damp, or clambering laboriously to the bald pate of some mountain giant, to get a view of the top of his cloud-turban these are the things that give spice and variety, endlessly to the life of the commercial photographer. The element of danger enters into a far greater percentage of his exploits than one would suppose without following him a little way. It isn't mere fun to take pictures of a mob of hoodlums which often makes itself of news importance at time of a great strike. Nor is it a joy to be called upon to set up a camera under the trembling walls of a burning building to get pic in which a man would have time to die, should he fall, before he would strike the pavement. Making negatives of "lost" freight-cars in yards full of switching trains, or burrowing back into some crowded tenement, to find the evil whereabouts of a stifling, germreeking sweat-shop and gain a photograph of child labor; scaling the ice-mountain at the foot of Niagara in winter, to get souvenir views of the freaks of frost, or plunging on snow-shoes into the still solitudes of a government reservation to secure evidence of timber thefts; going down in a miners' cage to the bottom of a shaft to photograph the results of an explosion of fire tures of a new fireapparatus in action. Of course, there are tricks in the trade. Faking of photographs is, unfortunately, com mon enough, particularly in those which are intended. for publication. Objects may be so distorted and so pulled out of pro-. portion by the camera, that they have little semblance of the original, and yet one can scarcely detect the decep tion. An ear of corn, hung close to the lens, may be made to look colossal in a view of farm products, when its actual proportions may not be remarkable. Prints may be so cleverly "patched" as to defy the investigating eye, so far as their printed reproduction is concerned. A man may be represented as seated on the caboose of a miniature train with his feet resting comfortably on the stack of the engine; or four pigmy laborers may be shown in strenuous effort to lift a playing-card from the top of the pack. In each case the whole picture is made up of actual camera-work, but expert patching, either of films or of prints, makes the illusion well-nigh perfect. This sort of thing is carried into other fields than the pages of the funny-papers and put to other uses than merely to entertain at times. But no true knight of the lens will stoop to the methods described, nor will any reputable publication use pictures intended to deceive. The photographing of wild animals in their native haunts is a pursuit of which some men make a specialty and some very remarkable results have been secured. Not a little of our present knowledge of the denizens of our forests has been due to the camera's work, despite the criticism which has been showered recently upon some untrue versions and visions of the wild things' doings which have been palmed off upon us for genuine. Things which the living observer would never be able to record have been open to the silent and comparatively scentless instrument. Wary animals which would not approach within watching distance of the information-hunter, because he cannot rid himself of the telltale man-scent that warns them away, will walk up to the camera and photograph themselves by nosing curiously at the cord which operates the shutter. Shy creatures which rarely stir abroad in the open by daylight, are caught by the patient and ingenious photographer through use of his flash-light and hidden camera at night. A good deal of interest has been taken recently in photographing landscapes and city views from high over head. Cameras sent up with kites are arranged with cord attached to shutter so that exposures may be made at the will of the operator on the ground. This requires great skill and judgment. It is no small trick to fly ten box-kites in a tandem team, one above another on the same string, and then to send up the camera to the proper height, guide it to the exact spot and point its lens at the proper angle to compass the |