Evening star., 1896-10-15
COLLECTIONS OF PHOTOGRAPHS.
PUblfshersr< Pictures Who Say That
Good Work is Hard to Get.
r?,or, tho Na,.. v-,,a- Co..

PublfshersrH Pictures Who Say That
Good Work is Hard to Get.
From the New York SUM-
There are several men in this town who
would pay well for a collection of good
photographs showing attractive subjects
and capable Of being published seriaay.
Notwithstanding tie thousands Of profess
sional photographers i'm this country and
the tens of thousands of amateurs IL is ex-
tremely difficult to obtain such collection
outside OF certain narrow limits. There are
innumerable photographs of actors ond
actresses, some of them beautiful speci-
mems CT the art; choice more restricted
in regard to both numbers anl quality Is
offered in views of well-known places and
scenery. and there are the large and beau
uful Photographic reproductions Of paint
ingS, most of which are imported from
Europe. But outside of these lines IL is not
easy to find anything 50 striking and crigi
nal as TO offer fair promise of profit to
the publisher
The development of the half-tone snCrav-
ing process has brought about a SITUATION
in regard to Photographs which i, analo-
gous to that of the book publisher A
cheap and effective means of reproduction
is at hand. and there seems &c be a public
demand for the pictures: but publishers
can't find the proper pictures TO reproduce,
ficulty that the book publisher has in dis
covering successful novel There is
plenty to show that the public is hankering
after material of this kind. Several rival
publishers reproduced the photographs of
the worlds fair in serial form. and most of
them made large profits. The edition print
ed by one firm is said to have exceeded
GDC0 copies at the close, and the men,
hers Of the firm are said to have made a
fortune cut of the scheme in less than a
year. Their success drew other publishers
into the same field, and various albums ard
collections of the same general character
fhkl l1f Sfr ha.ya
Bad management has made costly failures
OF some of the enterprises but in general
there has been enough success 20 indicate
large appetite on the part Of the public for
cheap art in this form.
The thing which, more than anything
else, has kept the market from being focd-
ed by publications of this kind Is the diff
Guilty OF obtaining the photographs The
trouble is thus explained by a man who
has spent good deal of time and money in
getting photographs together:
t., Nine OUT OF ten photographers lack
their work In a purely mechanical spirit
Ihey get 50 used to squirting their ewes to
gauge the intensity of the light and the
lehsth or the exposure that they grow
wholly blind to human interest and the
beSutj OF the picture. All they want is to
obtain certain effects. That Is true wheth-
er they are working I'm a gallery or taking
pictures In the country. The public is part
ly responsible for this 1t IS willing 10 ac
cept almost anything in the way If a pic
ture. and doesn't force the photogr.ohers
10 stuoy composition like painters, for in
stance. An artist studies The compositjon
OF MS picture as muCh h AS he does the execu-
tion; nut the photographer never gives it a
thought All he cares for IS 20 have ,he
Hght right. Yet the success ,f a nho,o
Efaph Hes quite as much in com % sition as
II does in techrical handling The two or
Ihree most successful Photographers in
new YORK today have established their
popularity not by their ability to measure
light and pour out cheru!cais hui ler.,,.a
tney make study of their sittors and use
tnelr brains and imaginations TO r.scovar
s e.e most enective pose. They get twenty
| nVe ana nifty dollars for their pictures. but
| the general public is Satisfied with in. sti-f
unnatural portraits, for which they raw
from hve TO twelve dollars. The same is
arEe @ or out-of-door Photography. Occasion
any Ia the country you will be astonish.d
py coming across village pho;oyrap.,a-
| or man travelling about, who takes pic
| lures that are sylvan poems; but for the
mos par they lack everything except liz hit
| ana ana shade, and a man who mas a house in
| the country Is willing 10 paw from two 10
| twenty-five dollars for one of those things
simply because II shows his house That
| sort OF thing Is immoral, because i, spoils
| the photographers, and keaps them from,
| oo:hs the best work they are capsnle of
| You might think that the na;y y-arsninS
| turhished subjects SO interesting and pic
tCiesque IN themselves that the dcyastat-
| ing hand of the photographer co;Id MOI
| rehccr them life!ess. Yet a Sc: of views
| mas been published which shows item so
| stale, nat and Improbable that the only
way 10 tell them apart is TO count the
| nasts or tunnels. Ever since the art of
photography was discovered people have
| peen looking forward to the tine when il
shofi.d become the twin sister .1f printing
| in recording the history of the world, and
| in making the world acquainted with it
| self. mat era is still about as far away as
ever, ard 1t WON'T be here until photogra-
| pliers generally put more ina gina ton into
| their work. In the meantime, publishers
| wonder how they can get material
In this country the government photogra-
| piers have done some magnificent work in
| connection with the exploration OF little
| known parts of the country. Splendid col
| lections OF photographs have also been
| taken by individuals in the soutnw est
| among the pue5lcs and along TIE line Of
| the Pac.nc railroad. Some pho: 0yra phs of
| southern life have been so good that ;ley
| have Travelled over the world But consil-
| ering the quantities of chemicals consumed
| III photography every year the output of
| he hn!5hed predict does not seem very
| great One promising field to which in
| creasing attention is given is that OF photo
| graphing game in its native freedom in the
| forest Some Of the few men and women
| who have been successful dt it have pro-
| dCced results worthy 10 be included in the
l tac rtl