Why Nature Photography?

Why Nature Photography?

First, many thanks for the replies on the "What is Nature Photography?" thread; your candour was much appreciated.

It is clear for the replies there is a diverse number of definitions that could be applied to what Nature Photography is. A single definition, one that is all encompassing, would be hard to define - or possibly not even worth it. The only essential element is simply Nature it all its forms.

Following on from this question I said I had a number of complementary questions of which "Why Nature Photography?" is the second; this is this weeks musing.

To put some context around the short (required for the title page) question, it is concerned with why do you do your definition of Nature Photography? Why is the camera necessary or would being there, witnessing it, be enough; if not, what is the primary difference? What is YOUR motivation that drives you to pick up a camera and point it at nature?

Now, I know some of you have posted some of the answer to this question in the previous question so please feel free to repeat it here - but try not to stray to far else you will venture into the next question.

Remember; please keep it respectful and your answer is about you and not your opinion of another's reasons.

Again, I doubt there is a 'right' answer.

T

Why Not ?.

Phil.

I use to pick up a rifle and point it at nature. One day it was a rifle, the other day a camera. Once I got older and hopefully wiser I decided to sell my rifles and buy me a second camera.

Why nature photography? Because I like to bring home a memory of what I saw that day to share with others. You can tell people what you saw but without showing an image it's harder for them to understand. Also I really like the challenge to capture difficult species. The image will be my proof to others.
Just my opinion.

Edwin

The primary answer will always be to record something that others have not witnessed and to share those experiences with others, but if your shooting for a living whats the answer then?
I have photographed Nature in many forms for several years now, I've done the big in frame images and for me there is great satisfaction in producing images that are different and dare I say can be portrayed as art, wildlife needs to be portrayed in as many different ways as possible to appeal to a wide ranging audience but in truth I enjoy being outside and there are times when the camera is put down and the whole thing is recorded visually to remain a memory but the thrill of capturing that special moment on film/ccd does it for me!


Craig
www.craigchurchill.co.uk

Sometimes, I have put my camera down, just relaxed and watched. As a result, I have no doubt missed a few good images along the way. But sometimes, it is just to good to have the experience diluted by squinting through a prism. Andrew

My journey to become a wildlife photographer was born out of a love and fascination of the natural world from a young age upon receiving my first wildlife book called Animal World. This was an 8th birthday present from my mum and started my love and fascination for the natural world.

My representation of this world is my interest for creating a unique and artistic reflection of what I see and my images are simplified visions of this seen through my eyes, with the emphasis on composition, lighting and colour at the very heart of each picture, capturing their beauty, fascination and graceful expression with each image.

From those early days I spent so much time being at one with nature, close to and watching, hidden from view on the off chance I would see a certain animal. I distanced myself from children’s games and activities instead heading to a nearby stretch of wilderness within the mass housing estate I grew up in. Learning to get close to wildlife without disturbing the life of the animal, almost forgetting the outside world and becoming part of the animal I was getting close to or watching. By doing this I could understand the animal better, gaining many skills by observing their behaviours at the same time giving the subject complete respect which allowed me a private window into their personal and private lives.

This skill is one of many I use within my own wildlife photography today derived from those early encounters with nature. This lose yourself to nature approach enables me to get close enough to capture the animal’s beauty and behaviour which both feature strongly in my style of photography, showing a wild animal within their natural habitat being the foundation to my work today through the images I see then frame through my camera’s viewfinder. Where my creative and emotional attachment to nature is at the very heart of each image, creating a unique and artistic refection of my time in the field. It is my intention to use these reflections of the natural world to bring people’s awareness of what beautiful wildlife we have on our doorstep and all around us and the importance of conservation and the need to preserve our national heritage.
For me the photography is an aid in helping me to communicate, visually what I saw in the wild where wildlife means everything to me.The love,passion I have for wildlife hopefully shows in the images I capture where everything has a reason and a name. I have so much to thank nature for in my life and everyday I witness her beauty, all around me. This is the deep respect and passion I have and through the medium of photography I am able to express that with my images

As with most of the above, I have a love of nature and wildlife which I like to share. Not everyone can get to some of the out of the way places you need to go to see wildlife so it is good to be able to use photography as a tool to communicate your experiences. To me there is more beauty to be found in nature and natural things than anywhere else and it is that, along with a fascination for all wildlife, which atracts me to nature photography.

