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# PRACTICAL PAPERS ON STUDIO WORK AND METHODS

## Good Medicine

SOME fifteen years ago there were two physicians who were starting their career, and after watching the results of the work of other physicians and surgeons, and after making some mistakes themselves, they came to the conclusion that there was not as much time devoted to diagnosis as there was to the operation or treatment, and that the reason there were so many failures and slow cures was because only about one-quarter of the time was put into the diagnosis as was put into the operation. Working on that theory, they decided to revise the proportion, and they began putting their few patients through a most vigorous and thorough examination before they prescribed to use the knife. They divided the work, and one would diagnosticate a case first and then the brother would make his diagnosis, then both together would compare notes, and, if necessary, make a third diagnosis together. The results soon began to justify this theory, for, on account of the unusual care and amount of time devoted to diagnosis, when the time came to operate they found that they knew exactly what they were going to find and how they were going to correct it, and the actual work was done in a shorter time with less strain to themselves and less pain and danger to the patient. Soon their operations and cures began to gain fame throughout the country and their practice grew rapidly. Some said that they were workers of miracles, and they were haled as the most successful surgeons of the country. They replied that they were no better than thousands of others, but that they conscientiously followed their original plan of an exhaustive diagnosis and that they had become so expert in that field that they practically made no mistakes. Their practice is now so large that they have a corps of competent physicians and specialists to help them, besides a large office force and a big hospital that takes care of their patients. They are the Drs. Mayo, of Rochester, Minn.

They succeeded because they knew all about their business before they acted. They knew

what they were going to do and what they were trying to accomplish before they did any work. They did in a profession that thing that keeps business men had pronounced to be the only safe and sane way to conduct business in conformity with modern methods and modern competition. And they succeeded. Now other doctors from all over the country and all over the world are studying their methods and following their lead.

Photography is a profession and skill is the principal article in the transactions. The materials throw it into the commercial field to a certain extent, but the ability of the operator and the fame of his skill lifts it above the realm of the purely commercial. But if a doctor can apply modern business methods successfully, why cannot a photographer? He can if he will only believe it. The photographer should practise diagnosis, and here are some of the things he should know before he puts a plate in the holder: The disposition of the subject, the education and the state of development of the taste for good work, the average amount of returns of extra negatives exposed on all the orders of the past year, the average amount paid for pictures from ladies, from children, from men, the susceptibility of the subjects to flattery, and whether such flattery should be subtle or broad, the influence that could be obtained through each subject—in fact, everything that will have its effect on the quality of work that should be made, and the amount of money that can be obtained.

To arrive at this stage it will mean a study of the business on the basis of averages to know the amount of the average of all the sittings then of all resittings, also the income from duplicate orders, and enlargements and frames, and any other department that yields a revenue. With the average per dozen constantly in mind then the effort to keep up to the average, or to exceed the average, is a stimulus that will be found extremely beneficial. With actual information of the yield of extra negatives, and the profit yielded by different numbers, the loss of material is decreased and the number used will

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THE CARBON PROCESSES FOR THE FINISHING ARTIST

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VORTOGRAPHY: BY ALVIN LANGDON COBURN

Mr. Alvin Langdon Coburn, whose photographic work has long been so well known, has applied the principles of Vorticism to the camera, and invented a new art, called Vortography. An exhibition of his vortographs, together with some paintings by him, was recently on view at the Camera Club, London. Replying to a criticism, he writes: "I affirm that any sort of photograph is superior to any sort of painting aiming at the same result. . . . Where else but in photography will you find such luminosity and such a sense of subtle gradations? I took up painting as one takes up any other primitive pursuit, because in these days of progress it is amusing to revert to the cumbersome methods of bygone days, that one may return to modernity with a fuller appreciation of its vast possibilities. . . . People have been painting now for several years; it is no longer a novelty; but this will go down to posterity as the first exhibition of Vortography."

much under the worker's control that any attempts to carry it to unreasonable limits must be guarded against in order to avoid anything like freakish effects. For autumn rendering in a landscape a green tissue should be tried for the print itself, the effect of autumn being obtained by the use of a suitable warm oil color sparingly used. The writer has seen some very beautiful marine studies similarly treated. The pictures were printed in Italian green. The sea portion was given a slight tint of lampblack in order to lower the rather vivid color of the tissue, and at the same time being a means of increasing the value of the wave crests, which were rubbed down to white; while the rocks were treated with the merest suggestion of a warm-brown color. This description would imply that the coloring may be carried to any extent; but, as has been pointed out, there is a danger of overdoing it, thus producing a meretricious result. The best effects are

obtained by the use of two colors only—the color of the tissue and the transparent oil paint. For moonlight scenes a suitable color is obtained from a mixture of Prussian blue and lampblack, and employed over a black image. The Prussian blue alone is too raw, hence the necessity for adding lampblack. It is not essential to mix them on the palette, but to apply a little of each color to the picture and rub them well together. The rough transfer papers will be found most amenable to the oil paints. Finally, after due time has elapsed for the color to dry, the picture may be varnished with any good picture varnish, an improvement for any kind of oil-finished picture, but particularly for those subjects in a low key. Needless to say, it is only by persistent effort, ignoring failures, and improving upon successes that the ideal result will be attained.—*British Journal of Photography*.

