Latest / Wildlife and Adventure Photography / What Wildlife Taught Me About People

Transcript

What Wildlife Taught Me About People · Wildlife and Adventure Photography

• 0:08
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes it's a bit of a challenge coming up with things for the podcast.
• 0:12
  SPEAKER_00: So I thought I'd tr talk about something different today.
• 0:16
  SPEAKER_00: And I hope you find it interesting because I've spent a lot of time photographing wildlife.
• 0:20
  SPEAKER_00: And one of the things I've noticed, particularly as I do it more and more, is that I'm not just learning about animals, but I'm also learning quite a lot about people.
• 0:31
  SPEAKER_00: So that might sound a bit odd, but the fact is animals don't give interviews, they don't explain what they're about to do, they don't tell you where they're going, they don't pose because you've asked them nicely, and I can absolutely vouch for that.
• 0:46
  SPEAKER_00: But the the thing about it is that if you spend enough time watching them, and this is something I I strongly recommend you do, particularly if you're with an animal you you're not familiar with, by all means be ready to take that photograph, but do spend time just watching and observing.
• 1:04
  SPEAKER_00: The thing is, when you do that, you start to recognize patterns.
• 1:09
  SPEAKER_00: And the fact is, a lot of the patterns that I see in animals equally apply to people.
• 1:15
  SPEAKER_00: And I suppose the other aspect to this, and why I find it interesting personally, is that another part of what I do is that I'm a behavioral profiler, I've done coaching, and a big part of that is listening and observing and actually looking for patterns, listening for patterns in what people are saying and doing.
• 1:37
  SPEAKER_00: So there's a definite parallel uh between the two.
• 1:41
  SPEAKER_00: So, what am I talking about?
• 1:45
  SPEAKER_00: Um well, let's just take an example where there's an elephant.
• 1:49
  SPEAKER_00: So, you see an elephant, it's great seeing elephants, it's always amazing uh when you get close to them.
• 1:56
  SPEAKER_00: But having the phrase there's an elephant in your head doesn't actually take you that far.
• 2:02
  SPEAKER_00: But once you start watching the elephant for a while, and particularly if there's a group of them, it becomes obvious which one is leading.
• 2:11
  SPEAKER_00: It becomes obvious which ones are nervous, which ones are relaxed.
• 2:15
  SPEAKER_00: It could be that they're watching something outside of your field of view.
• 2:20
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and I definitely have to remind myself to just keep looking around periodically because I have had animals, quite large ones, come up quite close behind me that I didn't realize were there.
• 2:32
  SPEAKER_00: Um, the real giveaways and the things that are really valuable for a wildlife photographer are watching changes in body positions.
• 2:40
  SPEAKER_00: So with a bird that's about to leave a branch, often you'll get a little, like it's a little squat movement, can be very, very subtle, but it's it's often there.
• 2:49
  SPEAKER_00: Definitely things like ears and tails are telling you things about what the animal is doing.
• 2:55
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and also the interaction between individuals, and this is something I find really interesting just watching.
• 3:00
  SPEAKER_00: And and I remember watching some uh zebras in um I think it was in a toeshow, and they were just I don't know if they were fighting or making up or exactly what was going on, but there was a bit of muzzle action going on, and then they kind of disappeared off.
• 3:16
  SPEAKER_00: So, how does this connect with people and what's the relevance of it?
• 3:20
  SPEAKER_00: Well, when we deal with people, we can see that they're angry, or we might feel that they're difficult, they're not interested, or they're ignoring us.
• 3:31
  SPEAKER_00: But there can be signals underneath the obvious behavior, just little tells that suggest what might be going on.
• 3:38
  SPEAKER_00: And where this is particularly important photographically is when you are doing portrait photography.
• 3:46
  SPEAKER_00: So that may be something that you're into, maybe not.
• 3:49
  SPEAKER_00: But what I learned when I first got into portrait photography was that I'd been really focused on the wrong thing.
• 3:54
  SPEAKER_00: So I had all the right gear together and I understood my lighting and all these other things.
• 4:00
  SPEAKER_00: But where I realized very quickly I was lacking was in just my ability to connect with a subject and help them to look like they were relaxed, even if they weren't feeling relaxed when I was taking the photograph.
• 4:14
  SPEAKER_00: So that's a completely different skill set and one that I had to learn from the ground up when I started doing portrait work.
• 4:22
  SPEAKER_00: So observation is really important whether you're dealing with animals or people.
• 4:30
  SPEAKER_00: And then, of course, we have patience because nothing happens until it does.
• 4:34
  SPEAKER_00: And if you've done any wildlife photography, unless you've been really lucky, you'll know that a lot of it is just waiting around for something to happen.
• 4:41
  SPEAKER_00: It could be a few minutes, it could be an hour.
