Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1899-08-12
Adventures of Men Who Make Nov
ing Picture Views.
TAKING CHANCES With A Big BLAST
Photographing From an Engines
Pilot at Sixty Miles an Hour
UNEXPECTED REALISM OFTEN


Written for The Evening Star.
There may be livelier and more ex-
| citing occupations than taking photographs
for a moving picture concern, but if there
! are 1 haven't heard of them.
| The remark was made in the office of one
| of the big biograph companies the other
| day by F. Armitage, an expert field pho
| tographer, who has been employed by the
company for two or three years, and has
| accomplished some of its most difficult pho
| tographing achievements.
Il have just been out to Niagara Falls"
Mr.. Armitage continued, land little ex-
perience 1 had there made me think over
some of the lively times man is likely to
| encounter in this sort of work. They have
trolley road out there which runs through
| the gorge below the falls, alongside the
| rapids. The road is built near pos
sible to the water because it's business
| comes from persons who want to get a
| close view OF the rapids. In some places
| the cars seem to be directly over the water,
and drops of flying spray are actually dash
| ed aboard the cars
| The officers of our company thought
that it would be a good plan to repro
| duce this charming scene on the screen
| for the enjoyment of the admiring pub
| lie, and they assigned me to the task of
| securing the views.
| The cameras we use for this work.
| along with the electric apparatus and the
motors to operate it, weigh several hundred
| pounds, you they can't be carried
about like snapshot boxes. We set our
| camera up on car, mounting it on a high
/ platform that it would take in view
| of the whole river. Then timed the run
| over the road to see how fast it would be
| necessary to go to get the whole scene
| upon our films. We found it required
| rather more than the ordinary rate of speed
| to do it, but that did not bother US, a we
were to have a car to ourselves and a clear
| line.
Hafr-Raisips Experience.
| Eat the appointed time We started off at
| a good clip When we reached the head
| of the rapids we set the machine in mo-
| ton. The road is full of curves, as it fol-
! lows the course of the river, and every
| time we went around one of these curves
| the car seemed to rear up on one side. We
| had passed two or three without leaving
! the track and were beginning to get used
| to 1t, when the struck unusually
| sharp curve. She reared up again. but
| this time, instead of coming back to the
track, she balanced in the air for a min
| ute and then went over on her side.
Luckily there happened to be a little
ground between the track and the water
at this particular spot-enough to prevent
and the machine from going into the
river. We saved ourselves by jumping at
| the right time. But if that car had gone
off the track at almost any of the other
points where she had threatened to do so,
into the rapids.
Overheard in the Rapids.
"a somewhat similar experience befell me
some time ago while photographic the
| Cedar Rapids in the st. Lawrence river.
We had been making a record Of the pas
sage of a boat through the rapids, and
| had our machine mounted a log float,
| ballasted with rocks. We threw off some
of the rocks from time to time, the
I
| end of our task, the float was lghtened
| sufficiently so that the weight of the
camera, being forward of the center, tip
| ped it up on one side, and off went machine,
men and all into twenty feet of water.
Fortunately for us, there We're men with
coils of rope handy by on board the boat,
| and we were pulled out without suffering
any more serious Inconvenience than re-
suits from an unexpected cold bath. 1t
| time before the camera was
| grsppled and lifted from the river bed.
''Une of these big cameras capable of
| taking 200 photographs per minute, is worth
| a good deal Of money, and an operator will
| run considerable personal risk rather than
| desert it. There are occasions, however,
| when it is the part of wisdom for him to
| save his skim even at the expense of the
| machine.
| "A case of this kind occurred at Atlantic
| City when we We're photogra phing the fire
| department. response to an alarm The
| alarm one that was sounded for our
| special benefit. The firemen knew ii, and
naturally wanted to make as good a show
| ing as possible, SO they put on an extra
! burst of speed
4 Climax of Realism.
| "Our camera was stationed at a corner
where the engines were to make turn.
Down they came, pellmell, and we took
| them in all right until near the end of the
| line. Then along came a volunteer hose
| cart, it's men dragging it along at great
| rate in an attempt to keep from being last
| in the line. Racing with them was
| CINE truck. The men with the hose cart
made the turn all right, but in doing so
| they cut off the engine The driver of the
| engine had the alternatives of running
down the men who were pulling the hose
cart of running into the crowd of onlookers
| and running over our apparatus. He chose
| the latter, reasoning, l suppose, that as
| there were only two of us We had better
| chances of getting out of the way than had
| the members of the crowd.
| 1--WE took all the chance there was when
we saw for certainty that the engine was
| coming our way. That was none too soon.
| Our heels and those of the horses were
| close together when the heavy engine raced
past.
"Of course the camera was smashed into
| flinders. But there was one curious thing
| about it The only piece of the machine
| left intact was the box into which the film
| is reeled. There wasn't anything but kin
ding weed left of the rest of the camera,
we came to develop the film we found it
| had not been injured. and We had secured
an exceptionally good set of pictures.
1.-The machine had kept right working
up to the time when the pole of the engine
struck it. The last view shows a pair of
| big gray horses tearing along at full gallop
| right out of the center of the picture That
| TzzlzlEI
| :A||Ill||II IA
~