The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1882-06-10
Itinerant phetesrsvhv..
.The apparatus that cheese itiner,

carry is cheap lens, and a box, and a
wheeIbarrow in which a dark room of
cloth can be hastily constructed, and in
which the negatives are developed.
Then the negatives are slowed in box,
and impressions taken on returning
home. OF course the business is a nnre
speculation It pays, though know a
man who makes forty dollars a day wan
dering around the 6tyin this way. He en-.
ploys an assistant who prints and mounts
the pictures, and third man delivers
them and collects the money. The pur-
chaser pays about twenty-five cents
apiece for hisphotographs. Some Of the
pictures are not worth q cent That oc-
ours when the photographer faces the
sun when he takes the impression. for
then the shadows fall toward the OBJ
server. But the itinerant does not care
for that; his object is gained, when it's
a dwelling, if he gets the whole family
on the piazza, or, when its store. If he
gets an impression of the sign and Of
shopkeeper standing in the doorway.
Queer things happen to these itinerants.
In London once one of the craft took q
picture Of hotel. The windows were
open, and a clock on the wall was distinct
" seen inrthe picture. Not long afterward
gentleman who was sitting on the
piazza at the time the picture was taken
was arrested for passing forged check
at a bank. At the trial the bank clerks
united in testifying positively that the
prisoner was at the bank at two D. N.
The photographer, who had got wordof
Al -
tered the court room, climbed to the
witness stand and exhibited the photo
graph. The face of the prisoner was
distinctly recognized, and the clocks
hands pointed at two o'clock. The
hotel was seven miles from the bank.
The jury acquitted the prisoner after the
photographer had testified that he was
at the hotel on the daylwhen. the forged
check was cashed. s..l
/" Another incidentI know of which
had not so pleasant an ending. An tim
Grant. in an English village, ndhe was
spIritualist in belief, had set his CAM
era in front of house and focused it.
While he had his head hidden in his
darkened tent preparing his negative a
practical joker came along and stuck a
piece of paper on-the lens, SO that it was
entirely covered. The photographer put
his plate in the camera and was, about
to expose it to the building. when the
wag offered to bet him any amount of
money that there, would be no picture on
the plate. The photographer bet every
he supposed. When he developed the plate
it showed nothing. In his chagrin he
shot himself dead The story was re-
ported in the London newspapers some
time since.
/" Most of these itinerants are prosper
ouss but some of the tin-typers who take
your picture on the street for ten cents
are Bohemians. One Of them occasion-
ally drops in here and asks me to sell
him ten cents worth Of collodion, or ten
cents worth of nitrate Of silver OF
course / give him twenty-five cents
worth for nothing, as ten cents worth is
almost nothing. They are the tramps of
the profession"
:" Do amateur photographers do any
creditable out-of-door work?'
"By the invention of the dry plate
process a field has been opened to anna
teurs never before dreamed OF. For
merly it was necessary to cart around
bulky apparatus, with bottles of chemi-
Gals in solution, bath holders, ETC.; but
now the lens is carried on the back in a
compact little knapsack, while the tripod
shuts up like an umbrella, and can be
used as cane. Twenty-Five pictures
can be made in day by tyro. He re-
turns to his hotel at night, wraps up his
negatives, and sends them home by ex-
press. In three months he has four hun
dred plates, and amuses himself all win
ter in developing them. Both before
and after the picture is taken the dry
plate looks like piece of glass with
piece of bladder pasted on it. You can
not conceive the pleasure the amateur
has in seeing scenes and events he has
long forgotten reproduced like magic
Artists in oil or in water color take
.tramps of this kind and obtain valuable
hints for ambitious paintings. It's an
easy way of sketching. Captain Abney,
of England, is an amateur, and he stands
at the head of the photographing bust
ness, as far as the theory of it is con-
cerned. He is wealthy, and has high
position socially, but he has given to
photography the best part of his life out
of love for it. He has delivered lectures
on the art and has printed books on the
subject, SO that those who have disputes
on a point in photography appeal to
Abney as the highest authority. Speak
ing of photographers and their disputes
and jealousies. there is to be convention
in indianapolis, Ind, in August next7--a
convention of photographers from all
parts Of the world for the purpose Of
starting an International Society Of Pho
tographers.n i risaj n
do you ever photograph dead per-
sonspn
Parents whose children die before
their pictures are taken often ask pho
tographer to come to the house. and they
want the picture to look as natural as
life. Skill is required, Of course. Once
when was called in / saved man IS
life When pulled up the eyelid to
dropin little collodion to keep the eye
lids lfirm there was a tremor and a re-
sistance. The man was ina trance, and
he, soon came out of IT, M, 49, Il.
.iDo you know Of any peculiar uses to
which out-of-door photographing may be