden and San Diego Botanic Garden for member admission. It is a relatively young and somewhat small botanic garden. It does have a lot of interesting specimina, especially for me coming from the desert.
I met up with a naturalist led butterfly walk at the San Diego Botanic Garden. Several very knowledgeable docents in the group.
The Naturalist leading our group pointed out this ootheca (praying mantis egg case). I believe it is most likely Stagmomantis californica, but we did not identify it in the field. It is about the size of a thumb, maybe 20mm. I probably would have never seen this and definitely would not have known what it was.
www.whatsthatbug.com/praying-mantis-eggs-all-you-need-to-...
Praying mantis eggs, also known as oothecas, are unique egg cases that house the tiny mantids in various stages of development. They can hold anywhere from dozens to hundreds of eggs, offering protection from the elements and predators. Oothecas are fascinating, both for mantis enthusiasts and those interested in the life cycle of these incredible insects.
www.tyrantfarms.com/praying-mantis-egg-case-identificatio...
Each species of praying mantis has a slightly different shaped and sized ootheca. Praying mantis oothecae have a light tan/brown color that blends in with its surroundings and a dense, papery-bubbly texture almost like spray foam insulation.
www.inaturalist.org/taxa/82008-Stagmomantis-californica
Stagmomantis californica, common name California mantis, is a species of praying mantis in the family Mantidae that is native to the western United States.[2]
Adult members of this species range in size from 2-3 inches in body length. There are green, yellow, and brown varieties, with subadults and adults tending to have dark transverse bands on the top of the abdomen. The wings of both sexes are mottled or suffused with dark brown or black and the hindwings are purplish. The inner forelegs are orangish, and there are some black spots near the mandibles. In most other physical respects they closely resemble other members of their mantid order, two of which are native to the state of California (the others are the slightly smaller Stagmomantis carolina and the larger and more common Stagmomantis limbata). The oothecae and hatchlings are different than those of S. limbata.
300 Quail Gardens Drive (at Ecke Ranch Road), Encinitas, CA 92024
Welcome to our 37-acre urban oasis featuring 4 miles of meandering trails and ocean views, 5,000+ plant species and varieties, and 29 uniquely themed gardens that represent 15 different regions and many habitats of the world. Our natural wonderland is designed for children and adults, alike; explore your interests, learn about the plant world that surrounds us, and let nature fill you with a little wonder.
SDBG2024
Taken : 12:49 09-Mar-2017
Ebony 45SU + Rodenstock 180-S f 5.6
Front Shift : 3cm down
Back Shift : 0.5cm up
Mid Tone : 14 2/3 - bracken
Highlight : 17 - brightest cloud
Shadows : 14 - hill in shade
16 : grey cloud
14 : distant dark hill, bracken in sun
15 2/3 : FG dead grass
15 : FG bracken
14 1/3 : House in sun
Filters : 2 stops HG sky
Reciprocity : none
Final EV : 14 2/3
Exposure
1/30 sec @ f30
19-Dec-2023 13:56
Ilford FP4+ rated @ EI 100
Developed in HC110 Dilution H (1+31) for 9 mins @ 20C
No Pre-Wash
Inversions for first 30 sec
Two Inversions every 30 sec
One water Stop Baths of 1 min
Ilford Rapid Fixer (1+4) 4 Minutes
Inversion washes for 11 minutes, multiple water changes
Ilford Surfactant : 2 mins
Bronica SQAi + 80mm
Highlight = 11
Shadow = 7.5
Midpoint = 9.5
Filters : Lee Yellow 12 (-0.5)
Final LV=7
Reciprocity. 1 sec goes to 2 sec
2 sec @ f22
Here's from thie Provia 100 test roll. Kind of a bummer cuz I was calculating reciprocity errors based on info for Provia 100F, which has a terrific compensation curve (basically, close to zero till up to 2-3 minutes), but it seems its predecessor doesn't score so well, which resulted in some of the frames being a good 1-2 stop too dark.
One thing I love about VueScan (over cruddy software that came with my V700) is the multiple exposure scanning mode in 48 bit, which helps to bring out a lot of shadow detail that would get lost using the bundled software.
Hopefully, my Coolscan 8000ED, which should be coming back from Nikon repair center soon, would be able to bring out the full potential of these medium format slide films.
F16, Hoya ND400, 2:40
I'm working to improve my low light photography. This image is not as sharp as I would expect for 4x5. I remember taking my time to get the focus right so perhaps the camera picked up some vibration from the wind or passing traffic on Waterloo Bridge. I set my Pentax Spot Meter for 100 ASA and based the exposure on the reading from the brighter of the two floodlit walls. This gave 4 seconds at f11. I then added approx 2.5 seconds for reciprocity failure (4 to the power 1.34). I was a bit slow to close the shutter so I reckon this was nearer an 8 second exposure at f11 which may account for the slightly blown-out highlights in the windows. I will visit London soon and try this one again. Next time I will try the composition without the Shard in the background.
Lyukkamera, Pinhole Camera, Appareil à sténopé , Cámara escura, Camera obscura, Estenopeica, Foro stenopeico, Hålkamera, Kамера опскура, Lochkamera, Otworek, Pinhole fotoğraf makinesi, Stenopeica, φωτογραφία, Пинхол Фотография
Author : © IMRE BECSI
© All rights reserved
Modell : V. Kriszta & K. Gyula
Location of shoot :
kArton Gallery,
Budapest,
Hungary,
Europe
Time of shoot :
23.05.13.
Info of Shooting :
Film : Fuji FP-100C Color Instant (expired)
Format: 3.25 x 4.25 in. (8.5 x 10.8 cm) "Regular Size" pack film
Image Area: 2.88 x 3.75 in. (7.3 x 9.5 cm)
Metered expo.: 10 Ev (face)
(Metered with Minolta Spotmeter)
Calculated expo.: 9 Ev
Shooting : 300 second
(I use my reciprocity compensation value chart to Fuji Color Instant film)
Dev.: 90 sec. (25° C)
The camera :
Body is a Film Back Adapter Plate from a Polaroid 203 camera
- focus : 33 mm
- pinhole : 0,25 mm (Lenox Laser)
- diaphragm : 132
Film back from my Polaroid 600se camera.
Shutter and Pinhole holder is a "pu(s)h" from Dr. Kai Fuhrmann with filter thread (homemade).
Picture from the camera :
www.flickr.com/photos/jonespointfilm/2837193476/in/set-72...
The parameters of camera :
(when I use 95x73 mm format instant film)
- Angle of view : 90°
- Light falloff at the corners [f/stops] : 1,8
- Resolution [lines/diagonal] : 959
Post work : (16.06.2013)
Scanner : Epson Perfection 3200 Photo (50x40 cm output / 480 dpi)
File Size : 207 MB (TIF)
Pixel : 9419 x 7499
Scanner software : SilverFast SE
Final work : PS
Important note:
This images are copyright protected.
Use without permission is illegal!
No reproduction in any way,
no copies,
no editing,
no publishing,
no screenshots,
no posting,
no blogging,
no transmitting downloading
or uploading without my written permission!
Thank you !
Thanks for looking !
Comments very much welcome !
VanDyke contact print. Sun Light, 2:30 min. Hanemühle paper 320 g.
Fatif view camera. Schneider Kreuznach - Linhof Technika super angulon 1:8/165mm (6265215).
Ilford FP4 125 plus. EI 80 ISO. f32, 2" > 5" for reciprocity effect.
Development Pyrocath HD 2:2:100, N (13 min 20°)
same negative, platinum printed at: www.flickr.com/photos/gbordin/6777965897/in/photostream/
I've passed two days in my old house in Novara, far from Parma. So I've charged in my car with chemicals needed for platinum/palladium and vanDYKE, brushes, shot glasses, different sized trays, negatives, and so far. Only when arriving I realized I've forgot three simple things: paper, UV light and contact print frames.
A frame has been built in some way, the light has been provided by the sun (luckily today was a bright sunny day, even if in winter), but for the paper I've tried my Hanemühle sheets, which I use to print etchings. It hasn't a smooth finish, but the size of the negative allows details enough.
Not bad the result, even after drying. I'll try over some days in Platinum (it deserves).
Squirrel in Heaven.
4x5 for 365 Project details: greggobst.photography/4x5-for-365
Camera: Calumet 45NX 4x5 large format monorail view camera.
Lens: Fujinon-W 210mm F5.6 lens in a Copal B shutter. Yellow-Green filter on the lens.
Film: Fuji Super HR-T 30 medium speed green sensitive X-Ray film. Purchased as 8x10" sheets and cut down to 4x5". Film rated at 100 ISO.
Exposure: 35 seconds @ F45 after compensation for filter factor, bellows extension and film reciprocity.
