The American annual of photography . eech—must be pre-pared to resort to every means at his command to modify themechanical record of the camera. It is not advised to modifyrecklessly or for the mere sake of modifying; each step mustbe carefully considered, must be taken in accordance with thedictates of sober judgment, and must have a definite purpose,or the final result may easily be worse than if no modificationwhatever had taken place; but something of the artist theremust be in the picture, something to say: This is no mererecord of fact, but a message from one human soul to another,nor c
The American annual of photography . eech—must be pre-pared to resort to every means at his command to modify themechanical record of the camera. It is not advised to modifyrecklessly or for the mere sake of modifying; each step mustbe carefully considered, must be taken in accordance with thedictates of sober judgment, and must have a definite purpose,or the final result may easily be worse than if no modificationwhatever had taken place; but something of the artist theremust be in the picture, something to say: This is no mererecord of fact, but a message from one human soul to another,nor can this element ever be infused into the picture by a ma-chine. This enthusiasm for pure photography, this reluctanceto alter the productions of the camera, this deification of asoulless machine, is in no small measure responsible for thesterility of the present-day exhibitions of photography, asterility which gives a visitor the feeling that he has seen it allbefore, that he does not care to see it again, that it is all futile 7^. THE HEART OF THE BUSH. ARTHUR DARING. 79 in the extreme—and causes him to halt in delight when he bychance comes on perhaps one real picture, perhaps two, in themidst of an arid waste of machine-made records—beautifulrecords, to be sure, but merely changes rung on a worn-outtheme. Finally, we have the question of the best printing medium,and here no advice can be given; we have left that portion ofthe art of photography which is mechanical and entered therealm of fine art, of individual expression. One man will findhis best medium to be platinum, another gum, another bromide,another oil—the worker can but try each and settle on the onebest suited to what he wishes to express. The present writerhas tried them all and has finally settled on bromoil, which, inits power of darkening or lightening values, of varying con-trast, of varying texture, and of giving rich darks, approachesnearest his ideal. One fault it has, the difficulty of working inl
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, bookpublishernewyo, bookyear1919
