A Plea for the Pictorial 111 Photography

Progress, Volume VI, Issue 12, 2 October 1911, Page 823

A Plea for the Pictorial 111 Photography

J. A. Heginbotham. P v , 11 ! 1 , . Photography has entered so largely into the i pursuits of the average individual a well as the business lite of the world, that it seems a pity more .s not done to render the scope of its usefulness more pic tonal than is generally found to be the Photo-rinhv nictovi.llv W n„l l hp Jr-hotogiaphy pictonally would be better if: its elements were not so easily comprehended as to make it almost a frivolous pursuit and cause it to be ineluded with amusements and recreations,

I holography is educative, and it is sad to think that of the -many who practice it the vast majority never get past a certain stage. A little serious attention soon enables the student to produce a technically perfect negative and print, and there usually his artistic education ends, or perhaps it would be truer to say it never began. In the ease with which one arrives at this stage lies the evil of the pursuit as the many photographs of a purely Snap-shot character prove. Photography was intended to produce pictures the very earliest photographers laboured to that end and despite the many difficulties they had to surmount, difficulties which the photographer of today knows nothing about, the rough path of its research and progress having been

made smooth by the plate and paper manufacturer, the facility in acquiring ordinary technique so as to be able to produce something that the student Knows is technically good, but has not knowledge enough to know is artistically worthless, beguiles him from the path that would probably make him an artistic photographer, to follow the delusion of making technical discoveries, and lose himself in chemical and optical subtleties, V'V- struggle begins after the student w capable of producing good techmeal work. At this stage he wants to recognise where the merit of the materials ends and the power of art begins; to learn where to put his skill to the best

use. The study of art will help him, and will be found to be an absorbing pursuit, Photography for pictorial purposes must be used merely as a means to produce pictures, just as the art student in our art schools uses pen, paper, pencil and brush as tools of his adopted art. The camera is a tool, it does the drawing for him; the work of selection and all it. means belongs to the man who uses it. Photography must be treated as a means of expression; the photographer must learn how to see and feel, he must study how others have felt and seen, and the means they have taken to show what they saw and what they felt about it. He must study works of art and pictures and endeavour to learn how the pictorial resuits gained have been attained. A

course of instruction in the art section of the Wellington Technical School will help him. Those whose names are greatest in pictorial photography will be found to have considerable artistic knowledge and ability apart from their Zto™hv and "is only reasonable to attribute ae superiority of their work to the fact that they have had artist c training The photographer who wants to ad vance in Ihe £ must reach beyond mechanism. He must cultivate the emotions; must get into closer touch with nature; must be able to grasrThe scene in his mind and feel fabeauty as well as to capture it in his camera Landscnne express varies n fom and intens'ty

with the hours. The freshness of springthe heat of summer; the gold of autumnand the cold of winter are phases of nature which we should not only be able to see and feel in ourselves, but also to represent in our pictures. If the photographer once gets the feeling for the beautiful in nature he will never tire of photography—as so many do owing in many instances to lack of effort to cultivate and "develop the latent image" of their talents—but will cling to his "oneeyed friend" as a life-long companion well able to help him in giving expression to his observations, thoughts,- feelings and individuality By taking his hobby seriously the photographer will find that further study is required ; study that can only end with

life itself. A knowledge of composition is absolutely necessary, which should be felt in the most simple subject, as well as in the most elaborate picture. Composition teaches how to get the greatest amount of variety together without straggling; variety in unity. It helps towards obtaining the most pictorial effect that a subject would admit of or the art of making each part of a picture help the other parts. With the majority of photographers this question of composition and its help in picture-making is either not considered or not known, and nature is too frequently taken just as you find her, as is evidenced by the many

technically excellent prints one sees which are absolutely void of interest and givmg no proof or reason for their production. A picture should "draw you on" to admire it, not show you everything at a glance. Let the principal feahires, as the head in a portrait, claim first attention, and the rest follow. There is a great deal to be done by the use of emphasis. This is attained by concentratmg the attention of one part of the pieture by so arranging that the part shall be darker or lighter than the rest of the

space, so that it shall be more conspicuous. In landscape we must have not merely the facts, but the grace and charm and the expression. There must be a feeling that the photographer did his work with sincerity and conviction, and not for the fun of the thing. Let a man have implicit confidence in his work while he is about it, it will be all the better for his belief in it; when it is finished let him doubt for ever after and try to do better. Selection has much to do with the art of the photographer, but there are many other things to consider afterwards before the work is complete. Beautiful subjects may be obtained from very

simple bits of nature. A broken bit of a river bank and its almost always picturesque surroundings; sea and" skies and woodlands. It is worth while to consider if a part is not more valuable than the whole, which in picture making it almost always is, and if it is possible to get rid of what you do not want, whether you can get rid of it altogether or hide it. Different subjects require different devises, different treatment, and there is endless fascination and charm in treating them.

If photographers would more seriously study the pictorial side of photography I am convinced they would retain life-long interest in its pursuit and give greater pleasure and charm to those it is their effort to please, and, moreover, derive greater pleasure and profit themselves. The photographic literature of the day should be read and studied. Books on photography written by the late 11. P. Robinson, and the late A. Horsley Hinton, Major Puyo, and Robert Demachy, are worthy of study, thought, and reflection. These gentlemen have done much to lift photography to the sphere of the arts.