The Portland daily press., 1890-01-17
a recreation admirably adapted to both

a recreation admirably adapted to both
sexes.
After all, the excellence of the results
accomplished are dependent upon the
skill of the artist. The time of the ex-
posure must be regulated according to
the light and the character of the subject.
To make indiscriminate 'shots" at all
sorts of objects is the pastime of the
schoolboy and not of the artist. The most
| beautiful effects are obtained by proper
study of the lights and shadows of the
| landscape, coupled with a skillful ex-
posure of such duration as is best calcu-
lated to draw out all the beauties of the
scene. The dark foliage of trees will re-
quire a longer exposure than house that
has been painted white. And in this
connection it is proper to remark that the
most inane and insipid feature of the pas.
time is the photography of houses. No
artist who is in love with the art will
waste any of his precious negatives upon
houses except. perchance, those that are
singularly beautiful and rustic in their
architectural conception.
Landscapes constitute the poetry of
photography. They make up the rhyth
mic beauty of the Photographic melody.
A proper appreciation of the art is pre-
dicted upon the delicate unreasonable
ness of the artist with reference to natu-
raj scenery.
The photography of faces that have
been previously prepared to the "ordealn
should be left for the professional
whose appreciation of the art is circum-
scribed by the limitations of the almighty
dollar. 1t is his business to fiatter human
vanity for sordid lucre. The amateur
must not prostitute the art. to such base
ends. If he desires to embalm a sweet
face or graceful form on the unfading
tablets of photography, he should ''take"
them by the instantaneous process, when
they are not posing for it.
Groups of merrymakers, taken at
picnic or outing, without any warning
from the operator, form alaughable feat
ure of photography, and the pictures
have the rare merit of being exceedingly
natural"
The time is coming when an educated
man will not think of starting upon a
pilgrimage without his trusty camera,
upon whose never failing power he may
depend to secure panorama of his
journey, which will be one of the COM
forts of his declining years. A glance
at the pictures will revive thousand
tender associations of earlier days.
The time is also coming when every
educated man who builds himself
home to live in, will give as much at
tention to the construction of the "dark
room" as he does to the library. In the
dark room, where may be developed at
leisure the results of days tramp in
field and forest, are to be found the true
delights of photography. Here are
evolved by the wand of the Photographic
wizard, the pictures that will hang on
memory's wall for many years to come.
After the days battle and the ignoble
strife for gain is ended, it is sweet to re-
tire into the quiet seclusion of t.le en-
chanted dark room, and bring to light
the hidden sun pencilings of a long
ramble through the woods in the au-
tumn days.
The dark room is an institution that
will mollify the asperities of connubial
life and dissipate the corroding perplexi-
ties of business care.