E.J. Foss
1887
Mr. E.J. Foss (Boston)

Book illustration
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Published in "Wilson's Quarter Century in Photography. A Collection of Hints on Practical Photography which form A Complete Text-Book of the Art" by Edward L. Wilson (New York: Edward L. Wilson, 1887), p.115, fig.127.
 
43. Sometimes when a skylight is found uncontrollable, use has been made of a sub-studio, so to speak, constructed inside the larger one. Such a plan was suggested some time ago by Mr. E.J. Foss, Boston. It was contrived as described, and is illustrated below. (Fig. 127.)
 
It is called a "shadow chamber," and is a conglomeration of sliding curtains which can be moved quickly, securing an endless number of effects.
 
Mr, Foss's studio has a side light, thirteen feet wide and ten high, connecting with the skylight, which is thirteen feet square; the glass is all ground; the angle of the skylight is thirty-five degrees; there is a space from the side and skylights to the back wall of nine feet; in the ceiling of this space is a window some three feet wide, which extends clear across the room; this light is used for the purpose of lighting up the backgrounds, of which there are several on rollers, fastened to the ceiling; the three-feet light does not reach the sitters, they being in the shadow chamber. It is said to work very satisfactorily.
 
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