Lighting: Lit from a constant light made up of four 25 watt daylight balanced CFL bulbs in a four socket adapter placed on a light stand and diffused through a homemade diffuser made of white bridal satin around a pvc pipe frame positioned to camera right. Above the subject was placed an Alien Bees B800 studio strobe in a 22" white lined beauty dish with diffusion sock with just the modeling light on @ full power. The reflection of the black background causes the mirror surface to reflect as black.
Development: Self Developed film in Rodinal (Adox Adinol) 1:100 in three reel Paterson Universal Tank using Mod54 six sheet 4x5 insert. 6 1/2 minutes @ 20 degrees Celsius with minimal inversions. Kodak indicator stop bath. Ilford Rapid Fixer. Photo-Flo. Hung on shower curtain to dry on film.
Scanning: Negative scanned with Epson V600 in two scans and merged back together in PhotoShop since the V600 doesn't natively support 4x5 scans in one pass. Lightly warm toned in Lightroom 4.
The collective installation The End at the entrance of the Fondazione Cesare Pavese closes the project This Must Be curated by Claudio Lorenzoni.
The End is the choral work made of words and images that closes the This Must Be project , which began in 2020 to tell, through an original interpretation of the works of Cesare Pavese, the symbolic role that a body assumes while running.
Its visual component will find a home at the Cesare Pavese Foundation where the posters created by the 12 artists involved in this last phase of the project will be permanently exhibited starting from the Pavese Festival .
Ascending the entrance staircase to the Foundation, visitors will be invited to reflect on the body and movement in a changing world, on choices and imagination. But also on the relationship of dependence and reciprocity between man and nature, thought and matter, abstract and concrete, life, death and resurrection.
A choral work
The End is a collective work made of words and images that tells the story of the metamorphosis of an idea, starting from the intentions on which it is rooted, to become in turn a new note, a temporary goal always aimed at another and continuous gestation.
Starting from a study of Cesare Pavese's letters, Lorenzoni invited a series of people close to him to respond to letters that were the result of sensations and emotions experienced during his ultra marathons ( #Ultra , #TheWay , #DoloremIpsum ). The result - published and available at the Foundation - is a touching work, which delves deeply into the human soul. What was collected demonstrates not only the desire and availability, but the need of the human being to reveal himself and lay himself bare without hiding his own fragilities.
The letters are accompanied by artist images created by Massimo Bernardi , Marco D'Aversa , Pamela Fantinato , Davide Fasolo , Stefano Garello & Francesca Leone , Trish Korous , Marco La Gattuta , Premiata Famiglia Rivoltella , Massimo Ravera , Giovanni Sabbadin , Margherita Vitagliano , Birgit Zartl .
This Must Be T End
Si chiude con l’installazione collettiva The End all’ingresso della Fondazione Cesare Pavese il progetto This Must Be a cura di Claudio Lorenzoni.
The End è l’opera corale fatta di parole e immagini che chiude il progetto This Must Be, iniziato nel 2020 per raccontare, attraverso un’originale interpretazione delle opere di Cesare Pavese, il ruolo simbolico che assume un corpo mentre corre.
La sua componente visuale troverà casa alla Fondazione Cesare Pavese dove i poster realizzati dai 12 artisti coinvolti in quest’ultima fase del progetto saranno esposti in forma permanente a partire dal Pavese Festival.
Salendo lo scalone d’ingresso alla Fondazione i visitatori saranno così invitati a loro volta a riflettere sul corpo e sul movimento in un mondo che cambia, sulle scelte e sull’immaginazione. Ma anche sul rapporto di dipendenza e reciprocità tra uomo e natura, pensiero e materia, astratto e concreto, vita, morte e risurrezione.
Un’opera corale
The End è un’opera collettiva fatta di parole e immagini che racconta la metamorfosi di un’idea, a partire dalle intenzioni su cui essa si è radicata, per divenire a sua volta un nuovo appunto, una meta provvisoria sempre rivolta ad altra e continua gestazione.
Partendo da uno studio delle lettere di Cesare Pavese, Lorenzoni ha invitato una serie di persone a lui vicine a rispondere a delle lettere frutto di sensazioni ed emozioni provate durante le sue ultra maratone (#Ultra, #TheWay, #DoloremIpsum). Il risultato – pubblicato e disponibile in Fondazione – è un lavoro toccante, che scava in profondità l’animo umano. Quanto raccolto dimostra non solo la voglia e la disponibilità, ma il bisogno dell’essere umano di svelarsi e mettersi a nudo senza nascondere le proprie fragilità.
Alle lettere si accompagnano le immagini d’artista realizzate da Massimo Bernardi, Marco D’Aversa, Pamela Fantinato, Davide Fasolo, Stefano Garello & Francesca Leone, Trish Korous, Marco La Gattuta, Premiata Famiglia Rivoltella, Massimo Ravera, Giovanni Sabbadin, Margherita Vitagliano, Birgit Zartl.
Oltre a loro, si ringraziano per i contributi Valentina Cei, Pierluigi Vaccaneo, Manuela Barban & Andrea Ciardo, Adriano Zanni, Mario Giammarinaro, Serena Rossi, Edmond Kaceli, Eliana Littarru, Erika Senetta, Stefano Galli, Cinzia Farina, Bruno Biddau, Alberto Gambale, Severino Magri, Max Nota, Max Ponte, Carla Marcialis, Om Bosser.
Il progetto
The End è un progetto a cura di Claudio Lorenzoni realizzato in collaborazione con Museo a cielo aperto di CAMO, Fondazione Cesare Pavese, Comune di Santo Stefano Belbo, Proloco di Camo, i Talenti, Clito Wear, Sciusciante, Ulysses Running.
BBG's 2025 Artist in Residence Julia Rocha-Nava and their band perform original compositions in the Water Garden revolving around themes of reciprocity with land and plants. Photo by Jeremy Weine.
Tombstone and plaque marking the grave of Sir George William Ross (1841 - 1914), fifth premier of the Province of Ontario (1899 - 1905). Also buried there is Catherine Boston Ross, his second wife, who died in 1902. Mount Pleasant Cemetery, Toronto, Canada. Winter afternoon, 2021. Pentax K1 II.
A short description of his life and career may be found at en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_William_Ross
From www.biographi.ca/en/bio/ross_george_william_14E.html
ROSS, Sir GEORGE WILLIAM, educator and politician; b. 18 Sept. 1841 near Nairn in Middlesex County, Upper Canada, son of James Ross and Ellen McKinnon; m. first 1862 Christina Campbell (d. 1872), and they had three daughters and two sons; m. secondly 17 Nov. 1875 Catherine Boston (d. 1902) in Lobo Township, Ont., and they had a son and three daughters; m. thirdly 8 May 1907 Mildred Margaret Peel in Toronto; d. there 7 March 1914.
In 1831 James Ross, a shoemaker in Tain, Scotland, immigrated to Upper Canada with his wife, their four children, and two nieces. He purchased land in Middlesex in what would become East Williams Township. Born in 1841, the third son among eight children, George W. Ross perceived perhaps that his father’s moderate success was unlikely to advantage him and all his siblings. Or, experiencing the struggle of pioneer farming, he may have concluded that he was unsuited for agricultural life. He left in his teens to obtain an education and teach.
After acquiring a third-class certificate in 1857, Ross began teaching in the log school where he had been a pupil. Two years later he qualified for a second-class certificate. In 1866 he mounted what he termed a “public ‘crusade’” against the system of local superintendents, who, he argued, were lax in visiting schools and advising teachers. Instead, he advocated a county superintendency. Ross left teaching in 1867, when he bought the Strathroy Age from William Fisher Luxton*. Eking out a living, he sold it in 1868 or 1869 and purchased a partnership in the Seaforth Expositor, which he retained for an even shorter time. In 1868 he was made school superintendent for East Williams, and the next year he entered the Toronto Normal School. After he obtained a first-class provincial certificate in 1871, he was appointed inspector for east Lambton County. Ross also studied law, starting in the early 1870s, and in 1883 he would receive an llb from Albert College in Belleville.
From 1876 to 1880 Ross served on the Department of Education’s central committee of examiners. Originally established to certify teachers, it had been assigned administrative and policy duties by Adam Crooks*, Ontario’s first minister of education. Ross chaired its subcommittee on model schools and assumed responsibility for them as provincial inspector and for preparing the model school syllabus. Conservative critics accused the central committee of authorizing textbooks and work-books that its members had written, Ross’s contribution being a book of dictation exercises.
