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185:. Only one picture could be taken before reloading with a fresh, unexposed plate. Film holders could only be loaded in complete darkness, necessitating a light-proof changing-bag. It was quite common to have only 12 exposures for a day's photography. The glass negatives had to be developed in the darkroom at a later date and then printed as positive prints.
121:, north London, during World War I. Hosking loved London and, although he travelled greatly in Britain and abroad, he never moved away from his north London home, where he developed his natural history photographic business. Hosking died suddenly on 22 February 1991, aged 81, shortly after returning from a Kenyan safari.
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A charitable trust (the Eric
Hosking Trust) was established in 1993 to commemorate Hosking's life and work. Its board of Trustees currently consists of Dawn Balmer, Professor Richard Chandler, Dr Jim Flegg, Robert Gillmor, David Hosking, Robin Hosking, Mark Hosking, Edward Keeble, and Paul Williams.
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photographic hide late at night, he was struck in the face by the owl, its claw penetrating his left eye. The resulting infection meant choosing between losing one eye or probably going blind. The eye was removed and the ensuing publicity appeared in all the national newspapers, where his photographs
325:, he wrote of his strong objection to "unscrupulous methods", "dishonest photography" and the objectionable practice of passing off as 'wild and free' an animal that was neither, a position that the competition maintains today. For many years, one category in the competition was named in his honour.
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Hosking married
Dorothy Sleigh on 15 April 1939 at Ferme Park Baptist Church, the minister of which, whose manse was three doors away from Hosking's home, subsequently shared the use of his garage (Hosking drove a Rolls-Royce), and the couple brought up three children, Margaret, Robin and David, at
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To fully appreciate
Hosking's black and white bird photographs taken during the 1930s and 1940s, it is useful to understand how difficult it was to take them. Every step of the picture taking process was totally manual, and success relied on in-depth knowledge, experience and calculation. Without
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With no financial backing other than understanding parents, who would lend the money necessary to buy film, Hosking began to develop a market for his wildlife photographs. His working year was divided; he photographed during the spring and summer, where birds were mainly photographed at the nest
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Evenings were often taken up with lectures. It was not unusual for
Hosking to give 100 or more in a year, to audiences ranging from three to 3,000. During his lecturing career, many tens of thousands of people were entertained with lantern slides of British bird life. The many comments made by
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Starting out on a career in wildlife photography in 1929 was a bold move. Bird photography was the pastime of a select few who mainly took photographs of birds for their own interest, or to circulate among fellow enthusiasts and in clubs like the
Zoological Photographic Club, founded in 1899.
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Its stated aims are to sponsor ornithological research and other natural history projects through the media of photography, art and writing. The Trust has paid out over 30 bursaries to projects varying from the development of a reliable ageing criterion for
British
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and the interest in conservation in general with the increasing availability of lavishly illustrated books, magazines and more recently television. Most of this growth took place during
Hosking's lifetime. In her foreword to
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through-the-lens viewing (which came later with reflex cameras), the camera was pre-focussed with a distance scale to where the subject was expected to be. The exposure was manually calculated, working out the best
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Eric
Hosking brought birds into all our lives. He opened our eyes to the beauty of their world, their grace and fascination. He probably achieved more for avian conservation than any other naturalist of our
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people from
Hosking's generation suggest that this form of education had a profound effect on many, some of whom went on to establish the broad spectrum of modern conservation.
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Since
Hosking's death in 1991, the process has changed beyond recognition. Throughout his 60-year career he was, however, always keen to embrace new technology. With
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for photographing nocturnal birds, when they first became available in the mid 1930s. In the late 1940s, again with Newberry, he was the first person to use
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and one of the first professional photographers to make a living predominantly from photographing birds. He was born on 2 October 1909 in
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10. (Later, ISO 400 - and above - film became readily available, allowing much faster shutter speeds). The emulsion was often on a
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because, as explained below, pre-focussing was necessary. In autumn and winter, articles could be written for magazines like
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to record birds in flight. His pictures taken with this new lighting showed people images of birds never seen before.
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the family home in Crouch Hall Road. Before her death in November 2005, Dorothy had moved to the Suffolk village of
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A turning point in Hosking's career came through an accident which happened on 12 May 1937. Returning to a
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were already in great demand. As soon as he was fit, he returned to the hide to continue taking pictures.
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combination, and hoping that the light intensity did not change before the picture was taken. The
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awards in their early years. Hosking personified the competition's ethics. In his autobiography,
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Eric Hosking OBE, Hon FRPS, was a pioneering wildlife photographer preceded in Britain by
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Dedicated "To the memory of my mother and father who understood my love of birds"
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97:(2 October 1909 – 22 February 1991) was an English photographer noted for his
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It is possible to plot the growth in membership of organisations like the
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colour film, making these books very desirable. Some books like
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Eric Hosking's Birds – Fifty Years of Photographing Wildlife
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455:with Kevin MacDonnell, Pelham Books (1979)
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355:Royal Society for the Protection of Birds
305:Learn how and when to remove this message
212:, a pictorial tribute to Hosking's work,
497:Bryan Sage, "A photographer in hiding",
317:Hosking headed the judging panel of the
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149:in 1944, sold more than 50,000 copies.
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283:adding citations to reliable sources
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538:", Eric Hosking Charitable Trust.
319:Wildlife Photographer of the Year
247:Wildlife Photographer of the Year
449:(1970) Foreword by Prince Philip
417:Masterpieces of Bird Photography
381:Intimate Sketches from Bird Life
359:British Naturalists' Association
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620:20th-century British zoologists
557:Frühzeit der Naturphotographie
117:, London. His family moved to
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516:Eric Hosking Charitable Trust
351:British Ornithologists' Union
345:Hosking was president of the
175:light sensitivity of the film
435:Bird Photography as a Hobby
361:and honorary fellow of the
347:Nature Photographic Society
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363:Royal Photographic Society
111:Richard and Cherry Kearton
610:Photographers from London
349:, vice-president of the
387:Art of Bird Photography
625:People from Crouch End
605:English ornithologists
564:British Birds Magazine
534:21 August 2014 at the
237:spoon-billed sandpiper
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600:Animal attack victims
576:– Eric Hosking (1970)
405:More Birds of the Day
241:critically endangered
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615:Nature photographers
548:Eric Hosking's Birds
279:improve this section
177:was very low, about
77:Photographer, author
16:English photographer
399:Birds of the Night
375:Friends at the Zoo
183:fragile glass base
574:An Eye for a Bird
559:by Fritz Pölking.
447:An Eye for a Bird
323:An Eye for a Bird
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214:Miriam Rothschild
92:Eric John Hosking
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40:Eric John Hosking
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67:(1991-02-22)
25:Eric Hosking
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595:1991 deaths
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411:The Swallow
295:August 2014
584:Categories
481:References
194:flashbulbs
139:Kodachrome
119:Crouch End
46:1909-10-02
266:does not
243:species.
154:tawny owl
56:, England
532:Archived
466:Foreword
336:Debenham
287:removed
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226:Charity
216:wrote:
147:Collins
115:Chelsea
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