• 4:43
  SPEAKER_00: If you're really unlucky, it'll be longer than that.
• 4:46
  SPEAKER_00: And then, of course, everything happens all at once.
• 4:48
  SPEAKER_00: So if you're not ready, then you've just blown however long you've just been sitting there waiting for.
• 4:54
  SPEAKER_00: And one of the problems that we have as wildlife photographers is that when things are quiet, we then there's always that temptation to move on, to change position, to put the camera down, have a bit of rest, and just decide that well, nothing's going to happen.
• 5:11
  SPEAKER_00: And that can be a major mistake because a lot of times you just have to be a bit more patient, and then things do happen.
• 5:22
  SPEAKER_00: When you tie that back to people, and it's completely relevant to that situation because often we want immediate results, we want the immediate response, immediate decision, immediate answer, immediate change in behavior, whatever it might be.
• 5:35
  SPEAKER_00: And I must confess to being one of those people who does get a bit impatient, it's just part of the self-management I have to do, uh, particularly with animals, is to just step out of that mindset altogether and just sit back and relax and watch what's going on.
• 5:49
  SPEAKER_00: Be observant, just listen.
• 5:52
  SPEAKER_00: Um, if it's prey animal, look for any changes in them, maybe listen for warning calls, whatever it might be.
• 5:58
  SPEAKER_00: But there is there is a language going on when you are observing wildlife.
• 6:04
  SPEAKER_00: And if you're tuned into it, if you learn how to read it, you have quite a good idea of what's happening and what's likely to happen.
• 6:12
  SPEAKER_00: And when it comes back to people, I think the the problem these days, and I think it's much worse now than it was 10 or 20 years ago.
• 6:21
  SPEAKER_00: And primarily, um, I think primarily social media, also things like email and and all of that.
• 6:27
  SPEAKER_00: And I've just had a phone call from someone, and I was thinking as they they were talking through whatever it was, and sent me an email, and then within seconds I had it.
• 6:36
  SPEAKER_00: And that's sort of the world we live in, but it's taught us, sorry, that's somebody's dog in the background, but there you go.
• 6:42
  SPEAKER_00: It actually has taught us not to be patient, it's taught us that things happen immediately, and if they don't happen immediately, it can get very frustrating.
• 6:50
  SPEAKER_00: And I think one of the most productive things we can do uh when we're working with people, whether it's photography or something else, is to give them time.
• 7:00
  SPEAKER_00: That might be time to develop, it might be time to deal with whatever's come up, it might be something that they are not familiar with and they just need time to sort of manage it and process it.
• 7:12
  SPEAKER_00: So that I think is a really valuable parallel because whether you're dealing with animals a lot, most of us having to deal with people a lot.
• 7:23
  SPEAKER_00: And some of the skills that we can develop as wildlife photographers can come in pretty handy when we're having to deal with people, whether it's work, personal, whatever it might be.
• 7:36
  SPEAKER_00: Now, anticipation is another really important aspect of wildlife photography because once you learn to anticipate what's going on, the best moments aren't always surprises because you start to read what's going on by just watching a change in behavior in an animal.
• 7:56
  SPEAKER_00: You know something is about to happen.
• 7:58
  SPEAKER_00: So that could be an animal changes direction, it might be a change in posture, suddenly its attention might shift.
• 8:05
  SPEAKER_00: There could be another animal approaching.
• 8:07
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so even if it's the same species, there might potentially be conflict, there might be um boundary disputes, all these kind of things.
• 8:17
  SPEAKER_00: Or behavior starts to repeat, and all of that tells you that something's about to happen.
• 8:23
  SPEAKER_00: And it, if you're not paying attention at that point, you really should be, because the chances are something is is about to um to start.
• 8:32
  SPEAKER_00: And people who are really good at communicating with other people tend to do this similar things, and this is certainly true when I was coaching, these were the kind of things that um I had to learn, the skills that I had to develop.
• 8:49
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm listening to tone, I'm listening to people's tone, I'm listening for changes in their tone, I'm looking for hesitation, I'm looking for a pause, I'm looking at their body language, or there might be a change in their energy.
• 9:02
  SPEAKER_00: So this isn't about reading minds necessarily, but what it is, it's noticing patterns.
• 9:08
  SPEAKER_00: And with people, we you can almost listen with your body because you feel things, you pick up a vibe from somebody, and that will tell you quite a lot about what's going on that maybe isn't obviously presenting itself in the way that someone is acting.
• 9:26
  SPEAKER_00: And the vibe thing I definitely have with animals as well.
• 9:29
  SPEAKER_00: I remember a lion in um South Africa, a young one, male, and I just knew I was in a four-wheel drive, but I just knew he was looking at me, and he, if he felt he had a chance, he was gonna go for it, and you just get that vibe.
