The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1903-05-17

The idler knows why he loved Broadway
nv nieht with its thousand incandescents.
TIA burryipp cabs, its beautiful women.
and its theatres. Tho stranger in town
knows why he fascinated by that long
row of altering white disks. those strange
sounds and sights. the jangle OF the electric
ears. the brilliant windows of the florists,
the plarinr theatrical signs. the light and
color and life that are found nowhere else
in the world But most OF all the ARTIST
and the photographer love the White Light
district. From Fourteenth street to Forty
fifth street. Broadway presents hundred
ever varying pictures.
The man who takes photographs by
night has a peculiar and delicate task be-
fore him. He must understand light and
shadow. He must understand camera
and chemicals in way that passeth the
understanding of the day photographer,
He must have the nerve of prilehghter.
the patience of job and the temper OF an
angel.
From the moment that he sets his camera
down. the curious and the lazy on Broad
way begin to gather about HIM in an ever
growing crowd He is the butt of TIVE nty
iokes a minute, and the victim Of all the
questions that people know how to ask.
in fact, he himself becomes one of the
pec,,lsr figures Of Broadway night life.
The arclght and the incandescent fla
ment first made night photography out OF
doors possible. Not until darkness was by
them abolished and the streets we're illuml-
mated with electric lights did such posi-
bihty present itself.
1t was in 1896 and 1897 that Paul Martin
first took his famous views Of London by
night. Since then no night scenes in Pho
Biography have equalled, much less sur
passed his. They had tho artistic quality.
They were as fine technically spictorially
There are so many sources of that radiant
energy which is capable of producing images
at night upon the sensitive surface Of the
modern Cryplate. that each and every one
must be considered by the man who wants
to take pictures at night. The last touch
Of departing day. after thesun has set, is
wonderful in its effect.
Moonlight. too. makes beautiful and
strange impressions. In Alabama where
the moons are almost like the Northern suns
in their brlliancv. some amateur photog-
raphers have taken wonderful pictures of
hauntea rivers by moonlight, so full OF
silvery Wilderness that, when printed in
brown, they might have been mistaken for
paintings in sepia.
The subjects for night pictures are in
Vulnerable. And, although the city has
her lures, outdoor rural scenery is also
fascinating subject. Every man who has
felt the stir of the camera in his soul has
longed to reproduce the moon in moment
of unusual splendor, a wonderful bit OF
lighting in the sky just after the sun has
disappeared in the West, a great pyro-
technic display or rainy night in which
the streets show enticing reflections.
The apparatus required by the man who
takes night pictures is simple. It in no way
differs from that OF the day photographer
except that strong weatherproof
box camera is Of course absolutely
necessary. In addition 20 this the man
who wishes to be successful should lay in
q large stock of non-halation plates, and
an extra quantity Of patience and indf-
ference to the presence of curiosity seekers.
Rapid plates are, Of course, necessity,
because of the prolonged exposures re-
ulired at best. Like a good house wife,
TOO, he wants some safely old and soft piece
Of linen for wiping otf the lens in case
moisture should settle upon it. A clouded
lens means loss Of definition or sharp
lines in fhe picture, and dirty lens means