“Show Notes”
Sam is running a “Capture Clients Workshop” with Gillian Devine. Gillian and Sam will be focussing on email marketing and website design and how you can use these to get more clients and grow your business. There will be lots of practical advice that you will be able to take away at the end of the day. To book on click here.
David Harrison was a Commercial Photographer and is now moving towards making his passion, wildlife photography, part of his business. David had an Uncle in South Africa when he was young. When he was 21 he got to visit South Africa and go to the Kruger park.
On his first day he saw a lion by the side of the road. David has been back to Africa many times since then. David commercially has been working with a range of businesses doing all sorts of different work. But he now wants a change and he is still working out exactly how the wildlife photography will become part of his business.
He is thinking about setting up retreats on safari in Africa. David says on safari you are always living in the moment, even if you can’t see any. animals at that time. He says it is very relaxing and helps people live in the moment. Marcus says that you can capture wildlife photography here in the UK. David agrees and says that you can create a wildlife haven in your garden by simply setting up a bird feeder. You can extend that more by having a log nearby so the birds use the log as a perch near the feeders, which can make for great shots. It is also easy just to get out on any day and see what wildlife you found. It could simply be some trees and other plants.
Sam suggests spending time photographing birds on the feeder will help photographers develop their skills at photographing animals. David fully agrees with this and says we should fully practice all the photography we do. He says he isn’t surprised that those that win Wildlife photographer of the year spend a very. long time with the wildlife. Marcus points out that one winner of this was an image of a fox taken in the UK.
David explains that also with wildlife you need to work with what turns up, rather than what you planned. Wildlife doesn’t always do as you planned. Standing still and waiting is also good. Waiting and observing and then the great shots will often appear.
Marcus asks what it’s like to be on safari with David. He says it’s almost impossible to explain what it’s like to be on a safari vehicle in Africa first thing in the morning. The sunsets and sunrises are always amazing. There is then the experience of being out in the middle of no-where. There is also the not knowing what could be around the next corner. Then suddenly you see your first animal. Seeing the big cats it is so exciting in the wild. Sam says it’s also about the animals being so big and potentially so dangerous to you. Sam points out that there are many budgets for safari and it doesn’t have to be really expensive. David says that’s true and the price often adds extra “bells and whistles”. He says the wildlife doesn’t go to the luxury lodge’s vehicle first! To get the Shoot to the Top podcast delivered to your Mailing list in your inbox please click here You can chat to Sam Marcus and other listeners and guests at the Shoot to the Top Facebook group
“Show Transcription”
Sam: Hi Marcus, how are you doing?
Marcus: Yep, I’m great.
Sam: Excellent, very good, very succinct today Marcus. And Marcus, did you know that I’m doing a workshop with Gillian, a capture clients workshop for photographers?
Marcus: Oh, that sounds interesting. Please, tell me more.
Sam: So, end of the month, 27th of November, so it’s for professional photographers, and we’re looking at website and email marketing strategies. So, Gillian and I will both be talking, you’ll get input from both of us, loads of practical stuff to take away, to help you get more leads and grow your business.
Marcus: Oh, that sounds really good. I mean, I know Gillian’s been in the show and she’s great fun, so I’m sure you two will get on like a house on fire.
Sam: Yep, I’m looking forward to it. So, if you want to book on, you just go to gillian-divine.com forward slash capture, and we’ll put that address in the show notes. And we have another guest with us, and we’ve got a photographer with us today. So, we have today, David Harrison, who is, or maybe I should say, was a commercial photographer, but he’s kind of now moving into a real area of passion for him. So, I think I’ll ask David to explain. So, David, welcome to the show.
David: Thank you, Sam. And thank you, Marcus, for having me on your show. Yeah, we talked about this a while ago, and yeah, as you say, things have kind of developed a little bit, no pun intended, but developed with my business in terms of, yeah, from originally setting up the commercial business five years ago, my passion for photography started with wildlife photography.
Sam: And I think just to add to that, we’ll share some images about this, but we’re obviously on Zoom here, and behind David is just a vast array of zebras and lions and elephants and birds and all sorts that we’ve been discussing. So, you can see straight away that passion.
