Oxford Democrat., 1899-08-29
4 pealLoUs Art.
ADVENTURES or MEN WHO MAKE Nov
mo PICTURES.

There may be livelier and more ex-
citing occupations than taking photo
graphs for = moving picture concern,
bat II there are haven't heard Of them"
The remark Was made 10 the Office Of
one Of the big biograph companies the
other day by r. Armitage, an expert
field photographer, who has been cm-
ployed By the company for two or three
years, and has accomplished some Of Its
most difficult photographing achieve
"ihave Just been out to Niagara Falls" :"
Mr.. Armitage continued, ''and little
l had there made me think
over some Of the lively times . man Is
likely TO encounter Ia this sort Of work.
They have q trolley road out there
which runs through the gorge below the
falls, alongside the rapids. The road is
built 40 near as possible to the wpter,
because its business comes from persons
who want to get . close view Of the
rapids. In some places ths cars seem to
be directly over the water, and drops Of
nying spray are actually dashed aboard
the cars.
"The officers of our company thought
that II would be good plan to repro
duce this charming scene on the screen
for the enjoyment Of the admlring 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 1t, weigh several
hundred pounds, 80 you see they can't
be carried about like snapshot boxes.
We set our Gamers up on car, mounting
IL on high platform so that II would
take In view Of the whole river. Then
we timed the run over the road to see
how fast IL would be necessary to 60 to
get the whole scene upon our films. We
found Il required rather more than the
ordinary rate Of speed to do II, but that
did not bother Us, As we were 10 have
car 70 ourselves and clear line.
"At the appointed time we started of
at good clip. When We reached the
head Of the rapids we set the machine In
motion. The road 10 full Of curves, as IL
follows the course Of the river, aud 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 Il, when the car struck an
sharp curve. She reared up
again, but this time, instead Of coming
back TO the track, she balanced In the
air for minute and then went over on
her side. Luckily there happened TO be
q little ground between the track xnd the
water at this particular spot--enough TO
prevent car and the machine from going
into the river. We saved ourselves by
jumping NJ the right time. But II that
car had gone of the track at almost any
of the other points where she had threat
cned to do 40, the whole outfit would
have been plunged into the rapids.
.'One Of these big cameras, capable OF
taking 600 photographs per minute, is
worth good deal OF money, and nj
operator will run considerable personal
risk rather than desert IL. There are
occasions, however, when Ii 10 the part
OF wisdom for him to save his skin,
even at the expense of the machine.
"A case Of this kind occurred At At
lsntic City when we were photographing
the fire departments response to an
alarm. The alarm was one that was
sounded for our special benefit. The
firemen knew IL, and naturally wanted
10 make as good n showing as possible,
so they put on an extra burst OF speed.
''0ur camera was stationed At n 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 Z volunteer
hose cart, Its men dragging II along at q
great rate In an attempt To keep from
being last In the line. Racing with them
was an engine truck. The men with the
hose cart made the turn all right, but In
doing 90 they cut of the engine. The
driver Of the engine had the alternatives
Of running down the men who were pull
Ing the. hose cart, Of running into the
crowd Of onlookers along the street, or
OF keeping straight on and running over
our apparatus. He chose the latter,
reasoning, suppose, that rs there were
only two Of US we had better chances Of
getting out OF the way than had the
members Of the crowd.
ave took all the chance there wss
when we saw for q certainty that the
engine was coming our way. That was
none too soon. Our heels and those OF
the horses were close together wuen the
heavy engine raced past.
"Of course the camera was smashed
into flinders. But there WAS one curious
thing about Il. The only piece of the
machine left intact was the box into
which the dim Is reeled. There wasn't
anything but kindling wood left OF the
rest Of the camera, but this film boz
hadn't crack Ia it. When we came to
develop the film we found II had no,
been injured, and we had secured an ex.
ceptionaily good set of pictures.
"T'he machine had kept right on work.
Ing up TO the time when the pole OF the
engine struck Il. The last view shows q
pair Of big gray horses tearing along nj
full gAllop right out Of the centre Of tbf
picture. That set has been popular with
audiences because of It's realistic char.
acIer, but the people who wonder At Ia
naturalness would not be so surprised
II they knew the circumstances under
which Ii was obtained"
W ucu tuie nOtiuk piCture Dusiutcs
first came into existence" said another
operator, "a favorite subject was the
view Of an express train going sixty
miles an hour. The effectiveness OF the
view was heightened, of course, by show,
ing the train ss nearly head on as possi'
BILE. We tried TO find how close TO the
track we could set our mschine-snd in'
cidentally ourselves-without being
overcome by the suction Of the train
We found that there was no agreement
among railroad men themselves on this
point, but we finally figured it out thai
we could take up our stand five feet
from the track II we had an anchorage.
$50 We made ready 70 take through
express on one of the big roads and set
up our camera, securely fastened, five
feet from the track. There was signal
pole beside the machine, which we in'
tended to use for our own anchorage.
"The man with me had had some rail.
road experience, and had relied largely
on his opinion in arranging the business
Wan eir ,yhou tho a~praco chad Shx