Very simply, I love being outside in the countryside and I love the nature it contains in all of its many varied forms.

I also love a challenge.

This photography lark is one heck of a challenge and the result for me is a happy marriage combining my love of nature and the challenge of photography - with a stressful job and all that that entails, I'm rarely more relaxed or happier than when I'm in the field trying to find, study, and hopefully take some half decent pictures of, something I've found

I used to be a fisherman. I say used to only becasue in Germany one must do an exam....and I do not see why I should. But from the age of 4 that was my thing, with my dad, out there at 6am, mist on the water, coots fighting and my float going under. But it was not the catching fish....just the being there. Same with photography. Different goal, same reason, being there when the mist rolls, the sun rises and the wildlife wakes up.

Some of my reasons I did mention in the earlier thread.
There is the early days of a records of species - some to be identified at a later date.
There were publication requests in the early day too which were a plenty , due to the small number of people doing such work. This helped with the cost of new gear and trips. Film costs were horrendous especially with the amount of rejects that came along with bird photography.
There was the need for pictures for the many lectures which I did and still do.
Finally the taking of pictures was an incentive to get out - and in reverse getting out was an incentive to take them.
There was also a use from my empoyers in the government conservation departments I worked for.
Thats it really.
JR

Graham beat me to it, to say I love to out and about in the countryside watching and photographying nature.To be able to bring the image back with you is something special whatever it is and to capture a moment you may never see again is something else, like the first kingfisher I saw and photographed, I will never forget it and have the image to keep looking at.Nature is a beautiful thing and I always feel priviliged to be able to capture some of it and it is a challenge which gets the adrenilin pumping.

For me too its a love of being out in the countryside. I love being out before dawn, alone in the countryside you could be in a different world than the one most of us live in a couple of hours later. I also love to try and share what I've seen, as others have said. And I can think of nothing better than watching animals carry on their daily lives oblivious to your presence.

Scott

You know how it is when something happens and you want to remember it in detail for ever but you never can? Well that is what drives me to take pictures of wildlife. I have three times had a kingfisher sitting on my fishing rod; once when I was standing in the middle of a river, one sat about eighteen inches up from my hand and I tried so hard to remember every detail except now I can only remember that it happened. With my photographs, I can see every detail as often as I want to (at least I can on some of them!) - that is why I go.
I can't believe you wrote that Ed. I just sold my best shotgun to buy a new camera because I hadn't fired it in two years. I love being out there and getting close, but now I find shooting it with a gun is easier and less challenging than using a camera, so my guns gather dust and pay for camera equipment. When I have eaten my pheasant is gone, but when I have photographed it, I have it for ever.
I'm not sure how helpful this thread will be to you Tom, - I bet there are as many reasons as there are people on the forum - but it will be good read.

I think the word “Nature” is irrelevant to the question; as someone who photographs a very wide range of subjects (all challenging in their own special ways) I think there are no differences in the basic reasons that drive me to pick up a camera and record how I see ‘the subject’ and hopefully convey some of the wonder, awe, excitement, humour, sadness, vitality or any other emotion that I feel to the eventual viewer of the results.

Being couped up in an office 5 days a week I just long for the weekend when I can get out into the countryside. To be amidst beautiful scenery, to see wildlife, from bugs to deer - size doesn't matter. It is a feeling of pure escapism. To then be able to capture these images is a bonus. Some images I print and have on the wall where I can look at them and remember the moment I took them. Others I print and show to friends/fellow workers who gaze in awe at something they have never seen at close quarters. I for one cannot think of a more enjoyable way to spend my leisure time. I just wish I had more of it.

