Category: Uncategorized

In August 2017 I was asked to photograph a shluchim event taking place at Chabad Aventura South. The following is the article, with my photographic images….

Not a career thing, but a small aspect of my “retirement” years that I enjoy… When I moved to Florida and started attending the Chabad Aventura South shul, there was an older man who was known as the “candy man” because he gave out lollypops to the kids during services. We often chatted during the weekly kiddush lunches, and a couple of times when he was going to be out of town on a Shabbos, he asked me if I’d take over the candy man role, which I gladly did.

Sometime in 2020 he unfortunately passed away. I quickly determined that I would take over, and thus became the shul’s official candy man. I keep a big bag of lollypops with me during shul, and kids come over to me to get one. Since I like kids, this was a natural for me.

I also noticed that it was rather unusual for there to be “mashkeh” by the kiddush lunches. Sometimes one table had a bottle that someone brought. I decided that it would be nice to make sure there was always something, and I started bringing a large bottle once a month and going around pouring a l’chaim to anyone who wanted. Not only did this help me meet a lot of people, I believe it helps build a bit more of a sense of “community” among the people at different tables.

So now I am the “candy man” and the “mashke man” at my shul!

Consider this just a geeky log of most of the photo gear I’ve owned or used over all these years… Mostly for own interest but may be an interesting photo-technology history.

1) CAMERAS

My mom’s Kodak Vigilant 620 which I started using sometime around 1960. This camera took 620 roll film and was used primarily by holding at waist level and using the tiny viewfinder near the lens. There was also a fold-up “sports” viewfinder but it wasn’t too accurate.

My Agfa Super-Silette 35mm camera. This was a great piece of German photo engineering, with smooth focusing and a split screen focus viewfinder. I bought this used, and had it for many years

My Minolta SR-7 (came out just before the SRT-101) that I purchased with money from my bar mitzvah in 1966-67. Wonderful handling, great lens and a built-in light meter (not through the lens). Great micro focus screen in viewfinder. I still have this manual film camera!

My Mamiya Pro C22 dual lens reflex camera. Also purchased with my bar mitzvah money (and some added help). This was a great film camera. Dual lens assembly was removable, although I never did obtain another lens for it. I used this camera for landscape and portrait photography. (The scout troop portraits in my work blog were taken with this camera)

I never owned this, but borrowed it a few times in 1968 from the Nepean High School camera club. This was a Graflex Crown Graphic view camera, the sort you will see being used in 1940’s and 50’s movies. It took 4″ x 5″ sheet film, so could only take one shot at a time, after which a light-blocking slide had to be inserted into the fim carrier, which could then be swapped for another single shot. The huge negative size and great lens quality made for some great, detailed shots. My “gingerbread” house photo was take with this Crown Graphic…

My first greatly upgraded 35mm reflex camera, a Nikon N80, which I purchased circa 1993

My first digital reflex camera (DSLR), the Nikon D70, purchased circa 2001. I started doing my pro photography with this camera, shooting child portraits.

Within a couple of years shooting professionally I realized that I need a more capable, professional grade camera. The D200 DSLR fit the bill for some years, and allowed me to transition from just portraits to events.

My pride and joy, the Mamiya RZ67 studio portrait camera. Always drooled over this and finally decided to treat myself. Film based with excellent optics and control; bellows focus and vertical viewfinder (albeit mirror image which took some getting used to.) I had a couple of lenses and different film backs for this incredible camera. I used it for portraits primarily. The large 2.25″ square negative gave superior results. As everything started to quickly move to digital, I expected that I’d get a digital back for it and extend its life. But, alas, when a digital back was finally released, it was priced at about $40,000, so was out of the question. I sadly decided to sell it while it still had decent value.

As I started shooting more events, including many more weddings, I had to upgrade my DSLR to keep up with lastest advancements in speed and light handling. The D300s was a great step up from the D200 (which I kept as a backup body).

By 2018 I was in need of another upgrade. Although my D300s was still a great camera body, newer models had greatly improved in speed and low-light capabilities with less noise. The D500 fit the bill perfectly for me even though it was still a DX format camera (not “full frame” FX).