David: Yeah, absolutely. So, yeah, when I was in my teens, that’s when I kind of first got into photography, and I’d always watched David Attenborough on TV, which, you know, I guess back in the 70s and 80s and stuff while I was growing up, that was prime Sunday night TV, and I always had an interest in that. Oh, it still is. It still is, David.
Marcus: It still is. People got a massive interest.
David: And still is, all those years. Absolutely right, Marcus. Yeah, still is all those years later. And at the time, my uncle was living in South Africa. So, I went to visit him when I was 21. At the time, I was working in what was Dixon’s. I bought a new camera, film camera back in the day. Went out and spent a couple of weeks with him. He took me to the Kruger Park. First day we were there, I saw an elephant ripping up a tree at the side of the road, literally probably not more than 20 feet away from me. And that was it. As they talk about the bug of Africa that bites you when you get there, which doesn’t, there’s nothing physically, well, there is plenty that physically bites you, but this particular bug of loving Africa bit me at that particular moment. And yeah, I’ve been there, I think 11 times now, in different trips and guises, but it’s always had a wildlife focus and a photography focus. Again, no pun intended. Sorry, there’s gonna be lots of development focus.
Sam: Yeah, yeah, that’s amazing. So, have you always been back to South Africa and Kruger, which obviously a very well-known safari destination, or gone to some other places too?
David: No, I’ve been fortunate enough to basically go to a number of different places. So, I’ve been to South Africa, pretty much every time I’ve been to Africa, I’ve managed to spend some time in South Africa. I’ve also been to Kenya, Botswana, and Zimbabwe, where I went to Victoria Falls. So, yeah, there’s obviously other things apart from the animals in Africa. I’ve been to Cape Point, seen the penguins at Boulder Beach, and driven the garden route and all that sort of stuff. So, Africa for me is a massively important part. And I always say it’s kind of like a home from home, and I’ve got some lodges now that I’ve stayed in so many times that I almost feel like I’m part of the family, part of the staff when I get there. So, it’s really nice when you’re a solo traveler to be able to just sit somewhere and almost, well, in fact, some of the bar staff always know as soon as I walk into the lounge area and I sit down and I’m thinking about what I’m going to have before dinner, they usually bring over a beer before I’ve even opened my mouth. That’s kind of, yeah, that’s what’s really nice about it.
Sam: Excellent. And so, that’s been a passion. And so, have you managed to turn that into something commercial at all, or is that just been kind of a passion project in the background?
David: Well, in 2017, when I first, when I kind of bought the latest set of what I would class as pro gear, I started with Nikon D500s, and then more recently, while I’ve been doing the commercial work, I migrated one of my two D500s to the 850 for more portrait photography, headshot photography, business photography. I’ve kind of done food, a bit of hospitality stuff, rooms in hotels. I’ve worked with gym brands, and all sorts of stuff. So now, my kind of thought process over the last few months has been that I want to bring, I’m kind of at that age where I want to kind of give a bit more back. So I’m very passionate about conservation. I’m very passionate about well-being and mindfulness and that type of thing. But also in terms of helping other people with their, perhaps their journey in photography, and more specifically in wildlife photography. So a lot of it’s in the melting pot at the moment, but I have this idea of being able to perhaps combine it a little bit. So perhaps do business retreats in Africa where stressed out business execs, maybe they have a passion for photography or an interest in photography as well. Maybe they could go on a business style retreat, but that’s held in Africa where they get the opportunity to get out in the middle of nowhere. Whilst I was in sales between kind of those early years of going to Africa and the last five, seven years, I was in sales for 30 years and it’s a very stressed environment, lots of pressure. And I found that being in Africa, being in a safari truck in the middle of nowhere, there’s nothing quite like it for basically just emptying your mind of everything because even when there are no animals around, it’s first thing in the morning, it’s just starting to get light. I coined a phrase about seven or eight years ago, even when there’s nothing to see, I can see everything. And that’s kind of my kind of how I felt my mindset was at that time because you’re so in the moment of looking for something or just enjoying the stuff that’s around you. And because it’s so quiet generally at that time of the morning, but you know that just around the next corner, there could be a herd of elephant, there could be a lion, there could be just about anything. And that means that you’re concentrating on the moment and you’re not worried about did you get that email or what’s happening here or work or whatever else. So how I kind of distill that now and take that to other people to give them the opportunity to experience that is kind of what I’m working on.
