Every little helps…
When it comes to golf and photography, I’m largely self-taught.
Photography is quite a lonely profession, so I thought I should write down how I’ve learned and improved as a photographer in order to help anyone out there who wants to do the same.
You can, of course, study photography, and I thought about doing a course at the London College of Printing (as it then was) when I was at school.
In the end, my mother told me that I could always take it up as a hobby later, so that was that for 30 years…!
She had a point, though.
There must be a lot of amateur photographers out there who take up photography as a hobby and then want to take it further, perhaps by making money out of selling prints or downloads via stock agencies.
Those people will probably tend to be a little older, too.
I took up photography again in my 40s, but I honestly can’t think of a time before that when I would have had the money to buy all the kit I needed!
So here goes: what have I learned, where have I learned it and what else could I have tried?
Books
When I was around 15, I took up photography and bought myself an old Chinon CE-4 film camera.
I was mad keen on taking pictures, and I completely wasted my first two 36-exposure rolls of colour and black and white film by taking banal shots around the house!
I also bought a few biographies of famous photographers such as Henri Cartier-Bresson, Alfred Eisenstaedt and Ansel Adams and one or two textbooks on technique.
That was then, but this is now.
Now, I’m no longer interested in the photographs of other people, and I certainly don’t buy any books on photography.
I guess I’ve reached a point where I know all the basics, and my wildlife photography niche is too specific to learn any general lessons from other genres such as street photography.
And besides, I’m just not interested…!
Having said that, I’m sure there are plenty of people who love to read books and think that that’s the way to go in order to improve their photography.
If that’s the case, then I highly recommend my own ebooks!
I wrote a couple for Expert Photography called Wonderful Wildlife and Social Success Strategies, and they should tell you most of what you need to know about wildlife photography and social media for the bargain price of only $19.
Apparently, I’m not the only photographer who has written books on the subject, and at various points I’ve been recommended to read a variety of books on photography and/or wildlife:
Tony Northrup's DSLR Book: How to Create Stunning Digital Photography, by Tony Northrup
The Marsh Lions: The Story of an African Pride, by Brian Jackman and Jonathan Scott
Light and Dust: Images and Stories from the Wilds of East Africa, by Federico Veronesi
Feel free to have a look and see what you think.
Websites
Books, of course, are increasingly being replaced by websites these days, and I’ve certainly tried to make the most of what’s on the internet.
Here are the sites I’ve found most useful:
ePHOTOzine for their series of weekly articles on various aspects of photography
YouTube for Anthony Morganti’s invaluable guide to learning Lightroom and his weekly videos on photographic software tips plus a video on how to attach a camera strap to a DSLR!
Backcountry Gallery for the occasional article and video on Nikon cameras and post-processing tips - Steve Perry really knows his stuff!
Google for absolutely everything else!
Galleries
Some people love going to photography exhibitions, but I hate it!
I went to the Natural History Museum to see the Wildlife Photographer of the Year show a few years ago, and I wasn’t very impressed.
They’d chosen to exhibit 150 shots from over 50,000 entries, but I only rated 12 of them!
I know in theory it’s a good idea to try to learn from the competition, but I never seem to find any shots that I like, so I would if I could, but I can’t!
Having said that, I realise that not everybody’s as arrogant as I am, so feel free to have a look at photographs in galleries (either online or in person) in order to try and learn new techniques.
Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, and it’s not idea to try and master the basic types of shot.
I’m not saying you should simply copy what you see, but there are certain techniques that recur again and again, and they’re fairly easy to spot when you look at photographs in exhibitions, say.
The Wildlife Photographer of the Year is a good starting point, and David Yarrow is another successful wildlife photographer who exhibits in London.
I went to one of his shows at Somerset House, and it was a good chance to get to know his approach, which is to set up camera traps with wide angle lenses in order to get black and white close-ups of large mammals such as bears.
That’s not generally possible if you’re a tourist in an African national park, but getting to know other photographers’ signature styles is an important staging post on the way to developing your own.
