CAPE CARBON BY FREDERIC GADMER

FREDERIC GADMER  (1878-1954), 

Cape Carbon (220 m - 722 ft)

Algeria

In  Le Cap Carbon, Bougie, 1929. Autochrome Lumiere - Albert Kahn museum 

The mountain
Cape Carbon (220 m - 722 ft) is  cape located in the Wilaya of Béjaïa, north of the port of Béjaïa, Algeria. A tourist path, traced on the crest, frequented by the monkey magot, allows access. Cape carbon is situated in the Gouraya National Park. It seems that before colonization only a few rudimentary lanterns were placed near the shelters which served as a refuge for the Barbary ship, such as the ordinary lantern on the high tower of the Penon of Algiers. From 1834, the French installed on the rocky spur at the end of the Cape Carbon, a fixed light surmounted by a rotating crown bearing 8 lamps with reflectors arranged in a way to realize an eclipse fire of 30 seconds In 30 seconds.  The lantern was periodically modified between 1860 and 1900, until 1924 when the electrification of main fires and port fires was actively pursued. The Cape Carbon lighthouse is known to be the highest natural lighthouse in the Mediterranean Sea and one of the highest in the world. It is a "landing" lighthouse which indicates the proximity of the port of Béjaïa.

The photographer
Frédéric Georges Gadmer was born in 1878 in France into a Protestant family; his father, Leon, son of Swiss émigré, was confectioner. Before World War II, he follows his family in Paris and works as a photographer for the house Vitry, located Quai de la Rapée. As an heliogravure company, it performs work for the sciences and the arts, travel and education. In 1898 Gadmer completed his military service as a secretary to the staff then recalled in 1914 at the time of mobilization. In 1915, he joined the newly created  "Photographic Section of the Army" and carried pictures on the front, in the Dardanelles, with General Gouraud, then in Cameroon. In 1919, at age 41, he was hired as a photographer by Albert Khan for his project called "Archives of the Planet". He finds there his comrades of  "the film and photographic section of the army" Paul Castelnau and Fernand Cuville. Soon as he arrived, he made reports in Syria, Lebanon, Turkey and Palestine. It was the first to make a color portrait of Mustafa Kemal, leader of the Young Turks. In 1921, he returned to the Levant with Jean Brunhes, the scientific director of the Archives of the Planet. The same year, he attended General Gouraud, appointed High Commissioner in Syria. Operator and prolific photographer, specializing in distant lands and landscapes, it covers Iraq, Persia, Afghanistan, Algeria and Tunisia. In 1930, he accompanied Father Francis Aupiais in Dahomey. He also works in Europe. In 1931, at the request of Marechal Lyautey, he photographies the Colonial Exhibition. It is one of the last person to leave the "Archives of the Planet" threatened by the Albert Kahn's bankruptcy in 1932. He then worked at the famous french newspaper L'Illustration and carries postcards for Yvon. He died in Paris, unmarried, in 1954.
Source: 
- Frédéric Gadmer 

About the  "Autochrome Lumière" Photos
The autochrome is a photographic reproduction of process colors patented December 17, 1903 by Auguste and Louis Lumière french brothers. This is the first industrial technique of photography colors, it produces positive images on glass plates. It was used between 1907 and 1932 approximately an particularly in many pictures of the World War I. A important number of photographs of mountains and landscapes around the world was made with this technique, particularly in the for  the Project "The archives of the planet" by Albert Kahn.
Source:
- Musée Départemental Albert Kahn on line