• 9:46
  SPEAKER_00: Whereas another lion in that same uh pride, the the dominant male there, an older male, he was just powerful and he knew it, and he, you know, everybody knew it.
• 9:55
  SPEAKER_00: It wasn't a big deal, it was just there.
• 9:57
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but there wasn't that tension, there wasn't that aggression.
• 10:00
  SPEAKER_00: You just knew you knew that if you know, obviously you didn't think did anything silly, um, nature would take its course, but it was a very different vibe between the animals.
• 10:11
  SPEAKER_00: So, again, these are skills that overlap, whether you're dealing with people or you're dealing with um animals.
• 10:18
  SPEAKER_00: And the fact is that when you notice these pans, it means you can respond to what's going on rather than just react.
• 10:27
  SPEAKER_00: And and often when we react, we in the moment it might feel pretty good, but a few minutes later or even seconds later, it doesn't feel quite so good.
• 10:38
  SPEAKER_00: So, and there's that regret and all that kind of thing.
• 10:40
  SPEAKER_00: So it's always these are always good skills to develop, and it's always better to respond rather than react.
• 10:49
  SPEAKER_00: So the fact of all this, or the underlying message, I guess, of all this is that the better you get at observation, the less often you're surprised by what happens next.
• 11:00
  SPEAKER_00: And that is true whether you're dealing with wildlife or people.
• 11:05
  SPEAKER_00: Um and then the next thing is that you can't control the subject.
• 11:09
  SPEAKER_00: So, as much as we would love wildlife to just move the ring just to the left, or maybe look at the light, or just stay there for another few seconds, or could you just back up and do that again?
• 11:21
  SPEAKER_00: Um, they tend to be really unprofessional, is my um observation there.
• 11:26
  SPEAKER_00: And um, of course, they don't care and they'll just carry on doing their thing.
• 11:30
  SPEAKER_00: And of course, you can't control the animal, the weather, you can't control the light that you have, you can't control other animals.
• 11:36
  SPEAKER_00: Um, often you can't control the vehicle, and you've got no control over what happens next.
• 11:42
  SPEAKER_00: And the fact is that that is very much the case when you're dealing with people as well, because you can't control what somebody thinks, you can't control how they react, you can't control what mood they're in, or whether they agree with you, or whether they behave as you as you expected.
• 12:01
  SPEAKER_00: But what you can control is your response.
• 12:05
  SPEAKER_00: And um, when I was coaching, there was actually a really useful little double circle diagram.
• 12:09
  SPEAKER_00: In the center, it was what you could control, and the sort of doughnut around the central circle was what you couldn't control, and that was that stuff I've just listed.
• 12:20
  SPEAKER_00: So, again, the important thing is to be aware of what you can control and what you can't control, because if you're trying to control something that is actually beyond your control, that is going to get very frustrating.
• 12:34
  SPEAKER_00: Whereas obviously, if you just focus on the things you can control, that becomes much more productive, and often you'll get much better results, whether it's taking photographs or dealing with people.
• 12:50
  SPEAKER_00: And then sometimes the best photograph is the one that you don't take.
• 12:58
  SPEAKER_00: So, what am I talking about there?
• 12:59
  SPEAKER_00: Well, this is that temptation that some photographers have to just photograph everything.
• 13:06
  SPEAKER_00: Um, the camera's always up, and they're just blasting away.
• 13:10
  SPEAKER_00: And and I I do hear this from some photographers, they'll come back and they're they're a big thing.
• 13:16
  SPEAKER_00: They've been away somewhere, they've gone for a holiday, photograph some stuff, and the the number one thing they want to tell you is that they've just taken 20,000 photographs, and um you know the reaction I have is that I just hope they don't try and show me all of them because that's gonna get pretty horrible.
• 13:33
  SPEAKER_00: But the point is that sometimes the light isn't right, the background's terrible, the moment isn't meaningful, or you're forcing the shot, it's not really gonna work, it doesn't really work, or you're so you get and this is the worst thing, you get so caught up in the photographs that you stop experiencing where you are.
• 13:55
  SPEAKER_00: So sometimes the best decision you can make is just put the camera down and just experience where you are, what you're seeing, the environment you're in, the animals that you're with, all of that.
• 14:06
  SPEAKER_00: And this is something I'll do from time to time because otherwise it becomes work.
• 14:11
  SPEAKER_00: If all you do is photograph, if you just blast away and you've got hundreds and thousands maybe of photographs, how many of them are photographs you want to share with people?
• 14:20
  SPEAKER_00: Because it won't be the majority, and so this is where being much more deliberate in your photography can be a real strength.
• 14:30
  SPEAKER_00: And for some of us who grew up using film cameras, I'm not gonna say everybody, because digital, when you've if you've gone from film and you move to digital, where you've gone from quite restrictive numbers of images you can take to suddenly pretty much unrestricted, you can really have a ball and just blast away and take hundreds very easily.
