Waterbury evening Democrat., 1889-03-09
4 PHOTOGRAPHERS TRIALS.
Extravagant Demands on Ills Skin. Ps
 tience and Good Nature

| FHOfOd1APfiER'S TRIALS. ] Extravagant Demands on Ills Skill, Pa tience and Good Nature.
 A photographer meets with many strange characters and is witness of
 many curious incidents. In a recent in-
 formal talk before the Society of Amateur
 Photographers, Abraham Bogardus, the
 veteran photographer, told number of
 amusing stories of incidents that hap
 pened to him in the course of his forty
 one years experience in the studio and
 dark room. He prefaced his talk with a
 few sarcastic remarks regarding young
 men who write long screeds in photo
 graphic papers on how to take photo
 graphs, whom the experiences of single
 day under the skylight'' would cause
 them to wish they had never been born. He then went on to speak of the un-
 reasonable demands which many sitters l make.
 "At one time," he said, "a lady
 brought three children, two boys and
 girl, to me, to have their pictures taken.
 They came all prepared, with doll for
 the girl and gun and hobby horse for
 the boys. We'll, there was row at the
 start. Both boys wanted to mount the
 horse. We got that settled after time,
 Sut only to strike new trouble. Of
 course you all know that the nearer to-
 gether you group the objects to be photo
 graphed the better picture you will get.
 Well, this woman was genius in her way;
 she did not want her children grouped close together as other peoples were, but she wanted the little girl taken in the
 middle of the room and the boys off in opposite corners. Of course I told her 1t could not be done, whereupon she said: Well, Mir. Bogardus. have always been told that you were very accommo- dating. 1 have been to three or four photographers and they all told me the same thing. 1 don't see as you are any moro accommodating than the rest of them At another time a man, an Irish man, of course, wanted q carte-de-visite. and he wanted it life size Some peo- pie, by the way, never seem to under stand the difference between full length and life size.' l told him that the plate wouldn't hold it. Then take it with the legs hanging down, were his instruc- tlons. Gen. Logan, who used to sit for me, did not often joke, but he did occa- sionally. He came in ono day and saw hanging on the wall a picture of a man whom he greatly disliked He turned to me and said: I see you take pictures of everybody Yes was my answer: that is what am hero for I suppose you would take picture of the devil if you could get him to sit for you.' Of course. suppose could run off good many of them in Washington Yes he replied that's the best place in the world to sell them
 An old lady once came to me who wanted picture, full face, but little three cornered.' l once asked Dr. Tyng if he would not prefer side view, and | he replied: No, sir. I am an upright | man. don't turn to the right or left 1 for any man. But amid all the fun we l also see some very sad things. remem- Der once woman came in with bundle | ln her arms which when unrolled proved l to be the dead body of her little baby, which she wanted photographed. re- member once one of our venerable judges came in with his wife. I took both their pictures. He was perfectly 1 with his, but she did not seem exactly pleased with hers, said it was too i old. The Judge turned to her and re- marked: Well, mother, if you wanted handsome picture you should have be- gun thirty years ago. That settled it; she had nothing more to say. A lady came to mo once to make an appoint ment for friend who, she said, was very difficult to suit. She had tried dozens of photographers and had never been suited. Of course I promised to do the best could for her. At tho ap- pointed time the lady came. She was old, and weighed at least 200 pounds. Her skin looked like boiled lobster, and she was clad in low neck and short sleeves. l did not wonder she was never suited. We'll, did. my best, but when the picture was made she agreed with me perfectly that it did look horrid. She lid not order any of them. ."-New York Tribune.