Despite its brevity, Ross’s newspaper work had confirmed his interest in politics. He was nominated to run for the House of Commons in 1867, and in the provincial election of 1871 he campaigned in Middlesex West for Alexander Mackenzie*, at the time an mp and the federal Liberals’ unofficial leader. Recruited to contest Middlesex West in the dominion election of 1872, Ross hesitated. He was inclined to the provincial legislature, where he felt he stood the best chance to rise. He also worried about his county inspectorship, since Egerton Ryerson*, Ontario’s chief superintendent of education, had questioned the propriety of his candidacy and had urged Mackenzie to have him resign. Once he was elected, however, any conflict of interest was forgotten.
The life of a backbencher held little appeal for Ross, who rarely participated in debate. When he did speak, on the Pacific railway or on tariff policy, he merely reiterated his party’s positions, though he did so with skill. On prohibition he was more creative. In 1873 he served on, and in 1874 chaired, a select committee which favoured prohibition, but he astutely recognized the damage that could be done to any party advocating restrictions that exceeded those required by public sentiment. Although he moved a resolution in 1875 in support of prohibition, in 1877 he opposed a similar motion on the grounds that “steady work” outside parliament would advance the cause more effectively. He therefore defended Richard William Scott’s Canada Temperance Act of 1878, which allowed for local option.
Ross sat in the commons for 11 years. His election in 1882 was successfully protested in October 1883. Rather than try to regain his seat, Ross accepted the invitation of Oliver Mowat*, premier of Ontario, to join his cabinet as minister of education. He was elected for Middlesex West at a by-election on 14 Dec. 1883. Mowat’s first choice had been George Monro Grant*, the principal of Queen’s College in Kingston, but Grant had insisted that education be removed from the political realm and Mowat did not want education to revert to the sort of bureaucratic fiefdom that had existed under Ryerson. In Ross, Mowat found a minister who was acceptable to the teaching profession and could carry a marginal riding, and who could administer a department in ways that would extend state authority.
Ross’s predecessor, Crooks, had made some progress in wresting control from the department’s bureaucracy, though ill health and the recalcitrance of his deputy, John George Hodgins, impaired his effectiveness. Among Ross’s first initiatives was a new set of internal regulations in April 1884, which diminished Hodgins’s authority by giving the minister responsibility for personnel, purchasing, reports, and correspondence that was not strictly internal. His Public Schools and High Schools acts of 1885 stipulated formal ministerial control and legislative approval for all regulations pertaining to schools and teachers. The talent that would be drawn to the department was remarkable – among the influential educationists recruited were John Millar* and John Seath. Though it included men of different political persuasions and many with difficult personalities, Seath for instance, they accepted ministerial responsibility.
Secure within the management of his department, Ross proceeded to create the Liberal alternative to Ryerson’s model. For Ryerson free public schools constituted a total system. Those destined to go on would prepare for university and the professions in the tuition-charging high schools. Ross, on the other hand, argued that an integrated system, from kindergarten (introduced in 1883 with Crooks’s support) to university, provided “the great stairway of learning” necessary for meritocratic rise.
Each step, Ross maintained, was worthy of attainment but it should also qualify a student for the next step. Under this system, departmental examinations at all levels took on greater significance as accreditation. Ross applauded the growing desire among students who had no intention of going further to take entrance and leaving exams. As he maintained, “Every certificate granted has a commercial value.” He reported with pride that in 1893 his department had issued nearly 750,000 examination papers for various levels of certification. The objection that uncontrolled certification might produce more teachers, lawyers, or doctors than could be gainfully employed offended him as an élitist response. “I am not prepared to admit that the son of the farmer or mechanic should be restrained in his aspirations,” he retorted.
Implementing the “educational ladder” meant overcoming institutional self-interest, especially among the universities. In claiming the state’s authority to qualify students for entry into the universities and the professions, Ross sought to introduce common matriculation requirements, components of which the department recognized for the non-professional or academic certification of teachers. Treating the University of Toronto as the provincial university, in the regulations of 1885 he tied the high-school course of study to the matriculation examinations of that institution. He then persuaded it to accept exams for second- and first-class teaching certificates as the equivalent of junior and senior matriculation. He thus acquired for his department the right to judge through its own examinations, not those set and marked by university officials, whether provincial educational standards were being met.
In an earlier move to exert control, in 1884, Ross had entered discussions on university federation. Originally suggested by William Mulock*, vice-chancellor of the University of Toronto, as a way to enhance its claims for greater funding, federation was seen by Ross as a way to diminish the sectarian nature of Ontario’s universities; he made it clear that the state would not support denominational teaching. He therefore translated the proposal into legislation in 1887. Federated denominational institutions, if located in Toronto, could draw upon the provincial university for instruction in arts, while providing training in theology and other subjects judged central to a religious education. The sciences and professional training would be reserved to the University of Toronto. In return, the colleges would not grant degrees in areas other than theology. Wycliffe College accepted federation in 1889, Knox College and Victoria University [see Nathanael Burwash] the next year, but St Michael’s College negotiated special terms and Trinity, Queen’s, and Toronto Baptist College (chartered as McMaster University in 1887 over Ross’s opposition) all refused.
Ross’s desire for an integrated system was complicated by provisions for minority education. The separate schools and bilingual education drew sharp criticism from the Conservatives, whose English-only policy was reinforced by Protestant reaction in the late 1880s and 1890s to the Jesuit estates question [see D’Alton McCarthy*; François-Eugène-Alfred Évanturel*]. Ross none the less accepted the constitutional right of Catholic parents to separate schools. His policy, he argued repeatedly, was “to promote efficiency” in the separate system, improve its fiscal base, and make it functionally more like the public system. For this reason he amended legislation in 1886 to facilitate the allocation to the separate schools of taxes paid by Catholic tenants and corporations with Catholic shareholders. Other changes made the school year conform to that of the public system and gave separate-school trustees comparable responsibilities. Maintaining that Catholics were overlooked when municipal councils made appointments, Ross obtained legislation in 1885 which permitted separate-school trustees to appoint a Catholic to the local high-school board. Ross offered only what had been given to public trustees.
Critics also ignored public-school practice when they denounced Ross and Mowat for not extending the secret ballot to the election of separate-school trustees. Though permitted since 1885 when requested by public-school electors, the ballot was by no means widely used. As anti-Catholics vented their anger over the lack of democratic electoral practice, pressure built on the church, which reluctantly acquiesced in 1894. Ross’s critics tried to make the case that there had been collusion between Liberals and Catholics, but he had, in fact, adopted a course of moderation. He opposed Catholic demands, such as the appointment of a deputy minister for separate schools, that were not compatible with greater state authority. He insisted too on authorizing the texts to be used in separate schools, making teachers meet the certification standards of the public system, and inspecting the schools.
To its list of complaints about minority education, the Protestant opposition added bilingual instruction. French-language schools dominated debate in the legislature in the spring of 1889 and were a central issue in the election of 1890. But Ross refused to end French-language instruction. When he spoke in March 1889 of the requirement for education to “assimilate the people and the languages of other nationalities,” he did not necessarily anticipate a unilingual nationalism. If the use of a foreign tongue was made “a stigma . . . which precludes . . . the full privileges of citizenship,” he reminded Ontarians, then immigrants would find Canada inhospitable. Since the “Anglo-Saxon race” would remain dominant in Canada, he confidently believed, linguistic unity was not essential for a patriotic citizenry. Still, stressing the much-used argument that the language of the state was English, Ross had made the study of English and teaching in English, as much as possible, mandatory in 1885; if taught exclusively, French or (in such areas as Waterloo County) German could breed sectarian and unpatriotic values. Publicly, for political reasons, Ross emphasized that French-speaking parents wanted their children to learn English. It was far more difficult to explain how their equally strong desire to have their children learn to read and write in French could be accommodated in the curriculum. He therefore attributed the slow progress in English through the late 1880s to a lack of bilingual teachers and texts.
An inquiry in 1889 took the actual measure of French-language instruction. It discovered readers with Catholic content in the public schools and reported that religious instruction – Catholic in the French-language public schools and both Catholic and Protestant in the German public schools – was being given during regular hours, contrary to regulations. As well, history texts in French public and separate schools were found “written in a spirit unfriendly to the British Empire and to the development of a patriotism embracing the whole Dominion of Canada.” In reaction, Ross reminded trustees and inspectors about the regulations concerning religious instruction and authorized the introduction of the English-French readers used in the Maritimes. A model school to train French-speaking teachers, authorized in 1886, was finally opened in 1890 at Plantagenet, in Prescott County.
A second inquiry, in 1893, assured Ross that English teaching and students’ proficiency had improved in both public and separate schools. The controversy over religious instruction and the enforcement of regulations pertaining to it, however, had sparked the shift of 27 schools in Prescott and Russell counties from the public to the separate system. Though Ross no doubt regretted this shift, he could take encouragement in the demands of some Catholic parents for educational improvement, as exemplified by the request of the Ottawa separate-school trustees for an investigation of their schools. The inquiry of 1893 also led to an evaluation of teaching by the religious orders, and strengthened the demands of Catholic parents that teaching brothers and sisters accept the process of certification prescribed for lay teachers.
