Photographers:.Those.Old.Time."traveling.Artists".Breckinridge.HISTORY-OtherFrom: KyArchives [Archives@genrecords.org] Sent: Saturday, October 28, 2006 1:53 PM To: Ky-Footsteps Subject: Photographers:.Those.Old.Time."traveling.Artists".Breckinridge.HISTORY-Other Photographers: Those Old Time "traveling Artists" Breckinridge County KyArchives History Other Book Title: A Glimpse Of The Past From the 1850's on, almost every community of any consequence had its resident photographer. Photographers of the 1800s, toured the towns and villages too small to support a resident photographer, they visited these locations only long enough to exhaust the supply of potential customers, then moved on to the next likely place. These "traveling artists" operated in various ways. Some would travel by train, coach or their own buggy and upon reaching a prospective town, would seek out rooms to rent, which had suitable lighting and in which they could set up their equipment. Others also had a tent, or some other sort of portable studio. Some outfitted a large wagon or railroad car, with windows and usually a skylight and used the vehicle itself as their studio and living quarters, too. James F. Ryder, a prominent professional of the late 1800s was a daguerrotypest. Autobiography, "Voiglander and I", he describes his visit to one place. "There was no hotel in the village. There was a main street and a cross street, a store and post office, a gristmill and sawmill, driven by a passing stream.... The prominent lady of the place, whose husband was merchant and postmaster, welcomed me to her home and permitted me to use her parlor, the finest in the village, in which to make my sittings, rent free. My sleeping room, the best n the house, and board, cost me two dollars per week. My little frame of speciment pictures was hung upon the picket fence beside the gate. When my camera was set up, the clip headrest screwed to the back of a chair, and background and reflecting screens tacked upon frames, I was ready for business. I used the open front door for my light I could ask for nothing better.: Most photographic operators looking for collapsibility and portability in their studios seemed to have chosen tents over the years. Amon the card, paper envelope mounted and tintypes some to be found are marked "Boston Picture Tent", "Boston Tent Gallery", and "The Algonquin Bon Ton Tent". Advertising material and card mounts has survived in moderate quantities of the intinerant's studio, the moveable studio, and wagon or railroad car. In August, 1890, an advertisement appeared in the American Amateur Photographer, which read: "For Sale-- Photo Car, first class. God chance for beginner. E. O. Tuttle, Brookfield, Mass." These wagons were also known as "saloons". There were photographic railroad cars-- some specially built and others merely modified. Some of the photographers operated these for the railroad. Some owned them and had arrangements with the railroad, wherein they would take whatever "company" pictures the railroad desired, in exchange for the railroad's towing the car from location to location and the loan of an unused siding while the photographer was in town. Portrait photographers of today may think they have problems when fced with a wiggling child, but their trials are nothing compared to the shutter clickers of Grnadpa's time. The exposures took a nerve-wracking length of 15 seconds; wet plates required a minute or more. Darkroom work involved a smelly kerosene lantern safe light and deadly chemicals. Surviving the perils of fire, fumes and poison, the photographer had to sensitize his own printing paper and wait for a sunny day before he could produce the final picture. Back in the Dark Ages of photography, the skylight was the main source of light. The skylight and its manipulation were fairly complicated. Some photographers built an extra shade on the roof to obscure the sun's rays. Sometimes the light was filtered through a ground glass, sometimes through blue glass. Of course, the light oft times hurt the customer's eyes or there was a white spot on top of the head of the finished photo. If it rained, shooting schedules were cancelled for the day. In Grandpa's time, emulsions were slow and cameras cumbersome. Shuters were practicaly unheard of before the 1880s and exposures were simply made by uncapping and recapping the lens. In early portrait photography it was even harder for the sitter than for the photographer. People leaned against studio props such as imitation-marble columns, these props not only improved the compsition, but because it helped to keep the subject steady during the long exposures. "Immobilizers", iron head rest, were another important item of the studio equipment. Most prints were contacts, but some were enlarged. The enlargements could only be used on sunshiny days. Considering the value of money at that time, a rather high price was charged for photos. A dozen 8x10s cost about $20. Hand-colored 14x17s were priced as high as $100 a piece. As things turned out, the increasing popularity of photography and improvements in transportation led to the decline of the traveling photographer and his studio. The public turned more and more to taking their own pictures and those who didn't live in a community which had a photographer or found trains and trolleys that could take them to one. Submitted by: Dana Brown http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00005.html#0001067 This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/kyfiles/