Sam: Okay, that makes sense.
Marcus: I mean, it’s just worth pointing out the obvious for balance here in that you don’t necessarily need to go to Africa or to long exotic countries to capture wildlife photography.
I mean, you’re based in the UK, aren’t you, David? So maybe just for our listeners who want to get into wildlife photography, maybe you can talk a bit about how you can do it, let’s say in your own back door and your own back garden, as it were.
David: Yeah, absolutely. I think, yeah, you’re absolutely right. I mean, I’ve been fortunate over the years to go out there a number of times. And that’s because, as we were saying earlier, the bug bit me particularly hard and it’s something that I love so much that I always choose to do that. But the UK itself has some amazing opportunities to do wildlife photography. And like you say, right on your doorstep. I mean, notwithstanding the fact that you can just create a kind of a wildlife haven in your own garden just by hanging up a bird feeder or something like that. And then potentially, if you really get into the idea of photography and want slightly different photos than just sort of birds on bird feeders, just have a log next to it or something so that maybe that’s held up in the air on an old fork or a broomstick or whatever. I mean, we’ve all seen the picture of a robin on the top of a fork that’s in the garden. You could just create or have a branch of a tree and then set your camera up so when the bird comes on there, before it goes onto the bird feeder, you’ve got a natural perch for it to be on that you can actually take a picture of. So you can do that from your garden or as I did certainly during lockdown was just taking the opportunity each day to get out in nature and just take pictures of whatever’s out there. There’s flowers, there’s trees, there’s all kinds of patterns and things that emerge. And whether it’s in the middle of winter when you’ve got maybe snow and snowdrops or whether it’s in the height of summer and you’ve got a lovely sunset over a lake, that’s all the kind of stuff that you can do. And from a mindful viewpoint and a wellbeing viewpoint, it’s obviously well documented that the four walls get too much after a while. So you need to get out and experience something different.
Sam: Yeah, and I’m thinking you’ve talked about two things there. One is those birds and catching the animals, which is obviously very, very different technique to the landscape, isn’t it? Because you’re doing the landscape, you’ve got time to think, you’ve got time to fray while the birds is much more being able to react instantly. And in some ways you were saying you maybe don’t want lots of pictures of bird feeders, but in some ways, is that a great way to hone your skills? Whether you’re about to go out on safari or go out to a nature reserve, if you put the hours in with the bird feeder, and even if nobody else sees them, but you’ve seen them or find them, you’ve suddenly, you’re developing that skill of being able to, in an instant, work out where that bird’s going and how to get the best angle and so on.
David: Yeah, absolutely, Sam. You’re absolutely right. I mean, I think the one big tip or lesson that I would give anyone who was thinking about getting more into wildlife photography or honing their wildlife photography, if they already do some, or if they’re a professional photographer, doing some other type of photography, whether it be commercial photography or wedding photography or whatever, that opportunity to do that, but it’s just to practice and practice and practice. Any of us who are photographers know the first headshot we take or the first picture of food that we take or whatever it is, the first pictures we take of something are never going to be as good as when we’ve practiced for two or three years. And it’s exactly the same with wildlife. And I think the first time that I started using more pro gear and longer lenses and things like that, there were so many things I didn’t know that by the time I went back to Africa the third time with all the new kit and stuff, I was so much better. My pictures were so much better. I mean, the pictures behind me that you can see, which potentially we can put in a gallery somewhere or whatever so people can see what we were talking about. But some of these images are much more recent. The ones from further back, a lot of those, whilst I like them because they’re memories of that occasion and that’s what photos are for primarily for us as individuals is to remind us of situations, to hone it down to something where somebody looks at it and goes, wow, that’s amazing. How did you capture that? That takes an awful lot of practice.
And it never surprises me that the people who win Wildlife Photographer of the Year are those photographers who spend literally months every year out in Africa because I know that I have the skills to capture those photos. But if I’ve never seen that moment before, you can’t have any chance of possibly capturing it. Do you know what I mean?
Marcus: Sure, but I was just thinking when you mentioned the Wildlife Photography Awards, which is incredibly a popular event. And I know to my hometown Bristol every year for like three months in a main gallery, it’s got people queuing up for it. Very popular. But there was one winner recently that was actually of a fox. I didn’t even know the picture.
