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Photographic Equipment

As Sallows traveled more with his camera equipment, he had to make some adjustments.

"R.R. Sallows carried cameras using 5x7 and 6x8 plates. They were heavy affairs, one a Graphlex, which means that he necessarily used a tripod in his outdoor work. Press photographers today, using narrow film in compact rolls, may find it hard to imagine slugging heavy cameras and loaded plate-holders into lumbering and hunting camps in winter, and getting the exposed plates safely home. The pictures Mr. Sallows sent out for publication were backed prints, to prevent curling.

"It was not a day of instant and automatic pictures. Cameras were large and cumbersome. He is known to have used cameras that produced negatives measuring 5 by seven inches and eight by 10 inches (One popular camera size of today, the 35 mm, has a negative that is 1 by 1 3/8 inches. In linear terms, his 5 by 7 negatives were more than five times larger.) (Stratford Beacon-Herald-)

Images were created on heavy glass-plates negatives, not the thin, light cellulose composition of today's roll film. Long exposures were necessary. Lighting had to be strong and constant. Outdoor shots required a tripod to steady the weight of the camera for the long exposure." (Clinton News - 1980)

Sallows' response to a questionnaire from The Philadelphia Photographer, published in 1887, is instructive about his photographic practice even relatively early in his career. His largest plates, he said, were 8x10, and were used for family groups, most of this sort of work being done outdoors. His customers, he wrote, like bromide enlargements, and his own stock of negatives was a constant source of income. (Douglas Chambers essay, 1993)

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Reuben R. Sallows
circa 1910s
Reuben R. Sallows Studio, Goderich, Ontario Canada

Credits:
Huron County Museum & Archives, Goderich, Ontario

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Kodak Portrait Camera - used in studio
1900s
Photographic Times magazine - August 1910

Credits:
Reuben R. Sallows Gallery, Goderich, Ontario

4

Graflex camera - similar to what Sallows used
1910
Photographic Times magazine - August 1910

Credits:
Reuben R. Sallows Gallery, Goderich, Ontario

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Reporters using Graphlex cameras
1910
Photographic Times magazine - August 1910

Credits:
Reuben R. Sallows Gallery, Goderich, Ontario

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Kodak Enlarging Outfit - used in the studio to enlarge photos
1910
Photographic Times magazine - August 1910

Credits:
Reuben R. Sallows Gallery, Goderich, Ontario

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Sallows' Style

"The conditions under which he worked are such that they would make present day photographers shudder. He used an old type view camera which had to be set up on a tripod for each exposure. You may remember the type which had a black hood over the back of it under which the photographer dodged while he focused the camera and adjusted the plate. Then he pressed a bulb to release the camera and make the exposure. Exposure meters and all the gadgets which make photography more or less of a "foolproof" thing nowadays were unheard of in the day of Mr. Sallows. He was however, one of the first to institute the present rule which calls for every picture to tell a story. His pictures told a simple, direct story somehow, in a rather "homey" familiar way that made them very popular." (Stratford Beacon-Herald,1937)

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Hunting trip in Algonquin Park
1911
Algonquin Park, Ontario

Credits:
"The conditions under which he worked are such that they would make present day photographers shudder. He used an old type view camera which had to be set up on a tripod for each exposure. You may remember the type which had a black hood ov

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Mary Young, Dungannon, Ontario
1903
Dungannon, Ontario

Credits:
Reuben R. Sallows Gallery, Goderich, Ontario

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Thanksgiving Turkey-featured in March 1930 National Geographic
1900s
near Goderich, Ontario

Credits:
University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario

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Trimming Mr. McAllister's Beard
1900s
West Wawanosh Township, near Goderich, Ontario

Credits:
Reuben R. Sallows Gallery, Goderich, Ontario

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Hugh Hill with his field team of horses
1900s
Colborne Township, near Goderich, Ontario

Credits:
Reuben R. Sallows Gallery, Goderich, Ontario

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Slaughtering the Hog
1900s
near Goderich, Ontario

Credits:
Reuben R. Sallows Gallery, Goderich, Ontario

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A Pause that Refreshes-4 o'clock Tea
1906
Colborne Township, near Goderich, Ontario

Credits:
Reuben R. Sallows Gallery, Goderich, Ontario