324 



RECREATloX. 



be temporary insanity; it will be madness 

 with method in it, and of mouths' duration. 



I advise every amateur who has worked 

 faithfully and studiously one year to try 

 brush development. I make my best 

 brushes by binding together, with rubber 

 bands, 5 or 6 small camel's hair brushes 

 with quill handles. Compound your de- 

 veloper as usual. Set aside a small dish of 

 it at normal full strength. Add to what is 

 left in your tray 2 to 4 ounces of water 

 and take out a second small dish, to which 

 add 2 or 3 drops of your bromide restrain- 

 er. You then have your developer in tray 

 as usual, except a little weaker, a small 

 quantity strong in the reducing agent, and 

 a second small dish full strength. Dust 

 plates, wash and swab with cotton as usual, 

 put in tray and cover. Always keep a plate 

 in developer covered as much as possible. 

 When the image on the plate has come up 

 sufficiently so you can see to work, begin 

 with your brushes. Whatever you wish to 

 hold back, to come up slowly, go over 

 carefully with your restrainer. Whatever 

 you wish to bring out prominently and de- 

 velop fully, develop with a new brush and 

 your full strength developer. Occasionally 

 immerse your plate in tray and run over 

 with brush, to equalize your forces. Then 

 go back to the first and do it over until 

 you have reached the desired result. Pro- 

 ceed with washing and fixing as usual. In 

 this way skies and clouds that would be 

 lost if developed equally with the rest of 

 the plate may be stopped back and saved, 

 while the foreground and object focused 

 on are fully developed. Once brush work 

 is mastered, I do not think any intelligent 

 worker will ever use any other method. 



A contemporary inquires, "What be- 

 comes of all the pictures we make?" They 

 seem to "take unto themselves wings and 

 fly away." Recently the Deacon brought 

 a friend home and called for pictures. I 

 could not produce 25 I was willing to show, 

 though I have plates and make prints by 

 the hundreds. All I have myself are a few 

 culls that are left when my publishers and 

 friends get through with me. People have 

 no conscience about carrying off an ama- 

 teur's work, because, forsooth, they are 

 "your own work and don't cost^ anything." 

 Of course not! Amateurs get their cam- 

 eras, lenses, plates, paper, cards and chem- 

 icals, not to mention that old man of the 

 sea, experience, all for nothing! Add to 

 this that they frequently go one to 500 

 miles, hire guides to cut a way through 

 forests, and wagons to carry their stuff, 

 risk their lives wading rivers and marshes, 

 and spend hours in nerve-racking work. 

 Then some fiend in the disguise of a friend 

 coolly walks off with their pictures. Peo- 

 ple would not dream of taking from your 



. home a picture they knew you had paid 50 

 cents for at a gallery; but without even an 

 apology they will appropriate one of your 

 own pictures that cost you 10 times that 

 amount, because "You made it yourself 

 and it didn't cost anything." Words fail 

 me! I have been the length of my tether 

 before and I am there again. 



The camera department of Recreation" 

 is for camera users, and it is desired to fill 

 it with reliable matter that will benefit 

 them. If the man who begs for "more of 

 the a, b, c, of the work" will write me on 

 what points he wants help, I will gladly 

 cover them. There are so many volumes 

 of even the a, b, c, that I can not strike 

 out blindly, hoping to hit him by accident. 

 I greatly prefer answering special ques- 

 tions to writing on general principles; and 

 the point that will trouble one amateur will 

 be, in all probability, the very one on 

 which 50 others will want light. There- 

 fore, please send in your questions, care of 

 Recreation. 



Charles L. Fair, of San Francisco, has 

 had built, for the purpose of securing ade- 

 quate reproductions of the Yosemite val- 

 ley from some of the high points of ob- 

 servation, a camera with a range of 3 to 10 

 miles. It is guaranteed that a vessel could 

 carry this camera along a coast, 10 miles 

 out at sea, on a clear day, and photograph 

 every detail; or, safely hidden out of sight 

 and range of rifle or cannon, could take 

 every detail of a fort or intrenchments. It 

 is said to pick out the buttons on a soldier's 

 uniform miles out of range of his rifle, or 

 picture the flies on a far distant window. 



Did you ever try .Farmer's solution to 

 bring out your buried clouds? Where they 

 are on the negative strong enough to see, 

 but not of sufficient density to print until 

 the rest of the picture is burned up, they 

 can be uncovered to exact printing density 

 by using a brush and Farmer's solution. 



The Chicago Art Institute ana 1 the So- 

 ciety of Amateur Photographers have com- 

 bined to hold a salon exhibition of pic- 

 torial photography. For prospectus, apply 

 to Fred. K. Lawrence, 65 State street, 

 Chicago. 



SOME OF MY EXPERIENCES. 



G. A. C 



Funny, isn't it? I thought I knew it all, 

 but I don't, as I have just discovered. A 

 friend of mine wished me to photograph a 

 small machine for him. Would I! Well, 

 that's my hobby. So we departed, loaded 

 for an exposure. The machine stood in 

 the shade, and after focusing and draw- 

 ing the slide. I removed the cap, when, be- 

 hold! It fell out of my hand and rolled 



