John H. Boyd (photographer)
John H. Boyd | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | January, 1898 |
| Died | October 28, 1971 (aged 73) |
| Nationality | Canadian |
| Occupation | photographer |
| Known for | Chronicling early 20th century Toronto through photographs |
John Harold Boyd, also referred to as John Boyd Jr. was a Canadian photographer for The Globe and Mail, based in Toronto, Ontario. He was also a founding member and early president of the Commercial and Press Photographers' Association of Canada.
Mike Filey, the author of a long-running column, in the Toronto Sun, on the history of Toronto, described Boyd as a technical innovator, who modified and tuned his cameras, which, incidentally, gave them a distinct appearance.[1] Boyd was the first Canadian to transmit a photograph electronically. Filey described Boyd as a meticulous craftsman and record-keeper, whose logbooks donated to the City of Toronto archives, recorded the number, subject and date of over 100,000 negatives for photos he took.
Early Training[edit]
John Boyd's father, John Boyd Sr. was an avid amateur photographer, who taught his son about photography beginning at an early age. Boyd Jr. then completed an apprenticeship at a commercial firm, before working as a freelance photographer for agricultural journals.[2]
The Globe and Mail[edit]
He was hired by the Globe as the newspapers first (and at that time, only) staff photographer in December 1922.[2] Boyd Jr.'s first assignment at the Globe was photographing the streetcar tracks being laid in front of Union Station.[2] The remained with the Globe when it merged with the Mail and Empire in 1936 to become The Globe and Mail.[3] He remained at the Globe and Mail until his retirement in 1964.[2]
According to Robert Landsale, as the newspaper's top photographer, Boyd Jr. covered many of the most tumultuous events in Canada's history, and was recognized as a professional who "would go to any lengths to get a shot".[2] He was also an innovator and early adopter of evolving photographic technology. He was the first news photographer to use flashbulbs, the first to transmit a wirephoto using a portable transmitter.[4] He was also the first news photographer to write his own captions, a skill learned from his father.[2]
External links[edit]
- City of Toronto Archives, Globe and Mail fonds
- Archives of Ontario, John Boyd Fonds (Aerial photographs of Toronto, c. 1958) https://www.archeion.ca/john-boyd-fonds
- Library and Canada, John Boyd Fonds (Family photographs taken by his father)
References[edit]
- ^ Mike Filey (1996). From Horse Power to Horsepower: Toronto: 1890-1930. Dundurn Press. pp. 16–17. ISBN 9781554881734. Retrieved 2013-03-06.
- ^ a b c d e f Lansdale, Robert. "John H. Boyd and his camera..." Graflex Historic Quarterly (Vol. 14; No. 2) https://www.graflex.org/GHQ/GHQ-14-2.pdf
- ^ "The Globe and Mail Inc.: Private Company Information – Businessweek". Bloomberg BusinessWeek. 2012. Retrieved April 13, 2012
- ^ Plummer, Kevin "Historicist: The Two John Boyds" http://torontoist.com/2011/12/historicist-the-two-john-boyds/2/
- Payne, Carol and Andrea Kunard. The Cultural Work of Photography in Canada[permanent dead link] (Montreal: McGill-Queen's University Press, 2011). ISBN 9780773538610
- White, Randall. Too good to be true: Toronto in the 1920s[permanent dead link] (Toronto: Dundurn Press, 1993). ISBN 1550021974
