The Man Who "Shot" the Tiger for the First Time

We have all grown up watching various TV shows and photographs of animals, observing their lives, behaviours, and much more. In the Indian wildlife photography scene, tigers are the most frequently captured subjects. But have you ever wondered who took the first photo of a tiger? It was in 1925, and the man behind the lens was Frederick Walter Champion.

Frederick used the tripwire technique to take photos of tigers and to take stills in the natural environment. ISource: StoryLTD

Frederick Walter Champion was a British forester who worked in both British India and East Africa. He became well-known and highly respected during the 1920s as one of the first wildlife photographers and conservationists. Frederick grew up in a household of nature lovers. His father, an English entomologist, and his brother, a forester known for classifying forest types in India, instilled in him a deep love for nature. He arrived in India in 1913, initially serving under the Police Department of East Bengal. Three years later, he was commissioned into the British India Army Reserve of Officers. After the war, he joined the Imperial Forestry Service and became a deputy conservator.

During his time in the army, he also served in World War One, an experience that profoundly affected him. The horrors of war made him realise the urgent need to protect every living being. His wartime experiences led him to reject sport hunting completely. For him, the only acceptable shooting involved capturing wildlife with his camera.

His journey began with capturing wildlife using cameras triggered by tripwires and aided by flashlights. Using this method, he captured remarkable photographs of various animals, including tigers, leopards, and sloth bears. The tripwire technique allowed him to capture these images without being present at the location. Animals unintentionally captured themselves as they triggered the camera by tripping on a wire.

Even before joining the IFS, Frederick was already attempting to capture an image of a tiger in its natural habitat. It took him nearly eight years to achieve this feat. Eventually, he became the first person to capture a live photograph of a tiger. Some of these images were later published on the front page of the Illustrated London News in 1925. Two years later, he published a book titled With a Camera in Tiger Land.

After India gained independence, Frederick moved to East Africa, where he continued working as a divisional forest officer until his retirement. There, he continued his efforts for the conservation and preservation of forest wildlife. Although he passed away in 1970 at seventy-six, his contributions and legacy remained inspirational. He was a man whose ideas and beliefs were ahead of his time, and he made it his mission to save and conserve wildlife.

Frederick Walter Champion became a conservationist long before the word itself gained prominence. He was one of the first people to fervently advocate for the protection of not only tigers but also all living beings and their natural habitats. His actions inspired many, including Jim Corbett, who, along with other hunters, transformed into a conservationist. This inspiration led Jim and Frederick, among others, to become founding members of India's first National Park, known to all of us as the Jim Corbett National Park. Jim himself later declared Frederick as a pioneer of wildlife photography in India.

The implications and applications of the tripwire method persisted for several years, evolving and being refined with each passing decade, eventually becoming known as camera trap photography. Even today, this method calculates tiger populations and monitors their movements and behaviour.