An Artful Photographer.

Timaru Herald, Volume XIIC, Issue 14015, 25 September 1909, Page 4 (Supplement)

An Artful Photographer.

TIIK .MACK' OF A STVUSII HAT

I have fried manv different wnvs 1,1 inducing the Hooting expression, pensive, seoriiiul, ,-,, v, or ecsi.alic, thai cliaraclenses a woman u hen slie looks i" r Ih-m. in one of her rare moments uiieii ]„ ,• leaiiires reiax an.l her la.-e is illuminated by a flashlight Irom the spirit of beauly itself (writes a Louti..n :irt ist .. .\iy Millions are mostly professional ami Koeii.-iy women, anil it. haiipens lii.-.t. most of my appointments are in the morning." -\oh. ouiirg to late hours ami civilisation, no v, oniaii liviii" in town looks he,- hest before lun.h, ami as most of I lii-ni seem to be aware ol it, their consciousness of this sad fact n-veals itself in their expression. Some photographers fry to overcome this disadvantage by seeking to make good any physical fatigue by offering coiiee, chocolates, etc. Hut the trouble is not physical, it is mental, and the mind. not. the body, needs atti nfion. A certain anonymous philosopher—a suffragist surely—has said that " tinway to a man s heart is through his stomach." but I discovered that, the way to a woman's armour propre is through her hat I The old-stylo photographer may think I am talking through mine, but I can testify to the truth of my discovery by results.. My sitter arrives irritable, nervous, and with a wooden expression that no fussy retouching on the negative could eliminate; she is worrying about a thousand irrelevant details, and declares she "feels a fright." It is at this stage that the well-meaning coffee and " chocolate photographer usually outs his foot in it, and retreats to" his dark room muttering adjectives glowing enough to take the place of the ruby lantern. Mv method, however, is to suggest tentatively, at the psychological moment, that she " might care to try on one of these "—" these '' being some of the latest creations of one :il London't most daring and exjiensive milliners, which, like conjurer's properties, lie in boxes in readiness lor the trick. As no woman with any pretensions to beautv can resist the loyous glamour of trving on new hats, a depressed and" wooden "sitter" ,is rapidlv irnnsligured into a radiant vision of ecstatic happiness. Not onlv am I wovided with hali- -, down new and delightful poses, but Ilie siiter's expression, her face r,a.hc<! in smiles and the latest-C-uis fashions absorbed in the . P<mi„v of her unexpected venture, is in inspiration l<»r almost, any ..umbel «-t whole plates. .... -,.„, ~,.,. It is thus that a sitters n-st mo inents" lire induced.