2) OTHER GEAR

One of my earliest purchases was this Sekonic passive light meter. I purchased it on a layaway plan from a local Ottawa camera store, making monthly payments until I owned it. I was very proud to have purchased this entirely on my own, at about 14. For some reason I still have it although it has not been used in over 50 years!

Early on I had an old folding reflector bulb flash, the kind that gave one flash per bulb… My first electronic flash purchase was this Kako Super Elite, which I used for several years. One day a friend asked to borrow it for a shoot and when I got it back it didn’t work! After that I decided never to lend out my photo gear!

My next electronic flash unit was similar in build but much more powerful. The Ultrablitz Meteor SP-GH served me very well for many years. Although the rechargeable battery is long gone and no longer made, I still have the original flash (and it still works when plugged in!)

This was the school enlarger that I learned on… Used it almost daily for over a year, learning all the nuances of printing black and white photos in a darkroom.

After a year or so of using the school darkroom, I decided that I had to set up my own. I bought this inexpensive but quite capable b+w enlarger, the Meopta Axomat II, made in Czechoslovakia. A great feature for me was that it could be quickly broken down and stored in its carrying box. Since my home darkroom was a windowless basement bathroom, I had to be able to pack it away. I also took this with me when I went to graduate school in Montreal (1974) and set up a temporary darkroom in my apartment bathroom.

Once I was doing more studio and in-home portraiture and weddings, I needed real studio strobes. I chose these Paul C Buff White Lightning Ultrazap units. Two 800 watt units and one 1600. These served me flawlessly for over 20 years. As of 2022 I still have them but will probably sell them as I am no longer shooting studio portraits or indoor events.

Of course, in order to use studio strobes properly, one needs a light meter that is able to measure strobe flash light. I chose this Minolta Auto meter, which I still have but rarely need to use.

As I progressed to shoot weddings and bar/bat mitzvah I needed fast action on camera flash. My first unit was the Nikon SB-700, next was SB-900. I still use both of these as of 2022.

In terms of other equipment, I used a Manfrotto tripod and preferred Manfrotto and Calumet light stands. Lenses were Nikon and Sigma.

At some point when I was in high school, probably about age 14, I took a photo of the photo gear I had at the time (I was quite proud of it all!)

Back when I was teaching a course in “Conceptual Physics”, I stumbled upon a wonderful series of short animated educational videos that do a great job of introducing basic concepts of physics for kids (or adults!)

Sadly, these do not seem to be available anywhere in high-quality video — only very low resolution copies seem to have survived. To make sure that they remain available (at least to my family 🙂 ) I’ve uploaded the series on this blog (each one is separately linked by topic, and at the bottom is a single link to the directory)

I urge everyone to play these for your kids! Smaller screens will make tolerating the very low quality easier.

The following is quoted from a Wikipedia article…

“Eureka! is a Canadian educational television series which was produced and broadcast by TVOntario in 1980 and 1981. The series was narrated by Billy Van, and featured a series of animated vignettes which taught physics lessons to children. 

Each program takes a simple and direct approach to the subject matter; while the basic concepts are explained in a voice-over, cartoon characters and a variety of animated objects demonstrate the principles on the screen. Constant review and reinforcement make the message clear; as a result, the study of physics becomes easy and accessible – even to viewers without a solid background in the subject. Basic formulae and concepts are introduced with a recap of what was learnt in the previous episode to build knowledge on a topic and create connections. 

30 episodes were produced. All of the episodes are five minutes in length.”

NOTE: SINCE THE EPISODES BUILD ON EACH OTHER, IT IS IMPORTANT TO WATCH THE SERIES IN ORDER.

Unit 1: Force and Energy

    Inertia
    Mass
    Speed
    Acceleration I
    Acceleration II
    Gravity
    Weight vs Mass
    Work
    Kinetic Energy
    Potential Energy and Speed

Unit 2: Simple Machines

    The Inclined Plane
    The Lever
    Mechanical Advantage and Friction
    The Screw and the Wheel
    The Pulley

Unit 3: Heat and Temperature

    Molecules in Solids
    Molecules in Liquids
    Evaporation and Condensation
    Expansion and Contraction
    Measuring Temperature
    Temperature vs Heat

Unit 4: The Conduction of Heat

    Atoms
    Electrons
    Conduction

Unit 5: The Convection of Heat

    Volume and Density
    Buoyancy
    Convection

Unit 6: The Radiation of Heat

    Heat as Energy
    Radiation Waves
    The Radiation Spectrum

The following is a link to the entire set of 30 videos (same as the individual links above)

https://hershelbelkin.info/HB-UPLOADS/Eureka Physics Videos/

In 1965, shortly after we moved to Ottawa, we were living in Edinburgh, right on the border of Rockliffe (the wealthiest Ottawa neighborhood). I had a friend from school (Jeff) and one day we decided to have an adventure.

