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Yes, I have a camera. Yes, I take pictures of wildlife. Yes, you’re probably reading this because of seeing some of these pictures. However, I regret to inform you; I am not a wildlife photographer.
Here’s how I see it:
Firstly, to add a sprinkling of context, all of the pictures you see from my Instagram are mine. You don’t need to dust off your pitchfork and start a WhatsApp group chat entitled ‘Angry Mob’. I’m not claiming that my photos have been stolen from Google, everything you see has been shot from down one of my lenses. I’m so totally authentic, trust me.
I get this kind of comment a lot, most recently when I was out in the woods taking pictures of the bluebells. An elderly couple stopped me and said I ‘must be a professional’. I could’ve lied and created an elaborate facade but I was far too Britishly bashful. Their face when I admitted I was merely an amateur was like if I told my parents I was selling all my belongings and moving to Peru. Befuddled disappointment. Sorry guys, the truth is I’m a smuck with a camera. Random old people from the woods, I’ve let you down.
I’ve always been that annoying bird nerd and have always preferred to gaze out of a window rather than concentrating on something I probably should’ve been listening to. It was only until I was gifted a DSLR camera that I realised there’s a whole new avenue by which to appreciate the natural world. All of a sudden, instead of just loose memories, I had physical captures of individual moments. I could recall exactly what I’d seen as opposed to scraping the back of my mind. The photos were actually decent quality as well so in the early days, I’d take pictures of almost everything. Just because the camera did most of the work, I tricked myself into thinking I had acquired a skill. Far from it.
Having a camera and calling myself a photographer would be like if I called myself a chef for having an oven. For one, I don’t have the disposable income to actually improve any equipment I have. Forking out a grand in order to make my pictures ever so slightly clearer is not a sound investment. Sure, I’ll never be able to get the best photograph ever but I can always graft. After spending a lot of time around other birders, there’s sometimes a toxic one-up-man-ship about lenses. You whip out your 70-200 and someone else proudly protrudes their 150-600, with camo of course. To put it bluntly, it’s all about comparing each other’s sizes. Hilarious. The old phrase is of course that it doesn’t matter how big it is, it’s what you do with it.
I also have no idea about the technical side of photography. I’m sorry to confess this but aperture and ISO numbers mean about as much to me as Arabic. My camera has almost every setting under the sun but as long as it goes flashy flashy when I go clicky clicky, happy days. I even did a 6 month module at university about digital photography and even that frazzled me. Still got a 2:1 though didn’t I, cheeky. I can of course research about shutter speeds and file types but is that not just a bit dull if I want to go out and take pictures of pigeons? If anything, the fact that I can take half-decent photos with a minuscule understanding of the technicalities is testament to the hobby. Anyone can do it.
Time is also not on my side. I’d love to take a week off in order to track down capercaillies but my full time job and the requirement to have at least some money hampers that. I can just about manage a whole day of waiting for a kingfisher before my brain turns to mush and I lose a toe to frostbite. I went to see the BBC Wildlife Photographer of the Year exhibition a couple of years ago and that just filled me with jealousy. When I read the captions stating that some photographers waited for weeks just to get one shot, I felt a bit better about my badly croppped, hashed up snaps of a Woodchat shrike. My other option is to resign and take up photography as a career but then I’d need money for all the equipment. Catch 22.
If anything, that is the point I am trying to make. There are skilled professionals who are experts in their field and have grown businesses from photography. I’m just a weird guy with a camera. To compare myself with proper wildlife photographers would be like comparing Daniel Day Lewis with James Corden. The sucker punch is that photo envy is real. All those who take pictures of wildlife do it subconsciously though. We all look at extremely detailed or incredibly timed photographs and feel paled into insignificance compared to what we can muster. We feel as though we need to up our games and that our own photography is a grainy mess. Nonsense. There are always reasons why someone is slightly better than you and it’s probably for a reason out of your control. If it was in control, you’d be the best photographer in the world. I’m sure that if there’s such a thing as the world champion in wildlife photography, he too probably thinks his pictures stink.
In summary then, my goal has always been to try and educate my Instagram followers about wildlife and conservation, not to wow them with my awesome high quality pictures. If you’re a wildlife lover with a camera, just enjoy being out in the wild and capturing memories. No one needs to judge you, they are your experiences to cherish. Some of my posts are alright I suppose but they’re miles off being anywhere remotely professional. I reiterate my opening statement: I am not a wildlife photographer.
