Francois Voitier

A chain is as strong as its weakest link, no stronger. One defective and eleven perfect links form a chain of no greater resisting qualities than should the entire twelve be imperfect. Every link demands equal care and attention in its manufacture, each contributes its share towards the perfection and usefulness of the whole.

Finished photographs can well be likened unto a chain, the links being designated as exposure, development, fixation, printing, trimming, mounting and framing. None of these several processes can be neglected without detriment to the perfection of the completed product, indifference or carelessness in the moulding of any one link in the photographic chain will not fail to detract from the beauty of the picture in toto.

These are facts, but I hardly think their full significance is appreciated by a good many amateur workers. After exercising reasonable diligence in taking care of the exposure and development of a plate or film and taking off a print therefrom, is it not true that the important requirements in the making of a picture are considered as having been complied with, little (if any) attention being paid to the balance of the links in the belief that they occupy a place of secondary importance ? The link "mounting," is it not regarded as having little bearing upon the beauty and strength of the finished picture? Both these queries demand an affirmative answer. Let me assure you that tens of thousands of good prints are annually ruined by injudicious mount-iug; further, that it is well within the range of possibility to greatly improve an indifferent print (sometimes a really bad one) by keen discrimination in the use of the trimming knife and the selection of the mount. Such, in a few words, is the importance of these links.

The purpose of mounting is to give a picture a "finish," accentuate any good points it may have and so enhance its beauty and value. Unless the mount does this, nothing is gained, in truth, very much is lost, and it would have been far better to have left the photograph in an unmounted state.

Any mount is unsuitable which attracts more attention than does the picture itself. The picture must ever remain the centre of interest and a card of such color, shape, design or size as completely conserves this end is the only and proper one to use. Except by the advanced artist-worker, double mounting, that is a card pasted on a card, is rarely successful when two or more different colors are to be introduced. The practice should certainly not be attempted by the beginner. It is a sign of weakness either to mount a picture in a certain way for no other reason than that someone else has done it, or to mount in a certain way for no other reason than to be different from anybody else. Either of these methods, however, is admissible if carried out in the proper spirit, which might be described as the keeping in mind of the object as a sole and only guide. The bizarre is invariably out of place mainly because the motive which prompts it is not good. Eccentricity is not art, neither is art eccentricity.

The simplest, best and most comprehensive rule to remember in connection with mounting is the one whose key note is harmony. Every photograph has a dominating tint of color, and a continuation of this master tone in the mount will result in a effect both pleasing and artistic. In this way the mount is made to appear as part and parcel of the picture rather than to be intent on stirring up strife one against the other. Combinations whose elements are in a state of civil war are an offense to the eye for the beautiful, the harmonious and the artistic.

Carbon black and the various shades or gray lend themselves admirably to any of the black and white papers, bromide, gaslight and platinum. Green-black and brown-black mounts are useful for prints where the blacks are impure, as is often the case. This degrading of the blacks may either be intentional or purely an accident. Pigment and gum tones call for cards of more positive colors. It would be useless to attempt an enumeration of suitable mounts corresponding to all the tones obtainable in a print, their name is legion. In any event, to do this would simply put you in a position akin to that of an automaton powerless to follow a course other than that prescribed by a complicated system of internal mechanism.

When all is said, though, the selection of mounts for our pictures is a matter which rests largely with the taste and judgment of the individual ; but it would seem to me that the individuality reflected in some of the color combinations that have come to my notice is far too immature and insincere to be identified with any thoughtful and artistic worker. A " personal element" of this description should be found wandering around in search of an owner with no claimants in sight. Camera and Dark Room.