Wildlife Photography Community… We Have a Problem 

Thank you for taking the time to share your vent. It was well thought out and has some worthwhile insights. As much as possible I shoot alone and avoid others mostly due to many of the problems you shared.

I haven't really posted much about my experience out in the wilderness photographing, but I can safely say that for every one or two people I see being chill, there is a goof ball being completely ignorant. I think that part of the reason we're seeing a lot of videos about bad etiquette is that there has been a massive influx of people picking up photography during COVID lock downs. Every other time I go out, I run into another photographer who comes up to me while I'm set up taking shots and stands there wanting to talk to me about their gear. Just on my last session, I was sitting quietly waiting for warblers to come down to the creek bed. Up comes this person with a telephoto lens. I hope they just walk by, but they stop and loudly go, "what are you shooting?!" I explained I was waiting for warblers, and then they proceeded to tell me about their R5 and their RF 100-500 lens and how they were going to buy an R5 mark II. They went on, asked about my gear. I indicated it's just an old DSLR with a Sigma lens. They then proceeded to tell me about how I should probably consider buying a mirrorless and went on about how good their lens was. I spent the whole time trying to be tactfully aloof so they'd keep walking along and I could wait for my birds again. I have this conversation everywhere I go now. Even when I show up early, there is someone who just wants to stop and talk shop about their new camera to me. I think it's because I have old gear and they can flex on me and feel superior. When so many of your outings are filled with this nonsense, can you really blame folks for being a bit irate? I agree with you, we don't want to be cancelling, gate keeping, or acting rude, but I do understand why folks are at wits end.

Excellent summary of some challenging topics. I've found that people who attack others do not foster any real solutions..in photography or other topics. Fortunately, most people are genuinely kind and, when offering their own views, do so in a constructive way. I prefer to block people that use the attack and run approach. They offer no benefit to my photography or in my life.

Jeremy, you have made a lot of good points, but I think you overlooked a couple that I think are worth mentioning. Most wildlife photographers on RU-vid, in my humble opinion, overemphasize the importance of gear. The reason is obvious--many of them make a lot of their money (and a lot of views) from videos with gear reviews. The reality is that many of us do not feel a need to change and/or upgrade our gear very often. I drive a 2011 car and use a DSLR of almost the same vintage. By spending so much time on gear reviews, no matter how "objective" they are, influencers intentionally or unintentionally overemphasize the role of gear. (So much of photography is so subjective that many of us do not see a need for "scientific" testing.) With respect to repetitive content, I am not as bothered by it as you seem to be. Influencers are marketing their personality and style along with their content and the same content from different creators may "click" more with some individuals than with others. I am saddened by the fact that others have stolen your ideas and approaches, but that is the reality of operating in a public arena. Car and camera manufacturers face the same basic issue from their competitors, who often imitate features initially put forward by a single company. Our community needs diversity and I think that for the most part we have it, albeit with some issues that you noted.

This was a good conversation. To add to it, I'd say many photographers leave right as the light is getting good because many have other obligations. I normally miss golden hour in the evenings because i have children to get home too. As for sunrise, i dont get that either, as im home during the day with my kids as my wife works during the day. I say this because theres a hundred reasons why photographers dont stay for the best light. Sometimes its because they are tired, cold, etc... But many times, it's time restraint with other obligations. Also, as far as many not getting low, some may not be aware, as that is truly a better inpactful composition. However, we dont know their health or physical abilities either. I agree with alot of your opinions on the youtube photographers. Theres little to no originality anymore. Everyone is teaching the same things over and over, going to the same places, shooting the same subjects, and showing the same gear. It's all the same, just with a different channel name. The miniute one channel sees what works for one, its a copy and paste mentality. All of us content creators are guilty of this. Myself included. How many more youtubers are going to go to Svalbard or point to the back of the camera in their thumbnails, or rent the newest lens or camera to review? In this niche, its all about gear and teaching. That's how you grow a channel. The art of photography, in my opinion, is dying. Not many care about the process and the joy of the art anymore, and that saddens me. Above all, we need genuine authenticity, creators who want to just be different, be themselves, and have some kind of value to give while staying true to ethics in wildlife photography on RU-vid even if they remain a small channel. The problem is its getting difficult to weed through the masses of sharpness tutorials and gear reviews. Which have their place, im all for it, becuse its what the masses want to watch. People dont want to watch someone talk about the art of photography. Its all about the perfect image, lightroom tutorial, or next best gear. Which again, have their place. I think our attitude and morals is much more important to leave a lasting impact in the community. To hold on to the joy of photography in so that We all have something to bring to the table together that we all can learn from and enjoy as unique individuals. Anyway, Good job, Jeremy. Keep up the great work, and you are a wonderful staple to the wildlife photography community.

I agree with you on technical tests, I appreciate that people keep tests to a real life in the field situation but it doesn't fully inform the buyer of the full technical output of the lens. Edge to edge sharpness is impossible to test on a 3D scene because the chances of getting the whole frame in focus at the max aperture is low. Some people test sharpness on a 3D fluffy toy, which is perfectly fine, but i've seen people criticize the sharpness on the edges of the object, they show it gets shaper as you shut the aperture but it's hard to tell if it's because of an increase in depth of field rather than lens sharpness.

