Light

Children, Genre: Children, Interiors, Postal Photographic-Print Exchange Clubs, Supports

Dimensions

Image Dimensions: 17.0 x 11.9 cm
Support Dimensions: 31.0 x 23.9 cm

Roy C. Burckes of Winter Hill, Mass., a school janitor in Somerville, Mass., was director of The Camera Craftsmen, a postal photographic club.

The subject of this photograph is a boy wearing an apron performing some type of task (painting?) in front of a work bench with a large vice visible attached at the front. In background in upper left on what appears to be a chalk board, the word LIGHT (with letters L & I combined) has been written underlined in a stylized flourish.

 Burckes became director of The Camera Craftsmen which was first organized in 1910:  

The Camera Craftsmen

The Camera Craftsmen Club which circulates a pictorial Album, was organized in the fall of 1910, Mr. Roy C. Burckes of Winter Hill, Mass., being chosen as the first director, which position he still occupies. The members selected took in territory covering the New England States and as far West as Buffalo N. Y. Prospective members submit three of their best prints showing the manner of work they are capable of doing. These prints are reviewed by a print-committee of three. If acceptable, the applicant is at once enrolled upon payment of the annual dues of $1.50. When the Album reaches a member, he criticizes each of the other members’ prints and inserts one of his own, supplying on the criticism-sheet full information regarding plate, light, exposure, etc. He then forwards the package, prepaid, to the member next on the list. At present the membership is as follows: Mrs. W. K. Menns, Chelsea, Mass., S. B. Phillips, Portland, Me., Arthur Hammond, Natick, Mass., Harry G. Phister, Vernon, N. Y., M. A. Yaueh, Rochester, N. Y., H. W. Schonewolf, Buffalo, N. Y. . Ward E. Bryan, Elmira, N. Y., Harry A. Harvey, Baltimore, Md., Harry D. Williar, Baltimore, Md., Chas. H. Renish, Baltimore, Md., Wm. P. Hall, Annapolis, Md.. Dr. D. J. Ruzicka, N. Y. City, W. H. Zerbe, Richmond Hill, N. Y., C. M. Shipman, Staten Island, N. Y., A. D. Brittingham, Tuckahoe. N. Y., Chas. O. Dexter, New Bedford, Mass., Roy C. Burckes, Winter Hill, Mass. Miss Katherine Bingham resigned from this club last year, to accept the editorship of the Round Robin Guild. (1.)

The Annual Report for the City of Somerville, Mass. for 1903 lists Burckes as a school janitor by trade with a home address of 249 School St. in Somerville. He was still listed as director of the Camera Craftsmen club in 1916. (source: 1916 American Annual of Photography )

print details verso:
-written in thick blue pencil: Print #7
-signed R.C. Burckes

print condition: discoloration to select areas of print surface recto

1. Photo-Era, American Journal of Photography: Boston: March, 1913: p. 149