Photography News | Issue 38 | absolutephoto.com
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Interview
such social creatures, so there is lots of mood and emotion to what they are doing, lots of interactions to render as images. I am happy to spend all day working my way in to the position that will provide me with the view I want to capture. What have been your most memorable moments while photographing wildlife? There have been so many, small or dynamic, I can honestly say most of my days photographing arememorable! Avery special memory was when I was an ‘animal spotter’ for the leopard team on Big Cat Diary and was left alone towatchHalf Tail the leopard, whilst the film crew went back to camp. When they had gone Half Tail came and lay under my film door and went to sleep and we spent all day together: her sleeping and me reading! It was such a privilege being that close to a wild leopard, totally relaxed just a metre or so from where I was sitting. Developing that sense of trust between you and your wild subject is the ultimate stamp of approval. You want the creatures to ignore you – to not feel threatened or under pressure from your being there – to accept you as just another benign part of their natural environment. You can do that in a vehicle if you drive carefully and are sensitive to the mood of your subject. Are there any animals left to see on your bucket list? Growing up on the ocean in Alexandria and Dar es Salaam I have always been a sea person. I love marine life and would love to spend time in Tonga for instance to swim and photograph humpback whales. We are heading to the
Developing that sense of trust between you and your wild subject is the ultimate stamp of approval
Top right Giraffe: the abstract patterning of the giraffes’ coats and the shadows from an acacia tree work their magic. Bottom right RunningWildebeest: early morning light combined with a slow shutter speed convey mood and motion. BelowCattle Egrets : backlight and sidelight at dawn or in the evening create strong images. Bottom Elephant Gathering : the bold shapes of the elephants mirror the cloud-filled sky.
Pacific islands in June 2018 so that will be very exciting and a first for us.
always been very close to us and our work and what we are trying to say through our images. His vision was that this book mustn’t be just another animal behaviour book. It must speak from the heart and capture the essence of what we find so alluring and captivating about the natural world. As a photographer why did you decide to include text in the book? What is its purpose/importance? I wanted to have a ‘lean’ text that in no way overpowered the images. It had to be more like a poem written from the heart to reflect the essence of what we wanted to say with the images. We have to rekindle people’s love affair with the natural world and to realise that it is the provider of life itself and that we should think of it as something sacred – that all life is sacred – a gift to be respected in its many varied and wonderful iterations. The most powerful part of the text is the “quotes” that David hand-picked for their spiritual and poetic vision. They capture in words what the pictures so plainly echo visually, that the creativity of nature is sacred. What advice would you give to aspiring wildlife photographers? You need dedication and determination to succeed at anything in life and photography is no different. Make your cameras and lenses a part of you – an extension of your body and your soul. You can only do that if you take photographs every day whether on your phone or with a camera. These days everyone is a photographer and has a unique way of seeing, it’s just working out how you can translate that into a unique vision to share with the world. Our sense of sight is surely our most powerful sense, so capturing strong visual moments is a natural process for all of us. Develop your own style, learn from the masters but don’t be frightened to be yourself.
How important do you feel photography is in terms of helping the conservation of animals? It isn’t enough to just take pictures. We all have a responsibility to make our images count. They must speak to people, to make them want to care about the planet. You have to find a theme – a story – and develop it in a meaningful way. That is why Sacred Nature was so important for us. Was Sacred Nature something you’d had planned for a long time? I had always wanted to create a book that was led by the images – not by the text. Myself and my husband Jonathan have published 30 books and most of them have been primarily written stories – 80,000 words or more of text illustrated with our images. But I always dreamed of creating a book that was large format to do the images justice, where the photographs told the story. In Sacred Nature there are only 10,000 words and while they add to the book they do not overpower the images. Then our son David, who designed the book, added these wonderful quotes from the great poets, sages and philosophers which really echo the spirit of the images How difficult was it choosing images? David only agreed to design Sacred Nature if he had total control over the design and the final say on image selection. It was amazing to watch him set to work. He turned the book around in less than a month, which was nothing short of incredible. We had total trust in his judgment. He is a creative director with an international company and has to make tough editorial decisions the whole time. He grew up in the back of our Land Rover on safari for much of his younger years and has
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