A few blocks from us was an old abandoned mansion. There was a sign in front of the property stating that it would soon be demolished to make way for new townhouses.

We figured that if it was going to be demolished anyways why not explore it?

No one knew much about this place, but it was commonly referred to as the Hope estate, and it had a reputation like a typical haunted house of the movies.

As we walk to the property, an old lady sitting outside a nearby home called out to us and warned us to stay away from the Hope estate… She said everyone who lived there had died in that house and some were even buried on the property! We of course figured she was just trying to scare a couple of 12-year-olds.

In any case we did go and explore the property. It was extremely interesting. The house itself was very large although in very bad disrepair. The staircase was in such bad shape that we were afraid to go upstairs. We did find a small food elevator otherwise known as a dumb waiter… who even had those things?

The house itself had been ransacked and anything of any interest had been taken long ago. Around the back of the house there were some raised patches of ground the approximate shape and size of graves.. so we avoided that area 🙂

But next to the house was a large wooden shed. The shed, it seems, had been ignored by whoever emptied the house. Not that there was anything of value in there, but lots of interesting things for a couple of 12-year-olds.

And mysteries galore!! We found over a year’s worth of weekly religious newspapers from England that were all in their original mailing wrapper, never opened or read but carefully stored in the garage. Why would someone pay for a subscription to be mailed from England and then never read them?

We also found a torn open box with tons of handwritten letters that had been stored in the shed. We pulled a few of them out and started to read… We quickly realized that they were written by some young woman or teenager to a friend of hers in England. From the little bits that we read and that I remember she described problems in the family, financial worries primarily. Although I don’t remember the dates on the letters they were clearly very old.

Among the various objects there wasn’t anything too interesting. I found an old wooden kids high chair which was just basically a stool with a short ladder back. I decided that it might be a useful sturdy wooden stool for me so I took it (and later sawed off the back) Jeff found an old Indian exercise device that looked like a large wooden bowling pin about 3 ft high, which he took.

I also found several Good Housekeeping magazines from the late 1920s, and a Canadian weather almanac from 1924 all of which I took, and still have!

Couple of weeks later we returned to the site to watch the demolition. We were shocked to discover that the shed had a second floor! It had not been obvious to us from the inside since it was only accessed by a trap door in the ceiling. In any case when they went to demolish it they found a lot of interesting stuff stored up there including an entire sleigh complete with leather harnesses.

Fast forward over 50 years, and in 2022 I decided to see if anyone could give me any information about that place. Since I had already joined an Ottawa historical Facebook group I posted some questions there asking if anyone had ever heard of this place called The Hope estate.

Remarkably, somebody who was something of a historian answered with all kinds of information! It was in fact owned by The Hope family, and the owner apparently had a famous  bookstore on Sparks street in downtown Ottawa.

It seems that some of the stories were at least partially correct.

From the replies on Facebook:

From the 1923 Directory: 174 Dufferin Road was the home of Mrs. Frances Hope who was the widow of James Hope senior. In 1899 their three sons, James C., John and William W. were all living there, with James senior. The house was still there in 1965 but replaced by a townhouse development by 1976. The Hope Building on Sparks Street is named after James Hope.

Here is the Hope family in New Edinburgh at the 1901 census. They were also all at 174 Dufferin in 1891 when it was listed as a 3-storey brick house with 14 rooms. They were also all there in 1881. James moved to New Edinburgh from downtown in 1875. James, Frances, William, and Fanny were there at the 1911 census, with daughter in law Annie Hope and granddaughter Nora Bell Hope.

