Eric Hosking's Bird Photographer.( Black & White.)

Eric Hoskings  OBE (1909-1991)
The first professional wildlife photographer in Britain, his specialisation in birds, was to bring him world wide acclaim.  He was aways looking for perfection in his field of photography.  For over sixty years he enjoyed a long and distinguished career as on of the worlds best loved and respected wildlife photographers.


At the age of just eight he was given is first camera , a Kodak Box Brownie.

He was fortunate to survive a childhood illness.  His love of bird watching made him determined to live life to the full.  He left school at the age of fifteen.  His head master saying, "you will never make anything in life".  His first job at fifteen was in the motor industry, which he was ill suited, and sustaining an industrial injury.  Having decided to become a freelance wildlife photographer he had a lucky break when an old school friend, who was the editor for a newspaper paid him for picture of a child at the zoo standing beside an elephant seal, the Daily Dispatch paid him the sum of two guineas, he was on his way?

In 1937 he lost the sight of his left eye, this was done while climbing into a hide in Wales, he was clawed by a Tawny Owl and lost the sight in his left eye.  The future looked very bleak but after learning that Walter Higham, a bird photographer whose he admired had only one eye , his sprinted lifted.  Twenty four hours after leaving the hospital, he climbed back into the same hide , where the incident had happened.

This is a Tawny Owl similar to the one that took Eric's left eye sight.  One Eric's wonderful photographs.


Throughout the 1930s he supplemented his income with pictures for the press, lectures at schools, clubs, and social evenings.  He was not averse to photographing weddings and children for a time he helped Marcus Adams, by taking his 'outdoor' commission whilst the 'master' worked in the studio.  There was even a request from the Duchess of York to photograph her daughters, Princess Elizabeth and Margaret Rose.


As he honed his skills, building his library and his reputation as a wildlife photographer grew, he battled with the problem of slow panchromatic emulsion.  In 1935, he was the first photographer to experiment with the Sashalight flash bulbs and in the following year he took the first ever flash photograph of an owl with its prey as seen above.


It was not until 1963 that he made his decision to work with 35 mm format only.  In 1974 he changed to Olympus using the evolving system right up to the time of his death at eighty one.


As his reputation grew his ability to take photography's soared and the quality got better and better.  Having photographed virtually every bird in Britain, he was invited by the big names of ornithology to join them on major expeditions throughout the world.


Images from his massive library, spanning  six decades, are still in great demanded and, thankfully, his son David is a chip of the old block.  You can be sure that when the21st century photographers are reviewed , then Hoskings name will right up their with the best.


These are some of Hoskings Black & White photo's.

These are some of the images that Eric Hosking's have produced these I have downloaded.  There are more but these are protected and to make them any bigger will not give them the justice they deserve.