Though Ross resisted church influence, he saw religious instruction as a necessary part of moral education. He quickly learned, however, that sectarianism and theological difference could frustrate the introduction into the classroom of anything aimed at promoting a “common Christianity.” In December 1884 he made religious instruction obligatory in the form of opening and closing prayers and the reading of Scripture. The so-called Ross Bible program, however, proved offensive to many Protestants and Catholics. Seeking accord, Ross accepted suggestions from the Catholic archbishop of Toronto, John Joseph Lynch*, and from a Protestant committee. But other bishops – James Joseph Carbery of Hamilton, James Vincent Cleary* of Kingston, and John Walsh* of London – did not share Lynch’s view. Moreover, the anti-Catholic Toronto Daily Mail [see Christopher William Bunting*] objected even to the consultation with Lynch and denounced the scriptural extracts as mutilations. Although Ross argued that the readings facilitated rather than distorted students’ understanding, concessions had to be made. Critics were privately conciliated, objectionable parts of the readings were revised, the actual Bible was permitted as an alternative, the exemption of Catholic children and teachers was guaranteed, and a compromise with the offended bishops was quietly negotiated by Ross’s cabinet colleague Christopher Finlay Fraser*. Despite this backtracking, Ross remained committed, as he put it in 1887, to making Christianity “the basis of our school system.”
Religious instruction was not the only approach to moral education. Ross believed that the most effective means were indirect: students picked up values and influences from their surroundings and from lessons in school. Thus, authorized readers contained selections that would appeal to a child’s “moral and religious nature.” Discipline in school should mirror the family. Regulations therefore obliged teachers to exercise the discipline of a “judicious parent” and, through example, instruction, and authority, “imbue every pupil with respect for those moral obligations which underlie a well formed character.” To promote civic service, in 1885 Ross introduced Arbor Day, on which children planted trees, cleaned up the school grounds, and shaped an environment that symbolized the ideal for society.
In 1896 Ross asked his public-school inspectors about the outcome of state education, namely the policies of the Department of Education over 20 years and the compulsory attendance laws of 1871 and 1891. Had the moral standing of teachers and students improved? The consensus was positive, but some questioned whether improvement had penetrated to the true, inner characters of individuals. Though surveillance of both children and teachers was more effective, attendance remained irregular; only 50 per cent of school-age children attended in 1887. Aware perhaps of the limits of moral education, Ross introduced more punitive disciplinary measures. In 1891, for instance, police commissions or school trustees were enabled to appoint truant officers. In his report of 1898 Ross speculated that even more rigorous measures were needed.
Much of what Ross accomplished as minister of education had been started by his predecessors. The assertion of ministerial responsibility, the enforcement of school attendance, the attachment of secondary and post-secondary education to the public system, the professional training of teachers, and the preparation of textbooks under departmental supervision completed a generation of school promotion in Ontario. To these major achievements Ross added a number of specific measures that extended departmental and ministerial authority: compelling through order in council in 1884 the admission of women to the University of Toronto [see Sir Daniel Wilson*], supporting kindergartens and developing specialized training for their teachers, introducing temperance education on an optional basis in 1885, encouraging manual training and domestic science, and promoting technical and adult education. But Ross’s most important contribution was administrative. Amendments shortened the legislation covering education and gave him the authority to use departmental regulations to make the educational ladder operate more efficiently as a system of accreditation.
Ontario’s schools had provided Ross in his youth with a way out of country life and limited prospects. As industrialization and urbanization transformed the province, he was satisfied that others too could demonstrate strength of character – for him the prerequisite for success – by meeting the challenges set, evaluated, and certified by the Department of Education. Conservative leader James Pliny Whitney, however, judged that Ross’s concern with accreditation had impaired the ability of elementary schools to provide adequate training for the children of the “poorer classes,” at the same time as departmental parsimony had left the secondary system and the University of Toronto underfunded. Perceiving a weakness in Liberal policy, from 1897 Whitney shifted opposition criticism to these areas, away from minority rights. As well, Ross’s refinement of Ontario’s educational system was receiving mixed assessments at meetings of the Dominion Educational Association and other professional bodies. Within the system his call for more coercive discipline implicitly questioned the effectiveness of the system in forming character among students. Ross responded eloquently, if defensively, reminding critics that the Ontario model had been adopted by other provinces. “I think we have gone about as far as we need to go,” he concluded in 1899. No doubt too he took satisfaction in having his accomplishments acknowledged by honorary degrees from the University of St Andrews in Scotland (1888), Victoria (1892), and the University of Toronto (1894); similar honours would be granted by McMaster (1902) and Queen’s (1903).
As minister, Ross had involved himself steadily in the administrative minutiae of his department, and his assertion of authority was often quite abrasive. He could be tenacious and mean-minded once he had embarked on a course of action. His campaign against Hodgins, himself a difficult man to work with, revealed this unpleasant side of Ross’s character. He not only marginalized Hodgins, afraid perhaps of the political repercussions of dismissing him, but also found ways to insult him and in the end Hodgins resigned in 1890. In another instance Ross engaged Professor Eugene Emil Felix Richard Haanel in a nasty and unnecessarily prolonged dispute over the latter’s loss of his position at Victoria when it federated with the University of Toronto. Similarly, Ross’s relations with G. M. Grant and William Mulock, both strong-willed men, were strained as they battled about questions of ministerial authority over universities. Mulock denounced Ross for acting like “a Bismarck or Mentchikoff, but not a representative of the free people of Canada.”
With the retirement on 20 Oct. 1899 of Arthur Sturgis Hardy*, premier since 1896, Ross as senior minister became premier and provincial treasurer. He faced a difficult situation. Under Hardy the strength of the Liberals had seriously declined, even though the province was in good shape economically. The extension of Ontario’s northern boundaries, the assertion of provincial rights over crown lands, and the development of resources had produced a revenue base which allowed the government to build a surplus. The opening of northern Ontario promised a revival of the pioneering era that had sustained Liberalism under Mowat. At the same time Ontario’s schools aimed at instilling in the province’s youth the self-discipline, individualism, and civic morality that Liberalism had associated with the farmer and the artisan. But Ontario had changed: it was increasingly urban and the urban population was concentrating in the largest centres. Ross nevertheless moved to focus his government’s attention on the north – “New Ontario” – and on the resource sector.
In the first year of his administration Ross commissioned an extensive survey of northern Ontario. It lauded the potential of the northeast’s Great Clay Belt as a new frontier for settlement. The premier subsequently delivered promotional speeches, wrote to British newspapers encouraging immigration, pressed the federal government to direct agricultural immigrants to the north, and set up a bureau of colonization. To attract capital, his government continued to distribute generously rights to exploit resources and offered subsidies for rail construction. Pulpwood-cutting concessions were sold privately, not at public auction as demanded by the Conservatives. Mining properties could be held on terms suited to the financial means and speculative interest of the investor, and in 1900 the government eliminated royalty payments. That it should undertake the construction, in 1903, and later the operation of the Temiskaming and Northern Ontario Railway did not necessarily contradict its rejection of public enterprise in other sectors: the line was analogous to government-built colonization roads and drew enthusiastic support in the north and from Toronto business.
The stimulation of manufacturing proved more difficult. In 1900 Ross extended the manufacturing condition imposed on pine by the Hardy government to require that spruce pulpwood cut on crown land be processed in Canada. Though several pulp-and-paper companies attempted to establish operations, the recession of 1903 and the American tariff on Canadian pulp, paper, and newsprint contributed to their collapse. Changes to the Mines Act, also in 1900, levied fees on nickel ore that would be remitted if it was refined in Canada. Interested American capitalists appealed for federal disallowance, charging that the province had no authority to regulate trade. Though Liberal Prime Minister Sir Wilfrid Laurier agreed, he hesitated for political reasons to disallow the legislation, preferring to have Minister of Justice David Mills* communicate only the grounds upon which it might be set aside. Ross angrily proposed submitting the matter to the courts, but he soon had second thoughts: unlike trees cut on crown land, ore was extracted from private property and the courts could rule against the province. As well, he may have concluded that Attorney General John Morison Gibson*, who was also the solicitor for a syndicate promoting a smelter in Hamilton, had exaggerated the viability of nickel refining in Canada [see Andrew Trew Wood*]. Ross never referred the act to the courts nor did he request the lieutenant governor’s assent.
