THE PICTURE PIONEERS

Without today's cameras to rely on the first wildlife photographers had to be part-madcap inventor, part-daredevil to get the shots that would make their names

- GEMMA PADLEY

WILDLIFE PHOTOGRAPHY is peppered with mavericks whose efforts and innovations laid the foundations for the diverse, exciting genre that exists today. We're so accustomed to seeing incredible photographs of wild animals now that we rarely bat an eyelid at charismatic portraits of rare species. But wildlife photography wasn't always as ubiquitous as it is today, neither was it always as easy to photograph animals in the wild.

It began with photography enthusiasts of the mid-to-late 19th century. Early subjects of theirs included big game killed on safari or animals in zoos, since dead or caged animals were easier to photograph than animals in the wild, which tended to be difficult to find and fast moving. Birds on their nests were another favourite because they stayed relatively still.

As photographic technology evolved in the decades around the turn of the century, wildlife photographs became not just easier to take, but also more creative. Leading the way in those years were the Kearton brothers, Richard and Cherry. The pair grew up in North Yorkshire and became famous for their innovative and sometimes bizarre methods of photographing birds, which involved climbing ladders tied to the highest tree branches and hanging off cliffs. Richard, a trailblazer in the creation of portable photographic hides, was behind the infamous taxidermy ox hide, which, on one occasion, toppled over after he fainted inside it. In 1892, the brothers took the first photograph of birds' eggs in a nest, and in 1895, produced the first natural history book illustrated with photographs: British Birds' Nests: How, Where and When to Find and Identify Them.