Smyrna times., 1890-04-30
The Amateur Photographer.
ONE OF THE DANGERS WHICH THREAT
EN- OUR ADVANCED CIVILIZATION.


During the summer time the amateur
photographer is in his glory. If you
go up into the mountains or down by
the sea, or to any of the springs with
their healing and fashionable waters,
you will meet the person with the
camera.
The amateur photographer is prob
ably the worst kleptOmaniac in exist.
ence. He has but one idea, and that
is to take everything he can get focus
on. 1t is his special delight to surprise
people in unguarded moments and
confer upon them an ignominous card
board immortality. 1t is a very luke.
warm specimen of the class who will not
hang around in the shrubbery for up
ward of an hour to reproduce a pair
of lovers in the act of extracting honey
from each others lips-a very laudable
industry, by the way, and one with
which the world could i'll afford to dis
pense. But this is something that the
amateur photographer does not appre-
ciate. To him kiss is something very
amusing and picturesque when repro
duced in black and white-simply this
and nothing more.
This amiable person with a passion
for sneaking is thrown into transports
Of delight when he catches a lady in
an embarrassing position on top of a
fence, or an elderly and dignifed gem
tleman who has slid off sloping rock
into brook. He also likes to try his
skill in instantaneous photography
upon a red-shirted tourist pursued by
a bull. The amateur photographer is
a humorist in his way, just as the EN-
perOr Nero was. But it is a mighty
unpleasant way for the victims.
Still, there is this satisfaction about
it. Only once in great while can the
operator manage to produce anything
which is recognizable without a dia.
gram. Nobody, for instance, would
know the parties who are supposed to
be kissing-nOt even their most gossip.
loving friends. They are splotched all
over with broad daubs of shade, the
perspective is out of keller, and the
cOnjoined lips of the young persons
look something like a funnel. The
amateur photographer has done his
best to make the picture lifelike, but,
thanks to the superior modesty of the
camera and the fine sense of propriety
of the chemicals, his efforts have been
in vain.
There is no doubt that the amateur
photographer works very hard and
spends a great deal of money in the at
tempt to be first-class humOrist. He
should at least have credit for his in
dustry and the very effective way in
which he aids the circulation of Uncle
Samuel's small bills. Bat, after all, he
seems to have mistaken his vocation.
A person who can produce such afro
cious works of art as he can surely
ought to be making horrible toy masks
or painting tea chests in Hong Kong.
No doubt the amateur photographer
could also do the world a good turn as
an Arctic explorer, particularly if he
should freeze to death or be eaten up
by a polar bear. In fact. there are
many things which the amateur pho.
tographer might do much better than
he can handle sensitive plates and
chemicals. Why, Just think what a
grand subject he would make for
Pasteur or some of those medical
geniuses to experiment upon And
then, again, how nObly he could serve
science by jumping down the crater of
Vesuvius and finding out what the in
terror of the globe looks likel How
can person with so many grand op-
portunities for usefulness thus OPEN
ing before him be content to sneak
through the world with a cheap fold
ing camera and a Paul Pry disposition d?
This is something which has always
been harder for me to understand than
a cuneiform inscription.