Pride of place in Ross’s industrial ambitions for the north was held by Francis Hector Clergue*’s complex of hydroelectric, railway, chemical, pulp-and-paper, and iron and steel companies at Sault Ste Marie. Having showered the enterprise with bonuses, Ross felt obliged to step in when Clergue failed to pay his workers and creditors in September 1903. Militiamen were sent from Toronto to control demonstrations and on 1 October Ross guaranteed the overdue wages of Clergue’s umbrella company. In March 1904 the government loaned $2 million to a reorganized corporation. Challenged by Conservative leader J. P Whitney, who warned that the province could end up taking it over, Ross rejected the prospect. The government could always sell the property. For Ross, the responsibility of the liberal state was only to create a climate within which individual initiative could thrive.
Ross similarly rejected provincial ownership of a utility to generate and transmit hydroelectricity from Niagara Falls. He saw no reason to assume public debt for a service which could be enjoyed only by a small portion of the population. Preferable were franchises that could generate public revenue. Rights at Niagara had initially been assigned in 1892; in 1900 the government signed a second agreement, with an American syndicate. Three years later a third franchise was granted, to the Electrical Development Company, controlled by Toronto entrepreneurs William Mackenzie*, Frederic Nicholls*, and Henry Mill Pellatt*. Despite pressure from manufacturers and municipal reformers, Ross refused to reserve sites for a power plant owned by a municipal co-operative, although legislation in 1903 did allow for a municipal commission to undertake transmission at its own expense. A charge of corporate influence seemed plausible because Ross at the time was president of Manufacturers’ Life Insurance Company, which was interested in the stock of Electrical Development and on whose board Mackenzie and Pellatt also served, and J. M. Gibson was involved in another power company. Ross did nothing to allay suspicions when, in the dying days of his government, he granted the remaining generating sites to Electrical Development. The popular appeal of the public-power movement [see Sir Adam Beck*] clearly baffled Ross, and in subsequent speeches and writings he attempted with little success to grapple with the challenge of a new conception of the state.
The mining and hydroelectric questions do not reveal Ross at his best. He may have allowed others, especially Gibson, too much latitude in determining the course of policy. When he could choose his associates and maintain discipline through ministerial authority, as he had done in the Department of Education, he functioned well. But, as the first among equals, he was at a disadvantage; he could not or would not command. Lacking perhaps the political smartness of Mowat or Hardy, he relied too heavily for political initiative on Provincial Secretary James Robert Stratton, who was not much more than a ward-heeler, and Gibson, whose social élitism bred a disdain for the niceties of democratic procedure.
In contrast to power, prohibition would have been a liability for any government. Though a long-time temperance man, Ross endeavoured to separate the issue from his electoral campaigns. The decision of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council in November 1901 that the Manitoba prohibition act was constitutional encouraged the cause in Ontario. In February 1902, following Manitoba’s example, Ross introduced legislation which allowed prohibition should it be favoured by a number equal to a majority of those voting in the election of 1898. In a referendum on 4 Dec. 1902, the number of votes fell short. Five days later, in a speech to the Sons of Temperance in Toronto, Ross declined to take further action [see Francis Stephens Spence].
The disappointment of prohibitionists would affect the election of 1905, but of immediate significance were charges of electoral scandal. Under Mowat and Hardy a machine, directed by the Ontario Liberal Association, had operated efficiently to get the vote out and maintain the Liberals’ hold on power. During the 1890s the machine began to give way. By relentlessly protesting irregularities, Whitney skilfully made corruption a political issue. To investigate charges in the Elgin West election in 1898, Ross named a commission of inquiry shortly after assuming the premiership. Its discovery that the ballots had been burned seemed to reveal a cover-up. More damaging were the accusations made on 11 March 1903 by Robert Roswell Gamey, the Conservative member for Manitoulin. Following the election of 1902, he charged, a Liberal organizer had approached him to support the government in exchange for money and the control of patronage in his riding; he reputedly received a payment in the outer office of Provincial Secretary Stratton. Although a royal commission struck by Ross cast doubts on Gamey’s evidence and exonerated Stratton, pressure did not let up. In September 1904 a trial concerning charges arising from the by-election of 1903 in Sault Ste Marie revealed that the Liberal victor had been assisted illegally by F. H. Clergue’s Algoma Central Railway. A company steamship had transported 20 men from the Michigan side to vote under the names of dead or absent miners. Aware of plans for the deception, the Conservative candidate had complained to Attorney General Gibson, who took no action.
Opinion on Ross’s involvement differed. Reporter Hector Willoughby Charlesworth* judged him “guileless,” unaware of the “unscrupulousness . . . around him,” while John Stephen Willison* believed that Ross, out of desperation, participated in what was going on. Both were probably right. Though no machine politician like Hardy, Ross knew from experience the ends to which organizers at times had to go to secure victory; he did not need to know the details of every constituency fight, only to assure that in the wake of an election controverted returns were managed to contain any damage. But going into the election of January 1905, he had to clean house; he accepted Stratton’s resignation and demoted Gibson. In addition, in November 1904 a new organization, the General Reform Association of Ontario, replaced the OLA, whose general secretary, James Vance, was removed as organizer. These steps, along with the premier’s confession – “We have sinned and repented and are sorry for it” – went unrewarded, as the Conservatives swept to a 40-seat majority.
Moral revulsion, prohibition, and the separate schools issue all contributed to the loss, as Ross admitted. The fact was, moreover, that despite a long record of victories the Liberal hold on office, even before Ross’s short term, rested on a popular vote only marginally higher than that of the opposition. In the election of 1902 the party had won a majority with less than half the vote, and a shift in a few ridings in 1898 or 1902 could have produced much different results. Furthermore, although the Ross government claimed credit for the long history of Liberal legislation on industry, its record, beyond its commitment to resource development, was modest. Measures such as bonuses to the sugar-beet industry, the promotion of the dressed-beef trade, and the appointment of a good-roads commissioner and the allocation of a million dollars for highway improvement, though useful programs, likely did not arouse much partisan enthusiasm. With hindsight, Ross would state in Getting into parliament and after (Toronto, 1913) that there had been nothing left to “appeal to the vivid conceptions of Government which attract the masses.” Liberalism had exhausted itself in Ontario.
Ross led the opposition through two sessions before he happily accepted a Senate seat on 15 Jan. 1907. Perhaps because some party veterans questioned his executive ability and commitment to “true Reform principles,” the cabinet position Ross desired did not materialize, but other honours did: a knight bachelorhood in 1910 and leadership of the Liberals in the Senate in 1911. Advancing a principled role for the Senate as a trustee of provincial rights and a defender of empire, Ross would lead its obstruction of the Conservative government of Robert Laird Borden* after 1911.
As a politician Ross’s strength was his power of oratory. He was widely regarded as one of Canada’s finest speakers, and, although the written versions of many of his addresses lack intellectual substance, his parliamentary debating skill was substantial. Much of his imperialism was the enthusiasm of a sentimental politician delivering an after-dinner speech, and empire was a subject to stir English Canadian audiences, especially in the years following Queen Victoria’s diamond jubilee and the South African War. On this emotional level, imperialism provided a vehicle for the patriotic feeling that Ross believed was essential for sound citizenship. To this end, as minister of education, he had compiled Patriotic recitations and Arbor Day exercises (Toronto, 1893) for school use. Later, in 1899, he introduced Empire Day into the schools [see Clementina Trenholme]. In speeches he emphasized the national unity that was possible within imperialism. Just as people of Anglo-Saxon, Celtic, and Gallic ancestry had all contributed to the grand achievements of empire, so too could people of diverse backgrounds realize grand attainments in Canada. There were limits on this diversity, however. In an address in England in 1901, Ross felt free to express concern about the emigration of Doukhobors, Galicians, and Mennonites, people who “have to go through a course of naturalization.” On his return to Ontario, he stated that, instead, “we want . . . people who are of our own kith and kin, men . . . educated in the confident belief in British institutions.”
At the practical level, although Ross wished for closer relations within the British empire, he doubted the British commitment to defend Canadian interests, especially in negotiations with the United States. Imperial federation interested Ross as the final step in the devolution of sovereignty, from the British parliament to an imperial parliament of Britain and the dominions, but the prospect of federation of this sort, he claimed, was distant. In the interim, more modest measures would satisfy him, among them the promotion of capital investment and immigration to Canada, and preferential trade. The British prejudice for free trade, he suggested, could be overcome by directing the revenue from preferential tariffs to imperial defence.
