I hope this finds you wonderfully well! I can’t believe it is March and in a few days time I will be 46 years old. Mentally I feel in my early twenties but I was reminded recently, while on a hike in the Drakensberg, that my knees have experienced the full and wonderful 46 years.

Besides hiking, I have also been experimenting with different ways to film and present my first YouTube video, which has been an exercise in perseverance (probably related to my age).

I have had a few false starts and was required to recruit the A team (aka my amazing wife; Eileen) into the mix. We are getting there! The good news on this front is that you will get to see me on YouTube as promised, just not on my own channel at this point, but rather on Ray Hennessy’s.
And to reward (as well as thank) those who have already subscribed to my channel or want to know what my first episode may or may not entail (given I have recorded it badly at least 3 times) I thought I would write a newsletter on it; “My top 5 tips for wildlife photographers”.

I hope you enjoy it in writing before it gets turned into video. Just call me old school!

My top 5 tips for wildlife photographers

Before I jump into my five top tips I thought it would be good to mention a few things about me for those who are receiving my newsletter for the first time or may not know my background.

I started photography around my 30th birthday. I stole Eileen’s camera so I could take pictures of larks and pipits. I just loved birds and was battling to identify some of the more cryptic ones. As much as I had been told that the identification of Buffy Pipits could be clinched by their ability to wag their tail above horizontal, I needed some kind of proof to feel satisfied. Bring in my wife’s camera.

When I started photography I did not think I had a creative bone in my body. Composition was something I did in English class and ISO was an international standard one achieved for excellent quality, safety and efficiency. Let’s just say that I wasn’t pinning my hopes on launching a career in it!

I still remember showing some of my images to a professional wildlife photographer in the United Kingdom. It was a couple of years into my journey and I had been using my newly acquired 7d mkii and 100 to 400mm lens to capture robins and tits in the snow. On revealing my greatest achievements to the photographer, I could hear kind words emanating from their mouth, but they were a person whose face never lies, as it was crystal clear that they were deeply concerned about my photographic future. And if I am honest, so was I. Insecurity filled my early days. I did not know what I did not know and even when I took an image I really liked, I did not know why I liked it. Thanks to Eileen’s encouragement (as well as that of other family members and friends) my confidence slowly built.

Despite these very humble beginnings and many more discouraging moments along the way, I just kept going. I loved birds. I wanted to capture the moments I had with them and with time I realised there was way more meaning behind my photography than I originally understood.

Over the last 16 years I have honed my craft. It has been a very exciting, surreal and fulfilling journey. I have learnt to take images that I love and have found ways to objectively analyse them and build my confidence without relying on opinions of others, social media and/or competitions.

If I had to think about 5 things that I would tell my son if he was to decide to start his own photographic journey (although the subjects would undoubtedly be beetles not birds) this is what I would share with him.

Number 1 – Get to understand your why i.e. the purpose behind why you do what you do

Looking back, I wish someone had asked me questions about why I loved birds and photography, what I dreamed I could achieve with my work and what were the deep, underlying reasons for this passion.

At first it was a way to escape the pressure of everyday life. It was a way to get peace and perspective, spend time with Jesus and give myself needed energy for the week ahead. It made me a better husband and dad.

Over time, however, I realised there were some other deeper reasons for my photography that aligned with my love for people and creation. It was this discovery that led to a wonderful moment of revelation. It made my photography come alive with opportunity and meaning.

Having taught photography for over 2 years now, I have had the privilege to work with photographers from all over the world. One of my favourite sessions (if not my favourite) is using a coaching technique to delve into why they take the photographs they do and what they hope to achieve with them. I never know where the sessions will go, but I always find them incredibly inspiring and fulfilling.

