A. Leonora Kellog was an American amateur photographer who specialised in rural scenes and still lifes. Here she shows a grouping of rabbits and birds that makes interesting textures and patterns of fur and feathers. She favoured the platinum printing process, which was invented in 1873 by William Willis (1841-1923). Platinum prints are prized for their subtle tonal variations, matt surface and the permanence of the image. Just before the First World War (1914-1918), it was discovered that platinum was an excellent catalyst for making explosives. As a result, the British Government banned the use of the metal for photography. Thereafter the price of platinum rose so steeply as to make platinum printing prohibitively expensive.