St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1908-10-31


have fairly decently after all.
"F7ash-light" picNres we never at
tempted. There is limit in every
thing, and amateur, or even profess
slonal, "fash-light" photography. 50.
called, is the limit Of limits. They
give a CHASTITY jovial expression TO
some faces, and chalky, corpse-llKe
deafness to others, and a group OF
"fash-lighted' mortals is certainly
raphy be anything but make-beleVe
arts.
We got some good pictures OF the
children when they were not LOOKING
and some excellent pictures OF the
men IN the fields, and elsewhere,
when they were off "guard," but just
as sure as they were snapped Wnen
they were ready, good-by to any nat
ural expression. Taking babies was
one of the extreme lottery features
of the pastime, and, when taken in
doors, was usually a dim outline OF a
hazy patch of white dress. But the
parents always avowed it was as life
like as anything they ever saw.
Landscapes were our best hold, for
a landscape can be depended on 10
keep still, and always wears its per-
fectly natural expression, according TO
| the season which happens to be pass
ing Just then We got pictures or
quaint wooden bridges, coVered and
built without single bit OF iron IN
them, all mortised and pegged with
| wooden pegs, and enduring through
| many years. We took old mill-dams,
where the water had run since the
| DAYS of the deer and wild turkeys, and
great oaks that had witnessed the
hegira of the Indians westward as 1t
had waved over the flames Of their
early campfres.
Landscapes where water is 9 fea-
ture Of the scenery take usually the
best, something about water seeming
| to aid in bringing out the finer quail
ties of land scene, as bit Of silky
ribbon will enhance the picturesque
ness of a woman's face. We had some
| river. and lake pictures that had the
very breath of outdoors in them, the
| r1shes bending with the moving winds
| and distant cloud-shapes clearly,
| though Whitley, defined. 1t was GER
tainly fascinating and costly expert
ence. You got so that you wanted to
take SNAP of everything you saw;
and when you sent your films away to
be developed and printed 1t cost al
most as much as 1t would to keep q
yacht. The craze grows on you, and
your Judgment gets wobbly; and you
keep getting deeper and deeper into
the clutch of the unseen enemy.
We found that Of all the seasons
autumn gave as the best results as
to sharp outlines and clear effects;
possibly this was because the air was
clearer then. Summer ranked next az
to satisfactory photographs, and win
ter effects were sometimes very good
indeed and often blurred.
We often tried to photograph the
bird, but / regret to state that most Of
these pictures were failures. The aV-
erage bird, outside of owls and herons,
are extremely volatile, head up and
tail down, or head down and tail up
|
that we despaired of taking them sue
4 cessfully. The best way to photograph
the average bird is to have him
mounted and photograph him after
wards. I got very fair picture Of q
.Fcatbird once, as those to whom the
catbird was duly pointed out were free
to admit, but as a rule photograph
ing" the birds was sad waste of time
energy and money. I would creep eau
tiously up to robin sitting on its
nest and take it's picture, and then
when the picture came out, it would
be an, elegant picture Of everything
but the nest and the robin. AS for a
moving bird, it was about as easy as
photographing a brook trout in the
water
On the subject of birds nests, sep
arate and apart from the birds them
selves, that is sorrowful page in oul
experience as camera fends." l have
crawled up to the top of an apple tree
to take an orioles nest and, after
using up half a dozen films, come
down scratched and breathhless, but
with the proud consciousness of hav
; ing done it, that time. Then wheI
the pictures came back, each of then
would represent speaking likeness
of the top of an apple tree, or othel
, tree, with large wad Of placid sky IL
the background, but of the nest not &
straw nor hair. 1t was the same a:
to nests on the ground. woul>. chase
bobolink from it's nest in the pas
,, ture and draw back the grass SO as tt
! get perfect exposure. Then I would
snap that nest four or five times an(
the net result, after development,
: would be towzled tuft of meadow
: grass with dark spot in the center
But I never got decent birds nest ii
all my trials, and l tried the catbird
: the jays, robins, bobolinks, warblers
orioles. thrushes and others.
. There is so much that is PICTURESQUE
and beautiful in the country that
:, camera, even with it's manifest draw
backs, is a valuable and intensely In
= teresting accompaniment of countr,
= life. Harvesting scenes, haydn!
= pictures, the various work in tn
= fields, the myriad bits of hillside AM
hollow, lake, river, forest, meadow
country road, orchard and elsewher
: make up an endless panorama of in
: terest framed in by the background @
:. far horizon or dark-hued timber lines
: The camera is also a great herald O
t'peace-on-earth' as to getting az
. quainted with the neighbors, and tn
! farmers like to have their stock pho
! tographed, especially their bes
Z q 1nlatod h11rdrnd e