Sam: Yeah, I know the one.
Marcus: It was shot at night. Yeah, it was shot at night with a flash and it was actually in Bristol. You know, I don’t keep harking on about this, but you don’t necessarily need to travel. It’s there on your doorstep and you can do it in innovative ways. You don’t just need long lenses. You can do it with flash, etc.
David: Absolutely, yeah. And I think, yeah, you’re absolutely right there. I think one, you don’t need to go. You don’t need to have fancy kit and that’s been proven. But also as a professional photographer said to me probably five, six, seven years ago, you know, a really excellent picture of some animal or some view or whatever is better than the one that you were trying to get that you can’t get in the right way. So in other words, if you’re only interested in getting an amazing 10 out of 10 picture of a lion, but all the lions are laying down sleeping at the time. But then as we were talking about lilac breasted rollers earlier on, the lilac breasted roller turns up and lands on a branch behind you. And, you know, you can, you get a great picture of that. You’re actually better off coming away with that than a picture of a sleeping lion, because that doesn’t, it might tell a story, but it doesn’t, it doesn’t tell the whole story if that makes sense. It’s the same as this idea of going out and finding foxes.
I’m sorry, Sam.
Sam: I said, yeah, the wildlife doesn’t come to your schedule, does it? Yeah, you just have to, yeah, you might go with that thing in mind, but actually you would come away with something completely different wherever you are looking at wildlife because it’s wild and, you know, you might literally be waiting at your bird feeder for a sparrow and you’ve had sparrows every day and you want the perfect sparrow shot and then they’re not there that day, but something else turns up.
David: Yeah, absolutely right. But it’s that honing the skills and then understanding what each one, you know, so yeah, sparrows are often on the ground, you know, same with, you know, robins would tend to want a flat feeding surface. Blue tits and grey tits and that, they basically go on the cling on kind of bird feeders and the cage style ones and things like that. So you’ve got different options. And now there’s a lot of wildlife parks and estates and places now where, and the RSPB’s got some fantastic sites. I was at one in Lincolnshire at Frampton Marsh a few weeks ago and that’s just a great way to be able to kind of hone your skills just by walking around and then just finding an opportunity and then just kind of standing still for a while, you know, whether that’s five minutes, 10 minutes or even an hour, you know, just because things, as you say, wildlife does stuff at their own pace. So, you know, it’s really interesting just to watch and observe and understand and also just to let them just, you know, engage with their own natural habitat and stuff. And that’s when you pick the great shots, the behaviour shots and that type of thing. So, yeah, it is really important. But Marcus, you’re absolutely right. It’s, there’s lots that you can do in the UK and they don’t have to be ones in wildlife parks, but they can be. And that’s also a good way of honing your skills.
Marcus: Yeah, so indeed.Oh, sorry, Sam. Oh, thank you. Yeah, indeed, David. And now we’ve just established that. Let’s talk about the exotic. Let’s talk about the bucket list.
So you’re starting to put together experiences, I believe. Maybe you could tell me what it’s like to be on a wildlife safari with yourself.
David: Yeah, the danger is this will go on for four hours now. This is my absolute passion subject. But yeah, I think it’s almost impossible to explain to somebody what it’s like the first time you go out in a safari vehicle. If you’ve never been to Africa and you’ve never been on those kind of safaris, I mean, people have maybe done drive throughs here in this country.
