A widespread belief among the general, non-animal-photographing (and therefore more or less normal) population is that patience is the essential quality of a wildlife photographer. I consider myself primarily a wildlife photographer, and my social bubble is teeming with other such weirdos. So let me give a little insight into how things really are.
Let’s start by agreeing on what patience actually is. The Cambridge dictionary defines it as “the quality of being able to stay calm and not get angry, especially when something takes a long time”. The same source also states that it is “the ability to wait, or to continue doing something despite difficulties, or to suffer without complaining or becoming annoyed.”
The daily routine of a wildlife photographer is to work with creatures that are usually afraid of our presence, try to avoid us, run away from us, and in general invent all kinds of tricks to thwart the success of our work. I have been a teacher most of my life, which given the difficulties mentioned above, is the perfect preparation for wildlife photography. Believe me, there are few jobs where it is so challenging to “stay calm and not get angry, especially when something takes a long time.”
What teaching does not prepare you for, however, is the need to laboriously search for subjects. Sometimes a pupil is skipping class, but it’s not the same as waiting several hours for a bird to appear (or not appear, as is often the case).
Yet I believe that at least part of the definition of patience is unnecessary for wildlife photography, and that is the part that says “without complaint.” Oh, the complaints I’ve heard, and made, over the years. One vivid example is when I was photographing in the Colombian foothills with my friend, university professor, top scientist, and brilliant photographer, Tomas Grim. As I was photographing birds somewhere along the Río Claro, a tormented roar came from somewhere in the distant thicket. The words “it’s not focusing!!” echoed through the air. As I understand it, Tomas was fighting a losing battle with a Nikon D600 and one of the wrens of the genus Henicorhina, which had flown away a little too soon. And yet, my recollection is that Tomas got the shot anyway. Apparently one can successfully photograph wild nature even without the patience of a Zen master.
If you know that your reservoir of patience is shallow and you tend to be restless, I recommend that you adjust your “hunting” technique accordingly. Sitting in a blind for long periods of time and waiting for a fleeting chance may not be your cup of tea. Instead, head out into the field with your camera ready for quick action and take advantage of opportunities as nature presents them. This technique may not always be effective, but it will put a few more miles on your boots and a few more photos on your memory card.
If you choose instead to shoot from a blind, know that it will entail many hours of sitting and waiting. But you don’t need the patience of an elite sniper to make the most of the experience. It’s far more enjoyable to sit outside and enjoy nature than, say, to suffer for several hours on the middle seat of a long-distance flight. Plus, if you’ve set up your blind in a suitable location, your portions of spiritual food (AKA moments of good photography) will be served more often than meals on an airplane.
I don’t intend to make it sound like a simple walk in the park. Sometimes temperatures well below freezing or, conversely, tropical heat can test your desire for a good photograph. Flies, mosquitos, and more. At some point it became entertainment for me to watch the leeches in Australia and Sri Lanka struggle to find access to my veins as I waited for the birds to get into place. As I said, wildlife photographers are not the most normal folks.
A great advantage of wildlife photography is that it can free you from all social interactions with members of your own species for hours at a time. A line from a play by the Czech writer Jara Cimrman comes to mind. In it, a certain Baron Ludwig, a passionate aviator, nicely expressed the reason for his hobby by saying, “How beautiful it is to have your family… so deep below you.” The temporary refuge of the hide can be a kind of equivalent to Ludwig’s airship. But when you do return home at the end of the day, never complain, even if you didn’t get a single shot! Next time that you plan a few hours for wildlife photography, your spouse could ask you to do something useful instead.
Although solitude is one of the most amazing aspects of this photographic genre for me, I understand that socially inclined individuals may perceive it differently. If you’re one of them, don’t worry. You can buy blinds that fit more than one person. New friendships or interesting encounters can often result. For example, there was the time I met Thomas Marent, author of a number of wonderful photography books on the tropics, at a Cordillera Central in Colombia. These are some great memories.
So what about patience in wildlife photography? I think its importance is overrated. In fact, the daily difficulties we face in our jobs, in our personal lives, or while traveling are usually far greater than those we have to overcome when photographing animals. I will not hide the fact that waking up early, carrying heavy equipment, swatting away flies, and failing to bring home a good photo can test a photographer’s patience. Still, I believe that even when the memory card remains empty after sunset, it was not a wasted day. If you can enjoy even the experiences of waiting, patience is not something you will need.
Informative and funny – as always! I hope you will summarize your articles into a full-fledged book – I will be happy to have it in a prime spot of my bookcase!
