Huron-Perth Boomers Summer 2024

HISTORY
by Colleen Maguire
dark cloth over his head. People had to hold perfectly
still for eight to 30 seconds during the exposure. This
is why photographers used head clamps, and if you
look closely at an old photo, you may spot the base
behind a person’s feet. Smiling for that long was also
difficult!
By 1887 Sallows had made a name for himself in
the community and it was at that time he was asked
to run for mayor. He declined, but would serve as a
councillor starting in 1909.
The studio had been operating as Sallows Photo
Artist up to this point. Reuben wanted to use R.
Sallows but his half-brother Robert tended to use his
initial instead of his name, and consequently, they
often received each other’s mail, so Reuben decided
to use R.R. Sallows.
On Aug. 9, 1888, his second son Albert Brunswick
was born. Sadly, the child only lived to the age of
one-and-a-half – a tragedy for Reuben and Flora.
Photography a ‘novelty’
On Page 4 of the Aug. 17, 1888, edition of the
Signal, the reporter described his introduction to flash
photography. Here is the quote from the newspaper.
Goderich and bought a house at 50 Church St.,
which still stands today. Nine months later, on May
21, 1883, his first child Darius Doty (D. D.) Sallows
was born. If you examine Sallows photographs you
will notice that Darius was a frequent subject of his
father’s work. He himself became a photographer
first working for his father and later he moved to the
U.S.
Reuben was using a large, heavy camera that
weighed more than 10 lbs. It consisted of a lens
mounted on the front, a set of bellows and the glass
plate holder with a focusing glass at the rear. The
photographer could view and focus the inverted
image on the glass, but could only view it if he had a
“A novelty in photography has been introduced in
Goderich by R.R. Sallows, in the taking of negatives
at night by the flash system. Last Saturday evening
at 9 o’clock sharp, the Signal climbed the stairway,
leading to Sallows Gallery, corner of Montreal Street
and The Square, to see how the thing worked. When
he got there, he found he was to be one of the victims
on the occasion. But he didn’t object. The photo
artist made him hold up his chin, sit up straight,
watch a corner of the door, keep his eyes open, take
the corrugation off his brow, and fix his mouth just
as if he were meditating, saying, ‘$1.50 in advance.’
The whole performance was fully as natural as if it
were in daylight.
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