Oliver G Pike
Books - La Nature et ma Ciné-Camera
Oliver Pike had a strong presence in Europe, and particularly in
France, through the early films that were made for Pathé
Frères
and were published in (silent) French, German and English versions.
He had written a book called "Nature Photography" (published in
1931) in which he passed on many tips and tricks for obtaining good
photographs of birds and animals. This had become out-of-date so
he wrote two new books called (in English) "Nature and my Camera"
(1943) and "Nature and my Cine Camera" (1946).
Both of these books were translated into French.
La Nature et Ma Ciné-Camera
This was published in French by Editions Prisma, Paris in 1947.
The translator was G.-M. Villenave.
The cloth front cover of the French edition has a stylised
sketch of a bird feeding its young.
This book contains a wealth of advice to the budding nature
cinematographer drawn from the author's wide experience over
many years. This ranges from the basic ideas for filming to
planning the shots and the commentary.
An example
is made of the procedure for filming "The Shadow in the Stream",
a film about an otter and its cub, with a strong chase and a
final reunion.
Other chapters describe the making of "The Nightingale" and trips to Scotland and St Kilda.