Volltext Seite (XML)
30 THE PHOTOGRAPHIC NEWS. LJANUARY 9, 1885. freezing to the boiling-point, and as the whole surface of the earth, including the night side, is four times the cross-section exposed to the sun, we find, by taking 526,000 minutes to a year, that the sun’s rays would melt in the year a coating of ice over the whole earth more than 160 feet thick. (To be continued.') orrespondente. LANTERN SLIDE EXCHANGE CLUB. Sir,—I thought I would let you know that I have received a sufficient number of responses to warrant me in starting the Club ; but I should like to get a few more, so that we may have more slides, that I may drop one or two of those who have promised to join, but who, by their want of promptitude in replying and responding to the initial steps, show clearly at the outset that they will ba troublesome and unpunctual as the Club goes on ; and want of promptitude in carrying out the periodical ex changes would obviously cause great worry and incon venience to the other members of the Club, as all will depend upon strict punctuality. Finding that it was the wish of the majority, I have abandoned the idea of purchasing new slides as a sine-qua- non, and the basis of the Club, as last arranged, is, that there shall be no entrance fee, but that in lieu thereof each member shall throw into the Club fifty good slides, either home-made (named), or any good slides he may have already in hand. The slides will be passed on direct from one member to another in a secpience I will draw up as soon as the list is filled. Thus, A. will send to B., B. will send to C., C. will send to D., and so on all through, and the slides will pass one step further every week (on Tues days) until each member’s own particular set reaches him again after going all the complete round. This arrange ment will reduce the cost, so that an annual subscription of 2s. 6d. will probably be enough. Any others wishing to join can do so by writing to me to that effect, saying who they are, as under the altered arrangement it is necessary to have some check upon the bona-fides of the members. I hope none will join but those who are prepared to act promptly and punctually in the exchanges, and to return immediate replies to communications. It is hardly fair to one who is performing an honorary office to have his work doubled by the listlessness of members who have to be written to two or three times before a reply is to be obtained from them, or else do not reply for several days. —Yours faithfully, H. SMITH. Tliver Cottaye, Hornsey, H., 6th January, 1885. WINTER PHOTOGRAPHY. Sir,—The recent articles on this subject remind me of several successful trips among frost and snow before I had taken to gelatine plates. Mr. Renwick is mistaken in supposing that the wet plate process was unsuitable for frost work. I have taken many winter pictures by its means, and had as small a propor tion of failures as during the summer. My first experience in this direction was one cold November morning, when I and my wet plate kit were set down (almost before day light) at Kerne Bridge Station on the Wye. I carried the apparatus down the river bank, through a most unpromis ing fog, to Goodrich Ferry, and as the sun seemed inclined to break through the mist, I unpacked and set up my tent (of Washington-Wilson pattern), and soon found that both bath and developer were full of floating needles of ice. The ferry hut was close by, and a thin curl of blue smoke gave signs of habitation. The ferryman, who was getting breakfast ready, supplied a jug of hot water, which, applied to the bath and developer (outward application), raised it to a suitable temperature. The first picture was looking down the river through the mist, with the ferry boat in the foreground ; then a view across the meadows, the wheel marks of a cart break ing up the expanse of frosted grass. The sun now gave more brilliancy to the scene, and the peep up the grassy lane, once the high road to Monmouth, was like a vista of fairyland ; this made another picture, a solitary track of footsteps showing where the ferryman had come down to his morning’s work. Then the gate, hung round with nature’s jewels, was photographed; and lastly, when a good deal of the frost had melted, a peep up the river, with the ferryman under a fine oak, on his way to fill his pitcher with water ; all five negatives being successful. Since that time I have often photographed in severe weather when the bath was partially ice ; but always took with me a portable spirit lamp, which was kept alight in the tent, and over it a small saucepan of boiling water. The pic ture of a frozen river was taken in this way : the camera was placed on solid ice in the middle of the stream. Mr. Renwick is right when he says platinotype is suita ble for winter scenes. I have for the last four years made Christmas cards from frost subjects by this process to send my friends ; suitable words are added by double printing. I enclose some of these, also some of the Goodrich scenes ; all are from wet-plate negatives.—Yours, &c., Alfred Watkins. [The charming little pictures enclosed by Mr. Watkins fully bear out all that he says.—Ed. P.N.]. DEVELOPING LAMPS. Dear Sir,—I send you herewith a rough sketch of my developing lamp, as shown at the Hyde Photographic Society’s meeting, which I think will be of service to some readers of your paper. The body of the lamp is made of tin plate, and is in the form of a cone, with a lid at the bottom (A) hinged and held up to body by wire hooks ; the lid or bottom is cut out so as to allow a circular coloured glass or paper to be placed in the same. For my own use, 1 have three sheets of yellow glass for very slow plates ; amber for medium, such as wet plates, Cowan’s plates for transparencies, &c.; and ruby for rapid plates. Around the bottom of the cone are placed six air-holes gth-inch diameter, over which are tin covers with the opening placed upwards, so as to guard against the reflec tion of actinic light downwards. A ventilator is arranged on the top of the lamp in the usual manner, and the gas is carried down the tube B, through the top of the ventilator, to the burner D. The brass tube is made long (say, 18 to 20 inches), so that the gas, in passing down, keeps the tube cool. An elbow is provided on the top of the tube, to which is fastened the supply pipe. A ring is screwed into the elbow to allow of a cord being fastened to it; by this