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"PHOTOGRAPHY REQUIRES CLEAR, FAST THINKING"

Mr. Leonard Small of Boston Globe Staff Discusses Advantage of Pictorial Journalism-Tells of Interesting Experiences in Newspaper Work

NO WRITER ATTRIBUTED

Newspaper photography requires initiative and clear, fast thinking, develops resourcefulness and offers an opportunity for a fascinating pastime as well as a genuine vocational training," said Leonard Small, for twenty-five years photographer for the Boston Globe, when interviewed recently for the CRIMSON.

"It is hard work and, as in all branches of newspaper work, your time is never your own; but it is an education in it-self and for a college man working on such a paper as the CRIMSON, I should say that if offered the chance of developing a very interesting hobby combined with the possibly of making the work a profession.

"As for specific values newspaper photography is sure to develop speed if thought and action, acquaintance with interesting situations and important men, and extreme keenness of tact and of mind. When you have to photograph a man who doesn't want to be photographed you have to make a snap judgment and than act and act quickly. In your work all the interesting situations and all the important people of the community. As for keenness of mind and cleverness. It is one of the first requisites of a successful photographer, For example we once had a man here who took pictures of some very valuable documents in a courts room when every usual attempt to photograph them and failed. Concealing his camera under his coat and disguising his camera under his coat and disguising his lens as a watch fob he snapped the pictures by means of a press button in his pocket.

Work by Land and Sea

"The unexpected and thrilling is always the lot of the newspaper photographer. He must be ready to cover things in all possible places both on land and sea, and, in isolated cases when no reporter is at hand, he must get the story on the case.

"I have found that a newspaper photographer must go after his pictures in defiance of all police or regulating ordinances if he cannot get permission to GO regularly.

"Of special interest to men engaged in photography for college newspapers ought to be the taking of athletic pictures showing close finishes in track and crew races. The result of these photographs often entirely upsets the decision of the judges.

"In 1916 I took a picture of the 100-yard dash finish in the Intercollegiate which, taken at the exact moment, showed that the decision of the judges to be almost entirely wrong. They had rated Smith of Michigan first, Moore of Princeton second, and E.A. Teschner '17' of Harvard third. When developed the picture showed Moore breaking the tape with his chest, Teschner crossing the finish line with one foot, and Smith still in the air but not across the line.

"The big advantage in college photography, however, seems to be to lie in the fact that it is at the same time a pastime which can be developed into a hobby and a vocational training, of the kind advocated by President Eliot, which can be developed into a profession."

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