SUPERMAN OF THE CAMERA.

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 6, Issue 288, 29 June 1917, Page 3 (Supplement)

SUPERMAN OF THE CAMERA.

BRITISH PHOTOGRAPHER'S DARING WORK. The thrilling adventures of one of the official British war photographers, Lieutenant Ernest Brooks, are described in a remarkable London despatch tc the Washington "Star.'' He is the official photographer, the man, who, with his camera and films, records for posterity the tremendous events of these tremendous clays. he wire-cutters, the bomberr, the airmen, and the sapper.-. take few more chances than he, for he is at it, constantly under fire, day by day', always "making pictures.''

During the present war Lieutenant Brocks has la/.en more than 2,000 photographs. He has made many more exposures which brought nothing. He has been to Gallipoli. to Salonika, to France, and to Flanders. He has been in a submarine, in airships, aeroplanes, balloons, and, most recently, in the famous "tanks." Of all British officers few have seen more of the actual fif?h.tii)g than this man of the camera. He has been on every British front except those in Mesopotamia and British East Africa. ITS AND DOWNS. At the Dardanelles Lieutenant Brooks went up in an airship, spotting for submarines, which, as every tne knows, can be seen from above even though submerged, and h'.! went down in a submarine to experiment! taking photographs through a periscope, a thing that (failed to pan out —the had 'light made a long exposure necessary, while the submarine continued to roll and oscillate.

Once at Gallipoli Lieutenant Brooks was perched on the maintop of a warship which was engaged in pulling another warship off the shor? where it had grounded. The Turks opened fire with all the guns they had. Lieutenant Brooks wanted to get down, as he frankly admits, but he could not. and for an hour and a half he stayed aloft, constantly under fire, but always taking pictures. Lieutenant Brocks, when asked abet his most dangerous photograph, the picture which was nearest death, laughed and said it was hard to tell. "Once," he remarked, "I was in a trench with a staff officer who wanted certain pictures. A 'crump' which is a 9.5, came along and burst right at our side. We were covered with earth, almost buried, but I came out unhurt, although my camera was smashed. The officer with whom I was walking, while not actually wounded, suffered from

shell shock, and they sent him home for a rest." AMID THE SHELLS. He has had many narrow escapes. Once he wanted, he told mo, some pictures of bursting German shell.*, ro he wandered down the line. He came upon an isolated and empty wood deyoid of soldiers. After consultation with .in officer, he went among the trees, gathered together seme leaves and brush, and started a small bonfire. Then he withdrew speedily. He got what he wanted, and even more. The Germans quickly spotted the smoke. Possibly they thought it a camp fire. Anyway, they let loose their gum in considerable variety. Shells small and large rushed into the bonfire one, whilo Brooks, camera in hand, slide out. and hand on the bulb, "took" burst after burst. One burst came perilously close, no mere than ten yards away.

"A beantv," Lieutenant Brooks said. "It almost filled the plate." The story the Army likes most about Brooks is the one about the time he and a German took refug-2 under a disabled "tank." As the rain-storm of German barrage-shell became hotter and hotter Lieutenant Brooks determined to seek cover. He came to a captured German trench. Spanning it. disabled, was a tank. It seemed ideal —an armoured bridge across the remains of a narrow trench. Down Lieutenant Brooks went and scrambled underneath the glorified cress between a caterpillar tractor and a ilght cruiser. It was a comfy place until Brooks suddenly discovered the presence of another. He took a keen look, and was aware that he was in the presence of a German soldier.

"I had nothing except my camera," Lieutenant Brooks said, "but neither was he armed, I discovered and 1 imagine he was just as badly scared as I was. I said 'Sprechen sie Englisch?' which was all the German I knew, and he said, '.Vein,' which war all he knew or felt like saying, and after that there was no conversation at all." When a great German shell landed near him with a heavy roar. Lieutenant Brooks dashed out and made for a German dug-c.it. He found the opening and dashed down the steps. A shell burst above him and brought heaps of earth on his back, which accelerated his movements down the many steps. HOLDING THE LINE.

Tn the dug-out Brooks found c. British dressing station. There was an officer of the line there, and Brooks told him about his German friend under the tank. When the Germans shifted their fire. Brooks and the officer c.lnmWcxl up the tank. Tho officer waved bis revolver and the German, very much frightened, crawled cut. Brocks finished off the experience by taking a photograph of his prisoner. Once Brooks and a companion, a man with a cinematograph machine, engaged in making the "Battle of the Somme" film, held 700 yards of frcnt-line trench all by themselves. They were photographing an intensive British bombardment, and were practically alone for half an hour witli enormous shells breaking only a short distance away. At. 1.30 a.m. on another occasion, while prowling about to take a night picture of star-shells, he was nearly bavonetted by a British sentry, who afterwards showed him the bodies of two prowling Germans he had .lust "disposed of.'' If was decided on one occasion that it would be a great thing to nave photographs of shell craters. So Brooks went to get them. Ther.-> w.is one place between the lines whicTf was pock-marked with these craters.

Brrnks started On bis expedition the night before. Just before dawn he TUniwhrl to t.lie position from which he hoped to make phntoeranhs when the sun came up. With daylight he found that he had come to a mrst oxpered position, not a hundred yards from the enemy trenches and in full view. He quickly rolled into_n. shell-hole. There he remained all day. afterwards returning i». safe'v.

"I was- too scared to sleep." he paid. "The only comforting thins; in thatjiole was the fact that there were some flowers pre wine:, which indicated to me th.it shells hadn't dropped there for a long time."