Thanks for posting this. I agree with your ethics comment that we should respect each other and discuss differences without being disagreeable over the matter. part of the problem is people assigning far more relevance to RU-vid reviews than they really deserve. Look at a lot of reviews, pick up those points that are pertinent to your photography and go on. Step 1, determine what features are must have, what are nice to have, and which features make zero impact on you. Then see if the various reviews comment on those must have and nice to have. If they drone on about some feature that has no impact for your photography, move on to the next one. Life is short, don't spend any of it listening to drivel that is unimportant to you. Before some troll decides to comment here, I'm not talking about using or learning about new features. An example of what I'm talking about is some maximum number of minutes (or hours) one can shoot video before it overheats. I do not think I have ever shot a video clip more than about 15 minutes continuous. So, if a camera can only record for 30 minutes, that is 2X my norm. Therefore, super long video shooting is not important to me. Given a choice between a person with a positive attitude showing high points or some person spending 15 minutes bashing a camera, lens or brand, I'll take the positive. Nothing wrong with talking about points a person may not like but let's not go too far the other direction to sound like Eeyore all the time.

You made some great points. Wish more people would listen to this!

These problems are interesting, but we have an even bigger problem. Our attitude. What wildlife and nature photography means to 80% of the nature photographers. PHOTO TOURISM. I wrote a comment under one of Dani Connor's Antarctica videos. I'll copy-paste it here. I think this is the biggest problem that we must talk about, and this is the most important thing that the nature (not just wildlife) photographer community should start to work on: "All the nature photographers I follow suddenly travelled to Antarctica. NONE of them talk about that this expedition created an ENORMOUS ecological footprint! (and please don't make a comparison on how big something else creates) And not just this expedition, but all the next ones in the future that YOU influencer nature photographers inspired other photographers to join, and what photo tourism creates every single day! Because you guys inspire / influence people to do the same but don't inspire / TEACH them/us how to compensate the eco footprint. Whose responsibility is it to talk about this? You guys are influencers. In my opinion you are the ones who should start because you are the ones with many followers! And you are the ones who show the beauty of nature. When you show people that wildlife photography is about travelling then you become responsible not only for the eco. footprint that you create, but also for what your followers create by being inspired by your videos. As long as you don't care and do something about this, you are NOT a nature lover. You only care about your own career, business, image and well-being. I believe that I do suffer from eco anxiety! But you know what? It's a consequence of something we do. We use nature, take away from her and give nothing back and it has a consequence. We (who feel this anxiety) are the only ones who feel the rope around our own neck that we put there by ourselves. Talking with a therapist to feel good again is not going to solve the real problem. We will not feel the rope, but it will still be there. The solution - in my opinion - is not talking to therapists (it's still useful though), but solve the problem that causes anxiety. Start to figure out what You, I and every single person in their own lives, every days can do to compensate and inspire them to do the same. How to consume less and more effectively. You already have the power, use it. We must feel the anxiety! We will not change anything without that. It actually scares me that none of these NATURE photographers - who are role models to so many of us - seem to have eco anxiety! This bad feeling is not something we should get rid of. It's trying to tell us something and we should listen. You travelled to Antarctica, got (from nature) beautiful experiences you will never forget, you got new inspirations, new friends, new material to create content, this might bring new subscribers and supporters that can increase your income. Sooo many things you got from nature. Time to give something back! And even if you don't know how to compensate, at least talk about how to be a photographer without making nature pay the price (that we can not avoid paying back, this causes anxiety). Tell the truth about that when you travel to Antarctica, Africa, Costa Rica or wherever to photograph animals and show them to your followers on youtube, you participate even more in destroying nature that you love so much! As long as you don't talk about this, your influential power is rather destructive than constructive. Learn to use this power the right way....if you really love nature."

You just uncovered Canon’s entire business plan

Good points, Jeremy. I face a problem in my opion, that the negatives (not touched) or minor upgrades of new launched product is often not objective enough. In my perspective to often small positives are said to "high" positives. Often a kind of praising is done instead of correct, objective reviewing ... Whats is right and what is wrong is very difficult to say. The own style the highest problem of creating ...

The video thumbnails for your main channel…are pretty good.

A lot of folks have bought cameras and long lenses in the last few years. That just means there’s a lot of folks with cameras and long lenses walking/driving around, not necessarily “photographers” or “artists.” So… they end up shooting down on animals versus at eye level or leaving before the best light is present.

What is this a struggle session?

Let's face it we are all gear freaks

You might want to check out Steve Perry, wildlife photographer and I trust his reviews. He buys his own gear tests and tells you straight

The problem with Photography in general is folks like to stay to much in other folks kitchen. If a person likes the gear they have and don't care to upgrade, well nobody going to knock anyone for that. But oh the Drama anytime anyone voices a desire to buy new and or the latest and greatest. Just because the gear doesn't matter to one person should have ZERO bearing if it means the World to someone else. So folks need to stay out of other folks kitchen. Period.

Tom Mangelsen (Top Wildlife Photographer) uses a tripod faithfully in Yellowstone, are you telling us he is doing it wrong? His photographs are super fantastic, tripod use sure looks great when he uses it. Just stating my opinion.