_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.
This preliminary training and the art education of the beginner can best
be obtained in clubs; and in Maine the two centers of photographic
activity are Portland and Bangor, in both of which cities are active
camera clubs, each affiliated with the local art society and each holding
annual exhibitions in the spring of the year, at which workers from all
parts of the country show their pictures. During the war these clubs have
been doing little more than marking time, but now that at last days of
peace have come again, we feel that the future holds prospects of great
promise to us. For one reason or another the men whose names were known
ten or fifteen years ago seem to have dropped out and their places are
being filled by new blood, men with high ideals and aspirations, who are
not content merely with reproducing, by means of their cameras, pretty
scenes and places, but who believe that photography is capable of much
more—of showing not only the physical facts, but the very spirit of nature
herself—a true impressionism; and it is the task of these men to place
Maine in the position she should hold in pictorial work.
During the past year much has been accomplished by a very few men, and
through these men Maine has been represented at all the largest and best
salons, not only in this country and Canada, but also in England at the
London Salon. Prints by the multiple gum process are favored by some of
the Portland workers, but the use of this process as a medium of
expression is limited to a few men, and the most of the large prints
produced are enlargements on bromide paper, as is probably the case
generally throughout the country. This is perhaps somewhat to be
regretted, for although bromide paper is capable of producing very fine
prints when the subject is exactly adapted to it, still it does not permit
of the personal control afforded by some of the other processes, and of
course this is a handicap to the pictorial worker.
As before stated, the pictorial output of the State during the past year
has been limited to the work of a few men, but this condition is not going
to continue for long. The clubs and societies are bending every effort
toward the encouragement of the new workers, and already some very
creditable work has been produced, and the coming year should see a worthy
showing from Maine at all the salons.
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