John Ernest Williamson (8 December 1881 – 15 July 1966) invented the "photosphere" from which he filmed and photographed

undersea The underwater environment is the region below the surface of, and immersed in, liquid water in a natural or artificial feature (called a body of water), such as an ocean, sea, lake, pond, reservoir, river, canal, or aquifer. Some characterist ...

. He is credited as being the first person to take an underwater photograph from a submarine.

Biography

He was born in

Liverpool, England Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a populat ...

1881 to Charles Williamson, a sea captain from

Norfolk, Virginia Norfolk ( ) is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. Incorporated in 1705, it had a population of 238,005 at the 2020 census, making it the third-most populous city in Virginia after neighboring Virginia Be ...

. Charles had invented a deep-sea tube, made of concentric iron rings, "which stretched like an accordion". The tube was used for underwater repair and for ship salvage. In 1912 Williamson, while working as a reporter, used the device to make underwater photographs in Norfolk Harbor. He then expanded the photosphere, which he named ''Jules Verne'', and used it to create motion pictures, starting first in the Bahamas. Williamson created a film company, the Submarine Film Corporation. Their first feature film came out in 1914 and was entitled "Thirty Leagues Under the Sea" starring Williamson in a fight with a shark. The Submarine Film Corporation would also partner with other companies such as

Thanhouser Company The Thanhouser Company (later the Thanhouser Film Corporation) was one of the first motion picture studios, founded in 1909 by Edwin Thanhouser, his wife Gertrude and his brother-in-law Lloyd Lonergan. It operated in New York City until 1920, ...

. J. Ernest Williamson and his brother George M. Williamson would shoot and develop the film using their photosphere which was then finalized and distributed by others.

Partial filmography

* ''Thirty Leagues Under the Sea'' (1914) * ''Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea'' (1916) * ''The Submarine Eye'' (1917) * ''

Wet Gold '' Wet Gold'' is a 1984 American made-for-television adventure film directed by Dick Lowry and starring actress-model Brooke Shields. The film originally aired on October 28, 1984 on ABC. Plot summary Laura is a young café waitress dreamin ...

'' (1921) * ''Wonders of the Sea'' (1922) * '' The Uninvited Guest'' (1924) * ''

The Mysterious Island ''The Mysterious Island'' (french: L'Île mystérieuse) is a novel by Jules Verne, published in 1875. The original edition, published by Hetzel, contains a number of illustrations by Jules Férat. The novel is a crossover sequel to Verne's fam ...

'' (1929) * ''With Williamson Beneath the Sea'' (1932)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Williamson, John Ernest 1881 births 1966 deaths Film people from Liverpool Photographers from Liverpool Underwater photographers English filmmakers