The Washington times., 1917-01-24
Columbia Professor Says They
Make Great Success With
Camera.
SEEM MORE IDEALISTIC
Vocation Offers Opportunity in
Commercial Lines Such as
Illustration.

to Clarence H. White, instructor in
photography at Columbia University,
New York.
Mr.. White believes from that eN-
perience that here is a field where
women find. themselves particularly
happy.
Photography as a profession for
women is so settled a fact with rs
that we take it for granted" he de-
clared heartily. "In fact, a far
greater number of women than men
have taken up the camera as a means
of earning their living. Men still pre-
dominate in the field of commercial
photography, and since most men
want to make a living from their
work imVediately, there is every good
reason for them to jump into that
field as soon as possible unless they
are imbued with the idea that through
the camera they can make really
beautiful pictures, and that they
must therefore give some time to the
acquisition of a technique. There is
a great deal to learn about the MAX
AhB VI Uul IlOSl VI IL Sdh
only be learned in the dark room. and
after infinite and painstaking repeti-
tions.
Men More Commercial
"Yet some people are content to
learn the mere necessary fundament-
ais, and prefer to set themselves up
commercially with that equipment.
They are justified in taking that posi-
tion as commercial photographers, be-
cause to a certain extent they do give
the public about what it wants. But
unless they continue to study ana to
work they will inevitably reach a
day when they will come to the end
of their technical rope.
Il do not come into touch with the
commercial worker very much, be-
cause 1 do not give any commercial
training in my school. All that at
tempt to give students, or can give
them, is education in the principles
of composition and design to enable
them to see through. the lens all the
necessary elements of a good picture.
To that end we teach the history of
art and the principles of criticism,
even as II our students were study
ing to be artists. What l try to give
thing else is sense Of the possibili-
ties of the camera. for the. reproduc-
tion of beauty and the training OF
the eye and the mind that shall make
il possible for them to see that
beauty. And if the instinct is not
there you cannot supply it."
Women Greater IdeaIistS.
For various reasons, according to
Mr.. White, more women than men
seem TO be willing to take the time
for the training. Women are per-
haps greater idealists than men, and
they are very much more likely to
accede to the demands of the call
ing: women expect to train them
selves for any profession they enter.
"The entire question OF commercial
success" says Mr., White. and the
development of a clientele is entire
ly a matter of the individual per-
sonality to work out for himself, and
that must be left to him. Some OF
my pupils, for instance, have prosper
ed and at the same time have done
very good work. Others, however,
have done quite an excellent work
but have not been so fortunate in
getting patrons. But so many of my
are tSldDllSnNu
and are doing so remarkably well
that I do not hesitate to recommend
1t as means of earning a living.
Photography Absorbing.
Photography is. the sort OF work
which becomes your whole life and
at which you are always content to
be working. You get enough salts
faction from tho
with forms of beauty and from the
sorts of details to make up for the
greater monetary returns that might
come from some other lines Of work.
You never need to go outside your
work for your fun or relaxation. You
have 1t with you all the time"
The women who have gone in for
professional photography. and some
of whom have done very good work,
have for the most part been women
with enough capital TO allow them to
stick to the standards of their art and
to wait for the business to come to
them. Modern photography is an eT-
pensive and intricate process. and IL
is a hard thing sometimes to resist
the easy temptation Of giving people
what they want instead Of sticking to
ones ideal of what the picture should
be.
Large Field for Women.
We have it on the word of Mrs.
Alice II. Choate and Miss Mary Il.
White, two OF Mr.. Whites pupils who
have within the last few years SET
themselves up in studios, that the
field for women is a large one. Miss
White who has been at work not
much more than a year. said that the
increasing use of photography in che
commercial world was making IL pos
sibIe for women to develop their tai
ents in fields other than portraiture.
VERY often architects and interior
decorators have come to me asking
me to make pictures of houses they
have planned or rooms they have dec
GRATED. They do not want simply
Photographic reproductions, but they
want pictures that will present to the
eye the qualities of the thing they
have created. Only the eye that has
been trained to see beauty and that
has been instructed in the principles
of composition can do justice to the
work.
Az Used In Illustration.
Photography, moreover. is being
used more and more in illustration,
and there is a tremendous field for