This Department is conducted in the interest of Amateur Photographers, and the Editor will be pleased to answer any question on the subject so far as possible. Correspondents should address Editor Camera Club Department.
A CAMERA CLUB PRINT EXCHANGE.
There is scarcely a State in the Union but what is represented in our Camera Club, and its membership extends to Canada, the maritime provinces, and Europe. Correspondence and local photographic chapters are formed among the members, who find that the exchange of ideas and experiences are of the greatest help to the amateur who wishes to improve.
A few weeks ago one of our members living in a Western State, wishing to have a picture of the Treasury Building in Washington, wrote to the editor, asking if some member of the Camera Club living in that city would not be willing to send him a print of it in exchange for one of some Western views, a list of which he enclosed in his letter. By a singular coincidence the same mail which brought this letter brought one from a member residing in Washington, who stated that she had made some fine negatives of the government buildings, and asking suggestions in regard to the printing and mounting. The address of the young lady was sent to our Western correspondent, and the exchange of prints made to their mutual satisfaction.
This incident has suggested to the editor the idea of forming a photographic-print exchange for the benefit of the members of the club who wish to form a collection of views from different localities. Suppose some member of the club wished photographs of the State Houses. He could state his wish, and say what pictures he had to offer in exchange. Members residing in the capitals of the different States, who cared to make the exchange, could correspond with the member wishing the pictures.
If the starting of a photographic-print exchange meets the favor of the club, a limited space could be given each week to the printing of the requests. The print exchange would enable one to make a fine collection of views, and the members would receive many helpful suggestions from seeing the work of other amateurs. The addresses and wants would be published in the Camera Club Department of the Round Table, but the correspondence would of course be carried on by mail, and not through the Camera Club.
Some of our amateurs have been abroad, and have made fine negatives of foreign scenes: the stay-at-home amateurs might, through the print exchange, be able to obtain some of these pictures. Amateurs who make a specialty of some particular subject or branch of photography might add to their collection, and in many ways the exchange would be a source of pleasure and profit.