James Blaine Shackelford (20 September 1886 – 5 August 1969) was a

cinematographer The cinematographer or director of photography (sometimes shortened to DP or DOP) is the person responsible for the recording of a film, television production, music video or other live-action piece. The cinematographer is the chief of the camera ...

. Born

Wichita, Kansas Wichita ( ) is the List of cities in Kansas, most populous city in the U.S. state of Kansas and the county seat of Sedgwick County, Kansas, Sedgwick County. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population of the city was 397, ...

, he was the son of Joel M. Shackelford. Young James grew up in the home of a guardian, Jerome Brooks, a farmer, in

Enid, Oklahoma Enid ( ) is the ninth-largest city in the U.S. state of Oklahoma. It is the county seat of Garfield County, Oklahoma, Garfield County. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 51,308. Enid was founded during the openin ...

. James Shackelford died in

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

Career

Shackelford was a cinematographer for

Roy Chapman Andrews Roy Chapman Andrews (January 26, 1884 – March 11, 1960) was an American explorer, adventurer, and Natural history, naturalist who became the director of the American Museum of Natural History. He led a series of expeditions through the politi ...

, an

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, p ...

explorer,

adventurer An adventure is an exciting experience or undertaking that is typically bold, sometimes risky. Adventures may be activities with danger such as traveling, exploring, skydiving, mountain climbing, scuba diving, river rafting, or other extreme ...

naturalist Natural history is a domain of inquiry involving organisms, including animals, fungi, and plants, in their natural environment, leaning more towards observational than experimental methods of study. A person who studies natural history is cal ...

and director of the

American Museum of Natural History The American Museum of Natural History (AMNH) is a natural history museum on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City. Located in Theodore Roosevelt Park, across the street from Central Park, the museum complex comprises 21 interconn ...

. He accompanied Andrews on a series of expeditions through the fragmented China of the early 20th century into the

Gobi Desert The Gobi Desert (, , ; ) is a large, cold desert and grassland region in North China and southern Mongolia. It is the sixth-largest desert in the world. The name of the desert comes from the Mongolian word ''gobi'', used to refer to all of th ...

and

Mongolia Mongolia is a landlocked country in East Asia, bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south and southeast. It covers an area of , with a population of 3.5 million, making it the world's List of countries and dependencies by po ...

. The expeditions made important discoveries and brought the first-known

fossil A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserve ...

dinosaur Dinosaurs are a diverse group of reptiles of the clade Dinosauria. They first appeared during the Triassic Geological period, period, between 243 and 233.23 million years ago (mya), although the exact origin and timing of the #Evolutio ...

eggs An egg is an organic vessel in which an embryo begins to develop. Egg, EGG or eggs may also refer to: Biology * Egg cell, the female reproductive cell (gamete) in oogamous organisms Food * Eggs as food Places * Egg, Austria * Egg, Switzerland ...

to the museum. In 1933, Shackelford and

George Dromgold George C. Dromgold (July 14, 1893 – April 9, 1948) was an actor and writer, who wrote a book about his South Seas exploration. Early years George Dromgold was the son of R. W. Dromgold, a Los Angeles businessman, real estate investor, and mem ...

traveled to the

Great Barrier Reef The Great Barrier Reef is the world's largest coral reef system, composed of over 2,900 individual reefs and 900 islands stretching for over over an area of approximately . The reef is located in the Coral Sea, off the coast of Queensland, ...

and Papua, spending three months at

Fiji Fiji, officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consists of an archipelago of more than 330 islands—of which about ...

. At

Suva Suva (, ) is the Capital city, capital and the most populous city of Fiji. It is the home of the country's largest metropolitan area and serves as its major port. The city is located on the southeast coast of the island of Viti Levu, in Rew ...

, they observed and analyzed fire-walking. Dromgold wrote a book, ''Two Lugs on a

Lugger A lugger is a sailing vessel defined by its rig, using the lug sail on all of its one or more masts. Luggers were widely used as working craft, particularly off the coasts of France, England, Ireland and Scotland. Luggers varied extensively ...

'', with photographs by Shackelford, describing their adventures. Shackelford was cinematographer for the film crew of Clyde E. Elliott, Charles E. Ford and

James Dannaldson James Melven Dannaldson (born July 17, 1915, Omaha, Nebraska, died August 12, 1984, Tarzana, California (age 69)) starred in the Frank Buck film Jacaré. Early life Dannaldson was the son of James Jerrmiel Dannaldson and Lulu Belgium Rola Hia ...

, which shot some 260,000 feet of film on the lower reaches of the Amazon River in Spring 1942. The film became Frank Buck's popular movie Jacaré. The group spent three and a half months at Para, at the mouth of the Amazon, usually within a

day's journey A day's journey in pre-modern literature, including the Bible and ancient geographers and ethnographers such as Herodotus, is a measurement of distance. In the Bible, it is not as precisely defined as other Biblical measurements of distance; the ...

of the city, so that they could return to civilization for the night. The company's most primitive adventure occurred on

Marajó Marajó () is a large coastal island in the state of Pará, Brazil. It is the main and largest of the islands in the Marajó Archipelago. Marajó Island is separated from the mainland by Marajó Bay, Pará River, smaller rivers (especially M ...

Island, at the mouth of the Amazon, where they spent four weeks. They ran out of imported food and had to subsist for five days on moldy doughnuts filled with small worms and on chickens which seemed to be 90 percent vulture. Shackelford's later career included work in ''The Bells in Old Town'' (1946, ''Klockorna i Gamla sta'n'' was the original Swedish title).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Shackelford, James B. 1886 births 1969 deaths American cinematographers Artists from Wichita, Kansas People associated with the American Museum of Natural History 20th-century American explorers Filmmakers from Enid, Oklahoma