Capturing Motion: My Life in High Speed Nature Photography

In this fascinating book Stephen Dalton takes the reader on a journey, recounting how he started in photography and how he became fascinated with the idea of photographing insects and birds in flight. When Dalton started to combine his interests in nature and photography, no photographer had succeeded in capturing on film a focused image of an animal in midair. There were no digital cameras, no high-speed film, only primitive flash units powered by a heavy car battery. Color film took a week or more to be sent away and processed, too late for Dalton to make adjustments to his camera and flash set-up. There were also no publications to learn from. Dalton describes how persistence, hard work and sheer faith that it could be done pushed him to experiment with a variety of methods. Two years of repeated attempts, an understanding of flight mechanics and insight into the art of photography brought success: he captured a sharply focused image of a barn owl leaving its nest. Dalton had created the art of motion photography. Capturing Motion: My Life in High Speed Nature Photography is part memoir, part adventure story and part scientific explanation, illustrated throughout with Dalton's pioneering photographs. Dalton explains how the photographic equipment of the time worked and takes the reader on his journeys into the English countryside in the 1960s as he searched for subjects. Each attempt could be long and frustrating but success finally came with his image of a barn owl in flight: . We employed two cameras set-up side by side in the hide, one containing color film that had to be sent away to Kodak for processing, which took a week, while the other was loaded with black and white film. When the owl took off both cameras recorded two almost identical images. . More often than not the negatives revealed that at least one of the flash heads failed to fire, ruining the chance of obtaining the lighting so carefully planned. Even when we managed to obtain an image, the chances were that the wings were not in an attractive position. AUTHOR: Stephen Dalton is an internationally respected photographer whose high-speed wildlife photography has earned him a devoted following of both nature lovers and photographers. Dalton has published several books, including Secret Lives; Caught in Motion and The Miracle of Flight. He lives in rural England. 80 colour photographs

About the Author :
Stephen Dalton is an internationally respected photographer whose high-speed wildlife photography has earned him a devoted following of both nature lovers and photographers. Dalton has published several books, including My Wood, Secret Worlds, Caught in Motion and The Miracle of Flight. He lives near Ardingly in the Sussex Weald.

Review :
Part memoir, this new book from the well-known photographer Stephen Dalton is illustrated with many examples of his stunning photographs. Dalton is a pioneer in this kind of photography, and in this book you'll find out exactly how he became fascinated with the idea of capturing birds and insects in flight. Stephen Dalton's Capturing Motion presents a lifetime engaged in a process he pretty much invented: taking photos of animals--insects, birds, reptiles, and amphibians--in motion, often in flight, freeze-framing them in clean, crisp, stop-action shots that were impossible to make until he diligently and systematically developed the methods... The images throughout, taken from the 1970s through 2019, are amazing as technical achievements and studies of animal-in-motion behaviours. We can only marvel at both the techniques and the results. In this breathtaking book, packed with double-page photographs, Sussex-based photographer Stephen Dalton reveals how he became the pioneer of capturing insects, birds in flight and other wild creatures known for rapid movement long before the advent of high-speed digital cameras. He describes how persistence and sheer... Experts will love the technical detail; general readers will just marvel at the dazzling photography and balletic grace of the animal kingdom. It is a fitting record of a life spent striving to capture brief moments in time many of which were unknown to science when Dalton took them. Until he showed us in 1974, nobody quite knew how a housefly landed in a ceiling. And who else would have sussed out that blowing CO2 over a cat flea would cause it to jump to order and thus record its flight to 150 times its own height, but then go on to record some of the biomechanics of the operation. Remarkable. Stephen Dalton is giving amateurs a look behind the lens in his new book... The British photographer and wildlife enthusiast made it his mission to capture a focused image of an animal in midair - and he succeeded!... Stephen takes us on a journey to discover how his trail to triumph started in a world with no digital cameras or flashy tech to assist him. Selection, Holiday Gift Guide... Pushing the frontiers of nature photography since the early 1970s, Stephen Dalton has sublimely crafted images that bring time to a stop, revealing the secret lives of creatures--mostly small and fast-moving--that would otherwise appear as blurs and streaks to the unaided eye. In this arresting career retrospective, each photograph merits a well-told story... Looking back, Dalton recalls being overcome by the wonder of "witnessing things that no human had ever seen before." So should all who behold these marvelous images. Dalton pioneered capturing animals in motion, long before digital technology... he showcases a selection of stunning photos... a graet choice for nature lovers with a passion for photography. Stephen Dalton is the acknowledged master and pioneer of high speed wildlife photography... The book follows the development of Stephen's unique photographic style, from early beginnings in black and white through to contemporary full-frame digital photography, in a series of iconic and ground-breaking images.