An article written by Percy Lund for the Practical Photographer. Although short it was of such merit that it was translated into French and included in the March 1904 edition of the French publication Photo Magazine. As we only had a copy of the French version it has been translated back into English to be included here...
Lets have a goal
We would undoubtedly be very surprised if the statistics could give us the exact number of all those men and women who devote their leisure time to photography. There would be thousands and thousands.
But, unfortunately, the majority of those who spend their time in this way sacrifice everything to the pleasure of the moment. They do not have a defined goal. Their only pleasure is in producing portraits of their friends or photographing the first landscape they come across. Often, dissatisfied with their own work, they don't even take a print from the picture taken.
One of the reasons why they do not complete their work is that their method is deficient. They have the wrong idea; they seem to want to obtain the largest possible number of pictures, whatever the subject, lighting and perspective. The photographer goes out with his camera and photographs everything he meets with the same lack of care as he might crush the roadside grass with the end of his walking stick. This system produces in very short time a large number of pictures but, unless by good fortune, the subjects offer no interest and what was pleasing in them seems to vanish in the fixing bath. These pictures are put in a dark corner and they come out only to be thrown away and make room for other pictures of the same kind.
Would it not be preferable to spend several hours making a good picture of artistic value or at very least of lasting use, rather than to waste one's time and ruin one's photographic plates taking pictures which make one weary and lead to a loss of interest in photography.
Why not have a goal, a precise, specific goal, even a higher goal? This principle, which is excellent for all other things in life, would be no less good for the photographer. We should not be content just to use our plates, but we should aim to take photographs which have a true purpose and respond to an idea. The field is vast, the photographer can explore it to his heart's content; he will nurture his own taste, increase his skill and will be able to be of benefit to other people's work.
In other words, the photographer will be able to produce photographs which are brilliant by their artistic merit alone, landscapes or seascapes, forming real pictures in which he makes use of all his artistic skills, all his knowledge of art. He will do well to read the best authors, art critics in particular, and study the works of other photographers and painters.
And if he has no taste for works of a purely artistic nature, he can easily use photography for his scientific studies.
If he is interested in topography and archaeology, he will be able to photograph and classify his documents by region, department or province, or catalogue, for example, all the monuments of historical or architectural interest.
If he has a taste for mountaineering, he will be able to photograph interesting peaks, crevasses, precipices, ridges, needles, difficult passes.
The geologist will take photographs of sections of terrain, special beaches, rocks, etc.
If the photographer is interested in astronomy, the darkroom is essential to maintain real and permanent memories of observations; one who works on microscopic studies will use the camera to great advantage because, with it, he can reproduce large scale sections and then examine them with the naked eye and even, if he wants, distribute pictures to his friends. A traveller will retain a lasting and vivid memory of his travels if he, himself, photographs the places visited and if he keeps the pictures thus obtained.
The botanist will do useful work by photographing the trees and plants of his region; by adding dried plants to these pictures, he will form an invaluable herbarium. If the photographer is not inclined towards any of these studies, there are still other fields to explore, other studies to do, even if less serious and of less interest.
A series of pictures devoted to a single category of objects is always more valuable than a collection of pictures without order or connection. We can propose the following series: street and city scenes, scenes of life aboard a ship, locomotives and railway stations, the farm and the work in the fields, steamboats, the port and the docks, the village, the churches of the province where we live; landscapes taken at different times, morning, noon and evening; children playing; croquet, football, all outdoor games; domestic pets, etc.
The opportunities are countless and constant, and what satisfaction will the photographer enjoy, when, after several years, he will find that he managed to take photographs whose value and interest can only increase!
If we could have more serious workers, our art, practised by enthusiasts, would better serve to elevate the mind, develop a sense of beauty, strengthen intelligence. In fact, the particular pleasure that one experiences in photography would be doubled by the sense of pride felt by the effort towards perfection.
Everyone should try to set himself a goal for his photographic work.
MATTHEW SURFACE