You’ve got woven and places like that where you can do drive throughs. You’ve got the wildlife parks that you can walk through. Yorkshire Wildlife Park is a good example, which has got lots of really quite exotic animals and stuff there. But there’s nothing like getting up at five o’clock in the morning, getting in a truck and then going out. It’s almost dark. The sun just starts coming up. The first thing is that the sun rises and the sunsets in Africa are just amazing. They’re just like nothing else on earth. So that first thing in the morning, when you start feeling that warmth of the sun on your face is the first thing. And that whole thing of, again, like I said earlier on, being out in the middle of nowhere and maybe there might be a few birds flying around or whatever, but you can’t really hear anything. There isn’t really anything to see yet. You’ve come out of the lodge. You’re driving up the first track and you come around the corner and then yeah, there could be a herd of elephants or something like that. And then you’re just into the whole, you know, what are they up to? Have they got any youngsters? You know, it’s just such a, I can’t, I said it to somebody the other day. It’s kind of quite primeval. It’s almost like taking you right back to when we were in caves and stuff. It’s a really kind of surreal situation, although it is obviously 100% real. I mean, that’s the thing about going to these reserves and stuff in Africa is that literally that they are, you know, hundreds and thousands of square miles worth of just open bushland or savannah or whatever, depending on where you go. And it’s just that, you know, it takes a while for it to sink in. The fact that of where you are, you are in literally the wildest kind of African places that you can be. And it’s just an absolutely stunning kind of scenario. And then when you get into the more interesting elements, not interesting, the bigger elements of sort of like the cats and stuff, so like lions and cheetahs and leopards and stuff like that, it’s seeing a leopard for the first time in the wild. I mean, it was just, for me, it was just absolutely one of the things that I was desperate to see. And, you know, I never tire of getting the opportunity to see them in the wild. And at the same time, so watching and observing them, but also then thinking in my mind as to what kind of picture I would ideally like to get. But as Sam said earlier on, you know, they don’t work to your schedule, you know? So if there’s a, you know, if there’s a leopard, you know, up in a tree sleeping or whatever, and there’s a branch in the way of it, then you’re not going to get the shot that you, you know, the nice, you know, face on shot. Or if it doesn’t open its eyes, you don’t get that shot. So it’s, but patience is one of the things that I’ve learned over the years of being on safari is that you just literally have to sometimes just sit there. And I’ve sat outside of a hyena den for over an hour in the hope that something would pop its head out, you know, and literally nothing happens. But actually there’s loads, there’s always other animals coming around.
There’s always birds all around, particularly if it’s later in the day and it’s, you know, it’s warmed up and everything’s a bit more active, then there’s always something to take a picture of. And it’s then about honing your skills and that at that moment.
Sam: Yeah. So, I mean, I think I’d, so I live in Mozambique, so I’m actually quite close to Kruger and some other safari places. So, yeah, I think one of the things is where it’s different to the wildlife in the UK. I think it’s something primeval is it’s so big, the wildlife. You can go in the UK and you see the rabbits and the hares and there are some deer that are quite big and that’s quite stunning. But when you’re looking at stuff and actually this thing could kill you or if it’s an elephant, it’s so much bigger than you. That’s quite true. You know, it’s not just you taking an interest. It’s kind of you’re at a more fundamental level. You’re kind of body going, I need to keep a bit of an eye on this thing because this is, you know, this is big and this can do me some harm.
David: Yeah. And I’ve had some amazing experiences, you know, like, you know, being in a truck and surrounded by 30 or 40 elephants as they walk down a dry riverbed and you’re in a vehicle in the middle of that dry riverbed. And, you know.
Sam: They can topple it, can’t they? If they want to.
David: Yeah, they can topple the vehicle if somebody does something that startles them or whatever. And there’ve been lots of stories of an elephant will just turn around and turn its head and can knock the vehicle over just by doing, you know, just by bashing its head on the side of the vehicle. You know, it’s kind of, it’s quite scary in that sense. But, you know, the drivers and the guides that you use, the people of all the places I’ve been to, one, they’re incredibly knowledgeable, two, some of them actually, and it’s quite bizarre, but I was in one place where the driver of the vehicle actually knew the particular matriarch elephant that was in front of us. And she was in the road in front of us, looking directly at him. And he literally put his arm up to make a trunk type movement and almost to say hello. And she did the same thing back. And then she just wandered off. And then we drove forward. And it was just literally the most surreal thing I’ve ever seen. And they do know the animals so well. They know them by sight because of the fact that they’re out there so much. And that, again, enhances the guest experience. And for me, I just, I’m just really keen for other people to be able to experience that. I think the big issue with safaris and things is that in this day and age, everyone’s so busy. People might have, Marcus talked about bucket lists and stuff. If you’ve got a safari on your bucket list, they’re jeeping to it. So you’d be a busy professional. You’ve got this idea of going on safari at some point, but you do a search on a Saturday morning for safaris and where should I go and all that sort of thing. And then 375 pages later worth of stuff, you’re just so confused of which article do you read? What do you believe? When should you go? All that kind of stuff that it almost makes it one of those things where you don’t ever want to make a mistake on where should I go in Africa to see the things that I want to see that you then don’t end up doing it because I know the first times that I went after I went out there when my uncle was out there was just that whole thing of, you know, should it be this lodge? Should it be that lodge? Should it be in this desert? Am I going to see leopard? Am I going to see this? Am I going to see, you know, and it’s and you just get to the point where you’re so confused by it all.
