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Winter Scene Albumen
Print, 4 x 6.2 inches, July 1878. --Binghamton
Daily Republican, September 14, 1878
Well
G. Singhi (Binghamton, New York)
Well
G. Singhi worked in Binghamton, New York from 1872 to
1886. This clever photograph seems to have caught an
incoming snowball in mid-flight, with the newsboy about
to deflect it with his elbow prior to launching a volley
of his own. This image was apparently distributed to
photographers in the form of mounted prints bound into
copies of the St. Louis Practical Photographer for
December 1878. Perhaps to allow time to make the prints
(each of which required exposure to sunlight), this
wintery photograph was made in the sweltering month of
July. This feat was not lost on the local newspaper, the
Binghamton Daily Republican, which reported that
one of its own employees served as Singhi's model:
His
subject is...one of our best carrier boys (he is also
a student at Singhi’s), on his route, with the
Republican heading in plain sight above the top of his
satchel. The boy has stopped for a moment to throw
snowballs from a post probably for the sake of
acquiring more proficiency in throwing crumpled papers
against front doors. ...Of course this is a Winter
scene, but it was taken in scalding July, with the
mercury at the top of the nineties. He has pictured a
snow storm to perfection. Singhi’s art in
out-of-door views has given him already a national
reputation.
This
self-portrait shows Singhi as a magician. But what is the
significance of the small cartoon figure to the right?
The figure is saying, "That is Singhi, Binghamton's
Fotografer! He's Got Em!" Albumen
print cabinet card, circa 1880
Singhi
was obviously a man with a sense of humor and a
willingness to manipulate the camera's images for his own
purposes -- in this case, advertising his services.
