Willmar tribune., 1908-05-06
copyright, BY Joseph B. Bowles.)

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 taxing 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 a 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 of 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 cow or a rooster,
it will turn it's head or pick at it's
feathers and spoil the effect. But this
is one of the things which is to be met
with fortitude.
Speaking of cows, we never failed
to get cow in all of our pictures.
There were so many cows in the
neighborhood, and 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 most "reachy" habit in
regard to perspective, and while you
may think you are only taking lone
tree, or family group, you may be
taking in a 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 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, or 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 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 a kodak to have
your object in the sun, and the cam.
era fiend" should have his instrument
of torture shaded; so that a great
deal of ingenuity is needed at times
to get your animal out into the sun
and just where you want it in
order to prepare for a 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, a 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 wa
ter trough as though it was full OF
humble bees. But he prances out tc
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 afte,
four o'clock, and even after five. anG
the results gave hazy, shadowy feel
ing in the little pictures which was al
most as good as a miniature etching
On few of the gray leaden days, We
got some Of our clearest pictures, an6
on some of the absolutely cloudy days
we got some of our most notable fail
ures. It was veritable lottery so fa]
as we were concerned, for we neve,
knew when we were going to get good
results or poor ones. As a fairly &C
curate thing to go by, we could tel
that when we were most anxious tc
get good pictures they turned Out
miserably, and that when we were moi
caring very much about it We got
dreams"
The most interesting work was IN
taking pictures Of our neighbors and
our neighbors' children. In taking q
child, care should always be taken not
to try to get the child's attention at
tracted. If that is done, some of the
weirdest effects in human physiog
nomy possible will be the result. The
children will have that half.scared
half-shamed look which is so common
to regular photography, and will be
at the moment Of mapping" as alb
solutely unlike themselves inside and
out as it would be conceivable to ina
gine. And that is one of the mistakes
of photography. To take picture
right of human being it should be
taken with the mask of. Children
wear masks when they are noticed, OF
told to look this way or that. Men and
women wear masks excepting when
they are alone. The result is that
children should have their pictures
taken when their attention is strictly
attracted elsewhere than on the pho
tographer, and grown persons should