Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1902-07-24
THE NEW ERA IN PHOTOGRAPHY.
Life-like Poses Now Preferred to Old
Fashioned Look-pleasant Type.

! Chicago Tribune.-PhOtOgr 90
not say Look pleasant, please any
I moIe. The rejection OF that phrase,
! WnIcn suggests yet, as 1t dld When II
was coined, the Photographer gallery,
/ MARKS a smausIzed revolution in the
method OF taxing pictures. You can
WISH II galleries in Chicago, and Sc
leCting the galleries at random, may
have our picture taken in each OF the
II and never be admOnished once 10
screw your countenance into a SEM
blance OF enjoyment while the opera
tor snaps the picture. 1t is another
OF the customs that has gone out,
which used to be as distinctive OF the
gallery as the camera itself.
A study OF photographs taken 10 or
! 3 years ago, when the artistic IN
! photography mad not been developed
10 the point at which it is present to-
| DAY, shows that every one OF the suffers
| might nave been called victim, with
tIuLntuIness. The head was helu back
! as ii it belonged to horse in whose
mouth was a burr or attached to
| whose neck was a high check rein.
The hands were folded ponderously Or
| lett 10 bangle like hams incased in
canvas and hung in front OF the
! butchers snop. The feet always gave
the sitter tlouble. He looked in his
picture as il he had his feet on delicate
eggshells or that he feared it he
moved them he would die. The coat,
il the subject was a man, was either
| buttOned tightly and precisely or was
recklessly thrown open to reveal the
| exquisite pattern Of the waistcoat and
the tie. On the face OF each sitter was
an expression that came as close as
the photographer could get 1t to the
expression Napoleon must have worn
as he gained the summit OF the Alps,
or that which graced the classic feat
ureS OF the first president as in snow
and ice he crossed the turbulent Della
ware. A touch of graciousness soft
ened the martial look, as if the sitter,
who, tor all we know, might have been
engaged in as peaceful an occupation
as keeping books or selling RIBBONS,
were indulging in the contemplation
OF his own gigantic prowess and brain
power.
All that is gone now. In only the
most obscure shops in Chicago can
man be photographed in an attitude
expressive OF the strength and majesty
of the demi-god. Photographers OF to
Gay say that it used to be necessary
to say, Look pleasant, please" be-
cause the assumption of that attitude
suggested by the photograph man
made it impossible for the sitter to
look pleasant unless he was ordered
to do so. That is the respect in which
the photographs of today differ from
those of the past. Then it was all a
case of compulsion. Now the sitter is
given credit for the possession of facul-
ties of his own, and he is permitted to
assume those poses that he likes we'll
In the old days the aim was to make
most of the pictures alike, that is, to
have the same general poses
The actor and the writer had to be
photographed with his head in one of
his hands or intent upon the pages of
book. Some artist wanted to go
down to posterity looking anxiously
out Of the studio window as if seeking
the arrival of fame or a letter carrier
with money. Authors thought that
the casual observer of their counter
1elt presentmentS. would not know they
! were real authors unless they were
posed as if caught in the act-with
the paper before them and their pen
poised as it to write. Lecturers were
snapshotted or exposed to the time ex-
posture holding a sheet of paper in
their hands, this rarely beautiful pose
giving the effect Of lecturer saying
thirdly or filthy"
When a young man and his sweet
| heart We're taken it was against the
rules for them to be any farther than
half foot from each other. The voung
mans hand must rest on the young
woman's shoulder and if she be sitting
she must look up into his face with an
expression of ineffable trust and con-
fldence. His shoulders must be
swelled out as ii he were able to de-
feat the honorable James Jeffries if he
| ~ uSSllS GU. L iSIul CO III CIV SlOluSS
were also correct The production of
one of them was conclusive proof that
/ the sitter owned a suit of dress clothes,
| and it was not so long ago that this
| evidence was sign of great moral
! and mental as well as financial pros
! perity. Now all that is gone. The
! photographer seeks to secure only q
ltfelike picture of the patron. He
makes no request to hold the head up
q little higher" or to look intentIy at
the card l hold in my hand
All that he tries to get is a picture
that expresses the individuality Of the
sitter, and he puts no chains of con-
ventionality upon one who looks poor
ly in them. The day of the armtul of
lilies has gone by. That for long
time was a favorite pose. A girl would
be seen Tin picture, of course) stand.
ing at the edge of a wheat field hold
Ing in her arms bundle of flowers as
II they grew just inside among the
wheat. Picture-takers who say thai
now there is as much art in a photo
graph properly posed and properly taker
as there is in an oil painting, refuse
: to let sitters handicap themselves by
! getting into n0SitioOc hot h,