DOI Heft:
No. 131 (February, 1904)
DOI Artikel:West, W. K.: The photographic work of W. J. Day
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.19881#0064
The Photographic Work of IV. J. Day
■■■■jjj^^HHBj taneous piece of original
craftsmanship. He de-
bases his profession by
showing that he is ashamed
of it, and he makes his
work ridiculous by trying
to imitate by mechanical
means the technical pe-
culiarities of brush or
point work.
But if he cultivates his
selective sense until he
knows how to choose
from the mass of material
which Nature offers him
just those arrangements
which admit of exact re-
production, and if he
trains himself in the
mechanism of his art until
atmospheric study from a photograph by w. j. day knOWS llOW tO make
his apparatus respond
fully to his artistic in-
There is, however, no necessity to adopt the tentions, he can, by the aid of his camera, achieve
argument advanced by certain admirers of camera results which are fully entitled to the sincerest
work, that it should be judged in exactly the same admiration of all art lovers who appreciate the
way as those forms of pictorial production in which value of personal accomplishment. There will
the direct handiwork of the artist appears. This be ample evidence of his aesthetic understanding in
is claiming for photography more than is either his choice of motive, and in his recognition of the
desirable or legitimate. The methods of the photo- pictorial aspects of the composition provided by
grapher are not, and should not be, those of the Nature; and his technical skill will be revealed in
painter or the draughtsman. He has, it is true, to his management of subtleties of tone gradation and
exercise in his choice of
material an even more
careful selective sense than
the picture painters, for
he has not, like they have,
a chance of correcting
deficiencies in his subject
by idealising facts, or by
inventing details which do
not exist in the scene
before him. Directly he
begins to put handwork
into his negatives or prints
he starts on a downward
course, which ends in the
destruction of the quali-
ties which give individu-
ality and significance to
his art. He produces
something that is not a
true photograph, and is
most certainly not a spon- atmospheric study from a photograph by w. j. day
48
■■■■jjj^^HHBj taneous piece of original
craftsmanship. He de-
bases his profession by
showing that he is ashamed
of it, and he makes his
work ridiculous by trying
to imitate by mechanical
means the technical pe-
culiarities of brush or
point work.
But if he cultivates his
selective sense until he
knows how to choose
from the mass of material
which Nature offers him
just those arrangements
which admit of exact re-
production, and if he
trains himself in the
mechanism of his art until
atmospheric study from a photograph by w. j. day knOWS llOW tO make
his apparatus respond
fully to his artistic in-
There is, however, no necessity to adopt the tentions, he can, by the aid of his camera, achieve
argument advanced by certain admirers of camera results which are fully entitled to the sincerest
work, that it should be judged in exactly the same admiration of all art lovers who appreciate the
way as those forms of pictorial production in which value of personal accomplishment. There will
the direct handiwork of the artist appears. This be ample evidence of his aesthetic understanding in
is claiming for photography more than is either his choice of motive, and in his recognition of the
desirable or legitimate. The methods of the photo- pictorial aspects of the composition provided by
grapher are not, and should not be, those of the Nature; and his technical skill will be revealed in
painter or the draughtsman. He has, it is true, to his management of subtleties of tone gradation and
exercise in his choice of
material an even more
careful selective sense than
the picture painters, for
he has not, like they have,
a chance of correcting
deficiencies in his subject
by idealising facts, or by
inventing details which do
not exist in the scene
before him. Directly he
begins to put handwork
into his negatives or prints
he starts on a downward
course, which ends in the
destruction of the quali-
ties which give individu-
ality and significance to
his art. He produces
something that is not a
true photograph, and is
most certainly not a spon- atmospheric study from a photograph by w. j. day
48