|
This pioneering film of birds in their natural habitat includes a variety of
seabirds and natives of the Farne Islands and in the Orkney and Shetland Isles.
We see guillemots, gulls, puffins, gannets, sparrowhawks, baby buzzards, a
reed-warbler, turtle dove and the cuckoo as well as the hooded raven and the
rare Richardson's Skua.
Photographed by the pioneer British nature photographer Oliver Pike using a
camera of his own design, the film still has the power to surprise the viewer
with its beauty and groundbreaking techniques. In one shot we see a host of
seagulls in mid-air, unusual enough as a shot in 1910, but the use of
positioning (on a corner of cliff where the birds have to fly into the wind) and
adjusted focal plane makes it feel years ahead of its time.
Also remarkable is the delicacy of the stencil colouring in this film. Pike
recalls a visit to the Pathé factory in Paris to see the elaborate and careful
process, which he describes in some detail in his book 'Nature and My Cine
Camera'. The film benefited from widespread distribution by Pathé and helped to
establish British wildlife photographers as leaders in this field.
Bryony Dixon
|
Complete film (6:48)
