Why Wildlife Photography?

“Why wildlife photography” is without a doubt the question I get asked the most and the answer is pretty simple. Wildlife photography is my medicine.

People often follow the question up with “is it something you’ve always been interested in?”and “were you creative growing up?”, so I’ll start there.

Growing up, I guess like most children, I was always fascinated with the natural world and loved nothing more than exploring the great outdoors. In fact one of my favourite weekend activities would be going to my friend William’s house to dig holes in his Dad’s garden in search of newts. Back then however we didn’t refer to these as newts, instead they were salamanders to us. It wasn’t until marrying an ecologist some twenty odd years later, that I was informed that salamanders aren’t native here in the UK and the orange bellied amphibians that occupied so much of our spare time were in fact newts and more specifically the Smooth Newt.

From searching the garden for newts, grasshoppers and slowworms to sneaking onto the grounds of Waddesdon Manor to build dens and pretend we could survive in the wild. Looking back, it’s clear to see I always had a strong connection with the natural world.

Fast forward to the age of 18 and that love for animals was only stronger developed as I went on to spend the next seven years working for a small animal veterinary practice.

None of the above involved photography though and bar a very short period when I owned a Sony bridge camera (for a few days), my passion for photography was none existent. Perhaps taking my new bridge camera to Corbiere Lighthouse to try capture images at sunset, only to get soaked by a wave rendering said camera both completely unusable and unfixable, had put me off photography somewhat. So how did photography go on to become one of the things I now can’t live without?

In 2016 Rosie and I moved to Berkshire, where we had both been offered what at the time we thought were our dream jobs. Rosie, her first paid job as a graduate ecologist and mine, well working for a big corporate firm. In the eyes of many I had it all: the suit, the car, the salary. What wasn’t to like? A short time into this new career and I started to experience some weird bodily sensations: dizziness, shortness of breath, heart palpitations, numb hands, weak legs and with each of these an overwhelming feeling that something bad was going to happen. Each time these symptoms came on, I thought I was dying and after an horrendous episode on the side of the A34, rendering me unable to drive, I decided to go see a doctor. After blood tests, ECGs and procedures to try and remove crystals from my inner-ear, I was eventually advised that what I was suffering from anxiety. They doctor explained how too much stress and pressure had essentially put my body into a constant state of “fight or flight”

Unwilling to accept that I couldn’t cope with work pressures and continuing to live life in exactly the same way, the anxiety got worse and eventually I was unable to leave the house. Being an outdoorsy person, who loves nothing more than long walks, runs and bike rides, this was unbearable and I made the decision to start therapy. This is one of the best decisions I have ever made and after just a few weeks, I was able to take back some control in my life.

Starting to feel slightly better and less anxious in social situations, my sister and her family came to visit me. She brought with her a Canon 500d and left without it. This camera, unbeknown to me at the time, would go on to be one of the most important things in helping me overcome my anxiety. At the point of my sister gifting me this camera I was barely able to leave the house for more than ten minutes on my own and if I did, I took a backpack full of worst case scenario supplies with me. Writing this now it seems sad to think I would do this but I feared the anxiety attacks and impending doom so much, that I truly believed that each time I stepped out of the house something catastrophic was going to happen.

So with my sister and her family now back in Jersey and Rosie at work I decided to load everything but the kitchen sink into my emergency backpack and head out of the house and up onto the Ridgeway. The Ridgeway is around 87 miles of ancient trackway and is described as Britain’s oldest road. Most of the trackway is surrounded by fields and we were lucky enough to live within a five minute walk of it.

So off I went, camera in hand and it really didn’t take long before I became fixated on trying to photograph anything and everything. The maximum focal length I had was around 200mm but that didn’t stop me trying to photograph the Yellowhammers that were often singing from the hedgerows. Nor did it stop me trying to photograph Roe Deer that would be three fields away. I was hooked! Looking for things to photograph and with the lack of focal length forcing me to spend more time developing my fieldcraft, I suddenly found myself immersed in something bigger than my anxiety.

Each day I would venture out in search of wildlife and with no conscious effort found myself being out the house and on my own for longer and longer each day. After a couple of weeks I could spend most of the day sat in a woodland, dressed like a tree, waiting to see if anything would show up. Most the time it didn’t…

Furthermore I was now able to do this without having, or thinking about anxiety attacks. Without realising it, this new hobby had quickly become my medicine, and time in nature searching from new subjects to photograph was quite honestly saving my life! I still have almost all of my earlier images and they’re not good to put it politely, but in some ways they mean more to me then some of the images I have gone on to capture, as they serve as a reminder of a time when I became a better version of the old me.

My first image of a Brown Hare. I still remember running back to show my Gran with a grin the Cheshire Cat would envy!

Taken in the same field as the above image but three years later.

So there it is, the short but possibly still too long story about why wildlife photography?

To conclude, as I sit writing this almost ten years later, I find myself feeling grateful for my experience and the anxiety attacks. Not only did they make me reevaluate my life choices but if it wasn’t for them I would never have started wildlife photography.

I can only speak on my experiences however, if you’re reading this and you’re struggling, try immersing yourself in nature. You don’t need a camera, just go for a walk, sit in a forest, listen to the bird song and take a deep breath. All things pass and you're not alone!

Thanks for reading,
Rich