Photography : Its Possibilities in the Art-Field. 



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You must train the eye to see the picturesque in nature ; 

 the mind to understand the poems found in the fields, in the 

 woods, in the waters, in the mid-day sun, in the gray mist of 

 the early morning, or in the mysterious solitude of somber 

 twilight. With this end in view, study well the works of 

 Lessing for romantic feeling ; for the classic, Schirmer ; the 

 sentimental, in Caspar Scheuren ; for pastoral poems, Cazin ; 

 for sunlight, George Innes ; for dignity, Rousseau ; for the 

 forest, Diaz ; for the mysterious, the poetic, Corot ; for the 

 storm on land or sea, Andreas Achenbach ; for the land of 

 sterility, the massive rocks, the arid, sandy plains, where 

 dwells the savage, the works of our fellow-townsman, Henry 

 Farny. This brings us to photographic portraiture, where 

 the camera finds its greatest possibilities. Here the operator 

 has full play for showing his knowledge of art, his intelli- 

 gence, his feeling. Here the subjects before him are pliable 

 at his will. Here the forces of light and shade are at his com- 

 mand. Here, to be successful, you must be a good' judge of 

 character ; your perceptive faculties must decide at a glance 

 the dominant traits, the temperament, and general charac- 

 teristics of your subject, and if in pose you forcibly express 

 these, success is assured. Do not take for models the dramatic 

 attitudes, the twisted draperies, very effective when used by 

 theatrical celebrities, but when applied to men and women in 

 private life, where the license of the stage does not extend, 

 often becomes common, loud, and even vulgar, lacking mod- 

 esty, refinement, dignity, and repose. 



In the studio, make your patron feel at home ; interest him 

 mentally. Do not ask him to look pleasant, to smile ; these 

 expressions may please the weak, but ill become the wise. If 

 the sun pictures made during the past forty years do not fade 

 the future historian will describe us as a very happy, grinning 

 people. When a circus rider appears, talk sawdust ; when 

 the doctor comes, speak of microbe germs ; when the judge, 

 the lawyer, make their appearance, let them do the talking. 

 When a very homely man desires to be immortalized, 

 tell him of the greatness of Socrates or Benjamin But- 

 ler, but don't mention the story about Voltaire, who, 

 one day, surrounded by a group of ladies at the court 

 of Louis XV., remarked that men only had the right 



