The Wilmingtonian., 1884-08-02
MODERN PHOTOGRAPHY.


would have us believe they did printing and
the manufacture of gunpowder2
Scarcely. If we have any evidence at all,
it is that photography as an art is not fifty
years old.and the first germs of the invention
do not date further back than the 18th CEN
tury, when the alchemists recognized that
the salts of silver were darkened by the
action of light. Then Priestley experimental
with bottle coated with chloride of silver
and covered with blackened sheet of paper
plate. Where the light penetrated through
the letters, the chloride of silver showed
black letters to correspond. Next came
Wedgwood's experiment in which negatives
were produced by the exposure of sheet of
sensitized paper under ordinary magic lam
tern slides. All these efforts were useless
for the purposes of the experimenters,
because the art of "fixing'' the result had
not been discovered The real father of
photography was Daguerre, who with Niepce,
produced the first permanent photograph in
1889, by the process known as daguerrotyp-
ing. Both men were literally rewarded by
the French government, but the daguerrotype
was very unsatisfactory affair beside the
modern photograph. 1t was susceptible of "a
6alinanu nf 1ol H.
process, but its application was very limited,
and the unhappy sitters had to pose under
burning sun for many minutes at a time.
In fact the ordeal Of sitting for daguerro-
type was one which few cared to undergo a
second time.
The next step was the substitution of a
collodion film on glass, for the expensive
silvered plate. This reduced the cost to
faetional part of the original price charged
BY the few favored daguerrotypers. The
time of exposure was also cut down to
seconds instead of minutes. Photographers
sprang up by hundreds and thousands. The
pet1ei ciass oi these men inaue rapid ior-
tunes; the remainder revenged themselves by
turning out what we should now call horri-
ble caricatures of their patrons. The best
photograph of thirty years ago was very
sorry affair. 1t failed to give the half-tones
by which the rounding of the face and the
delicate character-lines are expressed One
uniform flstness of light and shadow was
all that could be obtained. Landscapes
could not be photographed at all.
In 1860 great forward stride was made.
Cameras were improved chemicals were
rendered more sensitive and the negative"
took the place of the positive. Cartesde-
visites ruined the last hopes of the miniature
painters Operators began to study their
art, instead of working by rule Of thumb.
They learned the chemistry of photography
and the artistic aspect of the human face.
They began to see what Rembrandt had seen
long years before, that the halftones are
everything, and that the high-lights and
deep shadows form mere spots in picture.
From this time forward photography became
a scientific industry, instead of mere cou-
jurors trick 1t was shorn of its mystery,
but exalted into one of the fine arts.
Such is the impression Immediately pro-
duced by a visit to the studio of Whining
toms celebrated photographer, j. Paul
Brown. 1t is no secret that much of Mr..
Browns success is due to the fact that he
is an artist as well as a photographer His
pictures are literally and truly speaking
likenesses, for every detail of the face is
brought out to perfection, and the expression
of the stters is entirely free from the painful
vacant stare or stereotyped grin so common
y observed in the work of inferior artists.
1t is idle to suppose that two men with the
same apparatus and chemicals will produce
photographs of equal merit. In one sense
photography is mechanical process, but
the same may be said Of cooking, and we
know well that there are good and bad
cooks. Long experience and an artists eye
are the secrets of Mr.. Browns success All
the hluutlie ol posing SlUter cOmiorta-
bly,, of lighting the figure, of proper appre-
citation Of actinsm-these he has mastered
thoroughly.
Mr.. Browns new quarters at 617 Market
street have been expressly constructed for
the carrying on Of his business, and are
complete in every detail The reception
room is handsomely carpeted and in an
adjoining apartment intending sitters will
find every facility for making themselves as
trim and spruce as possible. A third room
is devoted to the specimens Of the artists
work, giving patrons the widest possible
selection of style, pose and mounting. On
the upper floor is the operating room, with
the splendid camera and accessories, in
which the operator Mr.. Wier, may be
found coaxing pleasing expression out of
the most unpromsing countenance. There
is trick of art in this, which involves
special apparatus, and which, as the writer
found from experience, enables photo
graph to be taken while the subject is una
ware of it, and even while he is care. .essly
Gonversing with the operator. In the
adjoining apartment is the "retouching
room in whic: hard lines, frowns, heavy
eyeiids and defects are touched out before