What Wild Animals Do in the Dark of the Night - Issue 37: Currents
▻http://nautil.us/issue/37/currents/what-wild-animals-do-in-the-dark-of-the-night
George Shiras the third (1859-1942) was captivated by the waters of Lake Superior at night, when sounds, shapes, and movements seemed more mysterious, more dramatic. Under cover of darkness, he sought out animals that lived along the shore of the lake. Shiras would place a lamp at the bow of a canoe and wait quietly in the shadows at the rear of the boat, until two eyes could be seen reflecting the boat’s light back out of the darkness. The “blue, translucent eyeballs” were the signal to quietly slide forward into range, take aim, and shoot his quarry. This was how Shiras took the first photos to show the nightlives of wild animals, over a century ago.[NB:slide] In these early days of photography, Shiras was forced to haul clunky cameras using large-format sheet film on his canoe; the (...)