Evening star., 1949-09-04
Camera Angles
Hobby Collections by Using the Camera
BY Alexander J. Wedderburn
Curator Of Photography
1ha Smithsonian Inatitufien

The Smithsonian Insttutien
Collecting is q hobby usually
reserved to the wealthy. Collec-
tions of stamps. guns, antiques
and other rare items run into big
money-unless, Of course, you col
lect them with a camera. Then
collecting doesn't cost. you more
than any other form Of amateur
photography and In the bargain,
you have combined two Of the
most fascinating hobbies.
Any one with a camera can es-
tablish and maintain a collection
of photographs covering one or
more subjects without any par
ticular skill. Even the beginner
with his box camera can produce
good record shots Of hundreds OF
items that form the basis for
hobby collections. The more ad-
vanced amateur can do even bet
ter than that. He can turn his
Photographic collecting into . real
work Of art, using advanced light
ings and unusual settings for his
subject matter.
In a few instances. better than
q box camera will have to be
used. For example those who are
interested in stamps. insects and
other small subjects will do well
to use a camera with double ex-
tension bellows or some sort OF
adapter in lieu thereof. But for
the most part. ordinary camera
and lighting will suffice.
We do not urge or even sug-
gest that every camera fan take
up collecting with his camera. 1t
should be pointed out that unless
you have q we'll defined interest
In some subject worth collecting
by means of pictures it would be
rather pointless to start on such
4 project. The real collector will
spend . lifetime tracking down
unusual and different specimens
for his collection and you with q
camera must share that same en-
thusiasm to make it worth your
while.
Pictures of Buildings.
Your personal customs and
habits will have an immediate
bearing on whether you can build
up a successful collection on a
certain subject. For instance, If
you travel a great deal and you
are interested in the various forms
of architecture. you might be very
much interested in collecting pic
lures of certain types of buildings
such as churches in different parts
of the country. But if you are
limited in that respect it would be
better if you picked subject that
could be thoroughly covered 10
cally.
AS another requisite, you must
be thoroughly familiar with your
subject. There would be little
point in collecting pictures Of
antique furniture unless you know
all about the high points of con-
struction that would make it pos
sible for others to identify the
subjects from your photographs.
If you are not already an au-
thority-even in a modest way
on the subject of your collection,
you should faithfully study the
field until you know exactly what
your pictures should show.
Although we have pointed out
that expensive Photographic h
equipment is not essential toI
Photographic collecting. we do
not mean to imply that pictures OF
Indifferent quality will be satisfac-
tory. The photograph should be
sharp and we'll lighted-either by
natural or artificial light and the
form, texture and substance of the
object photographed must be well
rendered. Proper perspective is an
other important point to be OBJ
served. But good focus, lighting
and exposure are the factors that
will make your collection worth
while.
Filing Is Important.
Collecting of any kind cannot
be done we'll in a haphazard, dis
orderly manner. You should go
about forming and adding to your
collection in an orderly and syS-
tematic way. This may be ac-
complished by planning well ahead
just exactly what you want to in
clude in your collection and howI
you are going to get it. This quite
logically calls for an adequate
filing system. both for prints and
negatives.
Negatives are best filed away in
negative preservers which carry
the number of the film, name of
the subject and other pertinent
information. Prints are kept
either in albums for handy refer
ence or in envelopes. In either
case a full caption giving all in
formation of interest should be
included. This information might
include the name of the object, its
location, measurements and all
other important data.
If the collection promises to be-
come very large over period of
years, it may be maintained as a
slide file. The 35-mm. camera
owners have found their cameras
particularly well adapted to slide
collections but glass lantern slides
can easily be made from larger
size negatives.
Color Adds Incentive.
Collecting is a fertile field for
the color photographer who will
have an added incentive for COM
bining hobbies. True color repre-
sentation of the objects covered
will make such a collection a i
worthy project indeed. A slide
collection takes up little space and
pertinent data on each slide can
be kept in a card index system
1t is most important that color
photographers use the utmost
skill in lighting and exposing SO
L.