1865 AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PHOTOGRAPHY & THE ALLIED ARTS AND SCIENCES
New series vol. VI
VERSION: 1/9/2007
START:
NOTES:
--Italics have been retained from publications, which uses them for both titles as well as emphasis. To more easily locate image titles, I have continued this italicization when titles have been rendered in all capitols or put in quotes, however italics have NOT been used when the general subject of an image is mentioned.
--Image numbers listed in articles can be either an entry number in an exhibition, or the photographer’s own image number as found on labels.
--All photographer’s names have been bolded for easy location. Numbers frequently refer to the photographer’s image number, but can also refer to a number in a catalog for a show. Decide whether to bold or not if can tell.
--Names: Given abbreviations for titles such as “M” for “Monsieur”, etc., it is not always possible to tell if an individual’s first name or title is being abbreviated. Thus, especially with non-English photographers, too much credence should not be put into an initial that could also serve as an abbreviated title.
--It is not always possible in lists of photographers to know when two separate photographers are partners or not, e.g., in a list, “Smith and Jones” sometimes alludes to two separate photographers and sometimes to one photographic company. Both names will be highlighted and indexed but a partnership may be wrongly assumed. Any information to the contrary would be appreciated.
-- Brackets [ ] are used to indicate supplied comments by the transcriber; parenthesis
( ) are used in the original sources. If the original source has used brackets, they have been transcribed as parenthesis to avoid confusion.
--Articles by photographers about technical matters – only name and titles have been listed. IF AT ALL. If other names are associated with the paper they are listed as well.
--Meetings of Societies – Names of officers, members attending or referenced, dates and locations of meetings have been given. If the reports are very short or discuss photographs, then the articles have been copied; if administrative or technical in nature, they have not.
-- Some journals, e.g., The Art-Journal, cover both photographer and painting/drawing. As they frequently refer to the production of both the photographer and the painter as “pictures” it is not always possible to tell when photography is indicated. If there is doubt, it will be included but a note will be added stating that the names listed may in fact not be photographers.
--Mostly articles totally discussing technical aspects of photography, products, etc. are not transcribed unless they are part of a larger article covering photographs. When technical descriptions are too lengthy to transcribe that is noted.
--Spelling and typos: Nineteenth-century spellings occasionally differs from currently accepted norms. In addition, British spellings also differ from American useage. Common examples are: “colour” vs. “color”; “centre” vs. “center” and the use of “s” for “z” as in “recognise” vs. “recognize. While great care has been exercised in transcribing the 19th-century journals exactly as printed, “spell check” automatically corrects many of these differences. An attempt has been made to recorrect these automatic changes, but no doubt some have slipped through. As for typographical errors, these have been checked although no doubt some have managed to slip through the editorial process. For matters of consequence, I will be happy to recheck the original sources if need be for specific references.
1865: AJP&AA&S Sept. 15, n.s. vol. VI, #___, p. 127-128:
Hints for Out-Door Photographers.
To Be Read Over Carefully Before Taking A Trip From Home.
By Valentine Blanchard.
1. Never clean a glass out of doors (if you can help it), and therefore take a sufficient stock ready-cleaned with you.
2. In cleaning a glass, remember it has two sides, therefore don’t forget one of them—for you can ill spare the silver from the bath which is reduced upon the neglected side.
3. Carry a small dusting-brush in your waistcoat pocket (unless you can find a better place for it), and don’t lend it for love, and certainly not for money.
4. Carry your stock of collodion in several small bottles rather than one large one, for it is decidedly awkward to break your only bottle of collodion when working a mile from any habitation, and twenty miles from a chemist’s shop.
5. Before packing up your apparatus, overhaul each article, and anything found wanting “make a note of,” or, better still, hunt it up at once; and particularly take care of nuts, screws, &c., &c., and all small fry, for the large articles will take care of themselves.
6. Remember that though dust may considerably increase the picturesque effect of some things—an old bust for instance—its presence is by no means imperative on photographic apparatus; indeed the pictures will be none the worse artistically for its absence altogether.
7. Don’t commence packing until all the articles needful for the journey are collected together; and, in order to make “assurance doubly sure,” mentally go through the operations involved in taking a picture thus:--Begin with the plates, store them carefully, ready cleaned, in their box; then put aside the collodion necessary for the trip; then the bath and dipper; afterwards developer, intensifier, &c., and so on to the end; and be sure you omit no part of the operation, otherwise be not surprised some fine day to find the camera minus the lenses, the bath minus its contents, the camera minus the dark slide, &c., or some such decidedly awkward mishap.
8. Before starting, weigh several ounces of sulphate of iron, and make them into packets; the bother of scales and weights will thus be removed; for it a twenty-ounce bottle be used as a stock-bottle for developer, the strength will be about right for ordinary work, and the amount of water can easily be varied to meet peculiar requirements. Of course you can easily measure out your acetic acid in your developing measure.
9. Don’t be down-hearted at the sight of a cloudy morning—it is frequently a sign of a fine day; and, on the other hand, rarely trust a cloudless by at nine in the morning; the chances are, ten to one, that it will be dull by two o’clock.
10. Before you pitch your tent, choose well your ground; and, whenever possible, protect yourself from sun and wind, and keep as far from a dusty road as possible.
12. Never trust yellow glass, and, if you have any doubt, use two thicknesses. The nearer the color approaches ruby the better for your results.
13. Before you prepare your first plate examine well your tent or dark box, and be sure there are no pin-holes of white light anywhere.
14. No matter how affectionately dust may cling to the side of your plate, you must separate them with all the determination of a poor-law officer. It is astounding how dust will cling for support, but don’t believe in it, for it won’t do.
15. In an under exposed picture bring out all you can in development, and don’t be impatient; for if you cannot bring out detail, intensification will only make matters worse. As a rule, do not hurry development, and, if needful, apply several lots of developers. In an over-exposed picture, however, stop the development as speedily as possible, and in intensifying apply plenty of silver.
16. Work with the largest stop you can afford to employ, for remember you will never get perfect atmosphere in your pictures by employing a lense [sic] with a small stop.
17. Never fix your picture in the tent, but wash them well. You need not then be afraid of day-light, for its influence is rather beneficial than otherwise.
18. If you are at all short of water, do not fix your negatives until you get home, for should they partly dry, you will have a stain where the action is stopped, if the fixing operation is imperfectly performed.
19. Remember an artistic picture costs but little more trouble than a worthless one; therefore, use well your eyes before you being work, for though the camera is a most obedient instrument, you must first see the picture, for you cannot expect the lens to see it for you.
20. Unless you have an inexhaustible stock of patience, stop at home.