• 14:52
  SPEAKER_00: But what's the quality like?
• 14:56
  SPEAKER_00: And hopefully, as photographers, and maybe the reason you're listening to this is that as a photographer you want to improve your quality because anyone can shoot quantity, it's you know pretty much no-brainer.
• 15:08
  SPEAKER_00: So, definitely a good decision is choosing when to take a photograph and when not to.
• 15:15
  SPEAKER_00: And when you bring this back to dealing with people, it's really important to remember that we don't have to respond to every comment.
• 15:21
  SPEAKER_00: And this is particularly true if you share any work on social media, because some people are really destructive on social media, and I know that can be really discouraging.
• 15:31
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I know people, um and I work with people who find that very hard to take, actually, because when we put our work out there, um, on the internet, wherever, it's a very personal thing.
• 15:44
  SPEAKER_00: Um, it's something we've created, something we've seen, we we've seen the animal, we put ourselves in a position to shoot it.
• 15:51
  SPEAKER_00: We have chosen a particular composition, we've done what whatever whatever we've done in post, all of the other, all the other elements that come into a photograph.
• 16:00
  SPEAKER_00: And when we put that out there, that is very much a reflection of us and our ability to communicate visually.
• 16:08
  SPEAKER_00: So it can be very difficult to take nasty comments, which I've always believed tell you more about the person making them than your work.
• 16:18
  SPEAKER_00: But it really is important to remember you don't have to sponsor every comment, you don't have to win every argument, we don't have to say everything we're thinking, we don't have to act on every opportunity, we don't have to fill every silence.
• 16:37
  SPEAKER_00: And that's definitely true with animals.
• 16:41
  SPEAKER_00: So what are what are the takeaways?
• 16:46
  SPEAKER_00: Well, I guess what am I what am I saying with this?
• 16:48
  SPEAKER_00: The I suppose the lessons that I've learned uh that I've learned primarily through wildlife photography, because there isn't really a choice.
• 16:57
  SPEAKER_00: If you if you're gonna get productive when you're shooting wildlife photography, you've got to learn certain disciplines, in my opinion, and you can apply those back to dealing with people, and that can also give you um a less stressful life, let's put it that way.
• 17:14
  SPEAKER_00: So I tend to observe a lot more, I'll wait longer.
• 17:18
  SPEAKER_00: I always try to anticipate rather than just react, and I definitely accept that I can't control everything, and I I think the most important thing is that I'm much more comfortable with choosing not to act because sometimes it is it just isn't right.
• 17:37
  SPEAKER_00: And look, I might take a shot kind of contingency, but I know I'm not going to do anything with that.
• 17:44
  SPEAKER_00: So the other thing about all of this, so I've I've kind of bounced between wildlife photography and dealing with people, but none of the skills are particularly photographic skills or photography skills, they're essentially ways of just paying attention and then choosing how you respond, what you do next, based on what you've learned through paying attention and what you've managed to observe.
• 18:11
  SPEAKER_00: So the next time you're talking to someone, and I don't know how you'll feel about this, but just try and watching them the way you would watch an animal you're trying to photograph.
• 18:22
  SPEAKER_00: Now, don't be weird about it, um you know, but it is about just really honing those observation skills.
• 18:30
  SPEAKER_00: So the kind of things to notice are what changes about them, maybe when they change subjects or whatever it is, but what changes happen?
• 18:40
  SPEAKER_00: What aren't they saying?
• 18:42
  SPEAKER_00: And what happens when you stop talking?
• 18:45
  SPEAKER_00: What happens if you wait?
• 18:46
  SPEAKER_00: Are they trying to fill the space?
• 18:48
  SPEAKER_00: What happens if you don't immediately react?
• 18:52
  SPEAKER_00: So perhaps the biggest thing that wildlife photography has taught me is that if you want to understand something, you really need to spend a little more time just watching it, observing it, and letting it speak for itself, keep yourself out of it, and let the uh let whatever it is you're observing um do all the work for you.
• 19:16
  SPEAKER_00: So that is it for um for this week.
• 19:19
  SPEAKER_00: Uh slightly different.
• 19:21
  SPEAKER_00: Let me know how you're finding these podcasts.
• 19:24
  SPEAKER_00: If there's um if you prefer these more kind of shary things rather than teaching, uh I'm quite happy to share what I know, but I want these to be of value to you as well, want you to enjoy them.
• 19:36
  SPEAKER_00: Um so you're very welcome to contact me, uh Graham at ge.photography.
• 19:41
  SPEAKER_00: And um, if I don't hear from you, I will speak to you on Friday when the next podcast comes out.
• 19:47
  SPEAKER_00: So bye for now.