Wildlife Photographer’s Toolkit: Curiosity and Awareness

Most people will see a great wildlife photo and say to the photographer, “Oh, you were lucky to get a shot like that” or “You must have a great camera”. Both statements are true – luck and good gear are vital tools of the trade – but there are ways around both. Luck can be bolstered by research and knowing your subject, and gear is only as good as the photographer using it. But there are certain tools of the trade that are equally important.

Curiosity

This seems like a no-brainer, doesn’t it? Any photographer has to have a certain level of curiosity, if only to drag them out of the house first thing on a cold morning. But I’m taking about curiosity out in the field.

Many photographers groan when they hear about common wildlife, but I don’t. Take this little egret. When someone told me about it, I was there in a flash. What would it be doing? What would the light be like? Would there be a great image available?

I love paths. If I see a track leading off into the unknown, then I’m basically stuffed and end up following it. I always have to see what’s around the next corner or part the ferns and peer into a new clearing in the forest. There’s always something urging me to explore, a sense of curiosity about what’s out there and what I might see.

But that’s all very well and good, you might say, a lot of people have a sense of adventure like that. But my curiosity forces me to look at things that may seem like nothing at the time. Take the following photo of a sika deer stag.

A sika deer attempting to hide from view.

It was taken using my trusty OM-D E-M1 Mark II, with the 300 mm PRO lens and 1.4 teleconverter. I love the image. I love the way the stag is peering out from under the small tree as if its thinking, “Damn, it’s another one of those blinking photographers!”. What you’re seeing is the final result, though. My initial view showed me nothing more than a brown splodge under a very distant tree. It could’ve been a bunch of ferns or a pile of dead wood. It could’ve been nothing more than a shadow. But it got my interest, it piqued my curiosity and forced me to raise the camera and take a look.

Sometimes it pays to be nosey!

A sense of curiosity needs to be worked on, though. Sometimes it’s very easy to just dismiss things or ignore them, particularly if it involves a lot of effort, like walking over a ridge or into the next valley. But work on it, exercise those curiosity muscles. You’ll see things that other people miss and it will soon become second nature.

Awareness

This sounds pretty similar to curiosity, doesn’t it? They both involve seeing things that other people don’t, but this is more about seeing what’s around you in the moment rather than going in search of it.

Whenever you’re in a location, be open to your surroundings. Be aware of everything. A lot of photographers rely on their viewfinder to see the world, but it blocks so much away. We have to try to open ourselves up to the world and see what’s there. Keep your head on a swivel. Learn to notice things out of the corner of your eye. Spot those sudden twitches of grass. Listen to the squeaks, rustles, and whispers of nature.

The following image of a frog was taken when I was out photographing grasshoppers. I was using the 300 mm lens again (my favourite) and spotted a tell-tale twitch among the grasses. Investigating – curiosity again – I found a frog climbing up through the heart of a great tummock of grass.

This frog was hidden so deep inside a mass of grasses that it was only the subtlest of movements that caught my attention.

Awareness can also give an almost ESP-style knowledge that something’s close by. The fox image below is a great example.

They say that curiosity killed the cat, but I think foxes give them a run for their money.

I was at a local nature reserve moving across a large section of boggy ground when I got the feeling that I was being watched. I turned around and could see what looked like a distant tree stump among the grasses and rushes. I raised the camera and found the fox staring at me quite happy in the knowledge that I wasn’t a threat. If I hadn’t listened to that little voice telling me that something interesting was around, I might never have got this gorgeous shot.

Another great example of awareness is this image of a fallow deer. My only clue to its presence was a slight rustling sound. I turned and there it was munching away. Both of us were shocked, but I managed to react first and raised my camera to get the image before the deer ducked away and sneaked back into the undergrowth.

I have a feeling that there’s a certain amount of guilt showing in this fallow deer’s eyes. Perhaps those leaves are fattening?

That’s All Very Well…

So how do you go about building up these new muscles of curiosity and awareness? Not everyone’s as nosey as I am and it’s incredibly easy to miss great shots because you were totally unaware of them. So, you’ve got to work at it.

Try Somewhere New

I think one of the best things to try is to find a balance between going to your usual haunts and travelling further afield to new locations.

The rocky Carn Menyn in the distance and the stone circle of Bedd Arthur are two of the exciting new locations where I’m monitoring the population of golden plover for the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds and the Welsh Ornithological Society.

Going to the same places time and again can lead towards seeing the same things over and over. By going to new places, it opens you up to new experiences. You’re looking at everything for the first time, so it’s all new, it’s all fresh. Your curiosity is in overdrive and so is your sense of awareness. You drink everything in with your senses on overload, so it’s easy to get great results. Then, when you return to your normal haunts, you’ll have expanded your horizons and opened yourself up to new experiences. Every new place, every new path, they all add up to make you more aware of your surroundings and increase your curiosity about what’s going on in the world around you, whether that’s far from home or back in your trusty old garden.

Stay in One Place

Another great trick is to pick a location and force yourself to focus on a small area. I’ve spoken about this in a previous blog post, but focusing on a small area forces you to concentrate on the small details. You’ll probably be bored at first, but your curiosity will kick in and you’ll start poking your nose in to all manner of things you’d normally ignore. You’ll also find that being static in one location can make you more aware of what’s going on around you. Becoming attuned to the sounds and behaviour of a location can highlight things that you’d normally miss. Think about it: marching through a location will give you a lot less chance to see its uniqueness than sitting there and taking the time to enjoy it.

And that’s it!

Photography is one of the best ways to experience the world and by working to unlock your curiosity and awareness photography can give you the chance to see its majesty in a whole new light.

See you out there.