St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1891-03-01

ping, until at last the baby was pink,
white and naked in her maids arms.
Meanwhile the photographers assistant
had brought from the property room
bundle of wraps, which he artisticalIy
arranged on the table TO form a pictur-
esque background. The fire in the big
stove roared cheerily. The door leading
to the reception room was shut as tight
as drum, aud the air in the gallery
was like unto that of a furnace.
AT hrSt 1t was great sport, and the
child had an immense amount of enjoy
! ment ali to herself. She played tag with
the maid, broke three mechanical toys
and pulled the draperieS off the table
four times. 1t was like bathing time in
the nursery only it was more fun
During this preparatory period the
artist had focused the staring lens of
his big camera on the table, and was
ready for business. But by this time
the baby was tired of amusement and
wanted to go home. The tailor-made
lady was in despair, and the agony of
the French maid was touching.
Here came in the genius of the artist.
Here he proved that only a genius can
successfully photograph babies. A pc
culiar drOoping Of the left eyelid in the
direction of his assistant brought about
affairs.
In the neighborhood of the property
room deep drawn mieuw was heard.
and from the top Of toy boot the head
and fore paws of kitten suddenly APP
peared. The baby stopped crying, start
ed forward and smiled. The artist
squeezed little rubber ball he held IN
his hand, the camera clicked, and, be-
fore the maid could beg her charge to
''resteZ tranQuille," the photograph was
taken.
The dressing of the baby and the sec
ond photograph need not be told Of here.
The nude picture was the work of art
After the tailor-made lady and the maid,
the re-sWaddled baby and the impas-
Sive, Well-bred coachman had diSap-
peared around the corner, a reporter
asked Photographer Zimmerman how
often he had TO do such things.
About five times week" he said.
sometimes once day, sometimes
twice. About One-tenth of the chill
dren photograph are either taken nude
OF with very scanty clothing On.''
What do you do when they cry?''
IL have to wait until momentary
cessation. Very often a child will be
very obstreperous when it first comes
III, and we patiently wait, play with it,
and entertain it in some way, and after
awhile get it to laughing.
Sketch OF Baby Photography.
''There has been great change in
phOtOgraphing children since ] made
that my specially about thirty years ago.
1T was almost impossible with the appa-
ratus we had in those days to make
good picture of a baby. l did build,
however, q very large skylight, and
then, with what was known as a quick
working lens was able to get pct
ure on bright day III from four to six
seconds.
Now we take picture in quarter
of second. The baby that is grown up
to-day was always dressed in white
when 1t visited photograph gallery,
and very few nude pictures were ever
taken. You could hardly take nude
picture in those days. You could not
keep the child still long enough. and the
pictures were necessarily stiff, eSpeci-
ally those of very young children. The
mother or the nurse held the child, and
held it still while the artist stood by the
camera and his assistant danced war
dance and waved rattle to keep the
little one still. 1t was hard work, | can
tell you. After the dry plates, which
enabled us to work in one-fifteth of the
Iliii0 tIdC VIC ulu DclOTc, came INTO gen.
eral use in America a tremendous
change was made in the photographng
of children. Now we do not pose babies
any longer. We let them take whatever
pose they please. and when they strike
an attitude that is natural and artistic
we catch it in an instant. We take
them now with headrests or without
anything to hold them in one place. We
put them before the camera and often
take them in the act of getting down off
or climbing into chair or upon table,
and thereby secure very natural and
picturesque results, and the plates being
so sensitive to the action of light, the
shadows are made transparent: hence
the softness Of the modern picture"
"How young are the babies that you
photograph nude?"