Amateur Photographer & Cinematographer (1933)

THE AMATEUR PHOTOGRAPHER & CINEMATOGRAPHER ED,FJ MORTIMER INCORPORATING "THE NEW PHOTOGRAPHER" "FOCUS" CONSULT.NG eoVtor THE PHOTOGRAPHIC NEWS" &l "PHOTOGRAPHY" R CHILD BAYLEY Siducriptian Rates: United Kingdom /7/fo. Canada). 'fa. Ol/ier Countries !9/d per cum. post free fromt/ieputi/sfen Dorset //ovse J Stamford Street £ondon 5£ 1 WEDNESDAY, August 30TH, 1933. Copyright — Registered as a Newspaper for transmission in the U.K. A LONDON newspaper recently organised a competition, with £1,000 worth of prizes, in which the competitors were in¬ vited to place certain pastimes in what they considered their relative order of popularity. Twenty-four such pastimes were named — swim¬ ming, sunbathing, dancing, tennis, golf, and so forth. The result of the voting gave photography sixth place. This was not bad, but too much weight must not be attached to such results. The competitors have no means of knowing even approxi¬ mate numbers of those who favour this or that pastime. They are naturally prejudiced in favour of their own pet pastime or hobby ; and the wiser among them compile their list with the sole aim of getting as near as possible to the popular vote. They attempt to put first on the list that pastime which they expect the majority of voters will put first. Anyhow, it requires no competitive voting to establish the fact that photography more than holds its own in the field of popular pastimes. Attracting Attention. The newspapers of a few days ago told of a Wood Green amateur photographer who was successful in securing a recognisable portrait of a man stealing eggs from a fowlhouse, the hidden camera being surreptitiously operated by a string eighteen feet long. Details given in the many Press reports varied a little, and were confusing ; but it was agreed that in order to make the thief look in the direction of the concealed camera a piece of metal was in some way made to drop into a bird bath. This little trick of attracting attention, a correspondent tells us, has led a photographer of ' /opics Morning on the Thames. A view from Hungerford Bridge. children to abolish his “ Look for the dicky bird ” in favour of a noise made by dropping something on the floor, for the purpose of 189 Vol. LXXVI. No. 2338. securing the much-to-be-desired look of wonderment which is thought to be so pleasing in portraits of children. It is an old joke to advise amateur photographers to make a noise like a nut when photographing squirrels, or the noise of a bun when photo¬ graphing bears at a zoo. It is, however, a fact that experienced photographers of horses often get an assistant to trundle a wheelbarrow in the hearing of a horse which is being photographed, there being nothing more effective than this for making a horse look alert and interested. Photographing Lightning. The modern photographer who knows how easy it is to photograph flashes of lightning, will no doubt be surprised to learn that photo¬ graphy had been in existence over forty years before any really serious attempt was made to get camera records of flashes. It is fifty-one years since a Mr. W. N. Jennings, of Philadelphia, gave to the world a passable photograph -of a lightning flash, and we say “ passable ” be¬ cause the exposure made on Septem¬ ber 2nd, 1882, was not an unqualified success. It was not until three years later that a really perfect and complete wavy line streak was obtained on a photographic plate. Mr. Jennings, clad in a rubber coat, planted his tripod on the roof of a house, and it took all his strength to keep the camera and himself from being blown into the street at 10.30 p.m. on that eventful night. He was not surprised to find the flash a wavy line instead of a zig-zag, as he knew that Nasmyth, of steamhammer fame, had read a paper before the British Association in 1856, calling attention to the er¬ roneous character of a lightning 5