Great article, Libor! I find articles like this, that break some of the traditional assumptions about things, to be particularly interesting.
Thank you, Adam. Is there any traditional assumption in portrait or wedding photography that deserves a sensitive hammer blow?
That’s an interesting question! For weddings, I would probably say that it’s the assumption that you need a ton of gear. I’ve written about it before, but you don’t need 6 different lenses to capture a wedding well. If you want to use that many, go for it, but you can be a great wedding photographer with 2-3 lenses, depending on your style.
For portraits, I would say the assumption that it’s easier to take “good” photos of attractive people. In some ways, I think this can actually work against you, as the beauty of the person can distract from the beauty of your composition, light, form, etc. Of course, beauty is subjective.
About “beauty”: I’m sometimes surprised that people who you would generally consider good-looking don’t look that good on photos, while others who look rather “plain” may be very photogenic. I have no idea why that is, would be interesting to find out what makes a person “photogenic”…
That’s an interesting observation – and I do agree that being photogenic is about more than beauty. For me, a lot of it has to do with how they are able to communicate with the viewer of the image, especially if their eyes are expressive.
I like cats not birds. Cats like to kill birds & I have no problem with that. The birds r way to noisy!
Got to be one of the strangest comments I’ve seen on this site, and I say that as someone who has a cat.
No matter what you like or dislike, the considerate approach to the creatures you share this planet with is: do no harm.
If you really want to get stuck into this subject:
www.academia.edu/11527…_Predation
As Henryk Skolimowski said, “unless you have reverence for life, you cannot have dignity and grace.”
Hides are very useful if one’s hips/knees/ankles aren’t to up to much in the way of hiking.
Advice to youngsters – make the most of physical firmity (is that the opposite infirmity …?)
I totally agree. I would just add that being in hide is a completely different thing than getting out of it after a few hours.
I have very uncomfortable knee joints, but am willing to do more walking to seek out captures of a subject, than being static and awaiting the subject to arrive. It is the different stimulation for how an individual creates stealth that is the unique attitude. Certain individuals will feel the wait in ambush tactic rings right for them, whilst another will be most contented with being in pursuit, certain others will share a proportion of each method is where they are most contented.
When I was a fisherman, I walked for miles along rivers, and did not settle at a swim to work it. On a lake I was OK being Under a Cover and settled into one place. Again some Lake Fishermen have never fished a river and vice versa.
For myself Fishing and Photography both have the same fundamental, it is not just the capture that is the important part, it is the being out in the natural environment and witnessing the flora and fauna that stimulates. In relation to Photography, I don’t have too much ambition for a capture, it is to go into my personal collection of images to be edited at some point. I would say the developed interest in nature, and having a active conscience for its welfare is the most important interest to me.
What really matters is the whole of what is being entailed to have the Photographic Experience. The capture is the Bonus, the capture seen during post processing as being a very good result is the Encore for that particular experience had.
Absolutely on point, Libor, especially the part about adjusting your own habits. Personally, I’m not very patient, and I have limited time for wildlife photography, so sitting in one place for hours and not getting a reasonable shot is very frustrating for me. That’s why I mostly do a combination of birding/hiking and stalking photography – that way, even if I don’t get a good shot, I had a nice time outdoors. I only use hides/blinds if there is a very good chance of getting some nice pictures (and/or there is a lot to see anyway, even if I don’t get pictures).
I think we see it the same way. I usually only get in the blind when I’m almost certain it’s going to be fruitful. Otherwise, I also prefer to walk in the field and search for my photo prey.
When you first told me about this article, Libor, I actually thought you were going to write that you need a lot of patience in wildlife photography. It sort of made sense to me because from the outside, it does look like you need a lot of patience. But I have to say, you really said something true in this article. Namely, that you don’t really need a lot of patience at all! It’s actually quite right!
Every single second out there in nature is just pure enjoyment for me, whether the bird comes around or not. And in terms of waiting for a bird, it’s not really waiting at all, just fun. Honestly, I don’t much like “normal civilization” and being with wild animals (whether alone or with others) is the only time for me that life feels actually normal.
In Sasha Chapin’s book “All The Wrong Moves”, he tells that chess GM Benjamin Finegold said that the secret of chess is to enjoy every move whether you are winning or losing. And I think that applies equally to wildlife photography as well.
Great comment, Jason. I should copy and paste it into my article. It’s exactly as you write. Patience is usually required for activities where we feel the urge to check our watches every now and then. For me, photography is one of the few activities where I can (very temporarily) suppress my appetite for food. And that means something.