Evening star., 1935-12-01
Lifelong Work of Inventor of Flash
light Photography Takes Enduring
Place Within Binding of Two Alluring
New Volumes.

when ne nad several years Den1no MN
as Photographic hunter the number
of amazing pictures totaled more than
1000. Now there is no telling how
many pictures-al extraordinary-are
in the Shiras collection, which has
been given outright, in fee simple. to
the National Geographic Society.
To be appreciated the Shiras pic
lures must be seen. They must be
seen-and even then they cannot be
appreciated, for there is more to these
pictures than meet the eye. You see,
for instance, a beautiful catlike ami
NAL sitting on the shore of lake
and looking directly into the eye of
camera. The cat-as the old circus
men call all animals of the tiger fam
ily-posed herself.
OR YOU can see snowbirds on the
snow-and they never knew they
had their pictures taken. Mr.. Shiras
had a way of doing these things,
stalking wild animals and birds and
taking their pictures-and the first
humanity knew of the work was when
the pictures began to be published in
the National Geographic Magazine.
Then the world of man actually came
to know something of the world of
animals-and of the birds of the air.
1t was probably the unnatural life
in a great industrial center-Pitts-
burgh-that sent Mr.. Shiras and his
camera on the way to glory. AS he
himself relates: Born and reared in
Pennsylvania S greatest industrial CEN
ter, lived during most of my early
years beneath sun obscured by clouds
of smoke. At night that part of the
Ohio Valley resembled an inferno
from the glare of the blast furnaces,
coke ovens and many standpipes
shooting lurid flames far overhead in
wasteful consumption of the natural
gas from adjoining oil fields"
Azure skies he had seen on vacation
periods to Marquette, on the Lake Su-
perior, and the lovely landscapes made
up of forest retreats caused this nat
ural-born naturalist to forsake the
profession of law later on and enter
new feld-the Interpretation of the
laws of Nature. He became an advo-
cate first of daylight photography,
taking pictures of deer by several
methods. The next step was night
photography.
Jacklighting-that is, the surprising
of wild life by sudden flashes of light
fhn11 Iarifir,aofn cY1Arf ChiEoc
turned it into finer pastime. He ap-
preciated the deadly unfairness of this
kind of hunting-awakening birds
from their nests, routing out deer and
other animals from their native
haunts merely to kill them. So he
manned q camera instead of a shot
gun. Thus, if he awakened an animal
or surprised it in any of its multitude
nous activities at night, the purpose
was only to bring back picture. The
startled animal had its picture taken
and was then free to go back to sleep
or to whatever engaged its attention.
All the flashlight apparatus used in
this new method of game hunting was
there and then devised by this master
of photography and supreme hunter
turned naturalist. He made canoe
trips at night and photographed what
ever he might encounter In his travels.
Personal danger naturally attended
these trips-but that gave the touch
of adventure. Moose and deer and
elk were the first animals photo
graphed, all done by a mechanism
held in one hand and fired in the
same fashion as a pistol, by pulling
trigger.
IT SOUNDS rather easy in the tell
ing, and it was, forsooth, not so
difficult to catch the larger animals
according to Mr.. Shiras-but these
little fellows, the smaller game, could
not be approached at night and
photographed so readily as their big
brothers. Experience proved the need
of another sort Of invention. So Mr..
Shiras set about to get the desired
results. He baited cords that were
attached to the shutter Of an invisible
camera-stationed somewhere near
the quarry. A taut string stretched
across a trail usually did the trick.
The animals, dashing along an un-
charted pathway. touched the string
and had their pictures taken. All in
the interest of science.
These are some of the pictures that
ornament the new book.
AS an inventor, Mr. Shiras took out
patents, but he did not keep them for
himself alone. He turned them over
to the general public, for use among
those who were to discover a new and
fine pastime - photographing wild
animals. Though it took long time
to get people interested In this novel |
sport, there are now hundreds Of |
hunters who shoot not to kill but to |
photograph. Hunting with camera
and f1ashlight is q recognized sport |
lovers Of wild animals.
These nighttime Photographs are of |
interest to mankind Until |
Mr. Shiras perfected his methods of |
taking pictures in the forest. few per-
sons knew what went on in the animal |
kingdom under the cover of darkness. |
It was all sealed book. Not now. |
Prying camera eyes show up mar
velous world Of activity. Animal
tracks and other traces Of passing |
herds were once the only methods of |
action in the adventurous |
world Of the deer and the buffalo. The |
newly perfected cameras, In the last |