In Wildest Africa ^ 



hunting with the rifle. The practised shot needs only a 

 fraction of a second to bring down his game — often he 

 scarcely even sees it, and fires at it through dense shrubs 

 or bushes, whereas the photographer can achieve nothing 

 until he has contrived to secure a combination of favour- 

 able conditions, and he w^ants in many cases to ''bring 

 down" not just one animal, but a whole herd. His most 

 tempting chances come to him very often when he is 

 unprepared. That is why I insist upon the desirability 

 of his shouldering a camera like a gun. At short range 

 you can secure wonderful pictures even with an ordinary 

 small hand-camera, but for this kind of work you must 

 of course have good nerves. ... It was in this way I 

 took the photographs of the rhinoceroses in the pool 

 reproduced in With Flash light and Rifle, some of the 

 best I ever secured. One of these, taken at a distance 

 of fifteen or twenty paces, shows the " rhino," not yet 

 hit, rushing down upon Orgeich and me. In another 

 instant I had thrown my little hand-camera to the 

 ground, and just managed to get a bullet into him In the 

 nick of time. He swerved to one side and made oft 

 into the thicket, where I eventually secured him. He is 

 now to be seen in the Munich Museum. 



A fruitful source of disillusionment lies in the fact that 

 the plates are sensitive to the light to a degree so different 

 from our eyes. As the blue and violet rays chiefly act 

 upon them, they cannot render the real effects of colouring. 

 It Is greatly to be desired that we should manage to 

 perfect orthochromatic plates, sensitive to green, yellow 

 and red rays of light. I myself have been unable to secure 



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