306 
FOREST AND STREAM 
July, 1921 
THOSE^PHOTOGRAPHS OF 
THE TRIP 
By Frederick C. Davis 
B Y vocation (at present) I am a pho- 
to-finisher. I am the fellow at 
whom, when you return from a trip, 
you shove two dozen rolls of films, with 
orders to finish them. Very often — far 
too often — they are finished before they 
reach me! And thereby hangs a tale. 
One day a man entered my place of 
business and plunked down about twen- 
ty-five rolls of film. He wanted them 
finished, with one print each. I devel- 
oped the entire lot. When they emerged 
from the dark-room, my eyes were wet 
with tears, for among them a good pho- 
tograph was a rarity. The ones that 
were sharply focussed were accidental. 
None of them were exposed correctly. I 
wept. I expected the owner to weep, too. 
I refrained from making prints of the 
photographs for the simple reason that 
none of them was worth it. But lo! 
The man entered and registered sorrow, 
but he ordered a print made from each 
negative. I made them. People are 
that way, sometimes; they want me to 
waste perfectly good paper on bad nega- 
tives. When I showed the prints to the 
hunter, he said, slowly, 
“Well, they’re not so bad. 
I’ll take five more of each.” 
That I did not collapse 
right there convinces me 
that I shall live to a ripe old 
age. I objected to the need- 
less waste of money. But 
the man did not budge; he 
wanted those pictures be- 
cause they were the only 
mementos of the trip he 
had. After an hour’s argu- 
ing, persuading, coaxing, 
threatening, praising, in- 
sulting, we finally weeded 
out the worst negatives as 
not good enough to print. 
There were then only sev- 
enty-two negatives left. 
Well, I made the prints. 
The final bill was 37.20. 
And there you are. 
I do not intend to preach 
here anything about the funda- 
mentals of photography. There are 
many books and magazines which con- 
tain that sort of stuff. All I want to 
say is, use a little horse sense in the 
matter of making your pictures. 
I F you go out to the corner and make a 
picture of the building there, and the 
picture does not turn out well, you 
TJT E are depending upon the 
friends and admirers of our 
old correspondent Nessmuk to make 
this department worthy of his 
name. No man knew the woods 
better than Nessmuk or wrote of 
them with quainter charm. Many 
of his practical ideas on camping 
and “ going light ” have been 
adopted by the United States 
Army; his canoe has been preserved 
in the Smithsonian Institution; and 
we hope that all good woodsmen 
will contribute to this department 
their Hints and Kinks and trail- 
tested contrivances. — [Editors.] 
can go out again the next day and try 
it again. The building won’t run away. 
Not so on a hunting or fishing trip. 
Once the trip is over, there are no more 
pictures to be made of it. You have to 
be sure you’re taking good pictures 
when you do take them. You should not, 
like the poor fellow above and many 
others like him, wait until you come 
back home to have your pictures finished. 
Fig. i. Attaching the apron to the reel 
If you do, you’re running some awful 
chances! If your pictures come out 
well, you’re a wonderfully lucky cuss! 
If they turn out badly, you have no one 
to kick around the block but yourself. 
The only common sense thing to do is 
to develop a roll of film now and then 
while travelling. Now, don’t object! 
It’s simply a question of whether you 
want pictures of your trip or not. I 
dare say a professional photographer, or 
one that is constantly associated with 
photography as myself, could not go on 
a trip and return with every negative 
as it should be — that is, without test- 
ing a roll now and then while gone. 
Any man who knows photography will 
tell you to develop as you go. It is not 
necessary to develop every roll of film, 
nor is profound knowledge of photog- 
raphy necessary. Take one or two 
rolls, then develop one. If the nega- 
tives are all right, go right on as you 
went before. If they are not, you have 
a chance to correct your mistakes and 
save yourself much expense and many 
heartaches from spoiled pictures. After 
taking a dozen rolls more, develop an- 
other one. If you get good photo- 
graphs, your mind is set at rest. If 
you do not, it is a simple matter to ar- 
range things so that you will. It is 
not necessary to make prints of the 
negatives — merely develop the roll, and 
examine the film. 
Many are the fellows (and I was one 
once) who, returning from a trip, find 
every photograph ruined because light 
entered a tiny speck of a hole, in the 
bellows of the camera, and got to the 
film. Many are those who 
find their pictures incor- 
rectly focussed, or incor- 
rectly exposed. All those 
ruined negatives of what 
would have been cherished 
pictures can be avoided by 
the simple expedient of de- 
veloping a roll of film now 
and then as you go. 
Do you understand the 
process of developing? If 
so, do you understand it 
well enough to use the tray 
method of development? If 
you do, you are lucky, for 
the apparatus necessary 
will then be less bulky than 
the apparatus for tank de- 
velopment. Tray develop- 
ment requires: 
1 folding ruby lamp. 
A few extra candles for 
lamp. 
A few developer powders. 
About a pound of acid hypo. 
Two trays. 
Two film clips. 
All that takes up very little space, 
and the weight is negligible. 
But if you have not made your debut 
into the society of photographic facts, 
let the tray method alone! Use the 
tank method instead. I know the tank 