After 1909 the issue of imperial defence generated deep partisan divisions. Ross strongly supported Laurier’s Naval Service Bill of 1910, which called for the establishment of a small Canadian navy that would contribute to imperial defence in times of emergency. Following Launer’s defeat in 1911, the Liberal-dominated Senate stubbornly opposed the Borden government’s legislative agenda. Bill after bill was rejected or amended; most significant was the Naval Aid Bill. Unable to foresee any emergency that would justify a grant of $35 million to the Royal Navy and angered by Borden’s inaction in establishing a Canadian navy, the Liberals dragged out debate in the commons from 5 Dec. 1912 until May, when the bill passed under closure. The Conservative leader in the Senate, James Alexander Lougheed*, negotiated an agreement with Ross whereby the government would accept an amendment to provide appropriation for a Canadian navy if the Senate would pass the bill. Ross had wanted a stronger commitment to an independent navy, but he privately favoured the bill as a “contribution for the protection that Britain has afforded us for the last 150 years.” As well, he had grown unhappy with Laurier’s naval policy and had talked about leaving the party over reciprocity. Furious that the commons had been gagged, the other Liberal senators and Laurier rejected any compromise. Ross accepted his party’s position and led the Senate opposition in forcing the bill’s return to the commons on 30 May 1913.
As Ross feared, the defeat provoked demands for Senate reform. When Borden’s proposal to enlarge the Senate with more representation from the west was rejected by the upper house, the prime minister seriously contemplated a plebiscite on an elected senate. In defence, Ross assembled ideas he had advanced on various occasions and published them as The Senate of Canada . . . (Toronto, [1914]). More than partisan rhetoric, it advanced a credible ideological justification. Only by agreement among the original provinces could the Senate be reformed, he argued.
In opposing Senate reform and, before that, public ownership, Ross adopted positions which appeared out of sympathy with popular democratic sentiment. In his ideal society, men took individual initiatives and enjoyed the fruits of their efforts. It was, he stated in the Senate in May 1913, “a fact that the most successful men in our professions, and in commercial life, have been raised upon the farm up to a certain age, and with that strong mental and physical push which they possess, because of their environment, they have been able to grapple more successfully with the problems and the difficulties that they encountered.” Such had been his own experience. But by the 20th century an increasingly smaller proportion of the population had been born on the farm, and the values associated with that background had lost much of their political appeal.
The naval debate was Ross’s last major campaign. On occasion the rheumatism which had afflicted him since the 1880s kept him away from the Senate, and in the spring of 1913 he carne down with a mild attack of pneumonia. On 24 Jan. 1914 he collapsed suddenly while speaking to the Senate. Rushed back to Toronto, he remained in hospital until his death on 7 March; he was survived by his third wife, two sons, and six daughters.
Bending Light #86
Deep in space at the outer limits of our galaxy and, like some huge insect, this gigantic ball of pure energy has recently been sighted 'feeding' on dark matter and the remnants of intra galactic storms. It is not known if it is some form of intelligence or an hitherto unknown natural occurrence. The Galactic Alliance has made an official request that the Hullbull Telescope be sent to that part of the Galaxy to monitor the situation.
Update: The first detailed image from the Hullbull has been released and also a new form of image by that Master of scientific optical devices "johnyoptic" revealing both new and unexpected data.
For new viewers: these 'Refractographs' are analogue images of the refraction patterns of a beam of light passing through various transparent objects (in this case a piece of textured glassware). The image is captured directly on to 35mm film, no camera lens is used, the transparent object replaces the lens. Colour, in this case, has been added by positioning coloured filters in the optical beam. This is an analogue image and has not been computer generated or colour treated. The colours you see are a faithful reproduction of those captured on film.
There is no movement of lights - a single static white light source is used. Also there is no camera movement - the image is captured in-camera with a single exposure
The cotton-top tamarin (Saguinus oedipus) is a small New World monkey weighing less than 0.5 kg (1.1 lb). This New World monkey can live up to 24 years, but most of them die by 13 years. One of the smallest primates, the cotton-top tamarin is easily recognized by the long, white sagittal crest extending from its forehead to its shoulders. The species is found in tropical forest edges and secondary forests in northwestern Colombia, where it is arboreal and diurnal. Its diet includes insects and plant exudates, and it is an important seed disperser in the tropical ecosystem.
The cotton-top tamarin displays a wide variety of social behaviors. In particular, groups form a clear dominance hierarchy where only dominant pairs breed. The female normally gives birth to twins and uses pheromones to prevent other females in the group from breeding. These tamarins have been extensively studied for their high level of cooperative care, as well as altruistic and spiteful behaviors. Communication between cotton-top tamarins is sophisticated and shows evidence of grammatical structure, a language feature that must be acquired.
Up to 40,000 cotton-top tamarins are thought to have been caught and exported for use in biomedical research before 1976, when CITES gave them the highest level of protection and all international commercial trade was prohibited. Now, the species is at risk due to large-scale habitat destruction, as the lowland forest in northwestern Colombia where the cotton-top tamarin is found has been reduced to 5% of its previous area. It is currently classified as critically endangered and is one of the rarest primates in the world, with only 6,000 individuals left in the wild.
Taxonomy and naming
S. oedipus has the common names "cotton-top tamarin" and "cotton-headed tamarin" in English. Its name comes from the white hair that spans its head and flows down past the neck. In Spanish, it is commonly called bichichi, tití pielroja, "tití blanco, tití cabeza blanca, or tití leoncito. In German-speaking areas, the cotton-top tamarin is commonly known as Lisztaffe (literally "Liszt monkey") due to the resemblance of its crest to the hairstyle of Hungarian composer and piano virtuoso Franz Liszt.
The species was first described by Carl Linnaeus in his landmark 1758 10th edition of Systema Naturae. as Simia oedipus. Linnaeus chose the specific name oedipus, which means swollen foot, but as the species does not have particularly large feet, it is unknown why he chose this name. (Linnaeus often selected names from mythology without any particular rationale, and he may have used the name of Oedipus, the mythical Greek king of Thebes, more or less arbitrarily.) In 1977, Philip Hershkovitz performed a taxonomic analysis of the species based on fur coloration patterns, cranial and mandibular morphology, and ear size. He classified Geoffroy's tamarin S. geoffroyi as a subspecies of S. oedipus. Subsequent analyses by Hernández-Camacho and Cooper (1976), Russell Mittermeier and Coimbra-Filho (1981), and later Grooves (2001) consider the S. oedipus and S. geoffroyi types to be separate species.
Some researchers, such as Thorington (1976), posit that S. oedipus is more closely related to the white-footed tamarin (S. leucopus) than to S. geoffroyi. This view is supported by Hanihara and Natoria's analysis of toothcomb dental morphology (1987) and by Skinner (1991), who found similarities between S. oedipus and S. leucopus in 16 of 17 morphological traits considered.
This species of white-headed tamarin is thought to have diverged from the other Amazonian forms such as S. leucopus. This is supported by morphological considerations of the transition from juvenile to adulthood, during which the fur coloration patterns change. significantly and are similar between the two species. Hershkovitz proposed that the separation of the two species happened in the Pleistocene at the height of the Atrato River, where it intersected the Cauca-Magdalena. At that time, the area was covered by a sea, which created a geographic barrier that caused the species to diverge through the process of allopatric speciation. Today, the two species are principally separated by the Atrato River.
Physical characteristics
The cotton-top tamarin is part of the most diminutive family of monkeys, Callitrichidae, the marmosets and tamarins; it weighs 432 g (15.2 oz) on average. Its head–body length is 20.8–25.9 cm (8.2–10.2 in), while its tail—which is not prehensile—is slightly longer at around 33–41 cm (13–16 in). The species is not sexually dimorphic, the male and female are of a similar size and weight. Members of the Callitrichinae subfamily (including this species) have sharp nails (tegulae) on all digits except the big toes, which have the flat nails (ungulae) common to other primates. Tegulae resemble a squirrel's claws and help with movement through trees.
The cotton-top tamarin has a long sagittal crest, consisting of white hairs, from forehead to nape flowing over the shoulders. The skin of the face is black with gray or white bands located above the eyes. These bands continue along the edge of the face down to the jaw. Tamarins are generally divided into three groups by their facial characteristics: hairy-faced, mottled-faced, and bare-faced. The cotton-top tamarin has fine white hair covering its face, but they are so fine as to appear naked, thus it is considered a bare-faced tamarin. Its lower canine teeth are longer than its incisors, creating the appearance of tusks. Like other callitrichids, the cotton-top tamarin has two molar teeth on each side of its jaw, not three like other New World monkeys.
The cotton-top tamarin has fur covering all of the body except the palms of the hands and feet, the eyelids, the borders of the nostrils, the nipples, the anus, and the penis. The back is brown, and the underparts, arms, and legs are whitish-yellow. The rump and inner thighs and upper tail are reddish-orange. The fur is distributed with varying densities throughout the body: the genital region (scrotum and pubic zone), axilla, and the base of the tail have lower densities, while the forward region is much higher. Many individuals have stripes or whorls of fur of striking coloration on their throats. The cotton-top also has whiskers on its forehead and around its mouth.
