Up Close and Personal

Article and Images by Rick A. Brown

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Editors Note: Please do not take this article to mean that we at Nature Photographer or Rick are advocating the use of wider lenses to make wildlife images that would either threaten the safety of the wildlife or the photographer. In the Phoenix area, several people have been photographing baby raptors in the nest with wide angle lenses and getting way too close to the animals. The resultant images are never worth the damage that could possibly be done to the subject. Please use your good sense when employing the techniques discussed below. Life is hard enough in the wild without us adding to the problems these creatures must endure. LB

Look around you at all the various media that publish wildlife photos, and you will see that the vast majority of wildlife images are taken with long telephotos, 300mm or longer. Most readers will recognize that this is largely out of necessity, as wildlife will rarely tolerate a closer approach. However, I have observed that many photographers avoid using shorter lenses even when the wildlife is doing the approaching and is approaching to within 35mm range. This is a shame, because, a wider variety of wildlife photos can be made if the photographer is open to using shorter lenses. Starting at around 210mm and working on down to 24mm, the wildlife photographer enters a new world. A unique type of intimacy with the subject is possible under these circumstances, when you can have a relatively large subject, as well as much of the animal’s surroundings.

My first exposure to these possibilities happened by accident. I had been very busy pursuing publication, representation by a stock agency etc., when a kind reviewer at a stock agency informed me that she felt a large part of my problem was the lens I was using for wildlife work. She said that most of my imagery was tack sharp but my wildlife images weren’t. She deduced from this strict dichotomy that I must have a problem with my lens and I was using an inexpensive 400mm at the time. I was planning a trip through Colorado and was supposed to leave in a couple of weeks. I decided not to use my 400mm during this trip, based on her letter, if I wouldn’t be able to sell any of the images made with this lens why spend hundreds on developing the images. This meant that my longest lens for the trip was a 70–210mm zoom. I was convinced that I would not be able to get a single wildlife image.

Was I wrong! There weren’t as many opportunities available as there would have been with a long lens; just could not get close enough sometimes. However, many opportunities for great wildlife images did present themselves. Yellowbelly Marmots, Least Chipmunks, Clark’s photographers that this sort of intimate photography was possible. In fact, one of the marmots I was photographing approached another tourist and chewed on her shoes. Furthermore, most of these images had an intimate feel that just wouldn’t have happened with a longer lens. It is amazing to look at images of wildlife with a huge expanse of mountains as a backdrop.

Today, I continue to use this method when possible. During my recent trip to Midway, the opportunities for this type of photography were the highlight of the trip for me. Photographing an albatross with a 35mm zoom and watching as the bird continues to approach until it starts to pull on my hat is truly a thrill that I will never forget. Now, having said this, I must also say that you shouldn’t expect this kind of opportunity to present itself often and I would never push this situation with a wild animal; I ask that you don’t either. This means that when the opportunity does present itself, that it’s all the more important to take advantage of it. You wouldn’t want to miss a life altering experience and the special images that accompany it, just because you’re fixated on your long lens, now would you?

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