DAYLIGHT ABANDONED

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 1, 23 March 1927, Page 11

DAYLIGHT ABANDONED

IN ART PHOTOGRAPHY WORK OF THE TORNQUIST STUDIO Nymphs playing in glorious sunshine on Californian beaches, to please the Picture-goers. Wonderful climate, California, but the pictures were taken inside a studio from which daylight was rigidly excluded, and electric arcs blazed down. The cinema producers have found that it is much easier to make the light suit the subject than the subject suit the light. Studios were built on the Californian coast because of the climate and atmosphere and now both are unnecessary for most sets. Perfect control of the light rfhv he A a S ! S ■ ° £ *, moc * ern art photograPaosW 3 the . reason why Messrs. H Tornqmst have blotted out the skylight which was built in their studio in the Coliseum Buildings, next ‘ h . e Majestic Theatre, in Queen ~l n seven years in the United *^ hey . have absorbed most of ' f\v. he American photographers—and these are the artists of the world have learnt. Their experience in the Moffett Studio, of Chicago where prices for a dozen photographs range from £3O up to figures to be thought of only by millionaires, was invaluable. Though a twin-arc lamp, which is ‘", per , c ? nt stronger than daylight in ultra-violet rays, is used, there is no glare in the eyes of the subject, because there is no direct radiance It is realised that, on the dilation of the pupils of the eyes, depends the expression of the portrait, and so the subject looks into a subdued light. Another tremendous advantage over the old methods of photography is that the time of an exposure may be onefortieth of a second, and is never more than a second. There is no handling and setting” a subject, and no nervewracking gazes at “the bird” in the lens. Art portraits of notable people like Anna Pavlova, Backhaus, the Bishop of London, Zane Grey, Chaliapin, and Toti dal Monte adorn the walls of the pleasant reception room. Each one shows the essential attribute of the subject—Pavlova, in fairy-like daintiness; the rugged strength of Chaliapin; the humour and far-sightedness of the bishop. The Tornquist Studio does not deal in “pretty-pretty” likenesses: it studies the subject from an aesthetic standpoint, but does not lose the importance of character.*