On March 24, 1942, George Shiras passed away, 78 years ago. The man who surely is the discoverer of photo-trapping. We would like to pay tribute to such an amazing pioneer.
Indeed, photo-trapping seems to be a modern and very recent technique, although this is only true in terms of its expansion and popularization. Already in the 19th century George Shiras (Pennsylvania, USA, 1859-1942) collaborated with National Geographic and is considered the father of wildlife photography through the use of photo trapping cameras and flash.
He did extensive field work in Yelowstone National Park, photographing wild animals in their environment, by means of boat trips at night that allowed him to get close to the animals that came to the shore and taking photographs with the rudimentary photographic equipment and flashes of the time.
The most astonishing are the automatic triggering systems that he developed by attaching hidden cable mechanisms and baits to the cameras, by means of which the most elusive animals activated the cameras, being undoubtedly the precursor of today’s photo-trapping cameras.
