Sharjah24: What separates a good photograph from the trove of thousands of pictures clicked by others is the thought and time taken to capture a moment, concurred Jonathan and Angela Scott, renowned wildlife photographers, during their Focus Group talk on ‘Redefining Photography’ on the third day of the Xposure International Photography Festival (Xposure 2024) in Expo Centre Sharjah.
“To be a successful photographer, you need access (to great spots). You should be able to identify how you can get yourself into the position where, say, a NatGeo photographer is going to be. One can gain access and special privileges by building their credibility. The other crucial element is time. The time you spend with your subject reflects in the quality of your work. Great pictures are a labour of time. These two elements are an absolute classic to great photography,” Jonathan noted.
“I think the difference with our photography is that when you look at our pictures, you are moved. You feel emotions. We know many big cats as individuals; we've spent years in the wild,” said Jonathan, recounting his experience of clicking an iconic picture of a leopard whom he had followed for 17 years. “We knew this leopard when she was six months old all the way through her life. When we would look at her and photograph her, there was a sensitivity and a connection with her.
Pointing at another photograph of a leopard, whom the couple had followed for six years, Angela said, “For the first few years, I couldn't get anywhere close to her because she had survived a time in Africa when almost 50,000 leopards were being killed every year for their coats. But I followed her closely and captured a beautiful shot which makes me happy even to this day.”
The husband-wife duo have spent their lifetime photographing wildlife, especially the big cats in Kenya. Talking about the financial viability of the profession in today’s day and age, both agreed that the payouts to photographers have dwindled over time, having declined sharply from almost $100 for an image use almost four decades back to about a dollar now.
The key, however, is to diversify your sources of income and make use of the digital world to build your brand. “We always tried to be as diversified as possible by conducting workshops, safaris, writing books, and being television presenters. We also received support from various companies through sponsorships and being the brand ambassadors for Canon for over a decade. So you can find ways in which you can make photography work for you.”
Anyone aspiring to be a full-time photographer should remember the basic tenet of this profession, spending time with the subject. “If you're going to be a full-time photographer, you're going to be on the road a lot. And it will be tough a lot of times.”
For the couple who revere nature and wildlife, the selfie culture and the popularity of byte-sized content on social media are horrifying. “Today's traveller experiences everything through what they record on their cameras. Everybody's a photographer today. People want to become celebrities; get maximum likes on their pictures. People are measuring their experience by how other people are viewing what they're doing. And by doing this, they are simply not celebrating an extraordinary event,” Jonathan said, pointing at the picture of the Great Wildebeest Migration on the river Mara, where people are busy clicking pictures and taking selfies rather than immersing themselves in the experience.
This, however, is also an opportunity for people who want to become photographers. “People have lost connection with nature. Our mission is to try to reconnect people to nature, and we must understand, it’s not a choice. Our photography and our NGO are all about this, and we encourage aspiring photographers to do the same. It is through our work that we can sensitise more people about our nature and wildlife,” Jonathan concluded.
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