Do you ever grow weary of lugging photographic gear around....?

Well, if you do, think what it must have been like for the Kearton brothers, Richard (1862-1928) and Cherry (1871-1940), who were pioneers of bird photography at the end of the 19th. century and in the early years of the 20th. century. If you ever come across a copy of Wild Life at Home by Richard Kearton, snap it up because it gives a wonderful insight into the energy, ingenuity and sometimes sheer bravery of these early bird photographers. Using unwiedy, heavy mahogany and brass cameras and glass plates, stout wooden tripods and sometimes magnesium flash powder that could set your moustache on fire, they went to enormous lengths to capture the beauty of Britain's birds life for the Victorian and Edwardian public.... and became the celebrity wildlife photographers of their day.

This copy of Wild Life at Home dates 1907, although the book was first published in 1898. Like many natural history books of the period, it's notable for the beautiful gilt embossed cover. 


Elder brother Richard eventually became principally the researcher and writer for their popular books, while Cherry travelled widely overseas and went on to become a celebrated cinematographer, lecturer and broadcaster. 

In Wild Life at Home Richard reveals the hard-won secrets of their success. This is their recommended technique for photographing sea birds on inaccessible cliff ledges, as used in their pioneering photographs of sea birds on St. Kilda.

Here's how to scale a tree with your camera and tripod. No big telephotos and zoom lenses then.

The Kearton brothers were born in Swaledale in the Yorkshire Dales and used the field craft they'd learned in their rural youth to get within flash powder distance of shy birds. Here's one of them (Richard, I think) lurking in a bush...

.... and here he is demonstrating how much less visible you are if you wear his recommended tree-trunk mask. Why not give it a try? 

The Keartons pioneered the use of hides that are still essential lurking gear for the serious bird photographer. One of the brothers is inside this artificial farmyard rubbish heap that could be moved around the farm on wheels ...

...... and there's a Kearton inside this stuffed sheep  .....

..... and inside this stuffed ox .... 

... although things didn't always go quite as they'd planned. Here's Richard trapped inside the ox after it toppled over ... soon to be rescued by his brother, but not before Cherry had recorded the mishap for posterity.