THE CAMERA 



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A DAINTY VISTA, AND A CURIOUS CAPPING. 



tic in shape, mountains of gold and 

 silver, Alpine peaks tipped with per- 

 petual snow, and other unreal yet 

 glorious dream shapes such as only 

 poets and dreamers see. 



It is meet that those of us who love 

 the clouds should view and study them 

 according" to our nature and view 

 point. Yet the writer would fain have 

 a larger number study and enjoy them 

 in a broader and more understanding 

 light. For they are much more than 

 merely beautiful objects. They com- 

 prise a phenomenon of wondrous in- 

 terest, well worthy the attention and 

 study of the scientist and philosopher. 

 Many of them, by their forms and as- 

 pect, etc., tell a most wonderful story 

 of the state of the aerial ocean wherein 

 they exist, and of the changes going 

 on from hour to hour therein. 



To the cloud lover, especially, who 

 is photographically inclined, the clouds 

 are an especial delight. For the mod- 

 ern color screen and ortho-chromatic 

 plate now make it easy to secure exact 

 and exquisite likenesses of their beau- 

 tiful forms and shadings. A more de- 

 lightful task can hardly be conceived 

 than the one of watching out for the 

 "fit hues brief yet choicer moments, 

 when the cloud hosts arrange them- 

 selves in most exquisite or grand 

 array, or present to us some peculiar 

 aspect or rare cloud form which we 

 have long sought for in vain. 



Tastes may and should differ as to 

 what cloud forms should claim our 

 photographic efforts. But to the 

 writer the photographing of the large 

 mountainous looking clouds called 

 cumulus and the cumulo-nimbus, or 

 so-called thunderheads, is an especial 

 delight. How beautiful and majestic, 

 how solid and truly mountain-like these 

 mighty piles of vapour seem. Pile 

 above pile, buttressed from below, 

 they sweep upward in sublime array, 

 piercing the empyrean blue to frigid 

 heights, their tops literally (and truly) 

 sprinkled with glittering snow. Gigan- 

 tic piles of vapour these truly are, oft- 

 times with a vertical depth of miles, 

 and a horizontal one of tens of miles. 

 One should try, in picturing cloud 

 scenes of this description, to introduce 

 a little of the scientific spirit into one's 

 photographic efforts, so as to secure, 

 if possible, a series of views picturing 

 the life history of given cloud forms. 

 For it ofttimes happens that one may 

 see the birth and growth of a shower, 

 the transformation of a cumulus cloud 

 upward into a cumulo-nimbus or rain 

 cloud. More rarely it will be our for- 

 tune to witness not only a shower's 

 birth and growth, but to trace it fur- 

 ther through stages of decay and dis- 

 solution, for it sometimes happens that 

 the upward rush of the columns of air, 

 which really constitutes a shower, for 

 some reason ceases. "We can then see 