What I have found is the following:

• Most of us don’t spend much time thinking about who we are as photographers and our purpose.
• When we do, we are normally surprised by the answers and the depth of these answers.
• Finding the answer/s helps inspire us, builds grit (i.e. the ability to persevere/overcome challenges) and helps us understand who we are as artists.
• Often what we love about photography and why we do it has a direct link to the images we love.
• Once we know what we love, we can start identifying what we currently do and can do to achieve this outcome more consistently. This builds our confidence as it allows each of us to see where we are intuitively strong and what we can build on. This also starts to reveal our style or personality as an artist.
• Each of us has a unique purpose and style (they can be similar but they are always nuanced).

Whether you want to conserve the birds you love, glorify God, bring joy to others, help heal those in need or influence the behaviours of the society we live in, your why is important and the world needs you to pursue it. So know your why!

Number 2 – Develop a vision for what you believe makes great photographs (or great art).

Coming from a business background, I found that company’s that had a meaningful and authentic purpose, a thriving culture, an ambitious vision and a well thought out strategy and plan, seemed to outperform those who did not.

When it came to vision, it was important that everyone knew where they were heading and what this looked like. It created momentum in that direction and started to get everyone thinking about what they needed to do to achieve the ambitious goal.

One of the watershed moments in my photographic journey, was deciding to explore what made great photographs and looking to define what this meant for my own work i.e. my own vision. I turned to art (as it has been around for a lot longer than photography) and found a framework that defined success for artists in 4 different ways. I combined two of these to create my own definition and then added what I loved about photography into the mix.

I realised that I wanted to produce images that “evoke emotion and tell deep stories”. When I first realised this, I didn’t know exactly how to go about it. The thinking, however, propelled me into studying art and creativity as well as investigating the techniques used to achieve this version of great.

Today the details of my vision are clearer (albeit forever growing). I love showing off both the beauty of birds as well as the magnificence of the habitat in which they live. I love finding multiple ways to create a strong emphasis on the key protagonist (i.e. the bird) but also giving weight to the wonders of the landscape. I love including many elements and making order from these complicated environments (choosing complicated over minimalistic). And I love looking to composition, light and atmosphere to enhance the mood and feeling in a scene and convey emotions more powerfully.

The more bold and clearer the vision has become, the more it has influenced my journey and focused my pursuits. My purpose and vision influences what I learn, where I go and how I spend my time while there. It gives me far more intentionality on and off the field. Being more intentional has significantly changed the consistency and success of my photography.

Spend time defining your own vision and considering the techniques and tools you need to achieve it. Then go out and look to intentionally apply what you have learnt in the field.

Number 3 – Study art, study composition and design

I am sure I sound like a broken record in this regard! If you have ever heard one of my talks or if you listen to my latest youtube video with Ray (Image analysis with Ray), you will hear me say this again and again. If you want to build your confidence as an photographer, study composition and design and learn to objectively analyse your own work.

Wildlife photography has focused on and emphasized the technical side of photography a lot more than the art side. Consequently, it is difficult to find any videos or teachings that unpack the complexity of composition and/or provide a solid foundation on which to build. Most of what is out there is too high level to build your confidence. A few guidelines (e.g. the rule of thirds, left to right rule, rule of space, leading lines, framing etc) and a few words like balance and contrast don’t give you enough to understand the context in which artists achieve pleasing paintings. You need a strong foundation. You need an in-depth understanding of the elements, principles and guidelines of art and how they fit together. You need to learn how to analyse your own work using the objective framework that art provides. Yes, there is some subjectivity in art, but this should be 20% of what makes a great image not 100%. As Juliette Aristedes points out “Intuition and feeling without the knowledge and judgment of design principles are a liability in art”.

And yes, you can still be an incredible photographer using just gut and intuition. I have worked with photographers who are far better than me based on this alone. But when they learn why they are so intuitive and work out how art can enable them to hone this intuition, I have only seen more magic and greater confidence come about.

Composition is complex. It isn’t easy to apply in nature. It takes a long time to master and for it to start revealing itself in your work. When I began studying it I really didn’t think it was going to help me deal with increased complexity or notice how to create harmony in my work. But it is one of the biggest factors that has grown my confidence as an artist. It tells me where to wait, why I am waiting for so long and what I should consider doing while waiting. It directs me to set my technical settings in a certain way for the scene in front of me. It tells me how to best present the images I achieve in the field. It tells me how to tell the deep stories I want to tell and how to get better at sharing the emotions that go with them.

