Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-07-28
Written for The Star.


is his sort of weather. with everybody IL
the open and easy of access. lie may be
poking the eye of his black box at you ar
hour or two from now He doubtless will
be doing so, If you are prominent in any
way. for there is a steady demand among
publishing folk for Photographic human
documents of men and women in the pub
lie eye, and to secure them has become the
business of a goodly number of camera
men. Then there is the amateur-"the
fiend'-who likes to catch you in the act
of lighting cigar or slapping comrade
on the shoulder, that he may boast to some
friend later on how he got you dead to
rights when you were off your guard.
Sometimes it is easy to get rid of a
"fend," but right here it were well to re-
member this: though you may try never SC
hard to get away from the professional
snapshot mans little machine, he is pretty
certain to get you sooner or later, for the
devices employed by him to accomplish his
fell purpose are many and frequently highly
ingenious.
A certain professional who desired to
secure a series of pictures Illustrating
child's life as It exists In city streets in
summer hired a covered wagon. made a
opy, put camera and himself in the wag-
on and ordered the driver to stop along the
curb whenever he beheld children at play.
Then while the truthful subjects were all
unconscious of the fact that they were hav-
ing their "picters took the camera, held
at hole, was successfully focused on them
and the shutter snapped.
In order to secure shots" of the society
notables at a recent New York wedding
another photographer enlisted the services
of a society editor for a consideration. AS
each grande dame appeared at the mouth
of the sidewalk canopy after the ceremony,
the editor, who had taken up his station
close by. politely called her name. Natural
w. she paused moment, turning to locate
the voice, and in that instant the camera
got in its deadly work unawares. This
photographer now boasts remarkable col
lection of half and full profiles of women
who are known pretty well by name
throughout the country.
Taking" a Bride-Elect.
Somewhat similar in character was the
trick employed by third snapshot artist.
who had been promised three yellow-bac tx
bills for natural likeness of a bride-eleet
of several summers ago.
While vainly shadowing the young lady
he discovered that she was in the habit of
being driven direct to the stables, that she
might pet and feed dainties to the horse
that had taken her out for the morning air
ing A short time after this bit of informa-
ton was secured the Idea percolated
through the mans mind that perhaps there
was some one among the stable force who
was human and would respond to the uni
versal desire to pick up little easy
money! To his intense delight he was able
to enter into a conspiracy with the stable
czar This man of corduroy was given the
necessary instruction concerning the opera
ton of a snapshot camera, and one fine
morning the camera, with Its eye peeping
through a convenient hole. caught the
young lady fairly In the act of gracefully
descending from her carriage.
One particularly successful snapshot art
list does nearly all his work Win small
fiat film camera built especially for him.
He carries ii under his coat, and when
occasion demands the eye of the camera
is thrust through hole in the coat made
for that purpose When not In use the
hole is covered with what looks like an
ordinary flap. The camera Is always TO-
cused for certain distance-a few yards
and the operator quietly bides his time
until he gets ."ithin this distance of sub
ject In such fashion he has secured fine
likenesses Of big folk at races horse shows
and other sporting events. At such places
he is able to slip quietly upon them in the
crush and work his little machine while
their attention is being firmly held by the
competing horses or the speeding automo-
biles or the. gridiron giadiators.
Dig 1TlCcS Luz SQapSuOtS.
OF course, the figures in this mans
shots are small, but he is an expert at
enlarging, and his work finds a ready mar
ket. Indeed, he gets top-notch prices. For
a snapshot recently made of certain So
ciety woman whose name is known on
two continents he has secured $50 from
widely-read weekly and sos each from
three metropolitan newspapers, besides sew
txfi lie
pers. All this totals s195. and before the
gown in which the grand dame is clad has
been out of fashion year he expects to
realize close to twice that amount from
the two hours walt the preceded the
click of the camera shutter as the sub
ject stepped out of the portals of church
where she had gone to see a very dear
girl friend welded.
A good snapshot, and a rare one of
some famous person who is hard to get
finds steady sale long after being taken.
snapshot of j. Pierpont Morgan, secured
five years ago, is still bringing in returns
to its owner from magazines and news
papers. This particular SNAPSHOT has now
been scold practically around the world an
order for 1t having recently come from
far-away Australia. 1t has been sold and
published in Canada. England, Germany,
Paris, Vienna and Toxic.
But before one jumps at the conclusion
that he who is an expert at taxing snap
shots is on the fair road to riches one
should take into consideration the great
amount of time wasted in an effort to Sc
cure results.
1t is nothing for snapshot artist to be
afield all day. and at night return to his
home emptyhanded. A newspaper photag-
rapher who was assigned to keep after
II. H. Rogers until he secured snap vast
ed week in vain labor, and was then
called OF by a Disguised city editor. Only
by negieeting everything else for nearly
week was a photographer able 10 secure
none too good shot of AIRS. Aston, and
the returns that he got from It did not
compensate him for days time The
man who goes after snapshots risks much,
frequently comes out at the little end of
the horn and that Is why there Ia only