Because it's easily accessible I guess.
Most people have birds visiting their gardens so you don't have to travel far.

Like most working people I don't get much leisure time so it's nice to pop out into my yard and take some photos of birds from a hide that I made.

I like photographing a number of different subjects, landscapes, macro, airshows and wildlife, I'm easy.

Just 5 years ago I didn't know what a Dunnock was, nor a Siskin, nor most other birds for that matter, and when I do airshows I haven't a clue what the planes are called, but it's fun to me and I find it challenging yet relaxing.

Wildlife and Sport photography are the hardest and most expensive genres to do though, no matter what anyone says, an image taken with top end gear, especially lenses, have that quality look to them that cheaper amateur lenses just can't match and I've only got amateur ones at the moment


So to me photography = fun and relaxation.

Geoff.

I love the natural world and I enjoy going out with just my binos and not lugging a load of heavy camera gear around. That said when you do capture the moment with your camera it does help to make your memories so much more vivid and easier to share.

David

Many people come, looking, looking, taking picture...No good...Some people come, see. Good!

Photography's made me look at the natural world in new ways. I used to be one of those people who simply looked. Now, I spend more time appreciating the nuances of light playing on the subject. It's made me slow down while outside and appreciate the wonders of nature more.

It's also good fun!!!!

Because its in our nature.

Why? Because I enjoy it. Nature comes first for me, and to see interesting things usually means being out by yourself, or with only one or two other people. Photography enables me to share what I see with others, and others, in turn, to share what they see with me.

David

42

For me it's the meeting of two long held interests - wildlife watching and photography.

Incidentally, I have found a more in depth appreciation for the wild world though photography than I believe I would have obtained though wildlife watching alone.

To delay the aging process,

Tempus fugit

The expression was first recorded in the poem Georgics written by Roman poet Virgil: Sed fugit interea fugit irreparabile tempus, singula dum capti circumvectamur amore, which means, "But meanwhile it flees: time flees irretrievably, while we wander around, prisoners of our love of detail." ( - Macro photographers beware. )

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tempus_fugit

Calum,

Right answer, but wrong question

I'm starting to enjoy your sense of humour

David

Why Nature Photography?

Firstly, for a long-held love of animals and nature in general.
Secondly, for the love of being out and about in the countryside, preferably as far as possible from urban environments .
For the tranquillity, relaxation and general well-being that being amongst nature provides.
An appetite to witness new species, behaviour and special moments.
For the challenge of trying to capture a better image than previously.
To record special, enjoyable moments in time.

Reading all the replies and looking at all the reasons given, the same phrase or phrases repeat them selves, Nature, love, countryside, Memories, witness, record, challenge, better, images etc. and all of them apply to me as well. But what is it that drives us to crawl through mud, wade in rivers, sit for hours motionless, endure extremes of temperture? and awful flask coffee?
I thought about this for a while, then thought about it again. The result is a question! am I driven by some primordial desire to hunt out the odd, the special, the species etc listers run around the countryside hunting out new and not yet seen animals, butterflies, birds and flowers etc. and then tick them of on an ever growing list of trophies, like heads hanging on walls, or parhaps to find the so far unfound or seen. So are the Images I take, really trophys of the hunt for the ultimate or absolute best that can be captured or shot!! (Strange how hunting terms moved to the camera!!?)
or just a supplement to a memory that is fast diminishing as the years go by?
But then again do I really care what it is that drives me, NO! lest of course it be coin of the relm!! but! it does mean I get out of the washing up at times, providing I have earned enough brownie points to be allowed out in the first instance.

Calums right, 42 is the answer to everything.

Why? I don't know its been so long but I can't see me doing anything else.

Danny