Coaching
I’ve only been on one photography workshop, and that was a long weekend in Cabárceno in northern Spain with wildlife photographer Marina Cano.
I didn’t learn anything from it - apart from how to throw bread to the zebras so that they’d go into the barn in order to produce a black background! - but I enjoyed the chance to take pictures with a friend of mine.
I’ve taught a couple of workshops myself for Canary Wharf, and I was due to do a series for a couple of other companies until the Covid lockdown came along.
Again, whether you like the idea of courses or workshops is very much a personal preference.
It’s a good chance to learn something new - or at least refresh your memory when it comes to certain skills - and it will also give you a chance to take pictures intensively for a few hours or days in a photogenic environment.
Paul Goldstein is a wildlife photographer who leads a lot of trips for Exodus, and he’s started doing birding weekends in Norfolk, and there are plenty of others out there offering similar opportunities.
You’ll just have to take a look online and see which one tickles your fancy.
Alternatively, you can book a lesson with a photography coach.
I’ve taught quite a few amateur wildlife photographers, and I generally take them to Richmond Park, where we can go through a PowerPoint presentation on theory at the café, then put it into practice by photographing the deer and finally review all the shots back at the café.
I charge £150 for a half-day and £250 for a full day, and that doesn’t change however many people turn up, so it won’t break the bank.
Again, it’s another chance to polish your skills and maybe discover a few things that you never knew you were important!
Finally, a lot of photographic trips these days guarantee you quite a lot of time with the trip leader, who is usually a photographer.
I’ve done a handful of trips with Paul Goldstein to Svalbard, Tadoba and Kicheche, and it’s a great help to be able to ask a quick question when you’re actually on a game drive or a Zodiac cruise.
Those are often the moments when you need the input of an experienced photographer, and if he or she is a good coach, then you might also get the odd piece of unsolicited advice while you’re shooting.
I remember visiting the Brazilian Pantanal with Andy Skillen, and when we were out on a boat shooting a jaguar, he came over and gently reminded me to switch to portrait format every now and again.
He suggested taking a third of my pictures in that orientation, and that’s a rule of thumb I’ve tried to stick to ever since.
After all, you’re never going to get a magazine or book cover with an image in landscape format…
Practice
At the end of the day, practice makes perfect.
I’ve taken pictures on all seven continents, and I’ve been on over 250 game drives in Africa, so it’s not surprising that I’ve managed to take a few decent shots and win a few awards.
Just this morning, I found out that I’d been voted Best International Wildlife Photographer 2021 in the Southern Enterprise Awards hosted by SME News.
It's not exactly the Wildlife Photographer of the Year, but every little helps...!
The point is that it’s important to get out there and start shooting.
I realise lockdown has made that a bit difficult, but that’s all behind us now, so there’s no excuse to fill up a few of your memory cards - even if it’s only with shots of sparrows from your back garden!
It’s important to hone your skills, and it’s equally important to experiment.
If you come across a new technique while reading something online, say, then what better way to see if it works that to try it out for yourself?
I admit that I can be a bit lazy at times, but that’s mostly because I just don’t get as excited about garden birds as I do about the Big Five, but I do occasionally go to Richmond Park to photograph the deer or to the London Wetland Centre to shoot the water birds and the otters.
If you’re practising a new technique, the actual subject matter is not the most important thing.
You just need to put in the hours getting to know your equipment, practising portraits and action shots and trying out new techniques such as the slow pan or high and low key portraits until they come naturally.
Then, when you finally do get the chance to take a ‘proper’ photography trip abroad, you’ll be all set to go.
Conclusion
I hope this has given you a few ideas on how to improve your photography.
Not everything will work for everyone, and it’s definitely a matter of taste, but I guess it’s good to have options.
Obviously, we all have other demands on our time, but if photography is important to you, then it might be a good idea to put your money where your mouth is and invest some time and money in learning your craft.
Good luck…!
If you’d like to order a framed print of one of my wildlife photographs, please visit the Prints page.
If you’d like to book a lesson or order an online photography course, please visit my Lessons and Courses pages.