Habitat and distribution
The cotton-top tamarin is restricted to a small area of northwest Colombia, between the Cauca and Magdalena Rivers to the south and east, the Atlantic coast to the north, and the Atrato River to the west. They are found exclusively in Colombia; 98% of their habitat has been destroyed. Historically, the entire area was suitable for the cotton-top tamarin, but due to habitat loss through deforestation, it survives in fragmented parks and reserves. One of the most important areas for the cotton-top is the Paramillo National Park, which consists of 460,000 hectares (1,800 sq mi) of primary and secondary forests.
The cotton-top tamarin is found in both primary and secondary forests, from humid tropical forests in the south of its range to tropical dry forests in the north. It is seldom found at altitudes above 400 m (1,300 ft), but has been encountered up to 1,500 m (4,900 ft). It prefers the lower levels of the tropical forests, but may also be found foraging on the ground and between the understory and the canopy. It can adapt to forest fragments and can survive in relatively disturbed habitats. In the dry forests are pronounced seasons. Between December and April, it is dry, while heavy rainfall occurs between August and November which can flood the forest floor. Across its range, annual rainfall varies between 500 and 1,300 mm (20 and 51 in).
Ecology
The cotton-top tamarin has a diet of mainly fruit (40%) and animal material (40%). This includes insects, plant exudates such as gum and sap, nectar, and occasionally reptiles and amphibians. Due to its small body size and high food passage rate, its diet must be high-quality and high-energy. Insectivory is common in the cotton-top and the species hunts for insects using a variety of methods: stealth, pouncing, chasing, exploring holes, and turning over leaves.
Tamarins act as seed dispersers in tropical ecosystems. While larger primates eat larger seeds, tamarins eat the smaller ones. The expelled seeds have a higher germination rate than others and ingesting larger seeds may help to dislodge and expel intestinal parasites.
The cotton-top tamarin is diurnal and sleeps with its social group in trees with foliage cover. The group leaves the sleeping tree together an hour after dawn and spends the day foraging, resting, travelling, and grooming. The species is thought to rise late and increases the speed of its foraging and travelling before dusk to avoid crepuscular and nocturnal predators. Its main predators include raptors, mustelids, felids, and snakes. The cotton-top tamarin is extremely vigilant, always looking for potential predators. When the group is resting, one individual moves apart and acts as a lookout to alert the group if it sees a threat.
Behavior
The cotton-top tamarin is a highly social primate that typically lives in groups of two to nine individuals, but may reach up to 13 members. These small familial groups tend to fluctuate in size and in composition of individuals and a clear dominance hierarchy is always present within a party. At the head of the group is the breeding pair. The male and female in this pair are typically in a monogamous reproductive relationship, and together serve as the group's dominant leaders.
Dominant pairs are the only breeding pair within their groups, and the female generally has authority over the breeding male. While nonbreeding group members can be the leading pair's offspring, immigrant adults may also live with and cooperate in these groups. This social grouping in cotton-top tamarins is hypothesized to arise from predation pressure. Cotton-top tamarins exhibit prosocial behavior that benefits other members of the group, and are well known for engaging in cooperative breeding whereby the group's subordinate adults help in rearing the offspring of the dominant pair. The dominant female is more likely to give birth to non-identical twins than a singleton, so it would be too energetically expensive for just one pair to raise the young.
To prevent younger, subordinate females within the group from breeding, the dominant female uses pheromones. This suppresses sexual behavior and delays puberty. Unrelated males that join the group can release the females from this reproductive suppression; this may result in more than one female of the group becoming pregnant, but only one of the pregnancies will be successful.
Cooperation
In cooperative breeding, the effort put into caring for the dominant breeders' offspring is shared by the group members. Parents, siblings, and immigrant adults share young rearing duties for the breeding pair's young. These duties include carrying, protecting, feeding, comforting, and even engaging in play behavior with the group's young. Cotton-top tamarins display high levels of parental investment during infant care. Males, particularly those that are paternal, show greater involvement in caregiving than do females. Despite this, both male and female infants prefers contact and proximity to their mothers over their fathers. Males may invest additional support in rearing offspring as a form of courtship to win the favor of the group's dominant female. However, evidence indicates that time spent carrying infants does not correlate with a male's overall copulation frequency.
Since only one female in a group breeds, heavy investment in infant care ensures that all offspring survive until independence. Accordingly, cotton-top tamarins bear excessive costs to care for the group's young. Male carriers, especially paternal carriers, incur large energetic costs for the sake of the group's young. This burden may cause some male cotton-tops to lose up to 10–11% of their total body weight. The large weight loss may occur from reduced food intake as infant-carrying inhibits foraging ability for a carrier. The trend of male-carrier weight loss and decreased food intake is in contrast to the dominant female's periovulatory period, when she gains weight after increasing her own food intake and relinquishing much of her infant-carrying duties.
Altruism
While caregiving by males appears to be altruistic, particularly in cotton-top sires, the costs of infant care may in fact be tolerated for selfish reasons. Namely, the costs to male weight and foraging ability may, in turn, promote consecutive pregnancies in dominant females, thereby providing more offspring bearing the sire's genes. Additionally, the cooperative breeding structure of cotton-tops can change with group size and parental experience. First-time sires spend a greater amount of time carrying the infant than experienced ones, and in smaller groups, sires do a greater proportion of carrying and feeding the infant than in larger groups, where helpers take on more of the work. Total care for infants remains constant with varying group size, and infant outcome is not significantly different in groups that have differing levels of experience in raising offspring.
Once infants reach sufficient age, they permanently leave the backs of their carriers and begin contributing to the group.
The cooperative breeding hypothesis predicts that cotton-top tamarins engage with this young-rearing paradigm, and in turn, naturally embrace patterns of prosocial behavior. These monkeys engage in such behavior by acting altruistically within their groups in caring for infants, vocalizing alarm calls, and in sharing food. Though some studies indicate that cotton-top tamarins have the psychological capacity to participate in reciprocally mediated altruism, it is unclear whether the cotton-top tamarin acts solely using judgments on reinforcement history.
Other studies involving cotton-top tamarins have hinted that positive reciprocity and reciprocal altruism are irrelevant in the prosociality of these primates. Some researchers believe these primates tend to cooperate for selfish reasons and in situations where they incur some benefit for themselves. That is, cooperation in cotton-top tamarins can be better described by mutualism than by true altruism.
Tamarins in captivity have shown the ability to distinguish other individuals based on cooperative tendencies and past behavior. Cotton-tops ultimately use this information to guide future cooperation. Brief periods of defection tend to cause swift, irreparable breakups between these primates and their cooperators. To avoid this, cotton-top tamarins may make economically driven decisions based on the projected incentives of a potential cooperator.
Spite and aggression
Despite an expansive array of altruistic behaviors, cotton-top tamarins engage in great bouts of spite through negative reciprocity and punishment. They have been observed to immediately start denying cooperation with monkeys that deny them benefits. Further, in captivity, these primates are not observed to increase altruistic behavior with fellow primates that are committed fully to cooperation. Based on this, researchers believe that repeated interactions in a cooperative society like that of the cotton-top tamarin can heighten the chances that an individual will designate behavioral punishments to others in its group. This reaction has also been observed in other species. However, these reciprocal punishments, or relative lack of altruistic actions, may alternatively happen as a result of response facilitation that increases the chances of a cotton-top punishing another primate after watching that individual perform a similar action.
Another way to look at punishment in cotton-top tamarins is by observing their aggressive behavioral responses within and between groups, as well as between species. The cotton-top tamarin, like many marmosets, other tamarins, and specifically those in the genus Saguinus, stages aggressive displays almost exclusively towards fellow monkeys that belong to the same gender. These intrasexual displays of aggression are more frequent in females, and are vital when a breeding female is forcing both subadult and adult females to emigrate out of a familial group.
Though aggression can occur within groups, the response towards intruders of another species is much more drastic and can involve a sexual dimorphism in displays. Females typically employ scent-marking intruder response tactics, whereas males are more prone to vocalizing threats, physical aggression, and piloerection. Scent-marking in cotton-top tamarins is done in two ways: either using anogenital scent-marking, or suprapubic scent-marking. The ability to use both of these separate glandular fields for threat signals may indicate females have developed diverging evolutionary threats through differential use of these markings. These variable signals may be used to sign a territorial encounter, or serve as a reproductive signal. The intensity of female threats is generally comparable when directed at intruders of either gender. In contrast, male cotton-tops are considerably more threatening towards fellow males than towards females.
