Willmar tribune., 1908-05-06
A Camera
in the Country


ent times by city people who happen
to reside in the country for any length
Of time. Sometimes cheap phono-
graph is purchased, with its raucous
blare of "rag.time" melodies, and blat-
ant monologue; sometimes pianola
is harnessed to the piano, and muscu-
lar music ground out by means of lib
eral knee action" sometimes the
baleful game" of croquet is employed
to exc out the hours of those to whom
time drags heavily. But for us, a
harmless, necessary kodak" was q
never-failing source of pleasure and
amusement all during our stay on the
farm.
We never thought of going on a
walk or a drive without carrying along
our pictorial recorder, in case any
thing new or strange crossed our line
of vision. Our walks were a daily oc-
currence, rain, hail or sunshine, but
when the weather permitted we car
ried the kodak. Our drives were more
infrequent, being matter of sending
in to town for "rig" and making an
all-day trip of it. And in this latter
way We covered the country for many
miles on all sides, traversing the river
bottom roads and coming into towns
where the houses were so old that the
wind and rain and sun had bleached
and then Drowned them until they
looked like frame mummies more
ancient than the human ones ten
century old in Egyptian tombs.
A kodak is an amusing little beast,
and can no more be depended on to do
the same thing twice than rabbit,
and no two of them are alike. You
may borrow one, as I did once, and
it may turn out excellent pictures reg
ularly. You may buy one, and it may
acquire the habit of taking some good
and some bad ones. Each lens, so
they say, is turned out exactly alike,
but alas for human skill, each lens
isn't alike. It is one of the joys Of
amateur photography that you can
never be sure of any particular re-
suits. Sometimes on a perfect" day,
with all the care in the world, the pic
lures will be fiat failures. On other
days, gray days, maybe, when you had
no license to expect any results at all,
the picture-taking will turn out to be a
screaming success.
The best general rule in using these
little machines is to follow directions
slavishly and not expect anything. In
this way you can every once in awhile
surprise yourself with the pictures
you will get. Sometimes the sun will
be watching you, and just as you are
about ready to "snap" the slide, the
victim all posed expectantly, will dart
into a convenient cloud-bank and stay
there for an hour. The sun can be de.
pended upon to do this every time it
gets chance; don't tell me that heav-
enly bodies are not endowed with a
sense of malignancy. I have seen q
sun that rose on a comparatively clear
day make the most unseemly haste to
get behind a bank of clouds when
there was only one cloud-bank in
sight, and lay there for hours and
hours until it was too late to take pic
lures, and then go down with a red
grin on it as much as to say got you
that time" The best way is to hide
the camera when you first start out,
for if the sun sees it you are apt to
have trouble.
When you have studied the little
book of instructions that goes with
the kodak you will find invariably that
there was something you overlooked
when you first started out. Thus,
after taking one picture, it is neces.
sasry to turn the crank around several
times in order to get the next number
on the "spool' ready for exposure
The directions plainly indicate this:
but every once in awhile you forget
this and try to blend the composite OF
a flock Of sheep with a woman spin.
ming at an old-fashioned spinning
wheel, or something equally as blend
able. And then when such picture
comes out there is the spectacle of a
flock of sheep trying to spin an old
lady into a woolen stocking, or a flock
of spinning wheels trying to spin an
old lady into sheep, or flock of old
ladies trying to spin sheep into a
spinning wheel.
Always remember to turn the crank
until the next number comes plainly
into view. Another pesky nuisance is
that the plagued thing won't always
give out clear "click'' as you move
the slide. Beware of this, for il
means that you are not taking pictures
at all, but just going through the mo.
tions. When you take out such a roll
of films to develop" you are simply
wasting your time on q pack of "iok.
ers," for there hasn't been a single i'm.
preston taken. We once travelled on
foot seven miles to take a family
group and some individual pictures
and all we got from the 12 "expos.
ures" was dozen beautifully assorted
blurs.
A camera Is one of the best things
in the world to teach self-control. The
man or woman who will use one q
year, the same one, and not resort tn
the family shotgun or the ak to demol.
ish the machine for its devilish in.
genufty in getting out of order and
playing its fantastic capers, is not
only wonder, but person thorough.
ly capable Of bringing up children as
they should be brought up. Some.
times kodak will stick in it's case,
and perhaps little dampness in the
atmosphere has caused it to swell out
and refuse to bulge. After heaving
away at it for an hour. skinning your