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July 9, 1880.] THE PHOTOGRAPHIC NEWS. 327 sepia sketch of an election scene in Lincoln in the good old time when Colonel Sibthorpe was the popular mem ber ; it is full of life and bustle, the foreground being occupied by the burly form of a local agent who had the character, we are assured, of being the best “ briber and corruptor” in Lincolnshire. Mr. Slingsby sets great store on the picture, for it was executed years ago by Rejlander when he first came to England ; and later on, when our host acts as guide up the steep narrow street that leads to the cathedral, he points out an ancient over hanging dwelling, with black oak beams about it, of which there are many in the quaint nooks and corners of the old-fashioned Close, where poor O. G. R. lodged during his sojcurn in the city. Mr. Slingsby has established a very good rule in regard to his visitors. He has two studios; they are on the same floor, and divided only by a laboratory. One—the further and larger one—is marked “ Mr. Slingsby’s Studio; ” the other, " No. 2 studio.” In the first, our host himself is to be found ; in the other, an assistant rules. In a city like Lincoln there is, naturally enough, a good deal of second-class work to be done, “and there is no reason,” says Mr. Slingsby, “ why I should send sitters away.” Everybody in Lincoln cannot afford to pay high prices ; the second studio, therefore, suits a large number of customers, while those who desire the services of Mr. Slingsby himself are, of course, called upon to pay for them. All proofs are sent out untoned. “ It has taken several years to educate our customers to untoned prints,” said our friend, “ but that is now our invariable rule.” The advantages of such a rule are so obvious that it is a wonder all photographers do not adopt it. Panel or promenade portraits are the 1 ‘ new style ” in Mr. Slingsby’s studio, who has deemed it worth his while to “go in’’for a new lens expressly for them—the 3 a Dallmeyer, an instrument that requires an interval of from sixteen to eighteen feet between camera and sitter. The principal studio is built on his own model; it has a northerly aspect, measures forty feet in length, and is glazed with transparent glass. The roof is steep, the centre being sharply depressed, as if a huge notch had been cut into it, a plan, we believe, that Mr. Slingsby originally patented. Iu this way rather more front light is thrown upon the sitter, whether he is posed at one end of the room or the other. Mr. Slingsby has an arrangement whereby white linen blinds can be drawn over one part or other of his glass roof, but he prefers to work with large squares of bare glass, and then bring close to the sitter a gauze screen, or, rather, a frame over which fine muslin is stretched. These screens, which are about three feet broad, take the roof form of the studio ; that is to say, they consist of an upright frame about eight feet in height, and another frame above, bending inwards with the line of the roof, measuring another three or four feet. They are obviously very practical, for they can be placed close to or far away from the sitter at will, and thus modify the illumination. Mr. Slingsby believes much in the mobility of screens and backgrounds. The latter he stretches on frames, but does not fix. He prefers to be able to adjust them as he pleases, and, by inclining them slightly towards or against the light, to modify their character. You can get all sorts of backgrounds and accessories, but choosing them is a diffi cult matter. Photographers frequently overdo it by selecting backgrounds of too florid a character, with far too much park and ornamental waters about them; while acces sories—whether balconies, balustrades, columns, or pedestals —appear usually too smooth and finely-finished in the pic ture. Mr. Slingsby has made a very happy selection, to judge from the subdued results in his pictures, and, although he employs aids of this kind without stint, they have none of that superfine brand-new appearance which, it may be remembered, was a feature of the Veneering household described iu Our Mutual Friend. We need say little of the laboratory except that it is one of the lightest darkrooms we have ever entered. For the purpose of adapting it to gelatine work, Mr. Slingsby employs a screen made of two thicknesses of deep ruby tissue paper stained with aurine. The hyposulphite bath for fixing is very conveniently stowed away : a handy counter is at the right hand of the window, which serves to rest plates or developing dishes upon ; and when a plate is to be fixed, a flap door in this counter is lifted, the plate lowered into the bath, and the trap shut down again. Mr. Slingsby has also several cupboards with drop doors, which are exceedingly handy for putting plates temporarily away from the light in these days of gelatine work. The ordinary table drawer is a very inconvenient thing for a hiding place, as everybody knows. “We must have better means of getting intensity in our plates, though,” says Mr. Slingsby, “ if wo are to work gelatine regularly for portraiture.” In the printing room, among other work, we saw the four big frames required for the printing of “ Alone.” The negatives are stopped out with ordinary black varnish. No. 1 pressure frame contains the portrait negative cemented fast to a twenty-four inch glass plate; No. 2 has the foreground similarly cemented down, which really con sists of two negatives ; No. 8 has the white sandhills ; and No. 4 the sky. The last requires the most attention, and is the only one that calls for our host’s personal care. “ Ready for a change, sir,” sings out the printer, when the turn of No. 4 frame comes, and then the delicate task of printing in the sky has to be performed by the principal. It was the foreground of this picture, however, that gave Mr. Slingsby most anxiety when it was taken, for two cart loads of stones had to be carried to the foot of the sand hills in order to break the line of the view. We were privileged to see the commencement of another composition on which Mr. Slingsby is engaged, a standing female figure of much grace, which is to form the main feature of the picture ; for picture-making has proved itself too lucrative a pursuit in our host’s hands to permit it to be disregarded. If Lincoln does not sufficiently appreciate talent of this nature, Mr. Slingsby’s merits are thoroughly recognized elsewhere. As a portraitist, how ever, his fame is, naturally enough, firmly established in the county, and our readers may not feel so very much surprise when we mention that Mr. Slingsby has sitters who
