Gossip by the Wayside

Animals, Donkeys, Fields, Meadows, Genre: Men, Landscape, Figure, Men: Leisure Time, Religion, Monks

Dimensions

Image Dimensions: 13.8 x 17.6 cm | published August 4, 1893 | issue No. 620
Support Dimensions: 21.1 x 28.8 cm

Two monks converse in the shade on the side of a roadway.

Editorial comment on this plate:

We take considerable pleasure in presenting this picture to our readers. It needs no explanation on our part; the artistic posing and arrangement make the picture tell its own story. Mr. John E. Dumont is an amateur of no mean ability. Although he only commenced photographic work as a pastime some few years back he has already won for himself a favorable reputation among both English and American amateurs. Genre work is his specialty. To do this successfully he has made careful studies of those methods and principles which guide the artist and sculptor, at the same time throwing into his pictures that striking display of individuality that is necessary to true success in photography.
Besides a number of minor prizes, Mr. Dumont has carried off some ten or twelve gold, silver, and bronze medals.
At the recent Philadelphia exhibition, besides awarding a medal the judges stated that his pictures were the finest in the exhibition.
Perhaps the true secret of Mr. Dumont’s success is his belief in making few exposures, but each exposure a picture. Sometimes as many as six months elapse before the camera is used.
The picture is reproduced by the photogravure process.