Camera Work: A Photographic Quarterly (1906 (Heft 13))

Amateurs are apt to say that they could produce just as good results if
only they had the time and the expensive apparatus at the disposal of the
artist-photographers. The example of the late Professor Hans Watzek is
a fit reply to this complaint. He was a drawing-teacher in a school. Never-
theless he found time to devote to his photographic work. This shows
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only they had the time and the expensive apparatus at the disposal of the
artist-photographers. The example of the late Professor Hans Watzek is
a fit reply to this complaint. He was a drawing-teacher in a school. Never-
theless he found time to devote to his photographic work. This shows
what may be done if there is a strong enough desire. His apparatus again
was of the simplest, for it was his theory that we must free ourselves from
the tyranny of the material. He was one of the most striking figures
among the artist-photographers, not only on account of his steadiness of
purpose and his bold experiments, but also on account of the selection of
his materials. To quote some of the characteristic remarks of Alfred
Buschbeck, the former President of the Camera Club: ccAfter seeing
Maskell’s pictures at the Vienna exposition of 1891, and without having any
real apparatus, he commenced to experiment with the pinhole-camera,
introducing, for the sake of obtaining shorter exposures, a spectacle-lens,
which, under the name of cmonocle/ was destined to capture the world of
pictorial photography. This striving to fall back upon first principles in
every branch of technique, and to sacrifice the complicated for the sake of
gaining freedom of individual expression, is characteristic of his entire work.
His camera, constructed by himself, which he alone knew how to handle;
his instantaneous shutters, one of which, popularly known as the csledge-
hammer/ each time threatened to smash the camera, evoked great hilarity
among the members of the club. But the magnificent pictures which he
produced with such primitive means show that artistic feeling and not
ingenious apparatus are the basis of artistic production. His splendid life-
size study-heads, which were the first to establish the value of the cmonocle>
for that branch of our art, were taken with a camera consisting of a series of
pasteboard boxes appropriately telescoped. A cmonocle> was inserted in the
front side, and only the rear end was solidly backed for the plate-holder. A
large cloth, used also as lens-cap, prevented the entrance of any stray rays.
It certainly was not an easy matter to handle such a monstrosity; but it was
of incalculable value, since it produced, for the first time, pictures not only
distinguished by a wonderful softness of line, but also by their freedom from
defects of perspective, due to the fact that they were taken with a sufficiently
long focus. He likewise applied this principle of simplication to the
chemical treatment of the plates and in the self-preparation of the paper.
Instead of carefully weighing the crystals, he employed only concentrated
solutions. For inquiries as to the composition and use of these solutions
he had the reply, ctill you have enough’: This playful manner of dealing
with technical difficulties was the result of routine acquired through a
most thorough study, and made it possible for him to treat each picture

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