Evening star., 1941-10-15

Henry McLemors. papers with pic
lures that don't make any sense.
You 60 ahead and bang away at
pheasants, moose, plover and pea
cocks. I want to fill the back OF
nv car with the kind OF camera
men and camerawomen who take
pictures of broken down bridges
from odd angles, transmission gears
grinding away in heavy fog, tur-
nip seeds mating in the spring and
rooster combs reflected in bowl
of buttermilk.
These people, with their con-
founded superlenses, four -speed-
forward shutters, devilisl devices
to test the visibility, humidity and
aroma of the air, have done some-
thing dreadful to the American
way of living.
There was a time when a man
could be proud of the picture ne
had taken Of son Willie, aged 6,
/ in his Indian suit. The background
was unimportant. SO were the
shadows. The only thing that mat
tered was that Willie looked like
Willie getting his picture taken.
He stood right straight up. He
held mis- hands behind him. He
had his war bonnet on straight.
When the album was shown every
one knew that this was Willie,
without having to glance at the
white ink caption underneath which
said, willie, aged 6. 1911"
But what would happen if Willie
fell into the hands of todays
amateur photographers? Well.
Willie Just wouldn't get his picture
taken. He would be ignored as AN
"uninteresting subject" He would
be passed by in favor of COW
silhouetted against a cumulus cloud
or the profile of q gasoline pump.
Even if the super-dooper photog-
raphers agreed to take picture OF
Willie, they would either take 1t
/ from a tree above him or lying fiat
on the ground so that Willie's nos
trils would dominate the picture.
/ The picture album used to be a
definite part of the American home.
When people came in to spend the
evening you showed it to them.
/ There's Mary, there in the mid
die the explanation would be.
These are two little friends she
made that summer. Such nice chill
dren. I often wonder what ever
became of them There's dad.
Now doesn't he look silly with that
high stiff collar on That's
Rover, that half of a dog you see.
He just wouldn't stand still. He
was run over about month later,
and I do wish we had a good pic
ture Of him because there never was
sweeter dog Oh. don't look
at that one Don't I look awful?
How did we ever wear dresses like
that? That's a vacation at the
beach Yes, that's Freddie Russell.
He was the skinniest thing then
you ever saw He just started
putting on weight about 10 years
ago."
Now, to. my way of thinking, there
was some interest in an album Of
that sort. You got a little family
history. a few good laughs and a
good chance to check up on every
body's exact age.
Today, the family album Is
huge portfolio. with cellophane be-
tween each picture. 1t must be
handled with care in view of
coming exhibition of The Years
Most Unusual Shots"
The monologue that accompanies
the showing of it runs something
like this:
Il was particularly fortunate to
get this shaft of sunlight on this
beet farm. used prismadogmatic
filter with a rotagenic lense
Here is my daughter Ann She
didn't know I was taking it. She
was under her high chair at the
time .. You can only see her feet,
but what lights and shadows. An
interesting study, don't you Think"
This goes on and on and on until
finally you are almost knocked
over by the sight of highly en-
larged face of a human being.
What a character study" the
amateur cameraman says.
AS far as I can figure, char
acter study is a most unffattering
picture of a person: picture which
shows every pore in the skin, every
wrinkle in the face, every blemish
on the chin and nose and every
thing else that all of us would like
to hide.
Boy, load my gun and hope
I catch those fancy photographers
sitting down. I don't want to risk
missing them on the wing.
Distributed by McNaught Syndicate. lnc)