Eric Hosking: Pioneer of Bird Photography

Born in London during 1909, Eric John Hosking OBE, Hon FRPS, FBIPP was a highly respected photographer, best known for his bird photography.

A physically sickly child, he was often unable to attend school due to his ill health. He became interested in bird-watching, and from there his lifelong passion for photography developed. At the age of eight he received his first camera, a Kodak Box Brownie, and after two years of saving he upgraded to a plate camera. Asked by relatives what he wanted to do when he grew up, he is said to have replied “a bird photographer”.

He started working in the motor industry at age fifteen, seriously injuring himself at one point. He lost his job when the company he worked for went into receivership five years later.

Making the decision to become a freelance photographer, he used his connection with an old school friend who was now working for a national newspaper to get a photograph published. From this first successful sale, he was able to build his career in photography.

In 1937, Hosking climbed into a hide he was using in Wales and was clawed by a Tawny Owl. He lost his left eye.

During his stay in hospital he became depressed, but when told that another bird photographer, Walter Higham, also only had one eye he gathered himself and decided to continue his career. A day after leaving hospital he returned to the hide where he has been injured, to continue the photography project he had been working on.

The Tawny Owl incident became widely reported in newspapers and he suddenly gained fame and recognition for his work. Prior to this publicity he had struggled unsuccessfully for 10 years, trying to get a book of his bird photographs made. Now, offers came flooding in, and he had no problem in getting his first book put into print.

He supplemented his bird photography income by taking pictures for weddings, schools, clubs and the press.

Hosking did much to move forward nature photography from the 1930s onwards. He experimented with Sashalight flash bulbs, and was the first person to use flash photography to capture an image of an owl with its prey.

He went on to experiment with combining high speed photography and flashes, taking images of birds in flight with 1/5000 shutter speeds used in conjunction with a custom built flash unit. Finding that this still was not adequate, he asked scientist Philip Henry to make an automatic shutter release, which was to be the first made in Britain.

Hosking became a fan of 35mm cameras, and in the early 1960s decided to work exclusively with 35mm film. He used a wide range of camera makes and models, finally deciding to use Olympus exclusively during 1974.

Hosking authored a number of popular books, including works that displayed his photographic prowess, a well received autobiography titled An Eye for a Bird (1970) and a guide for budding bird photographers.

He died in London on February 22^nd, 1991.

Selected bibliography

Intimate Sketches from Bird Life (1940)

Art of Bird Photography (1944)

Birds of the Day (1944)

Birds of the Night (1945)

More Birds of the Day (1946)

Masterpieces of Bird Photography (1947)

Birds in Action (1949)

Birds Fighting (1955)

Bird Photography as a Hobby (1961)

Nesting Birds (1967)

An Eye for a Bird (1970)

Eric Hosking's Birds - Fifty Years of Photographing Wildlife - with Kevin MacDonnell (1979)