PHOTOGRAPHIC FAILURES
One of the advantages or disadvantages, as the case may be, of many photographic portraits, is, that they fade away by degrees, and thus keep pace with those fleeting impressions or feelings under which it is sometimes usual for one to ask another for his or her miniature. It may be a strong recommendation of cheap photography, that its pictures will last as long as the ordinary run of small affections, and, indeed, a superior specimen of the art may be warranted to retain its outline throughout a flirtation of an entire month’s durability. We had our own portrait taken by the cheap process a short time ago, when we received the above copy of the state of the portrait through a period of an entire fortnight.
The three specimens shown above represent our portrait when recently done; the same after it had been in existence a week, and the same after the expiration of an entire fortnight. The following pathetic ballad was appended to the specimens which we have given above:—
Behold thy portrait!—day by day,
I’ve seen its features die;
First the moustachios go away,
Then off the whiskers fly.
That nose I loved to gaze upon,
That bold and manly brow,
Are vanish’d, fled, completely gone—
Alas! where are they now?
[BOBBY’S CAMERA: SOME·EFFECTS·HE·GOT·WITH·IT.]
Thy hair, which once was black and bright,
Much worse than grey has grown;
Indeed, I scarce can say ’tis white,
For ’t has completely flown.
Those speaking eyes, which made me trust
In all you used to vow,
Are like two little specks of dust—
Alas! where are they now?
INTERESTING GROUP POSED FOR A PHOTOGRAPH.—I.
By a Friend of the Family.
INTERESTING GROUP POSED FOR A PHOTOGRAPH.—II.
The Valuable Result.
But, ah!—thy portrait of thy love
Is but a type, no doubt,
And serves its fickleness to prove,
For soon ’tis all wiped out.
Thy hair, thy whiskers, and thine eyes,
Moustachios, manly brow,
Have vanished as affection flies—
Alas!—where is it now?
Punch, 1847.
HAPPY THOUGHT!
HAPPY THOUGHT!
Ingenious Jones sits for his portrait to a peripatetic photographer, and cunningly places himself exactly between the apparatus and the unconscious Oriana, whom he worships at a respectful distance, and whose likeness he would fain possess.
[On this page the reader will find, all framed and glazed, for 3s. 6d. complete, Ingenious Jones’s Happy Thought’s result.
PLEASANT FOR SIMPKINS!
Photographer (to Mr. Simpkins). Keep your head steady, please, sir, and look in the direction of those young ladies. Steady now, sir! Don’t wink, sir!
Mrs. S. (by a look that Mr. S. quite understood). Just let me see him wink!!
UNANSWERABLE.
Old Girl. Oh, I’ve brought back these cartes of mine, Mr. Kammerer. My friends are very dissatisfied. They——
Photographer. Dear me, mum, I’m extremely sorry; I thought the portrait very——
Old Girl. Oh! impossible; it’s hideous!
CAN THE CAMERA LIE?
Georgina (in riding habit). Well dear! I declare it’s the very image of you! I never!
Sarah Jane (who insists upon seeing the plate). Like me? for goodness’ sake don’t be ridiculous, Georgina. I think it’s perfectly absurd! Why, it has given me a stupid little turn-up nose, and a mouth that’s absolutely enormous!
THE ARTISTIC (!) STUDIO.
A Stereoscopic Scene from Fashionable Life in 1857.
“Love, Pride, Revenge.” The group represents a young minstrel of humble origin, declaring his passion to a lady of noble parentage. Her haughty brother, as may be seen from his menacing attitude, is about to avenge the insult offered to his family!