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Miscellany Toronto Photographs: Then and Now

Then and Now for Nov 8.


Then. Bloor Street and St. Pauls Square. 'Residence of Mr. Robert Simpson'. [I'm supposing this was the Mr. Robert Simpson, of Simpsons department store fame.] c1891. Another wwwebster sourced picture.

254BloorStPaulsSqNWc1891.jpg




Now. May 2011. A new-ish office building of no particular noteworthiness stands here now. I'm not certain what stood on this corner prior to this, but I'm sure it was a commercial building that itself replaced the Simpson house many decades ago..

255CSC_0526.jpg
 
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Mustapha said:
Then and Now for Nov 7.


Then. 19 Duncan Street. c1909. New Southam Press building.

25219Duncanc1909.jpg



Now. May 2011. Not sure what this building is used for now... not any single purpose I think; it's probably tenanted with various businesses of the creative sort that are drawn to these types of buildings..

253.jpg
Click to expand...

What I'm interested in is what kind of equipment they used in the Then photo. With conventional cameras, vertical lines usually tend to converge from bottom to top when photographing buildings, as the Now photo duly illustrates. But in the Then photo it seems to do the opposite, at least in the nearest corner to the camera. Special cameras are available for architectural photography which compensate for that, maybe this one overcompensated?
 
Browning Avenue said:
What I'm interested in is what kind of equipment they used in the Then photo. With conventional cameras, vertical lines usually tend to converge from bottom to top when photographing buildings, as the Now photo duly illustrates. But in the Then photo it seems to do the opposite, at least in the nearest corner to the camera. Special cameras are available for architectural photography which compensate for that, maybe this one overcompensated?
Click to expand...

I noticed the oddity of the Then picture too. I'm sure the two of us were not the only ones to notice this 'overcompensation'.

As for the Now picture... I shoot nearly 99% of the pictures here with a rather pedestrian lens - a Nikon 18-55 - that came included with the Nikon D40 camera.

When the subject is wii-de and my back is against a wall and I can't step back any further, and the field of view is already cranked over to it's widest - 18mm, as was the case here, converging lines are the result.

There are 'rectilinear' lenses that correct for this, but I've never played with one - real estate photographers use them - they are pricey and my youngest is still in university. :)

I believe Photoshop can fix this but I have to find the time to buy, install and play with it.
 
adma said:
The tall white building is actually Traders' northern neighbour, Canadian Pacific, in its original terra-cotta-clad form (it was reclad in limestone some 20 years later). And the arch, I believe, belonged to the original Canada Life Building...
Click to expand...

Thanks! I was noticing that the corners seemed to be different than the Dominion's.....which was why I was not completely convinced.
 
Mustapha said:
Then and Now for Nov 8.

Now. May 2011. A new-ish office building of no particular noteworthiness stands here now. I'm not certain what stood on this corner prior to this, but I'm sure it was a commercial building that itself replaced the Simpson house many decades ago..

255CSC_0526.jpg
Click to expand...

Ha, I'm actually sitting in that building right now..

It's the location of the Ontario Ministry of Aboriginal Affairs, Unilever, and a few other companies on different floors. It is pretty un-noteworthy though.
 
Browning Avenue said:
What I'm interested in is what kind of equipment they used in the Then photo. With conventional cameras, vertical lines usually tend to converge from bottom to top when photographing buildings, as the Now photo duly illustrates. But in the Then photo it seems to do the opposite, at least in the nearest corner to the camera. Special cameras are available for architectural photography which compensate for that, maybe this one overcompensated?
Click to expand...

Excellent observations and question, BrowningAvenue.
Architectural photographers have equipment that allows them to keep building lines straight and parallel.
It's only necessary to keep the camera back (film plane) vertical.
Often, when this is accomplished, an optical illusion takes place and there seems to be the 'overcompensation' that you mention.
The vertical lines in the "Then" photo are straight and parallel and, unfortunately, appear odd.
The correction is very easy to accomplish with PhotoShop as shown in the attached version of Mustapha's original "Now".
 

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Mustapha said:
At centre left of this picture, above the 'Alexander Engraving' sign; the building with the 'tea cosy' top with the porthole on the side - I wish I had the vocabulary for these things - is still there at the corner of Adelaide and Peter. It is in completely original condition, which is to say it's a bit rundown.
Click to expand...

Isn't it called a Mansard roof?
 
Goldie said:
Excellent observations and question, BrowningAvenue.
Architectural photographers have equipment that allows them to keep building lines straight and parallel.
It's only necessary to keep the camera back (film plane) vertical.
Often, when this is accomplished, an optical illusion takes place and there seems to be the 'overcompensation' that you mention.
The vertical lines in the "Then" photo are straight and parallel and, unfortunately, appear odd.
The correction is very easy to accomplish with PhotoShop as shown in the attached version of Mustapha's original "Now".
Click to expand...

That's really cool Goldie; I went back to the original post and replaced both pictures with your corrected pictures. Thanks.
 
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Mustapha said:
Now. May 2011. A new-ish office building of no particular noteworthiness stands here now. I'm not certain what stood on this corner prior to this, but I'm sure it was a commercial building that itself replaced the Simpson house many decades ago..

255CSC_0526.jpg
Click to expand...

Said building was an early 80s annex to Crown Life across the street--you may remember it was once connected by a footbridge over Church. It replaced yet another one of those grey 50s Insurance Row fixtures a la Crown Life.

Remember, of course, that you're presenting an unflattering "rear corner" view of the building (though the vents to the right make for interesting street sculpture). It's actually not that bad--a characteristic example of 70s/80s mirrored midrise late-modern "contextualism" (also cf. the AE LePage building at Yonge + Front, and others)
 

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