St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1908-10-31
A Camera
in the Country


to reside inathe country for any length
or time. SSmetimes 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,
harmless, necessary kodak" was
never-failing source Of pleasure and
amusement all during our stay on the
farm.
We never thought of going on
walk or drive without carrying along
our pictorial recorder, in case any
thing new or strange crossed our line
of vision. Our walks were daily oc-
currence, rain, hail or sunshine, but
when the weather permitted we car
ried the kodak Our drives were more
fnfrequent, 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 80 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 nosmore 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. 1t is one of the joys OF
amateur photography that you can
never be sure tof any particular re-
suits. Sometimes tsA 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. III.
SThe 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 convenient cloud-bank and stay
there for an hour. The sun can be de-
pended upon to do this every time it
gets q chance; don't tell me that heav-
emily bodies are not endowed with a
sense of malignancy. | have seen a
sun that rose ON comparatively clear
day make the most unseemly haste to
get behind 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 IL the sun sees 1t you are apt tc
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 seVera
times in order to get the next number
on the "spooP' ready for exposure
The directions plainly indicate this
but every once in awhile you forge
IT'S and try to blend the composite O.
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 ;
flock of sheep trying to spin an oil
lady into wooden stocking, or f1ocl
of spinning wheels trying to spin al
old lady into a sheep, or flock of OLE
ladies trying to spin sheep into ;
spinning wheel.
Always remember to turn the cranl
until the next number comes plainl.
into view. Another pesky nuisance i
tina. the plagued thing won't Away
give out a clear Click as you NOV,
the slide. Beware of this, for /
means that you are not taking picture
\ at all, but just going through the me
tions. When you take out such rol
of films to develop" you are simpl
wasting your time on pack of "jok
ers." for there hasn't been a single i'm
pression taken. We once travelled o.
foot seven miles to take a famil
group and some individual pictures
and all we got from the IL expos
ures'' was dozen beautifully assorte
blurs.
A camera is one OF the best thing
IN the world to teach se:E-control. TIL
man or woman who will use one
wear, the same one, and not resort
the family shotgun or the ak to demo
ish the machine for its devilish IL
genuity in getting out Of order an
playing it's fantastic capers, is nc
only a wonder, but persda thorough
ly capable of bringing UP children a
they should be brought up. Some
times a kodak will stick in its case
and perhaps little dampness in tn
atmosphere has caused it. to swell OF
and refuse to bulge. After heavin
away at it for an hour, skinning you
finger and making you wonder if thi
is really good world or not, it is !
order for your wife to take hold of