The daily telegram. [volume] (Clarksburg, W. Va.) 1901-1926, 1914-10-17
TIE HAS < In LIE TTE
WAR PHOTOG RAPHY
d FssdeELeIS J. HaslsIo-

II In the ffrst half Of 1914. war pho
Itography was at its zenith In ths
last half of this same year II - g
| It's nadir.
The opposing forces In the 5n
ternecfne strife In Mexico altered
plans and suspended constderatt on'
I of strategy to meet the conyen1encs
/ of the moving picture cameramen
| lThe incipient rebellion in the nort1
4 81 ireland was manifesting itself u
martial drills. Of which the camera
\ was an essential and never-forg0tten
/ part Our own blue jackets At vera
4 Cruz were quite as Familiar with tue
Il click of the camera shutter as VIII
the crack of the rife. and many we're
the thousands fleet of hlm tnae
were used, many the pound OF COP
per that transferred the photograph
1 to the printed newspaper page. ~ At
had become but an adjunct o. the
photographic art, and SO far as pic
4 ture men were concerned. 1t was eN-
lIdent that the camera was mignuer
than the sword.
All that was ages ago-all thai
was In the first part of this year:
Mars was but INDUCING In little
u bloody play in Mexico, he was only
x :
while mems veins were opened ana
4 mems souls and bodies parted the
j Cod of War was but toying with the
i children OF men
with the second half Of the year.
\ his demanor changed, and now ne
has plunged the world into its Worst
I of wa-s.
And what has become Of the cam
lera man tho ubiquitous camera man,
1.-The camera man who was eyerywhe e
TALL the time. anywhere at any tnleE
His erstwhile friend. the God OF
WAR, has frowned upon him. sen.
Etriess on guard at the back gates OF
tune European battleheIds ask INST
is.TIaye you camera and next.
E"Are you friend or foe? To, oe
Icaurht with the camera anywhere
near the actual active battlefront IS
10 be condemned to death. for while
| the camera may be sconfiscated ana
destroyed, the eye that directed II
must also close, else secrets OF tao
tics and strategy be revealed to Fos
, enemy.
they say the day of the war cor
respondent is done While wars nave
marred the pages OF history eves
| since history began, the war CORE
spondent is but a century old. Io PC
! precise. the first war correspondent
! wrote the first war despatch to the
4 london Times in 1907. The war
4 correspondent reached the pinnacle
/ of his glory in the American CIVIL
war and, oddly enough, It was IN
| this same war that the war pnoIo-
| e1.apher first made his appearance.
| Pm ot8Sraphv' then. was not matter
| Of swift-fTIoHfng fathoms of fln
! taking instantaneous, impression s-it
was 4 slow and painful work OF wet
| plates and exposures of duration
! that seemed like centuries. Yet.
1 the Civil war was. perhaps. as vel.
and faithfully photographed as any
| war will ever be-
Photography was SO new. ana
there was no process OF transferring
jplaotographs into the newspapers SO
THAT the photographer was permWea
i 10 follow the armies unmolesteu-
That nearly. half "a century went py
! before these photographs were gen
lerally published, does not alter the
case. "a
yet, despite prohibitions; despite
i threats of instant death. the pno-
Etographers have, after all. given us
Ian idea OF the wreck and ruin In the
wake OF the European armies tnsy
I dared not follow too closely we
have seen photographs of burned VII
jlages and ruined churches. We nave
seen photographs Of impregnapie
IL forts utterly sQeSITOySu W -
guns. And, worse than that, we have
seen photographs of women and cni chill
dren and old men fleeing from their
devastated homes. the pttiful VIC
/ Tins Of the pitiless crime of war.
Most of these have been taken tor
Il the purpose of propaganda, and they
l are representatives Of the wreck ana
H not of the fierce action that caused
K the wreck.
On motion pictures IT the I[on a..
4 there have been none. Why is Dess
explained by letter from an English
moving picture man who has trieo
Ito get them. It was written TO me
| president of an American molten
picture concern. The letter says. IN
part: /.
81 notice that you are send1ng
staff OF eight cameramen to the Iront
to get war pictures. etc Nov, az
wise you to go very slow IN tvs busi-
ness. 1t Just means mans NE "
take any pictures over there at pres,
Sent, and the chances are that ~ VII
be SO in the future az we'll. You
J have no-conception Of the conditions
across the channe1-ab solutely no
lconception. do not care what the
4 American papers print. 1t Is JUST
! twice as terrible.
"F'rom the first we have had q loI
Z - ~ IANre T.