Communication
The cotton-top tamarin vocalizes with bird-like whistles, soft chirping sounds, high-pitched trilling, and staccato calls. Researchers describe its repertoire of 38 distinct sounds as unusually sophisticated, conforming to grammatical rules. Jayne Cleveland and Charles Snowdon performed an in-depth feature analysis to classify the cotton-top's repertoire of vocalizations in 1982. They concluded that it uses a simple grammar consisting of eight phonetic variations of short, frequency-modulated "chirps"—each representing varying messages—and five longer constant frequency "whistles". They hypothesize that some of these calls demonstrate that the cotton-top tamarin uses phonetic syntax, while other calls may be exemplars of lexical syntax usage. Each type of call is given a letter signifier; for example, C-calls are associated with finding food and D-calls are associated with eating. Further, these calls can be modified to better deliver information relevant to auditory localization in call-recipients. Using this range of vocalizations, the adults may be able to communicate with one another about intention, thought processes, and emotion, including curiosity, fear, dismay, playfulness, warnings, joy, and calls to young.
Language acquisition
Over the first 20 weeks, after a cotton-top tamarin is born, it is not fully capable of producing the range of vocalizations that an adult monkey can. Despite this limitation on speech producibility, researchers believe that language acquisition occurs early on with speech comprehension abilities arising first. Infants can at times produce adult-like chirps, but this is rarely done in the correct context and remains inconsistent across the first 20 weeks of life. Regardless, infant cotton-tops are able to respond in behaviorally appropriate ways to varying contexts when presented with adult chirps. This indicates that verbal perception is a quickly acquired skill for offspring, followed closely by auditory comprehension, and later by proper vocal producibility.
Castro and Snowdon (2000) observed that aside from inconsistent adult-like chirping, cotton-top infants most often produce a prototype chirp that differs in vocalization structure from anything seen in the full adult range of vocalizations. Infants are thought to imitate adult speakers, which use differing calls in various contexts, but by using solely the infant prototypical chirp. For instance, adult cotton-tops are known to significantly reduce the amount of general alarm calling in the presence of infants.[ This is likely adapted so that adults in close proximity to the groups young do not attract the attention of predators to infant-dense areas. Additionally, infants reduce their prototype chirping in the presence of predators. Whether infants are shadowing the calling behavior of adults or they are comprehending danger remains unclear. However, researchers argue that young cotton-top tamarins are able to represent semantic information regardless of immature speech production.
To confirm the notion that language acquisition occurs as a progression of comprehension before production, Castro and Snowdon (2000) showed that infants respond behaviorally to vocalizing adults in a fashion that indicates they can comprehend auditory inputs. When an adult produces a C-call chirp, used to indicate food preference and when navigating to a food source, an infant approaches the adult caller to be fed, but do not use the prototype calling as a proxy for C-calls. This finding argues for the idea that infants are able to understand vocalizations first, and later acquire the ability to communicate with adult vocalizations.
General calling
Among the typical cotton-top tamarin communicative vocalizations, the combination long call (CLC) and the alarm call (AC) are the most heavily represented in the literature. CLCs encompass a range of contact calls that are produced by isolated individuals using chirps and whistles. This type of call is also used for seemingly altruistic alarm calls, thus adding to its range of cooperative behaviors. It is issued in the presence of kin when a threatening llamas predator is seen. Predators of the cotton-top tamarin include snakes, ocelots, tayras, and most notably, hawks. Early observations by Patricia Neyman even showed that cotton-tops produce diverse sets of alarm calls that can discriminate the presence of birds of prey versus ground-based predators.
CLCs involve the production of complex sequence multisyllabic vocalizations. Researchers have argued that long calls exhibit individual differences, thus can carry information sufficient for recipients to determine caller identity. Using habituation-discrimination paradigms in language experiments, this theory has been confirmed multiple times in literature. However, the individual syllables within a complete CLC vocalization in isolation of each other do not transfer sufficient information to communicate messages between monkeys. Scientists thus consider the whole, intact string of vocalizations to be the unit of perception for CLCs in the cotton-top tamarin. These examinations may confirm that cotton-tops incorporate a lexical syntax in areas of their communication.
Since tamarins can discriminate between predatory threats using varying vocalizations, recipients of an AC are thought to extract various complex signals from this form of communication. Primarily, cotton-tops are able to glean the identity of the cooperating tamarin through differences in individuals' alarm calls. Further, adults are able to discriminate the gender of callers from their ACs and determine the range of calls within a related tamarin's alarm calling repertoire. Alarm call-based identification is postulated to play a number of functional roles in the cotton-top tamarin. Firstly, an AC recipient is able to identify a cooperating tamarin, and by recognizing which in their group it is, be able to judge the reliability of the AC from past experience. This may arise from a selective pressure for being able to statistically determine the amount of risk present, and how endangered an individual and its group are.
Additionally, being able to localize auditory signals may help determine predator location, especially in the presence of a second AC from a different tamarin in the group. This can help confirm predator presence, type (e.g. flying versus ground-based), and support the recipient in triangulating a predator's location. In the context of the cotton-top's cooperative breeding groups, this is postulated as being adaptive for determining the variable risk to one's group members. For example, a call recipient is able to determine which of its kin are and are not at risk (e.g. young offspring, mates, subordinates, relatives, carriers, etc.) and plan subsequent actions accordingly.
Food calls
The cotton-top tamarin makes selective, specialized vocalizations in the presence of food. These include the C-call, produced when a cotton-top approaches and sorts through food, and the D-call, which is associated with food retrieval and is exhibited while eating.
C-call chirping is believed to be an honest signal for communicating food preference, and a cotton-top tamarin more often and more rapidly vocalizes with these chirps when approaching a highly favored food source. Functionally, this behavior may inform other tamarins of the actions the caller will take in a feeding context and whether a preferable food source is available. Despite this research indicating that food calls may be informative to fellow group mates, other observations of cotton-tops show that quantity and distribution of food and audience do not significantly alter a caller's food-centered vocalizations.
The cotton-top tamarin is seen to produce food calls both in the presence and absence of group members. Additionally, response to food calls are directed back to an original caller independent of visual confirmation of a food source. While this may appear to be a result of a very primitive form of communication, Roush and Snowdon (2005) maintain that the food-calling behavior confers some mentally representable information about food to recipient tamarins.
Conservation status
The wild population is estimated at 6,000 individuals, with 2,000 adults. This species is critically endangered, and was listed in "The World's 25 Most Endangered Primates between 2008 and 2012." The publication lists highly endangered primate species and is released every two years by the International Union for Conservation of Nature Species Survival Commission Primate Specialist Group. The cotton-top tamarin was not selected for the 2012–2014 publication.
The species is critically endangered, with a wild population of merely 6,000 individuals including about 2,000 free-roaming adults.
Habitat destruction through forest clearing is the main cause of this collapse, and the cotton-top has lost more than three-quarters of its original habitat to deforestation, while the lowland forest in which it lives has been reduced to 5% of its historical range. This land is then used for large-scale agricultural production (i.e. cattle) and farming, logging, oil palm plantations, and hydroelectric projects that fragment the cotton-top tamarin's natural range.
The illegal pet trade and scientific research have also been cited as factors by the IUCN. While biomedical studies have recently limited their use of this species, illegal capture for the pet trade still plays a major role in endangering the cotton-top. Before 1976, when CITES listed the species under Appendix I banning all international trade, the cotton-top tamarin was exported for use in biomedical research.
In captivity, the cotton-top is highly prone to colitis, which is linked to an increased risk of a certain type of colon cancer. Up to 40,000 individuals were caught and exported for research into those diseases, as well as Epstein-Barr virus, for the benefit of humans. The species is now protected by international law. Although enough individuals are in captivity to sustain the species, it is still critically endangered in the wild.
The Proyecto Tití ("Project Tamarin") was started in 1985 to provide information and support in conservation of the cotton-top tamarin and its habitat in northern Colombia. Proyecto Tití's programs combine field research, education, and community programs to spread awareness about this endangered species and encourage the public to participate in its protection. It now has partner status with the Wildlife Conservation Network.
In January 2015, two captive cotton-top tamarins at the Alexandria Zoological Park in Alexandria, Louisiana, died when a caretaker left them outside overnight in temperatures as low as 30 °F. One other individual survived.
The triple towers (one square, one round, one triangular) of the Azraeli Centre are the closest Tel-Aviv has to an architectural symbol.
The streets are completely deserted for Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement.
Tel-Aviv, Israel
Leica MP, Noctilux, Fuji Pro800Z@1600
04-Nov-2022 12:15 - Fuji Acros II @ EI 100
3 min pre wash
Developed in 512 Pyro 7 mins 45sec (N) @ 20C
1 min post dev water wash
Tetenal SuperFix Plus 1+4 : 4 mins
Bronica SQAi + 80mm
Highlight = 10 (bits of 12 sky)
Shadow = 6
Midpoint = 8
Filter : Yellow -1.5
Final EV = 6.5
Note - Film has No Reciprocity for first 50-120 sec
8 sec @ f22