War's Brighter Side: The Story of The Friend Newspaper Edited by the Correspondents with Lord Roberts's Forces, March-April, 1900Ralph, Julian
History
War's Brighter Side: The Story of The Friend Newspaper Edited by the Correspondents with Lord Roberts's Forces, March-April, 1900
Ralph, Julian
Friend (Bloemfontein, South Africa); South African War, 1899-1902 -- Periodicals
The camera and the pencil can, and will, live together during a
campaign, but I venture to doubt if the camera will be able to do all
that its champion claims for it, and the war artist who knows his
business, which cannot be learnt in a single campaign, will come out
on top. For reproducing and putting before the public scenes
representing the strife and clamour of war, with its accompanying
noise and confusion, the man with the kodak cannot compete for one
single moment with the individual who is using the pencil.
How can he produce a picture that will show the public at large
anything like an accurate bird's-eye view of what a modern battle is
like? The brain of the camera cannot take in all that is going on. The
man with the pencil does so. A few lines to indicate the background
and the characteristics of it, and he is able to put before the world
what has taken place, that is if he knows and has seen what troops
have been doing.
In another paragraph there is a sentence which is a very unjust
reflection upon "the old-fashioned war artists, who draw on their
imagination." I should very much like to know who the old-fashioned
war artists can be who are referred to in this manner. The few men who
are still alive, and there never were many of them, are all men who
have seen a large amount of fighting, have sketched and worked under
fire, sent their work home often under enormous difficulties, and been
in very many tight places. Why should these men be referred to in this
way?
I suppose there has not been one single campaign in which the camera
has been in such frequent use; but is it possible, by this means, to
bring before us the various phases of a battle--a modern battle, I
mean, with its absence of smoke, enormous expanse of front and general
invisibility of both the attackers and defenders? Take a battery in
action. Can it show us the excitement and turmoil round the guns, will
it show us (unless it is a cinematograph) the trouble amongst the
teams when a shell drops near them? I think not. What it can do, and
does, is scenes which are more or less peaceful, such as camp views,
incidents in regimental life and also bits on the line of march, but
of an action--no! None of us artists are at variance with Mr. Scott in
other parts of his very able letter, and we cordially welcome the
camera artist, knowing very well that he has his field of work in
which we cannot hope to compete with him for a moment; but to put the
camera, which, after all, is only a very fine piece of mechanism, on a
par with a sketch is more than most people can put up with, especially
Yours very faithfully,
W. B. WOLLEN, R.I.
* * * * *
CHESTNUTTY--BUT GOOD.
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