THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW 



345 



article. Mere words cannot always 

 bring a clear picture of an object to 

 your mind as a photograph does. 



Editors, as a rule, plead that they 

 are a much abused body. Whether 

 we agree to this or not, I am sure that 

 if we accepted the editorial chair we 

 would look very favorably on the arti- 

 cle accompanied b}' a number of clear, 

 clean photographs of the scenes or ob- 

 jects described, where on the other 

 hand in opposition is the article of 

 many closely written pages with 

 never an illustration to help tired 

 minds to an understanding of what 

 they are trying to say. 



Not onl}' in the disposal of an article 

 does the camera help, but the financial 

 returns are almost doubled. The ma- 

 jority of editors pay, and pay well, 

 for articles accompanied by photo- 

 graphs. Not only this, but there is a 

 constant demand for good photographs 

 to use without any letter text. A num- 

 ber of magazines run picture contests. 

 Four current numbers, picked at ran- 

 dom from my pile on the study table, 

 contain notices of photographs wanted. 

 This is surely sufficient guarantee that 

 the usefulness of the camera is on the 

 increase, not the wane. 



Now please pa}' close attention, al- 

 though this next sentence is put here 

 in the middle of my article, it is of 

 more importance than all the rest. 



Buy a good camera; and do your 

 own developing. 



More troubles and failures are 

 caused by non-compliance with this 

 rule than with an_v other in all picture- 

 dom. A good camera will pay for it- 

 self twice over in quite a short time. 

 You have it when 3'ou need it most. 

 If v'ou happen to be writing up the 

 wild flowers of your native State, far 

 better results can be obtained by tak- 

 ing your camera to your flower haunts 

 than by taking your specimens to the 

 camera. 



If 3'ou have to be at the extra ex- 

 pense of paying a man to do the work, 

 then your purse is indeed to be pitied! 

 besides putting a lot of extra work on 

 your own shoulders. 



Another thing to be considered is 

 that photographs are not always to 

 be had when most needed. When you 

 operate your own camera 3'^ou can take 

 all the time you need to find the best 

 view point for your picture, take as 

 many as you like; then when you 

 carry them to the dark room and dip 

 them in the developing bath you can 

 soon see just what points you wish to 



bring out strongest. There are fewer 

 more pleasurable feelings than those 

 you have as you bend anxiously over 

 the pan of developer and see the first 

 faint outlines of your picture come in 

 view. 



Another pitfall that the author must 

 avoid who depends on bought photo- 

 graphs to illustrate his article, is the 

 copyrighted photograph. This snare 

 catches its prey every day. The owner 

 is liable to demand damages when his 

 copyrighted photograph meets his 

 gaze from some newspaper's pages. 

 Then you get just the same view that 

 every other author does who buys his 

 photographs. You have no chance to 

 show originality, or a new presenta- 

 tion of an old view. 



The author who does his own work 

 in photograph}' has ample recompense 

 in the pleasure he gets from his nature 

 work. The health he drinks with 

 every breath of sweet, pure air brings 

 inspiration in its train. He sees life 

 from a better standpoint and its effect 

 is at once noticed, by the editors, in his 

 articles. Then if he happens to be a 

 nature lover, and did you ever see an 

 enthusiastic photographer wno was 

 not? what delight to him is a corner 

 of an old rail fence with bunches of 

 wild purple violets lifting their heads 

 from beds of dead brown leaves, hang- 

 ing over the edge of a rain-washed 

 ravine, while high over their heads 

 swing the white-hatted branches of 

 the dogwood tree. 



Just a few yards further along is a 

 gigantic oak whose roots have risen 

 abjve the ground and formed odd 

 nooks and crooks with their turns. 

 Here in one of these little root nests 

 a young cedar has sprung into life, 

 resting with the utmost confidence in 

 the strength and shelter of the older, 

 larger tree. 



If you saw those pictures with your 

 own eyes, and your trusted camera 

 was ready to hand, how long before 

 those pictures would be yours to take 

 away, soon to send them away on their 

 journey to brighten and gladden 

 others' lives and other's eyes, which 

 surrounded by city walls, cannot feast 

 on country treasures. 



The possession and use of a camera 

 need not be the expense that many im- 

 agine. Aside from the making of pic- 

 tures to accompany contributions to 

 journals, as mentioned in the above ex- 

 tract, there are various other ways in 



