CLIFF-PHOTOGRAPHING.

Auckland Star, Volume XXX, Issue 56, 8 March 1899, Page 6

CLIFF-PHOTOGRAPHING.

In his narrative of adventures and observations as a field naturalist, 'With Nature and a Camera,' Mr Richard Kearton describes'how he and his brother obtain their life-like pictures of birds and nests. Some of these have been taken with the camera focussed on a ledge of a rocky precipice 200 feet high and overlooking the sea, down which the photographer had descended by a rope with the apparatus strapped on his back. They use two climbing ropes, each 200 feet in length. The descending- rope has three loops at its end, which the. climber puts round his hips, sitting in them as he descends the cliff. Upon reaching a cliff which they desire to descend they drive a crowbar 18 inches into the ground, 12 feet away from the edge, and sloping in a backward direction. One end of the guide-rope is tied securely round the crowbar close to the ground, and the rest of the rope flung over the cliff. The descending rope is passed once around the crowbar, as near the bottom as possible, in order to reduce the leverage. The man -who manages the lowering takes charge of this rope; the photographer, with his camera lashed to his back, slips the loops round his hips, and seizing the%guide-rope in both hands to steady himself by, prepares to make a descent.

The points to be remembered are: First, to use sound ropes, and to have a. levelheaded man to work them. Second, to see that the crowbar is driven well into the solid ground. Third, to clear away loose stones between the foot of the crowbar and the brink of the cliff. Should this precaution be neglected", the descending rope is sure to dislodge them when it Is being hauled up, and a small stone may strike ■ the camera or the' photographer. Fourth, not to allow the descending rope to run in any crevice, as it may stick fast or be damaged by chafing.

Two- of the most,, disagreeable sensations associated with the work are stepping backwards over the brink of a high Cliff into space and spinning slowly round like a pieeift-&f meat <ah atoastihg»s*l»tla,nd watching the sea chase the land and the land chase the sea.

On arriving at a ledge with a nest upon it, the photographer allows his body to assume a horizontal position almost at right angles to the line of the cUff, placing the end of one leg of the tripod in-a crevice and the other two through a belt round his waist. Then he focusses, and after a deal of trouble generally succeeds in making a picture. • Cliff work requires a man' with a clear head and an athletic frame. Most of the danger comes from the attendant at the crowbar. 'On one occasion,' says the author, 'my brother had a very narrow escape from death.'

'The fellow who was lowering him neglected his work to chat with some companions who stood near. The crowbar had not been driven far into the ground, on account of its rocky nature. Just as my brother'^ head was about to disappear below the edge of the cliff he happened to look 'Up. • •

'He was horrified to see that the rope was running round the crowbar's top instead of its bottom, and that the bar, bent over by the leverage of his weight, was pointing almost straight, instead of inclining away from the cliff. A frantic yell brought the negligent man to his senses, or in another instant the crowbar would have been pulled out of the ground and the rope jerked out of his hands.