XVIII
PHOTOGRAPHY
The selection of a camera—Snapshots vs. real pictures—How to make a photograph from start to finish
Aside from our own pleasant recollections, an album of photographs can be the most satisfactory reminder of the good times we have had on some vacation or outdoor trip.
Photography has been made so easy and so inexpensive by modern methods that every one should have some kind of a camera. Small instruments capable of taking really excellent pictures within their limits can be bought for five dollars or even less. Of course we cannot hope often to obtain pictures that will be really artistic with such a small outfit, but sometimes the inexpensive cameras will give remarkably good results.
Snapshot pictures seem to fill such an important place in our outdoor life that no vacation or excursion trip seems to be complete unless some one takes along a camera.
The modern way of taking pictures, which is simply pressing a button and sending a film to the professional to “do the rest,” including developing, printing and mounting, is really not photography. Almost any one can take pictures with a small hand camera. The manufacturers have perfected instruments so complete for this kind of work that there is very little for us to do beyond being sure that we have an unexposed section of film in place and that we have sufficient light to obtain a picture. Of course we must have the focus right and must be sure we are pointing at what we wish to take.