Haviland & Co
45 Barclay St.

New York,

December 16, 1910

My dear Stieglitz--

I have read with great care the article by our friend Caffin on the Buffalo show, and as I do not think it should be printed in the next number of *Camera Work*, it is only fair that I should state my reasons for reaching this conclusion.

*Camera Work* has always stood out as an independent organ ready to give place in its printed pages to honest expression of individual views on subjects photographic and artistic, and you as its editor have always been reluctant to suppress or correct any statement made honestly and sincerely. At the same time, *Camera Work* has its mission. It stands for Photography and its accomplishments. Also, you must bear in mind that while it leaves its contributors full liberty in their expression it, by the sole fact of printing the article, endorses the views of the writer at least in its essentials. It would therefore be unjust to *Camera Work* itself and misleading for the readers of the magazine to publish, except as a reprint, articles which you do not believe correct in their statements or which tend to give an erroneous impression of your own personal attitude, or of the results of the work accomplished. *Camera Work*

[Original letter dated with Haviland correspondence]

Alfred Stieglitz--2

stands for the accomplishments of Photography. Caffin's
article concludes in the main that Photography has accom-
plished nothing. If you felt that the Buffalo show was
a failure and that the photographers had failed to produce work
that entitled them to artistic recognition, and that they
deserved a severe rebuke to awaken them to a sense of their
responsibility, this would be an excellent statement of the
case. But when the Albright Art Galleries have crowned
the efforts of twenty-five years by giving Photography the
recognition which you and many of your associates believe
was fully deserved, and you issue a number of Camera Work
which is to be a record of this accomplishment, it seems
decidedly out of place to print an article which might be
entitled "The Failure of Photography."

The article to begin with is self-contradictory.
It starts with the statement that "the claim of Photography
to be regarded as a medium of personal expression has been
unequivocally recognized and amply sustained," and ends with
the conclusion that "In its attempt to solve the problem of
its existence much of it has reached a natural death."

With the opening paragraphs I have no quarrel
until we come to the analysis of the work of Hill. I
seriously question whether his wonderful photographs were
"in the nature of an accident," and whether their pictorial
qualities were not obtained as consciously as in Miss
Cameron's work. The laws of probabilities are not in favor
of so many happy accidents.

Alfred Stieglitz--3

When Caffin says that photographers"are
making a fetich of tone to the neglect of other qualities
more vitally photographic," I expect him to qualify his
statement and point out these other qualities. The only
suggestion I can find is in the statement, "The main value
of photography - - - an unrivalled medium for the rendering
of the character of form," the one thing which I do not
believe photography can do as well as other media, be-
cause it cannot emphasize or exaggerate form, and emphasis
or caricature is at the root of all true art.

As to Velasquez, what Caffin has to say about
him may be very interesting to painters and students of
tradition, but what has it to do with modern photographers
who claim to work along independent lines?

If Caffin would look up in the files of
<u>Camera Work</u> a certain article by Roland Rood, he might
find there some very good arguments proving that the
camera does in its own way "translate or interpret the
truths of nature."

In mathematics, plus ten and minus ten equal
zero. In dynamics, a force plus ten moving in one direction
pitted against a force minus two moving in the opposite
direction results in a force plus eight moving in the direc-
tion of the greater force. In the printed word, a single
article or a single line like the one, "In its (Photography's)
attempt to solve the problem of its existence much of it has
reached a natural death," coming from one identified with the

Alfred Stieglitz--4

Secession, might when isolated acquire a force multiplied
by the number of times it would be quoted or read by the
detractors of the work of the Secession and could undo the
influence of many a page written in the forward direction
and make our victory look like an acknowledged defeat.

Every man is allowed to build his own house
in his own way in our little village, provided it fits in
the general scheme of architecture, of our village.
But we have hung our sign out for architects and builders,
not for wreckers.

Mr. Alfred Stieglitz, Editor,

Camera Work,

New York City.

291 Fifth Ave., New York.

October 4, 1915.

My dear Caffin:

I am sending you a batch of "291". You will notice a special
page in Number 9, which announces the opening of the Modern Gallery on
October 7th. This Gallery will be under the direction of De Zayas. When
I see you I will explain the whole business to you, should you be interested.

Hoping that you had a fine summer,

Your old,