Alfred George Buckham (6 November 1879 – 21 September 1956) was a British photographer who specialised in

aerial photography Aerial photography (or airborne imagery) is the taking of photographs from an aircraft or other airborne platforms. When taking motion pictures, it is also known as aerial videography. Platforms for aerial photography include fixed-wing airc ...

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally. It was f ...

. Retrieved 8 November 2017.

Career

Buckham was born in London on 6 November 1879. He began his career in

photography Photography is the art, application, and practice of creating durable images by recording light, either electronically by means of an image sensor, or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film. It is employe ...

in 1905 and joined the Royal Naval Air Service as a reconnaissance photographer in 1917. He became the first head of aerial reconnaissance for the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against ...

in the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

and later a captain in the Royal Naval Air Service. Buckham was involved in 9 crashes, 8 of which saw him relatively unscathed. After the ninth, however, he had to have a

tracheotomy Tracheotomy (, ), or tracheostomy, is a surgical airway management procedure which consists of making an incision (cut) on the anterior aspect (front) of the neck and opening a direct airway through an incision in the trachea (windpipe). The r ...

and breathed through a small pipe in his neck for the rest of his life. Despite this, he carried on his aerial photography career, often in very perilous conditions. He felt the best shots were made standing up, writing "If one's right leg is tied to the seat with a scarf or a piece of rope, it is possible to work in perfect security".

Bibliography

*''A Vision of Flight: The Aerial Photography of Alfred G. Buckham.'' Stroud, UK:

The History Press The History Press is a British publishing company specialising in the publication of titles devoted to local and specialist history. It claims to be the United Kingdom's largest independent publisher in this field, publishing approximately 300 ...

, 2008. .

References

External links

*
National Galleries of Scotland
{{DEFAULTSORT:Buckham Photographers from London 1879 births 1956 deaths Aerial photographers

Career

Bibliography

See also

References

External links