Gilpin observer., 1908-04-30
Copyright. by Joseph B. Bowles.)


times a kodak will stick in its case.
ard perhaps little dampness in the
atmosphere has caused 1t to swell out
and refuse to bulge. After heaving
away at it for an hour. skinning your
finger and making you wonder II this
is really a good world or not, 1t is in
order for your wife to take hold of it
and lift 1t out with perfect ease. look
ing at you meanwhile with pain at
your evident state Of mind as depict
ed in your corrugated brow. Now
that kodak had deliberately let go just
then for some Interior reason Of Its
own, and it would have held on if you
had kept at it, forever. 1t wasn't be-
cause of any little catch or anything
like that, nothing mechanical, but one
of those little occult demonisms, like
the family scissors deliberately crawl
ing away and hiding in the ice-box.
In taking animals, it is we'll to re-
member that horse or a COW is not
all head. This will be driven into the
intelligence after taking few snap
shots of these interesting animals and
having them show up with heads like
the pyramid side of a house and bodies
that taper off to diminutive proper
tions. Take these brutes profile, never
head on" and you will get better re-
suits. Sometimes, of course. Just as
you are getting the most pleasant and
intelligent look on a COW or rooster.
1t will turn its head or pick at It's
feathers and spoil the effect. But this
~f xtrhi 10 m no 1pf
with fortitude.
Speaking OF cows, we never failed
to get a COW in all of our pictures.
There were SO many cows in the
neighborhood, and a COW is such an
inevitable accompaniment OF all rural
scenery. that we very soon became
reconciled to the appearance OF the
phant COW in our pictures. These
kodaks have a most "reachy" habit in
regard to perspective. and while you
may think you are only taking a lone
tree. or family group. you may be
taking in line of land that pretty
nearly includes the whole township in
the direction in which the machine is
pointed. And somewhere on this
angle there will be a cow. Either ly-
ing down or standing up, or grazing,
or chewing the cud. or getting MIXED.
or driven in or out to pasture. or try
ing to worm through a fence, or some
other thing and when you get the pic
ture back from the reproducers, or de-
velop it yourself. you can always bet
on the COW.
We never had any particular trouble
with sheep. OF hogs, or horses. They
are not nearly so apparent as COWS
are in the country. Sheep are fine OBJ
jects. and give very fine results in the
way OF snapshots" either grazing on
the hillsides, standing In groups or
huddling at the approach of a human
being. or lying in the shade of the
trees at noon. they are always pictur-
esque. But it is one Of the cardinal
principles of using kodak to have
your object in the sun. and the cam
era fiend' should have his instrument
of torture shaded so that great
deal of ingenuity is needed at times
to get your animal out into the sun
and just where you want 1t in
order to prepare for successful
snap"
Sheep are very suspicious and pan
icky creatures, and are apt to stick
their tails up and go "baaing" over the
hillsides just when you have teased
them into an attitude of woolly curl
osity. This is one of the uncertain
ties OF the sport and requires sturdy
patience and invincible good humor
to counteract. A horse is different A
horse is one of the vainest animals in
the world, next to man. and rather
likes to have his picture taken. But
as for intelligence. horse is the most
Anticipated brute in existence. He
will shy at bale OF hay, run back
into burning barn from which he has
Just been dragged. and SNUFF at a wa.
ter trough as though It was full of
humble bees. But he prances out to
have his likeness took" much as
though he thought he was the pick of
his tribe.
The best time for taking pictures,
so we were informed by our little
book. was between ten and four; but
we discovered that this dictum had its
limitations. For instance, some OF the
most sketchy and beautiful effects we
got In landscapes were taken after
four o'clock. and even after FIVE. and
the results gave hazy. shadowy feel
Ing in the little pictures which was al
most as good as miniature etching.
On few Of the gray leaden days. We
got some Of our clearest pictures. and
on some of the absolutely cloudy days
we got some Of our most notable fail.
ures. 1t was veritable lottery SO far
as we were concerned. for we never
knew when we were going to get good
results or poor ones. As q fairly ac-
curate thing to go by. we could tell
that when we were most anxious to
get good pictures they turned out