A former treasurer of National Museum of Wales, HARRY MORREY SALMON is best known for his bird photography. Described as the “Welsh ornithologist of the century” his photographic career started in the early 1900s. Later in his life he was a key figure in the conservation of Red Kites in Wales.
As well as the collection consisting of some of Britain’s earliest bird photographs and photo negatives, the collection also includes Morrey Salmon’s documentation of the International Ornithological Congress’ visit to Skokholm Island in 1934. Over a hundred delegates made the journey to this Pembrokeshire Island, arriving and departing in style aboard two Royal Navy destroyers, the HMS Windsor and HMS Wolfhound, which sailed from Tenby to the island.
Morrey Salmon’s photographs offer a vivid glimpse into this historic occasion, featuring not only the bustling activity of the congress but also some familiar faces. Welsh ornithologist Ronald Lockley, a key figure in Skokholm’s natural history, appears in several images, as does the former King Ferdinand I of Bulgaria, who was an avid bird watcher himself.
Colonel Morrey Salmon was a leading light in the field of early wildlife photography and much of his extensive collection of glass plate negatives focus on ornithological subject matter. He was also an early adopter of some of the latest photographic techniques of the day. His collection included some early examples of colour photography.
Morrey Salmon was also very innovative and experimental with some of his capture methods, from employing an electromagnetic trigger to release the shutter from a distance away to his early use of camera traps with ‘homemade’ trip wire triggers. He also was an early adopter of flash photography to capture birds in their natural environment.
Robin Maggs, Photography Officer at Amgueddfa Cymru said…..
“Working on these negatives really brought to life the magnitude of time and effort Morrey Salmon took to get the incredible photos that he was able to capture.
As a photographer there are many images in this collection that are significant to me. To think there’s one image captured of him with all his equipment up a tree, modern day photographers don’t know how lucky they get it!
Morrey Salmon’s collection will be of great interest to bird lovers, photographers and photo historians alike. I’m delighted that this work is now available for people to see and download.”
The work to digitise the collection was carried out by Amgueddfa Cymru staff who scanned the image negatives to digitise them, working with the Cardiff Naturalist Society who owned the photography collection since the 1980s. Along with the Morrey Salmon family, ownership of the collection was agreed to be transferred to Amgueddfa Cymru for everyone to enjoy.
The online collection can be found HERE.
