George Shiras, sometimes regarded as the first wildlife photographer, was born in 1859 in Allegheny, Pennsylvania, and began photographing 30 years later. A lawyer and politician, it was his passion for hunting growing up that led him to photographing animals instead of killing them–“camera hunting.” Using flash photography and camera trap equipment, Shiras captured ghostly, eerie images of animals at night in Michigan and around Lake Superior. In 1906, 74 of Shiras’ photographs were published in National Geographic (source). In 1935, the National Geographic Society published a two-volume set of nearly 1,000 of his nocturnal wildlife photographs (source). Shiras died in 1942. Last year, a book of his work, In the Heart of the Dark Night, was published by Editions Xavier Barral and can be purchased here.
George Shiras and his assistant John Hammer aboard their jacklighting-equipped canoe, Whitefish Lake, Lake Superior region, Michigan, 1893
Source: National Geographic
Posted May 25th, 2016
