In New Jersey, as well as in other States, pictorial photography was at its lowest ebb during the period of the war. The official ban on the use of the camera in places that presented just the sort of material which stirs the enthusiasm of the amateur photographer tended so to dampen his ardor that his trusty “box” was left at home to accumulate dust.
But not for long, for a New Jersey cameraist, with the vision of a seer, saw an opportunity to use his beloved instrument in a far-reaching service. His enthusiasm was soon imparted to fellow members of the Newark Camera Club, and there quickly followed the birth of the Red Triangle Camera Club, affiliated with the local Y. M. C. A. Its object was pithily expressed in its slogan, “A picture of home to every soldier overseas”—at least to every Newark soldier in service.
While the members of the Camera Club were prompted solely by a desire to serve, it was not long before there came responses in the form of letters of gratitude from the soldier boys that heartened them to renewed activity. The written messages frequently attested that the pictures of the home folks sent by the Camera Club members were the only ones that had reached foreign shores.
As a stepping stone to something even greater, we have organized the Associated Camera Clubs of America, with a view to linking the activities of camera clubs and societies, the end to be sought being the creating of greater interest in exhibitions, [pg 9] and interchanges of lantern slides and prints. The prime object, of course, is to promote and cultivate the art-sense through the science of photography.
If a camera club does not exist in the community in which the reader resides, lend your services to the formation of one. The members of the Associated Camera Clubs of America stand ready to do their utmost to assist an infant organization on its way to success.
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Pictorial Photograpny in Maine
By Francis O. Libby
Maine, the State of forest and lakes, does not hold the position in pictorial photography warranted by her natural beauties. It would not be unreasonable, considering the advantages of the land and the opportunities offered by the varying atmospheric conditions, particularly along the coast, to expect that there would be many pictorialists of high rank in the State; but it is a lamentable fact that there are not. After all, the making of pictures with a camera is to a large extent a matter of education and training—not so much in the way of overcoming the technical difficulties of the medium, though of course this must be learned too, but in such vital matters as composition, choice of subject matter, unity, simplicity, and the like. Then, given the vision, the pictorial photographer is born.