Finally we give a quotation from M. Adam Salomon, sculptor and photographer:—
“Each subject should be treated according to its own requirements, its own individualism.... When the artist is interested in his work and believes in his art, it becomes wonderfully plastic, and the materials wonderfully tractable in his hands.”
CHAPTER IV.
HINTS ON ART.
Practical hints.
As practical hints for working cannot be woven into a continuous text, we will give them separately.
Prizes for “set subjects.”
Never compete for prizes for “set subjects,” for work of this kind leads to working from preconceived ideas, and therefore to conventionality, false sentiment, and vulgarity.
Man originally vulgar.
Remember that the original state of the minds of uneducated men is vulgar, you now know why vulgar and commonplace works please the majority. Therefore, educate your mind, and fight the hydra-headed monster—vulgarity. Seize on any aspect of nature that pleases you and try and interpret it, and ignore—as nature ignores—all childish rules, such as that the lens should work only when the sun shines or when no wind blows.
Æolus.
Merit of photographs.