The last family member to live in the house may have been the daughter Fanny, born in 1872 and still living there, unmarried, in October 1933, when she died of breast cancer in the General Hospital. The mother Frances died of old age in the house in September 1930. James Hope died in the house in March 1922, of old age and prostate cancer. James Hope had immigrated from England in 1860 and was established as a stationer and bookseller at Sparks and Elgin by 1864. He was very religious and always advertised bibles and prayer books. His new building on Sparks in 1910 was called “Bible House”.

I’m posting images of a couple of the magazine covers, as well as some selected ads that I scanned from the magazine.. they are quite interesting!

I also scanned the entire 1924 Canadian weather almanac which makes for some quite interesting reading as well!

In April 2022 I once again covered aqn even for COLlive.com. This time it was a large gathering in celebration of the Rebbe’s 120th birthday. The article with my images is below…

In 1965 we were living at 10 Maple Lane in the Edinburgh section of Ottawa. Less than 2 blocks away was the wrought iron fence surrounding the huge estate known as Rideau Hall, the official residence of the Governor General of Canada.

A friend of mine (I believe from the boy scouts, but I don’t recall his name) suggested one night that we sneak through the fence and go exploring. This, of course, would be tresspassing and could get us into trouble, so I wasn’t keen to participate. However, he explained that his father was the Aide de camp (personal assistant) to the Governor General (at the time Jules Leger), and so he had been on the grounds before.

In any case, being adventurous 12-year olds, we did sneak in. Looking at pictures of that fence today I can’t imagine how we got through. I just remember that somehow where the wrought iron posts met with the cement columns the space was enough for us to barely squeeze through.

We spent probably about 40 minutes walking around and exploring in the dark. For some reason I don’t recall anymore, my friend was carrying a coffee can filled with Red devil firecrackers!

My friend instructed me that if anyone saw us or asked us what we were doing I should not say anything but let him do the talking. He explained that there were other houses on the property that various servants lived in with their families, so it was not unusual to see children on the grounds.

As it turns out, we took a much greater risk than we anticipated… because that night there was a foreign diplomat visiting Rideau Hall, and RCMP officers were everywhere

At one point as we were walking down a small dark street, a security guard pointed a flashlight at us. My friend simply waved at him and said hi with a big smile and walked on! He explained to me that since he didn’t run away but acted as though he belonged there, the guard simply assumed he was one of the children who lived on the property.

After that we decided we’d better leave since we noticed the large presence of police. So that was our adventure, one that luckily ended without incident. Who knows what would have happened had they stopped us and noticed the can of firecrackers!

Sometime in the late 60’s I went exploring with some friends up at our cottage at Battle Lake, near Perkins-Sur-Le-Lac, Quebec. We took our boats through the narrow channel connecting our lake to the much larger Lac Rheaume and then went to a small bay where we had previously noticed something that looked like an old path through the wilderness. We hiked along that old path, using branches to chase away the vicious horseflies that kept trying to bite us.

After a while we came upon a very tiny but beautiful lake with the bluest water I’d ever seen. Completely untouched, it was quite a sight. Unfortunately I don’t seem to have taken a photo of the lake — probably because I was only shooting black and white film.

Exploring further, we found what we quickly realized was a long-abandoned mica mine! The site consisted of a collapsed wooden shack containing some old rusty equipment. One piece looked a bit like a tractor but seemed like it maybe was an air compressor of some sort, presumably to power drills or other mining equipment. There was lots of mica all around the ground. (Mica is a unique mineral that separates into thin, almost transparent amber-colored sheets. It was used as insulation for many years, especially around WWII when it was in great demand.)

I found a few photos that I took of the shed and equipment. Wish i had taken more!

POSTSCRIPT: I just looked up Gardner-Denver (the name on the abandoned equipment.) They still exist, and are in fact specialists in air compression equipment, so my guess at the time was correct!

Doing a bit more research, I found an amazing paper written in 1997 that describes the entire Perkins-Sur-Le-Lac area from a mining perspective. For those of us who remember Lac Batteille (Battle Lake) and Rheaume, this makes for fascinating reading!

A brief article I found online…

Here is a satellite photo of the area, including the two lakes mentioned…

The following are the photos I took of the abandoned mine shack and equipment…