Evening star., 1951-04-15
Camera Angles
By Alexander J. Wedderburn
curotor Of Photography
The Smithsonian institution

/ ttS SiNiHeSH'
Photography is one profession
where practical experience and
liability are often more important
than a formal education. There
|are exceptions but there are many
branches of the field that require
little technical knowledge of the
practitioner.
4 Although photography is and
always will be a highly competi-
tive profession, its applications in
science, industry. public relations
land numerous other fields provide
1alluring opportunities to the
amateur who is considering the
possibilities Of becoming pro-
fessional with the camera.
The world Is full OF people who
consider photography as fun and
Iit is fun so long as you keep it on
ian amateur basis. As q career
photography can stin be fun but
it Is also hard and exacting work.
$50. before you decide to make
your living with a camera you had
better be pretty sure that you are
fitted for this kind of work.
You don't have to be a ball of
fire to be q successful photogra-
pher-although that would be a
great asset-but you do have to
be active and alert and in good
health to have much luck with it.
In certain, branches of the field
such as news photography, it
loften Is q seven-day-a-week lob.
subject to call at any hour of the
day or night.
Portrait Takers Are Numerous,
II you have had good luck at
taking successful portraits of
people. the chances are you will do
well to examine the possibilities
OF entering this field. But q word
OF caution here. Portrait photog-
raphy is probably the most highly
competitiye of all the branches.
The woods are full of portrait
photographers. Even those who
are outstanding have a seasonal
business on their hands and some
times have q hard time of it with
the cut-rate and coupon camera
men who depend on volume Of
business rather than on excep-
tional quality and an adequate
compensation for their skill and
ability.
Not too many years ago, the
portrait photographer depended
wholly on his reputation as an
artist. Mail and telephone solicit
tation was unthinkable in those
days. But how the picture has
changed. Now any one whose
name appears in the press in con-
nection with anything other than
death can be sure to be deluged
by calls from the telephone solici-
tors. This practice, although ap-
parently here to stay, has done
star more harm to the portrait men
than any other factor. It has be-
come a practice among many
people to accept the invitation of
large number of photographers
and to select the best from hun
dreds of proofs. When this hap
pens, the only one to make any
thing from this situation Is the
customer. The studio making the
tsale will have lost all profit to his
competitors who beat him out on
other occasions.
/ Although this may seem q
gloomy picture, there is always
room for an outstanding camera
artist in this field. If you have the
pleasant personality and the tech
nical skill needed for successful
portrait photography. you should
have try for this is perhaps the
easiest field to break into. People
either like their portraits or they
don't-there is seldom a middle
ground. They want a good like
ness or better still one that is
somewhat flattering. So, If you
have the personality to bring out
the best in people you may very
well succeed at portrait photog-
raphy. If you don't stay out of it
or you'll lose your shirt.
Commercial Field Open.
II you excel at taking pictures
of buildings, interiors. flowers.
manufactured articles and other
objects, you might better consider
the field of commercial photog-
raphy. While not as aesthetic as
portrait photography, it is not
as subject to the ups and downs
of seasonal trends and usually
provides a steady income. de-
pending in size upon your skill
as photographer and your busi-
ness acumen.
The chief objective Of CONNER
cial photography is to show things
as they actually are. On the other
hand an active imagination will
enable the photographer to ac-
complish this and at the same
time turn out pictures that are
eye-catchers. Two photographers,
for example. might be given an
assignment to take a picture of a
certain house. One might jump
in his car no matter what the time
of day and come back with a
good picture of the house. The
other might wait until a certain
time of day when the lighting for
that particular house was best and
come back with a much better
picture. This difference in ap-
proach is often the difference be-
tween success and failure in COM
mercial photography: You don't
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