Lately my focus was primarily on concert photography as plenty of opportunities popped up, but with the end of the year coming up fast, and because I stumbled on a video on Facebook of one of my favourite nature photographers, I’d love to share this video and some stories of my Canada trip in this respect with you.
So first, here you can see the video in which John E. Marriott talks about driving around and being ready for that one shot when suddenly an animal shows up in front of you. It’s a great tip he gives, and I learned it really helps during my roadtrip in Alberta and British Columbia in June. Here’s three examples:
While my girlfriend and I were driving along the Bow Valley Parkway between Lake Louise and Banff, we suddenly noticed a wolf near the road. While the wolf did not immediately take off in the woods, I had no possibility to get a shot of it: I had to stop the car, take notice of other vehicles around me and then get my camera, lower the window and take some pictures. Meantime there was already another car behind us also stopping and in a blink we only saw the wolf take off. Glad we saw a wolf, yet disappointed I couldn’t get a shot of it. (Fortunately I got to take some shots of a wolf at Khutzeymateen later on the trip!)
Another time we stopped at a rest area to have lunch and in the rear mirror I saw a coyote walk by, and later on some kind of cat. Unfortunately they disappeared before we realized what was happening.
The third example is one of my favourite memories, yet I have no pictures of it. We were driving to Steward, BC and suddenly I noticed a black bear who wanted to cross the road. So I stopped and let the bear cross. When he or she was at the other side of the road, the bear turned around, looked at us and seemed to thank us before we continued our journey and the bear continued his/her own way. Awesome experience!
It’s amazing how you can drive a road several times and each time will be so different: one time you’ll see several bears, next time you’ll see none, but you might see elk or an eagle. For me, it can be quite frustrating if you are chasing that one special shot, however it is important to understand that this is how nature works and to be thankful to be able to watch these lovely creatures walking around freely. It’s important to remember to show them respect and be aware of how they see you: are they comfortable with your presence or do they feel agitated? Always remind yourself that you’re a guest into their homes!
I am definitely going to return to Canada, and I am going to take one of the photography tours with John E. Marriott. He has a series of videos on his YouTube channel, as well as several photo books. His latest is called Tall Tales, Long Lenses. I really love his work!
On Instagram I follow also a number of other nature photographers with really amazing nature pictures: Paul Nicklen, Michelle Valberg, Tony Joyce, Max Ellis, Janet Brown, Ruth Elwell Steck and Konsta Punkka. Which other nature photographers should I follow?