Study art and put it into practice through analysis. It is a game changer!

Number 4 – Learn how you can set the table to be more creative NOT just the tools and techniques.

When I first started to wonder about creativity, I watched videos that were titled “Creative bird or wildlife photography”. They all focused on camera techniques (like panning, blurring, intentional camera movement and double exposure), presentation techniques (like high key, low key and black and white) and different uses of light (like back lighting and side lighting).

This was a little confusing for me because I really didn’t like (and still don’t like) panning and intentional camera movement. I appreciate how other photographers use them to create art but they just aren’t for me. “Does this mean I am not creative?” was one of the questions that came to mind.

When I started to notice how certain things I did led to what I would consider greater levels of creativity (i.e. using one’s imagination to create things that are new and valuable), I wasn’t confident enough to share them. Instead I started to research creativity and found articles and books that encouraged me and helped me to understand what it was that I was doing. (One of these books is undoubtedly, “Creativity explained” by David Priilaid.)

My studies unearthed practices or disciplines that artists used to set the table for their own creative success. Interestingly, they had nothing to do with what tools or techniques we have available, but rather what we can start doing to establish the right foundations to use these tools and techniques more creatively.

For example, I discovered that famous musicians, artists and photographers would often go to a location where they could be still and listen. In Priilaid’s book, where he studied the common disciplines of famous musicians, he concluded: “Many artists shyly admit to some level of supernatural inspiration, seemingly embarrassed to credit the presence of a divine force in their lives. In a secular world, the mention of God has become politically incorrect. Regardless, as sifting through the views of Dylan, Cohen, Sting, Taylor and Waits and others will show, great art is written from the heavens, the artists serving as lightning rods for this purpose.”

Given the importance of my own faith, this really encouraged me. I have a wonderful mentorship participant who said to me one day “Rich, I get it. My job is to get myself in a position to take a good shot and God will do the rest”. My most creative moments and the ones that I cherish most are the ones where I know it was God who brought the creative moment and not me. Consequently, I have made a habit of being still and listening.

Learn what you can do to set your own table for creative success and then use the tools and techniques you love to make your own, unique photographs.

“Creativity is not a rare ability. It is not difficult to access. Creativity is a fundamental aspect of being human. It’s our birthright. And its for all of us.” Rick Ruben

Number 5 – Be inspired by others (by understanding the reasons behind their art as well as the tools and techniques they used)

As part of what I call “the esssentials” in my mentorship porgramme, I encourage photographers, especially those who don’t get into the field as much as they would like, to be inspired by others. Find artists, street photographers, landscape photographers and indeed, wildlife photographers whose work you love. Find out more about who they were/are and what motivated them to take the images they did. Identify the camera techniques and other tools they use. Analyse their work. Understand how they have arranged the elements in their images using the principles and guidelines of art.

You may not think so now, but this curiosity and research will pay incredible dividends down the line. One of the photographers whose work I always enjoy is Guy Edwards. He has a very diverse skillset but if I had to look at where he is most established it is probably landscape photography. One of his images that I love of his is an image of a pelican with a sunburst through his wing. This inspired me to learn more about sunbursts i.e. you need a wide angle lens and a fairly high fstop.

I didn’t really think this would come in handy (as most birds don’t let you whip out your 16 to 34mm lens), but when I found a Cape Grassbird with no fear of humans, I had an idea of how I could capture the moment and help my audience feel what I was feeling in the coastal fynbos of the Western Cape. Who knew!

Time and time again I have seen how my study of street photographers like Henri Cartier Bresson and artists like Van Gogh, Savrasov, Cassatt and others and have helped inspire something new in my work.

Be inspired by others and see how this curiosity plays out in your own work!