10 short questions With the Photographer Stephen Leacock

How had the photographer arranged his studio?(March 20006)

          The photographer’s studio was made up of two rooms. One room was used as a waiting room and other room was used for taking photographs. The photographers had kept various ladies and children magazines of old times like “Ladies Companion for 1912, the girls’ Magazine for 1902 and the Infants’ Journal for 1888 in a waiting room.  In the inner room there was a frosted window. A sheet of factory cotton hung against it and a beam of sunlight filtered through it. In this room there was a machine that could be rolled. In this way, the photographer had arranged his studio.

2.   What did the author think about his own face?

          Once the author went to a photographer. He wanted to his photograph taken. The author had to wait an hour. When the author was looked down by the photographer, the photographer said that his face is quite wrong. At that time, the author accepted that he knew that his face was wrong. He added that it would look better if it was three quarters full. He also discussed about various types of faces found in the world.

3.  Why did the photographer take so much time?

          The photographer wanted to take the best photograph and wanted to prove his skill. He took the author’s head in his hands and twisted it sideways and looked at it. He didn’t like the author’s head. He asked to open the mouth and then to close it. He felt that the author’s ears were bad so he asked him to drop them a little more. He asked the author to roll his eyes under the eyelids, to put the hands on knees, to turn the face little upward, to expand the lungs, to bend the neck, to contract the face. By all the means he wanted the best feature and expression of the author so he took much time in all type of arranging suggestions and criticism.

4.   Why was the author angry with the photographer?

          The photographer was continuously criticizing the author’s face as he felt that the face was not appropriate for a photograph. The author felt humiliated at this. He couldn’t bear he insult anymore, as his face was his own only. He had lived with it for forty years and he knew its faults. Though it was not beautiful and wasn’t made for him, it was his face- the only one that the author had. Thus because of humiliation and insult of his face, the author was angry with the photographer.

5.   Why did the photographer look pleased after taking the picture? (October-07)

          Because of humiliation and insult of his face, the author was angry with the photographer. As the author started to rise from the seat, the photographer took his photograph. At that time the photographer looked pleased as he had caught the features just in a moment of animation. He was also happy because he could take the photograph of the ugly face of the author.

6. Why did the author ask “Is it me”? When he saw the photograph? (October-06)

          On Saturday, the author went back to the photographer for his photograph. The photographer showed his photo. Looking at it the author was surprised as the photographer made so many changes in his eyes, eyebrow, mouth etc. He removed the eyebrows and he had retouched the eyes. The photograph didn’t look like the auther’s photo at all. So the author asked “is it me? When he saw the photograph.

7.   What had the photographer done with the author’s eyes? (March 07)

          The photographer was a strange kind of person. He made so many changes in the photograph of the author’s face that it did not look like his own. He removed the eyebrows and he had retouched the eyes.

8.   What had the photographer done with the author’s mouth?

          The photographer was a strange kind of person. He made so many changes in the photograph of the author’s face that it did not look like his own. He removed the eyebrows and had retouched the eyes. He adjusted a little the author’s mouth as it was too law according to him.  

9.   What had the photographer done with the author’s ears?

          The photographer was a strange kind of person. He made so many changes in the photograph of the author’s face that it did not look like his own. He wanted to fix ears all right in the print. There was a process then for removing the ears entirely.

10. Why was the purpose of the photograph waste?

          The author wanted a photograph that would have looked like himself. He wanted something that would depict the face as God gave it to him. He wanted something that his friends might have kept after his death to reconcile them to his loss. But what the author wanted was no done at all. The photographer had almost changed author’s eyes, eyebrow, mouth etc. The photograph never looked like the author’s face. The purpose of the photograph was wasted the man in the photograph was quite different than himself.