El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1910-06-27
Commercial Photography
Taxing APPRECIATED AS AN ART

~ NE of the features of the annual
y convention of the Photograph
ers Association of America,
soon TO be held. il. Milwaukee, will
be an exhibition of all the best pho
tOgraphic work produced in the United
States during the past year. Arrange
ments have been made which will en-
able the association to make this ex-
hibition the most notable display Of
the products of commercial photOg-
raphy ever seen in America. In addi-
ton to the exhibition, a school of day
light photography will be conducted,
in which the best photographers OF the
country will give working exposition
of the latest methods in the production
of fine Photographic work.
There also will be a school in which
photography under artificial light will
be taught by the best opponents of that
system in the country. 1t is intended
TO have the WOman's Federation of
Photographers meet in conjunction with
the other association. This will be the
first regular meeting of the women
photographers of the country.
National Art League Proposed.
A movement is now under way for
the establishment of a national photo
graphic art league. A number of the
leading photographers of the United
States believe that too much Of the
oPAA II VI COtlllHcI CIdiISIIi IDS pei duCO
the Photographic studio, and that there
are too few men in the business today
who are really in love with their work.
1t is the aim of the founders of the
league to look the country over for
men in the business whose talents are
such that would Justify the assistance
of the league in an effort TO develop
the gifts they possess and to enlarge
the field of their usefulness.
Amateurs Interfere.
1t has been claimed by commercial
photographers that the possibilities of
their business are much interfered with
by the rise of amateur photography
In some states, the photographers have
been making efforts to put an end to
the competition of the amateur. In
Virginia. for instance, law has been
enacted which places the license fee
for the privilege of taking pictures for
pay at $50 a year. The fines for viola
ton of this law are heavy, and even
Imprisonment may result
Thus. when an anna teur takes a pic
ture which happens to strike the fancy
of an acquaintance, he is estopped from
charging even the cost of printing a
copy of il. He must do it out of his
own pocket or not at all. 1t is claimed
by some that this law was enacted TO
prevent injury to the business of the
professional. 1t is cited that many anna
tours make a habit of developing films
for other amateurs for pay. while in
many small communities nearly all the
picture postcards are made by anna
tours.
One amateur photographer makes
speciality of keeping a schedule of all
the weddings, luhcheons, graduation
day exercises and other events and
visits these functions for the purpose
Of getting pictures He makes no
charge for taking the picture but takes
orders for prints made from it. In
this way. he has been able to make
considerable money. Another goes
about kidnapping" children with his
camera He catches them in all sorts
of attitudes and surroundings, and his
pictures have a charm that makes them
sell we'll with the parents and other
friends of the children.
In New York, an amateur photog-
rapher engages in what he calls pho
tographic charity He goes into the
very poor districts and takes pictures
of those who have none of themselves
and children, and who have no money
to pay for pictures From these he
prints two copies, one TO be kept in
the home itself, and the other TO be sent
to the old home, wherever it may hap
pen to be.
Commercial photographers find many
ways VI up business one
of them sends out booklet in which
he advises women how to dress and
how to pose. He advises them TO wear
very plain clothes. preferably with low
neck and short sleeves, as he says
dresses of this character never go out
of style, while the more ornate ones
may make a picture look ancient in
only a few years.
Color Photography Practicable.
nj e hnir
commercial photographers in the ex-
cellenee of their work New materials
and new methods have enabled them TO
produce results which are fairly en-
titled to recognition as works of art
1t is now believed that color photog-
rahpy will soon be made generally
available. In England. nav process
Of color reproduction has been discov-
cred, whereby a picture may be taken
In the fiftieth part of q second. I'm
der the older methods Of color pho
Biography, it required more than 40 sec.
Onds to take a picture, and as a usual
thing it was difficult to get natural
poses in this way
photographers Are Daring
Many are the tales of cool courage
and daring which might be told of pho
tographers who have braved dangers
of war and wild in their efforts to
record for the eye of posterity the ac-