PHOTOGRAPHY.—1. “_Do any well-known West End photographers take girls as articled pupils? About what premium do they require? I know very little about it, but I have had a camera for a year. I suppose it is a profession for girls which is not at present overcrowded.—2. Would it be wise for me to take a diploma at one of the Schools of Cookery? Would cookery or photography be the more expensive to learn, and which would pay best in the end? I like both photography and cooking, but prefer the former._—A WOULD-BE PHOTOGRAPHER.”
1. Several firms, and notably those conducted by ladies, take girls as apprentices. A premium of not less than £30 is usually asked, and sometimes no payment is given for two years. In other cases, part of the premium is returnable in salary at an earlier date. Girls are usually employed as “spotters and finishers” of the prints, and earn in this manner from 10s. to £1 a week. An ambitious clever girl ought not, however, to be content to do this kind of work always, but should try to do the retouching of negatives, a business by which from £100 to £300 a year may be earned. We have found that there is a considerable demand also for girls who can paint magic lantern slides; and altogether there are many ways by which a girl who understands photography can earn a sufficient livelihood.
2. To take a diploma at a school of cookery would not occupy so long as learning photography nor would it be so expensive. The length of the course at the principal schools varies from six to fifteen months, ten months or a year being usual. The cost ranges from nine guineas, charged at Leicester, to thirty guineas, the full cost of the course at the National Training School of Cookery in London. The Liverpool and Manchester schools—both of which are excellent—charge twelve guineas for courses of nine and eight months respectively. Cookery teacherships are pretty well paid, the salaries varying from £50 to £80 per annum, but they are not easy to obtain. As daily cooks or cooks in private households, where ladies are employed, a woman with a knowledge of cookery can always do well. But to compare photography with cookery is almost impossible, and the desirability of one occupation or the other can best be determined by a girl’s own aptitude.