You know, that for me is, you know, utilizing the experience I’ve had of, you know, over kind of like 30 years since I, you know, since I first went is kind of that bit of, you know, helping people, you know.
Sam: Definitely. And then so we are starting to run out of time, but there was one more thing I just wanted to mention. So I think for a lot of people, they’re imagining that this is going to be incredibly expensive. And imagine, you know, you’re going to go back to your luxury tent that’s going to be huge. And there’s going to you’re going to be sitting G&Ts.
And there are, of course, safaris like that where you can spend as much as you like. And it will be a stunning experience, but it costs a lot. But there are also a lot if you do some research and you look, you can also do it for a much, much, much more realistic budget for most people, can’t you?
David: Yeah, absolutely. And I think I think it’s true in any situation of any kind of purchase, whether you’re purchasing a phone or whether you’re purchasing a car or whether you’re purchasing a safari, it depends the level of the bells and whistles that you want. And actually purchasing a camera as well. You know, they all fundamentally do the same thing. I think the thing that I’ve learned over time is that, you know, it’s the it’s the location that is the most important thing, because that is where the wildlife is. The wildlife doesn’t turn up in front of your truck because you’re staying in the six star lodge that costs two thousand pounds a night versus the one that’s four hundred pounds a night. It’s. Do you know what I mean? It’s it basically that elephant is the same elephant that when you’re out and about, you see the trucks from different lodges and stuff and, you know, that’s the luxury lodge and that’s the tented camp, which I’ve never found anything at whatever price level. I’ve never found anything that I would class as anything other than luxurious. Anyway, even when I’ve been in like the canvas style large tents that they have, they tend to most of them have a proper shower, albeit solar paneled shower. They tend to have proper flushing toilets unless you’re on a true mobile camping safari, which have done that and you get a bucket shower and you get a drop toilet. And that’s a completely different experience. But yeah, it’s it’s the element of what is it that you want to see and what’s most important about the experience. If it’s luxury spas and swimming pools and six star service, then there’s a premium to be paid for that. But actually, if you’re in the middle of Africa, the idea of having a piece of thick tenting material between you and the hyena that’s on the outside, it’s quite an interesting, you know.
Sam: I was discussing somebody who was at the at a park and at one stage they had to stop using the bar because a group of lion cubs had taken up under the bar stool. So nobody could go near the bar because it wasn’t very safe.
David: Yeah, I’ve been at places where you’ve had lions in camp or you’ve had leopards in camp or whatever. So, yeah, it’s but it is the most amazing experience. And there’s lots to suit all budgets. I think it’s that.
Sam: Yeah, that’s it. You could fly to South Africa, hire a camper van, drive around and stay in a campsite. You could drive yourself around Krug and you could do that for a really, really low price. There’s all sorts of options. Cool. That has been amazing, David. We could sit and now we mean David could sit here and chat about wildlife like we often do for a long time. But we are running out of show time. So thank you for being with us, David. Lots for people to think about there, both photographing wildlife in the UK and thinking about those trips abroad. That’s brilliant.
David: Absolutely. Thank you. My pleasure for being on.
Sam: No problem, David. If you want. Well, not if you want, you must want to always get shoot to the top in your inbox. And to get that, you need to sign up to the mailing list. Nice and easy to do. Go to the website. Shoot to the top dot com. Once you are there, sign up to the mailing list. Then every single episode will arrive in your inbox and you won’t miss them.
You also get hints and tips from Marcus and I, a chance to be a guest, as David has been previews of old shows and all sorts of things. So, yes, you definitely want to sign up. Shoot to the top dot com and join the mailing list. Thank you so much, David and Marcus. I’ll see you next week.
Marcus: See you next week, Sam.
