Carolina watchman. [volume] (Salisbury, N.C.) 1871-1937, 1936-11-20

80~ ~0
CYCLING still popular
One of the most interesting de-
velopments of the past few years
has been the revival of popular in
terest in bicycling. More bicycles
are in use now than ever before,
people in trade report.
In America, bicycling is still
much more a sport than a means of
transportation. In Europe the Or
binary working man can by no pos
sibility afford to own a car. He
uses a bicycle to go back and forth
to his days work. I have seen in
European cities bicycles carrying
loads of tools and building materials
which we would consider a fair
load for a Ford. 1t takes an ex-
pert to carry a 15-foot ladder on a
bicycle through the traffic of the
Paris boulevard, but that is not an
uncommon sight.
Just now cycling is a popular fad
in America, but l doubt if it will
ever come back III this country to
the proportions of 40 years ago,
when everybody rode BICYCLES.
SNAPSHOTS -. educational
I saw a statistic the other day to
the effect that three families out
of every five in America own
cameras. There are more than 16
million amateur photographers in
this country and last year they took
more than oo,OOo,o 900 snapshots.
We are certainly living in a pic
torial era. | was interested to look
over a large number of amateur
photographs which had been sub
mitted for prizes in a nationwide
newspaper photography contest,
and I was amazed and delighted at
the artistic effects achieved bv
many amateurs and the apparent
widespread appreciation of beauty
and symbolism among the contest
ants.
In my younger days, when I was
one of the few amateur photogra-
pliers, we were we'll satisfied if we
got any kind of a picture at all.
| think the influence of artistic
photography upon the generation
now growing up is going to be ire
mendous.
PROGRESS in camera art
Thinking back, I don't know of
any art in which the changes have
been so great in my time as in
photography. Rummaging through
a box of family souvenirs the other
day l found several daguerreotypes
of my grandparents and an amusing
tintype Of my father, as a college
student, wearing a silk hat, as was
the custom of college seniors in the
1905.
/ can we'll remember when hav-
ing ones picture taken was a slow
and not altogether pleasant process.
The victims head was held from
behind in an iron clamp and he was
supposed to look pleasant for from
one to three minutes without
changing his expression. That ac-
counts for the wooden and fish
faced effect of most Of the early
photographs.
Photographers had to have a big
overhead skylight, and could not
make any pictures at all on a cloudy
day, when I was a boy. Then, too,
it was the custom to 'retouch"
every negative until all signs OF
human expression had been rubbed
out.
PRIMITIVE homemade
I was reminded of my own first
camera. I was an inventive and In
quisitive boy when an enthusiastic
amateur named George Eastman in
vented the Photographic dry plate
and laid the foundations for modern
photography-and a great fortune
for himself. saw n of the new
dry plate cameras and wanted one.
My father said that if I would make
a camera that would work he would
make me a present of the necessary
lens.
l managed to make a camera
when I was about II ard my father
gave me the lens out of a steropti-
con, or magic lantern, which he had
used in giving illustrated lectures
on the Philadelphia Centennial.
Among my souvenirs I found
some of my early efforts at photo