16 



Mr. Ogden Scaid that he found the subject to be 

 so vast that it had been utterly impossible for liiin 

 to arrange his lecture as he would have liked. He took 

 it that the intention of the Society in asking for 

 that lecture was to supplement the admirable 

 ones which they had had fi-om time to time on 

 the practical side of photography, by one dealing 

 with the theoretical side of the subject. He would, 

 therefore, not attempt to touch that part of the 

 work, but would endeavour to offer them some 

 observations on the more elusive side of the 

 subject. Mr. Ogden went on to define the word 

 *' artistic " as being according to the rules of art 

 or the way whicli a true artist might be 

 expected to adopt. A wide education, he said, 

 was required for the full appreciation of the 

 artistic, and no opportiuiity should be lost of 

 becoming acquainted with the art of the great 

 masters, whether of painting, literatiu-e or music. 

 In dealing with the power to obtain artistic ex 

 pression, he could give them little but a syllaVms 

 of work, and iirged those present to make a 

 collection of reproductions of good paintings. Mr. 

 Ogden had an excellent selection of these on the 

 tablf, and at the close of the lecture they were 

 examined with much interest by those present. 

 The lecturer mentioned several artists whose 

 works he strongly advised those present to obtain 

 a reproduction of. The value of hearing good 

 music was, he explained, to stimiilate one's 

 artistic consciousness, and would, as a result, 

 react upon one's power to secure a good photograph. 

 In the British Museum were to be seen for 

 nothing some of the very finest examples of light 

 and shade work, and these should be of the 

 greatest possible value to the student of photo- 

 graphy. Dealing with the arrangement of lines and 

 light and shade, it was pointed out that in order 



to make a picture beautiful the student must 

 select, reject, arrange, and rearrange the parts 

 until the lines and masses established a condition 

 of beauty, and in illustration of this point a 

 number of diagrams were drawn on the black- 

 board. The selection must possess unity, that is 

 be free from unreasoning contradictions which 

 would tend to confuse the attention of the observer. 

 Proportion was a property which must never be 

 overlooked by the artistic photographer, and the 

 principal suoject must therefore dominate the 

 space and not appear as a mere speck. Art is not 

 the direct copying of nature, but rather a reduc- 

 tion of nature to abstract form. The human 

 vision can only be focussed upon one spot at a 

 time and as a result the mind accepts the larger 

 object in a picture as a kind of accent or evidence 

 of strength, giving little attention of any other 

 part of the picture space. Mr. Ogduni here 

 deprecated the custom of taking full face bust 

 portraits, as the picture lost much of its artistic 

 merit by its similarity, one side being as it were a 

 reproduction of the other. In dealing with sea- 

 scapes or cloudscapes the student would do well 

 to allow the subject to predominate the picture 

 space and not crowd it into the smaller port ion of the 

 space, thereby leaving the c bserver in doubt as to 

 what was really meant. In the latter portion of 

 his address, Mr. Ogden dealt av ith the character and 

 nature of lines, and the principles of light and 

 shade. and referred to two most valuable principles 

 of art i)ractice — contrast and gradation. 



At the close, Mr. Harvey, in proposing a hearty 

 vote of thanks to Mr. Ogden, said he had 

 given them a very suggestive lecture, and he 

 hoped that they would have the pleasui'e of hear- 

 ing him on some future occasion. 



*EAMBLES IN NORTH AMKKICA.' — By Rev. A. J. GALPIN. 



In the Parry Library of the King's School, 

 Canterbury, on Wednesday. February 10, the Rev. 

 A. J. Galpin (Headmaster of the King's School, 

 Canterbury) gave a highly interesting lecture 

 entitled " Kambles in North America." Despite 

 the inclement weather there was a good muster 

 of members of the Society, who evidently higlily 

 appreciated the geological, geographical, and 

 historicul information which was given them, in 

 reference to wliat we are accustomed to call the 

 New World. 



Mr Sidney Harvey, F.I.C.. F.C.S. (President of 

 the Society) in the course of a few introductory 

 remarks, said he could hardly avoid, when they 

 met in that hall, reminiscences of a past— which 

 might be new to &ome of the members there — 

 when, forty years ago, through the hospitality of 

 the King's School, the Society used to meet, not 

 in that room, because that was not built then, 

 but in the school-room on the other side of the 

 playground. Dr. Michinson was then the Presi- 

 dent of their Society, and he used to extend that 

 hospitality pretty frequently. Mr. Harvey went 

 on to remark that similar hospitality had been 

 extended to them since that time, and he was sure 



the Society appreciated the kindness cf Mr- 

 Galpiniand the King'sSchool authorities (applause)- 

 Mr. Galpin, in prefacing his lecture, thanked 

 Mr. Harvey for the kind remarks which he liad 

 made in reference to the school in those early 

 days. It was a great pleasure to him to see them 

 there that night, and he thanked them for coming. 

 He would like them to regard what he had to say 

 to them much more in the way of a '' talk " than 

 a formal lecture. He was, of course, not qualified 

 to speak with expert knowledge about many of the 

 subjects which ho would put before them, bii-, 

 when he was over in the States he used his eyes 

 like an ordinary intelligent person, and he thoiight 

 that some of the things which he saw and noted 

 there might be of interest to them in reading and 

 thinking about the more ancient history of Nortli 

 America. It was in 18S3 that Lord Lansdowne 

 was appointed Viceroy of Canada, and he (the 

 Rev. A. J. Galpin) was appointed by him 

 to his staff as one of his assistant 

 private secretaries, and as tutor to Lord 

 Lansdowne's two sons. The lecturer explained 

 that for two months during the Summer he had 

 carte hhniche to go where he liked, and he used 



