Saturday, December 6th, 2025

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Saturday, December 6th, 2025

Breaking News for

Sportsmen Since 1968

Remembering George Shiras, the “father of wildlife photography”

George Shiras, in 1893, in the front of his skiff ready to take a nighttime wildlife photo. Note the two box cameras atop a revolving table. On top of them is a “jacklight” that helps locate the game in the darkness. This photo was taken by Shiras using a flashlight and camera arranged on shore with a string tripping mechanism operated from his left hand. (Photo courtesy of Superior View Photography, Marquette, Mich.)

Trail cameras are a valuable tool used by many hunters. These eyes in the woods provide hunters and outdoor enthusiasts with a “24/7” look at game and non-game activity. What few folks don’t know is that the first night photo of an animal, a deer, was taken by a man named George Shiras on July 3, 1893.
And he did it with a flashlight. Well, not the kind of flashlight like those we use today. Shiras used an exploding charge of gunpowder – flashing light – to provide the illumination for his big box camera to capture images.

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