{"id":5354392,"date":"2019-10-15T12:39:03","date_gmt":"2019-10-15T12:39:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.life.com\/?post_type=photographer&p=5354392"},"modified":"2025-11-24T16:26:20","modified_gmt":"2025-11-24T16:26:20","slug":"george-silk","status":"publish","type":"photographer","link":"https:\/\/www.life.com\/photographer\/george-silk\/","title":{"rendered":"George Silk"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\n \"George\n
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George Silk with his camera. (Photo by George Silk\/The LIFE Picture Collection \u00a9 Meredith Corporation)\n<\/p>\n <\/div>\n <\/section>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n

“I left school to punch cows and I left them to take pictures,” said the New Zealand-born George Silk (1916-2004). He joined the Australian Army as a photographer in World War II. Rommel’s troops in North Africa captured him, but he escaped. While in New Guinea (following the Kokoda Trail for 700 miles on foot), Silk shot a picture of a blinded soldier that the Aussies tried to suppress; LIFE, however, printed it. He finished the war as a LIFE photographer in the Pacific. Silk said he felt ashamed not to be fighting, “so I drove myself to show the folks at home, as best I could, how the soldiers lived and died.” His empathy came across whether shooting fishermen or athletes. A boatsman himself, he became the magazine’s expert on sailing. And on cold weather: Silk visited the North Pole twice and once shot the America’s Cup races atop a 90-foot mast.<\/span><\/p>\n\n

\n
\n \"Children\n
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Children in Halloween costumes running together. (Photo by George Silk\/The LIFE Picture Collection \u00a9 Meredith Corporation)<\/p>\n <\/div>\n <\/section>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n

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\n \"United\n
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United States track athletes taking hurdles at the men’s 1960 United States Olympic trials for track and field. (Photo by George Silk\/The LIFE Picture Collection \u00a9 Meredith Corporation)<\/p>\n <\/div>\n <\/section>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n

Silk modified a “strip” camera for such as the track meet above. But its development took a different route. As Silk told American Photographer, he “took the camera home and had my kids run by it and then under a blanket in the garage, I developed a piece of film this long (arms fully spread) and when I held it up and looked at the spooky image I said, ‘That’s Halloween!’ [The holiday was coming up shortly.] So I got color film and got the kids… to put on their costumes and run by the camera.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2014<\/span>Adapted from <\/span>The Great LIFE Photographers<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n\n

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\n \"\"\n
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The sailboat Nefertiti competing in the America’s Cup trials. (Photo by George Silk\/The LIFE Picture Collection \u00a9 Meredith Corporation)<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n <\/div>\n <\/section>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n

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Kippax Fearnought, here going through his grooming routine in 1955, is the last bulldog to win Best in Show at the Westminster competition.<\/p>\n

George Silk\/Life Picture Collection\/Shutterstock<\/p>\n <\/div>\n <\/section>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n

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\n \"\"\n
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Men cross a frozen lake in a horse-drawn sleigh while on a firewood-gathering expedition. Because the Northwest Angle has no roads, gathering firewood can actually be easier when the lake is frozen..<\/p>\n

George Silk\/LIfe Picture Collection\/Shutterstock<\/p>\n <\/div>\n <\/section>\n<\/blockquote>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“I left school to punch cows and I left them to take pictures,” said the New Zealand-born George Silk (1916-2004). He joined the Australian Army as a photographer in World War II. Rommel’s troops in North Africa captured him, but he escaped. While in New Guinea (following the Kokoda Trail for 700 miles on foot), … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":3676411,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":true,"footnotes":""},"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5354392","photographer","type-photographer","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nThe Photography of George Silk | LIFE<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Learn about George Silk, one of the many photographers for LIFE who captured some of the most iconic pictures from the US & around the World.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.life.com\/photographer\/george-silk\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The 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