The morning times., 1896-08-30
DEAD FACES PHOTOGRAPHED
Task That Picture Takers Like
to Shirk.
is A WELL-PAYING BUSINESS
Costs More to Photograph a Corpse
Than Live PersOn-Only One I'm
PRECISION Generally Made-StraDge
Cases That Have Happened In the
GrewsOme Vocation.

There is one kind of photography where,
though the human face is the objective point
before the camera Ut is never necessary to
say. PLEASE look pleasant" or course.
the picture taker would like To say the
words IL they would do any good, but they
would not. IT. is the photography of dead
faces. ih
There Is art in 1T, Just as there Is In
any other picture1making, aud it is pro-
dgiously more difficulty. To put express
sion in the face of corpse is like trying
to bring sOine natural pinkness to the
counteIance Of marble statue. Still the
photographer succeeds TO a greater or less
extent.
While every Washington photographer is
able to take picture OF a dead person,
there is probably only one that is recog-
nized as an expert in this line, and to whom
other photographers send orders that are
carried to them. His name is L. c. Handy,
and for years he has been called upon to
take a last likeness. CHASTITY though il may
be, OF some cold face that is about to be
laid away to return to its original dust.
Pictures OF dead people are always want
ed in those instances where the deceased
failed to have one taken during life The
living ones cannot submit to aIlo wing
their dear one to be buried without some
memento to show '.ho W he looked
PATRONIZED BY POOR PEOPLE.
Consequently photography of the dead is
generally among the poorer classes. In life
the deceased could not afford a picture.
In death his relatives buy 1t for him.
1t is not always the poverty -stricken,
however, who leave this world with their
image pictured only on memory's walls
There are those who could afford to buy
whole picture galleries every day Of their
hVes' Dut who leave no photograph. be-
hind them. They are people born with an
aversion to sitting before a camera.
NO doubt the photogr aphingo OF dead faces
IS q rather grewsome business but the
picture taker gradually grows accustomed
To his strange work. Then, there is profit
In It. 1t costs more to take the picture
or corpse than it does OF an animate
being. To philanthropic soul the pro-
LESSON is pleasure, too, because OF the
Joy oneis able TO impart to many a shat
tered heart during the course of one year.
The photographers say that generally
IL Is impossible to make the picture of a
corpse look life-like. The friends OF the
deceased never believe so until they see &,
the negative. But then even that always
pieases them, and they seem to always
bear in mi nd that the picture man has done
his best
The mostsuccesstul photography Of dead
persons, and the only case in which one
can get really life-lke expression. is
In the taking OF baby pictures. Here the
artist is able TO deceive. In fact, in many
Instances the results are better than il
The picture had been taken while the
child was alive and the Photographer had
TO contend with all the expressions of
emotions that fit across infant faces.
Ordinarily the picture is taken as If the
baby were sleeping. As early after death
as possible the little form is laid on a
pillow before the tense. An arm is folded
the head in the same manner
that the tot would have placed it had 1t
curled up on the pillow of its own accord.
The eyes, Of course, are kept closed,
but il the stiff little lips want to fly apart,
rs though the babe Were seeing the strange
sights of dreamland, nothing is done to
keep them closed. When the picture is fin
ished 1t is impossible to tell that the in
FAINT had not placed itself on the pillow OF
its own accord.
DO NOT LOOK LIFELIKE.
Beyond babies pictures, however, there
is nothing lfelike In the photograph of
a corpse. Equally true Is this If the ex-
posure is made within an hour or two
after death OF within Il day. There is a
stiffness that no articles, no makeup"
no touching In the negative will eliminate
AS might be expected. the photographer
finds the eyes one Of the greatest STUN
bling blocks in the picturing OF a corpse.
They must be open, the friends insist
In 80 per cent OF the cases. The result, as
a rule, is ghastly in the extreme.
In the first place, it is next to impossi-
bic for the picture taker to have the
eyes stay open. Pieces Of tootbpick and
similar devices are resorted to. They
however, only keep the eyelids apart.
The eyeballs insist on rolling upward or
downward. 1t Is next to an impossibiity
to prevent 1t.
Sometimes photographers have held the
eye down for a minute or more at time.
1t would be fixed in some
thing ike natural position. But within
ten or twelve seconds after the hand was
removed, so that the exposure might he
made, the ball would roll back and the
lids gradually come together. The ex-
posture would not be sufficient to make
an impression on the plate, and a blot OF