Times Advocate, 1995-02-01, Page 13Frenchman's Inn
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Second section - February 1 199
This photograph, taken by Joseph Senior in Grand Bend to include the people of the time in his scenes, unlike other
around the tum of the century, depicts a Lakeshore community photographers. This picture was likely taken in the village's
much different from as we know it today. Senior was careful old picnic area, just to the south of Main Street.
Senior Stidios - a chronicle of
early Exeter and Grand Bend
The Exeter photographer had a style of his own
which is much valued today by local historians
By Adrian Harte
Times -Advocate Editor
EXETER - Photography today is
a simple matter. A push of a button
captures a scene or a moment for-
ever - and anybody can do it pass-
ingly well. But in an era when good
photography was a highly -technical
art form, there were only a few
chroniclers of scenes and moments
taking the time to record the visual
histories of their communities.
In Exeter, between 1887 and
1943, Joseph Senior was the tgf'n's
premier studio photographer. ' He
took over the family business from
his father Charles, who established
a tin -type (photographs on 'metal
plates) studio in 1867. But while
Joseph Senior created many of the
fine studio portraits that grace
many family albums in the area, he
is also well known for the work he
did outdoors. He seems to have
been particularly fond of the Grand
Bend area.
Bob Tremain, the curator at the
Lambton Heritage Museum de-
scribes Senior's work as being
somewhat remarkable. While other
scenic photographers of the area
would use the hours around dawn
to capture deserted street scenes to
avoid blurry images of people and
horses, Senior went out of his way
to include people in his photo-
graphs.
The nature of what he went out
and recorded was forward thinking
for his time," said Tremain.
Most of Senior's images are care-
fully posed, to keep people still and
in place for the relatively long ex-
posures required by the glass plate
camera he likely used.
"He certainly posed people. That
was his way around it," said Tre-
main.
But the point is that Senior's pho-
tos are a chronicle of the people of
Grand Bend and Huron County
spanning over at least four decades
from the 1880's to the 1930s.
"Hats, beachware, the social
grouping," said Tremain. "Social
history, not just architectural his-
tory."
That is the main reason Joseph
Senior's work formed the backbone
of the Lambton Museum's 1988
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photo book: Grand Bend, Images
of Yesteryar.
"We didn't say 'here's all these
photographers, let's choose Joseph
Senior'," said Tremain. In fact, the
museum sorted through all kinds of
old photographs taken at the resort,
and realized there was a pattern.
"What we thought was the work
of 10 different photographers, we
found one photographer did the
views we liked best," said Tremain.
"That's why we dedicated the book
to him,"
Not all of Senior's photos are
stamped with the mark of his stu-
dio. But the distinctive way in
which he marked "Grand Bend,
Ont." on his pictures, the fact that
his "G" looks much like a "C",
•
This field camera, in
the collection of the
Lambton Heritage
Museum, is very likely
similar to one used by
Exeter photographer
Joseph Senior in his
travels outside his
studio. This camera
used 4x5 inch glass
plate negatives,
which had to be
loaded one at a
time into the
camera in
complete
darkness. The
photographer
would have
used a black
changing
bag in the
field.
gave away the fact that this was all
the work of one man.
"I think Senior came to Grand
Bend a lot," said Tremain. "I think
he had a real interest in the social
life of that time."
Nevertheless, Senior seems to
have been a fair-weather photog-
rapher only. No one can recall a
winter scene of his. Tremain said
Senior likely kept a eye out for
scenes that would sell well as post-
cards in the summer resort. Win-
ter's cold just wasn't a big seller.
The Huron County Museum in
Goderich also has a large collection
of photographs, but curator Ray-
mond Scotchman said he wasn't
even aware of Senior's work. The
Exeter -based photographer is large-
ly overshadowed in the museum's
collection by Goderich photog-
rapher Reuben Sallows, who set up
carefully contrived images to re-
create scenes of a bygone era. Nev-
ertheless, a scan through the Ste-
phen Township photographic his-
tory in the museum's collection
turns up many images bearing Jo-
seph Senior's studio stamp, or his
distinctive inscriptions.
Th its of the Dorcas
B d Class of Crediton, and group
photos taken at the Crediton Ev-
angelical Church. But those that
stand out are once again taken in
and around Grand Bend: a scene in
front of the Imperial Hotel, and a
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Fri. Feb. 3rd
BECKER
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Products Inc.
600 Main St. S.
Exeter, Ont.
Ph: (519) 235-2757
Fax: (519) 2.35-4067
•
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