The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-08-13
PERILOUS PHOTOGRAPHY.
,nVrNTURES OF MEN WHO MAKE
MOVING PICTURE VIEWS.

Onoratfug Camera From an En-
..iue'S Pilot at sixty Miles an Hour.
Excitement in PhOtOgraphing Nj
,,ra's Rapids-TakinE Chances
with big BInst-At the Bottom of
Che st. Lawrence-UneXpec
peniism in Fire Department
sccne-Adventures with Multi
xic,y Camera in the War-WOuld
Have Photographed the lombard
ment of san Juan But the Crew
Stampeded-At Close Quarters
win n Fast Express Train.
New York. Aug. 11.-"There may he live
Her and more exciting occupations than
,,.inc 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
or5er day by +. Armitage, an expert field
rb5toeranher, who has been employed by
The company for two or three years, and
has accomplished some of its most diff
cult plotogi aphing achievements.
"a have Just been out to Niagara Fails"
Mr. Armitage continued, land a little ex-
psrenee ] mad there made me- think over
some of the lively times a man is likely
10 encounter in this sort Of work. They
have trolley road out there which runs
through the gorge below the falls, along
side The rapids The road is built as near
a possible TO the water, because its bus
mess comes from persons who want to
SCI a close View of the rapids. In some
places the cars seem to be directly over
the water and drops of flying spray are
ee,uelly dashed aboard the cars.
THE officers of our company thought
thai it would be good plan 10 reproduce
ibis charming scene on the screen for the
ENJOYMENT of the admiring public and they
assgned 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 hun
sred pounds, so you see they can't be car
he'd about like snapshot boxes. We set our
camera Up On a car, mounting it on high
Platform SO that it would take in a view of
n ue whole river. Then we timed the run
ever the road to see how fast il would
L necessary to 20 10 get the whole scene
n apOn our films. We found ii required rath-
H more Than the ordinary rate of speed
E to do Cd, but that did not bother us, as we
"A we're 10 have a car to ourselves and clear
+ tae.
Purchasing Experience.
"At the appointed time we started off
n at good clip. When We reached the
head OF the rapids we set the machine in
Fl notion. The road is full of curves as il
Il follows the course of the river. and every
tine we went around one of these curves
Ne car seemed to rear up on one side.
We had passed two or three without leav-
ing the track and We're beginning to ger
4 used to il, when the car struck an uu-
n usually sharp curve. She reared up again.
out this time instead of coming back to
me track, she balanced in the air for
minute and then went over on her side.
Laeklly, there happened to be a little
ground between the track and the water
al lHlS particular spOt-enough TO prevent
car and the machine from going into the
HFei We saved ourselves by jumping
az Inc right time But if that car had
gone oil the track at almost any of the
Clher points where she had threatened to
20 so the whole outfit would have been
plunged into the rapids.
Overheard in the Rapids.
somewhat similar experience befel
me some time ago while photographing
W Cedar Rapids in the St Lawrence
,fer' we had been making a record OF
me passage OF boat through the rapids,
Nv mao our machine mounted on a log
Na'' oailasted with rocks. We threw OF
slHe OF the rocks from time TO time as
" Work proceeded. until finally. Just at
a ms eho our task, the float was Hghtened
|-l'' eutly so that the weight of the cam
e'' osIhg forward of the center. tipped
'' on one side, and off went machine
FL ana all into twenty feet of water.
C,.i- ,".e' eiy Tor us, there were men with
Il sr1 VI rope handy by on board the boat.
s we We're pulled out without suffering
4 s,i. NO. serious inconvenience tnan re-
i.s from an unexpected cold hath n
c, s3lHe time before the camera was
I p43u ana lifted from the river bed
tarie-. 90 ~ tnese big cameras capable Of
49, -yO Photographs per minute. Is
Tor ,.rI sood deal OF money and an opera
ra,b"r-l Z uh considerable personal risk
bo,r-' nan desert 1t. There are occasions.
hin, en- When 1t is the part of wisdom for
Of the machine. ven a. 'iie expense
III, C.ae on this kind occurred OF Allan
fr 10y When we were photographing the
r1 gYar 'ment's response to an alarm
our -''iiu was one that was sounded for
mn 9ps.7l benefit. The firemen knew il.
s5l,,. u,'lurally wanted to make as good
tra h...7 as possible, so they put on an ex-
va burst Of speed.
a Climax of Realism.
W.T. camera was stationed at a corner
Doo'n Inc engines We're to make turn
~ 0aeF came pel-mell and we took
n" 1T, a. right until near the end of the
rr. Ihen along came "a volunteer hose
r- us men dragging it along at a great
~ j" an attempt 20 keep from being last
- ne line. Racing with time was an en-
49, '.uck. The men with the hose cart
s-,. me turn all right; but in doing so
e9l off the engine. The driver Of
i SINE mad the alternatives of running
s %" tne men who were pulling the hose
4 2ol running into the crowd OF onlook-
".gHs me street, or Of keeping straight
Ut running over our apparatus. He
~ we latter reasoning suppose. that
~, were only Two Of us, we had be-
0n'hces Of getting out of the way than
80, S"e members of the crowd.
'e COOK all the chance there was when
"a" Tor a certainty that the engine was
mug our way. That was none TOO coon