Camouflage
Tuesday 1 June 2010
A lucky find: This odd photograph, in an album of Queensland views, in the collection of the State Library of Queensland. The catalogue entry says the album was created by Henry Mobsby, a photographer on the staff of the Department of Agriculture and Stock, perhaps for presentation to James Orr, a senior bureaucrat in the Department.
Why was Mr Mobsby wearing that leafy cape and Oriental straw hat? Was he stalking wildlife? That looks like a quarter-plate hand camera (perhaps a Lizars ‘Challenge’ Model E) with a waist-level reflecting viewfinder — not an easy way to catch flighty fauna. How did the shot turn out?
Photographer Henry Willian Mobsby wearing camouflage, c. 1905. This image is from the library’s scan of a modern monochrome copy print. I have slightly adjusted the tones, and introduced a tint to approximate the colour of the original print.