The sun., 1914-08-16
Discouraging Outlook
For the Photographers
During European War
Reports Say That Any Man Caught on Battleields
With Camera in His Possession Will Be Sum.
mary Shot. Traditional Persistency and
Tact of Ca mera Men May Yet Win.

The best genuine moving PICTURES of
resi war were taken Dy Cant. Saul, a
retired British army officer, for rathe
freres in he balkan Connic, Capt.
Saul was with the Turks He Got some
hne pictures Of the Turkish rout at Lule
Burgas and also of the lighting around
Kirk h ilisseh. He also go, some sp!en-
did pictures OF burning villages. camp
scenes and other details ~ war. No
photographers were allowed with the
allies. though some vtntured 20 follow
IN ihe wax oS the troops and thus Sc
cured some pictures Of Adrianope after
the siege aud Of bsttlehelds after the
lighting was sll over. but before the
, dead had heen buried.
Some Of the villa war photographs
were genuine enough. but others were
posed by he oblglng comma ndcr So
that the confdng spectator never
knows when he is gazing on the real
thing and when at y counterfeit pre-
sentiment thereof. Furthermore. the
Mexican war. however disastrous may
have been FOR the country. Is not worthy
to be compared with the wars in Europe
or Manchuria.
In the present contest conditions are
not ~ the sort to appcal 10 any phutbg-
rapher who really unders sands them.
The battles are certain to be of titanic
proportions and very bloody The
greater proportion Of them are certain
to be beyond the powers Of any camera
or any artists pencil to depict.
Yet II a clever operator had only been
in one of the forts at L,ege he might
, have made n splendid pictorial recor!
Of some of the German assaults. SOM
! wonderful improvements have recently
been made in the moving picture cam
era. With the ordinary lens II il nj Ccs-
sary 10 be no more than 200 feet away
from the subject at furthest. But re-
Gently the telephoto lens has been
adapted to the moving picture camcpa.
The most powerful can take photo
graph Of a man at 500 yards SO big that
he vii nll the pate. only one OF these
wonderful lenses has yet been made,
and that Is the property NJ Pathe Frcres.
The possibilities of such a lens in pho
togrsphing n battle may be understood
when II is remembered that experience
has laugh, that most Of the fighting -
done at ranges OF 1000 to 100 yards.
This ia proved hy the zones Of losses.
Military surgeons have found that 20
per cent. of the losses are At ranges
pr l.VWU Va fuS or ~ PT, nv IlNI f'Ul. VI
the losses occur AT ranges between l,Oro
and 400 Yards. 10 per cent. NJ the final
rush and 10 per cent. In the pursuit.
40 with lens capable of taking pic
lures at from 500 10 800 yards an op-
orator could get pictures NJ the hottest
fighting II 1t we're not for two difficult
ties.
one difficulty Is that most of the time
the comba a.ants are lying down to fre NJ
are behind entertainments ur other
cover 80 as to afford the smallest pos
! sihle target either for bullets or the
photographcrs lens. The operator
could get nothing hut the final rush
and that would only he one sided. The
| other little difficulty is that bullets have
not yet been taught to discriminate he
tween soldiers and non-Combatant pho
I tographers. The chances that, even II
| he was permitted on the battle ground
| In an open ncld the photographer would
| live long enough to get any pictures are
| too remote to I've considered.
In a fort or behind Other safe cover
+, the situation is entirely different
Among other Improvements in the NOV
! ing pict.re camera Is an automatic