HF The History of Photography 600pág

32 Push-button photography
The year 1880 constitutes a turning-point in the evolution of photography without
parallel in its entire history. Gelatine emulsion effected revolutionary changes in
every sphere of photography. Fast plates (and soon roll-films) in conjunction with
hand and pocket cameras opened the door to thousands of amateurs who had hitherto
been deterred from learning to make pictures. Formerly the photographer needed a
darkroom and had to be thoroughly acquainted with the rules of focusing, and the
relation of lens apertures to light, spending weeks learning developing, fixing, printing,
toning, and mounting, before he could show good results. In former times it
was considered a heresy to use any preparation that was not made by the photographer
himself. 'The modern photographer does not like any complicated manipulations',
wrote Leon Warnerke.1 'He wants only to obtain a result as good as possible with the
least possible trouble . ... If any good genius should realize the photographic dream
of the modern enthusiast, I think it will be a sort of snuffbox with a tiny handle, one
revolution of which would produce at once a large photograph already finished,
mounted, and framed !' So easy had photography become that everyone who tried
could produce a result of some kind. All the novice had to do was to buy one of the
new small cameras, have it loaded with a packet of plates or a film, push a button,
and leave the developing, printing, or enlarging to one of the new developing and
printing (D. & P.) firms, which' relieved him of all trouble and ensured the best
possible results.
Gone were the days of messing about in darkrooms, and with them vanished the
spirit and the enthusiasm of the early pioneers, who felt impelled to make pictures,
however difficult the task; gone was the spirit of discovery, of experimentation, the
fascination of watching the picture slowly appear as if by magic in the developing
bath. The ardent amateur gave way to the new machine man, content to follow
manufacturers' instructions implicitly, and relying on camera and D. & P. firms to
make the pictures for him. Advertising slogans such as 'No previous knowledge of
photography is required. Anybody can take presentable pictures right from the start
without even soiling the fingers', did much for the popularization-and subsequent
decadence-of photography. Apart from a small group of serious amateurs who
started the aesthetic movement in photography (see chapter 37), most of the new
camera enthusiasts were entirely devoid of artistic training and feeling. For them,
snapshooting was a pastime, and they frittered away plates and roll-films, for in their
hands the camera became a mere toy and ceased to be a means of expression. The
bad effect of the facility of taking a large number of photographs was foreseen from
the start by the scientist Sir W. de W. Abney : 'Whatever little notions of art a person