The Evolution of Photography: With a Chronological Record of Discoveries, Inventions, Etc., Contributions to Photographic Literature, and Personal Reminescences Extending over Forty YearsWerge, John, active 1854-1890
History
The Evolution of Photography: With a Chronological Record of Discoveries, Inventions, Etc., Contributions to Photographic Literature, and Personal Reminescences Extending over Forty Years
Werge, John, active 1854-1890
Photography -- History
There were many other galleries on Broadway: Canal Street; the Bowery;
the Avenues, 1, 2, and 3; A, B, and C, Water Street; Hudson Street, by
the shipping, &c., the proprietors of which conducted their business in
the style most suited to their "location" and the class of customers
they had to deal with; but in no case was there any attempt at that "old
clothesman"--that "Petticoat Lane"--style of touting and dragging
customers in by the collar. All sorts of legitimate modes of advertising
were resorted to--flags flying out of windows and from the roofs of
houses; handsome show cases at the doors; glowing advertisements in the
newspapers, in prose and verse; circulars freely distributed among the
hotels, &c.; but none of that "have your picture taken," annoying, and
disreputable style adopted by the cheap and common establishments in
London.
Unhappily, "Sunday trading" is practised more extensively in New York
than in London. Nearly all but the most respectable galleries are open
on Sundays, and evidently do a thriving trade. The authorities
endeavoured to stop it frequently, by summoning parties and inflicting
fines, but it was no use. The fines were paid, and Sunday photography
continued.
The "glass houses" of America differ entirely from what we understand by
the name here; indeed, I never saw such a thing there, either by chance,
accident, or design--for chance has no "glass houses" in America, only
an agency; there are no accidental glass houses, and the operating rooms
built by design are not "glass houses" at all.
The majority of the houses in New York and other American cities are
built with nearly flat roofs, and many of them with lessening storeys
from front to back, resembling a flight of two or three steps. In one of
these roofs, according to circumstances, a large "skylight" is fixed,
and pitched usually at an angle of 45°, and the rooms, as a rule, are
large enough to allow the sitter to be placed anywhere within the radius
of the light, so that any effect or any view of the face can easily be
obtained.
The light is not any more actinic there than here in good weather, but
they have a very great deal more light of a good quality _all the year
round_ than we have.
The operators work generally with a highly bromized collodion, which, as
a rule, they make themselves, but not throughout. They buy the
gun-cotton of some good maker--Mr. Tomlinson, agent for Mr. Cutting,
generally supplied the best--then dissolve, iodize, and bromize to suit
their working.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account