CHAPTER XII 



PHOTOGRAPHING FISH AND OTHER FORMS OF 

 AQUATIC LIFE 



THIS is the youngest of all the various branches 

 of nature photography, and the one in which there 

 are the fewest workers. Like many of the other 

 branches it has been but a very few years since 

 the only photographs of fish that we had were 

 those made from mounted specimens, and to say 

 merely that these were unsatisfactory would be 

 to accord them undue praise. They were worse 

 than worthless. 



No one thought at that time that it could be 

 possible to photograph the living fish, but some 

 one, I have forgotten who, tried to improve on the 

 old method by using freshly caught fish impaled 

 on a nail. The results were no better, however, 

 and it was left for Dr. Shufeldt of Washington 

 (who, I believe, was the pioneer in this line of 

 work) to show the world at large what beautiful 

 results could be obtained from the living speci- 

 mens in their natural element. 



Fishes, like everything else, must be known to 

 be photographed successfully, and so it is well, if 



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