The Dark Side of Wildlife Photography in India
Disclaimer: This is not to point fingers at anyone, but seeing a few things done in the name of getting a perfect frame, I thought they had to be addressed.
Wildlife photography began as a genre to document the wildlife in the region and their habitats. In the earlier days, the core idea was to document the diverse wildlife and their behavior. Then it evolved into an art form apart from being just documentation. Even today, the photographers' works help researchers in collecting species data(even though that wasn't the intention while capturing). The issue was discussed in detail in this art
Painted a glamourous View:
Instagram user growth in multifold over the last few years made wildlife photography a popular genre among youngsters. Accessibility to gears being no limitation for photographers, now wildlife photography became a glamorous hobby. I am not complaining, I understand any exposure the wildlife gets, its better for the conservation. But the problem comes when photography without understanding the subject does more harm than good.
Photography without understanding wildlife
This is a common thing you see in the field. People making no effort to understand the species. It's one thing being a new photographer and making mistake, which is acceptable, but it is another thing just photographing without understanding the species.
Ask any great photographers, not just of wildlife, how to make a great photograph. The answer always will be "understand the subject", wildlife is not an exception for it. Without understanding the subject, photographers end up disturbing the habitat or subject just to capture one photograph.
I am pretty sure, You can think of at least one safari or wildlife trip where someone photographed with the flash on or someone keeps talking loudly even when inside the woods.
Keeping Photography First
I started my journey in wildlife photography because I love to document. I saw wildlife photography as my way of document pieces of information through photographs and videos for future generations to come. But the more I get into it, the lesser I travel with groups. Because there will always be someone who would go to any extreme extend to photograph. So, I prefer to travel with a very limited number of people. Even when we bring people for photography workshops, the first session is on how to act in the field while photographing subjects.
I understand as a wildlife photographer, you always want to capture an interesting frame. But, it is better if you understand the subject well and get closer to them than disturbing the species, you end up posting as "beautiful creatures" on social media.
For eg: If you see a green vine snake with an aggressive look in its natural habitat, trust me that snake has been through a considerable amount of torture.
Handling Wildlife for a Photoframe
That leads to the next point, handling of species to get a good looking photograph. "Handling" means manhandling the subject to fit the frame. I have come across situations where photographers,
- Picking up a snake and placing it in appealing branch/rock so it looks good in the photograph.
- Geckos/Crabs are picked up and dipped in water, so they look shiny in the photograph.
- Parking safari vehicles to block wildlife, so can take close up shots.
These are few things but there are worse things that are done in order to achieve a good looking frame. So next time when you look at a perfect frame of a snake or any wild species, just be aware that, there is a small chance that the species went through torture to look pleasing to your eyes.
I have also come across moments when peer photographers/naturalists point out that the handling (especially by an amateur) is wrong, replied with "Well, this is just one specimen, it won't do any harm for the species".
In the early days, It was very hard to see a photographer handle species to capture a perfect frame. But when the new photographers see another popular photographer handling the species, they start to think it is normal. And THAT leads to a problem.
Playing Calls to attract Birds/Amphibians
Most of the species use calls as their method of communication. So, photographers use recorded calls to attract them to get close up images. This can be very disturbing for the birds/animals/amphibians, as they depend on sounds when they look for a mate. So playing calls just to get a close-up image can deceive the species. Even though that practice is widely frowned upon in south India, it is a very common practice in the North and Eastern India bird photographers. I was surprised to see even the forest guides making calls in the wild, to get the attention of tigers, so the photographers can get a good photograph.
The commercialization of "Perfect Shots"
This is not an intentional effort by popular photographers but when they capture a perfect frame, it gets a lot of attention. But in the Instagram & attention obsession world, people try to capture the exact frame. It has become a common practice among wildlife photo tour operators, offering a perfect frame. What this means is if there are 10 photographers, the organizer will handle the species so every 10 participant gets one frame they can put up on social media. And that is the problem.
Few examples:
1. The aggressive look of a Green Vine snake: Again this is not to point every photographer with the kind of images handled the snake, but the chances are high. We recently witnessed a naturalist (that's how he introduced) trying to feed a frog to a snake, so the participants can get an aggressive frame. Ridiculous it may sound, it is true.
2. The Perfectly perched pit viper: The same applies here. It is not hard to get a pit viper on a clear perch. Most of the cases you do. But taking them and placing it another place so you can have a clear background on a wide-angle shot is pushing too much. I have seen people tapping mildly on top of their head for a while, so they can look aggressive.
3. Crabs with their Claws up: Same here, You pick a crab from its habitat and place it somewhere, it will get aggressive. But doing that so that the claws will look pretty in the photograph is torture.
But, why am I writing this blog?
You can obviously ask me, "Can you swear that you never harmed a species?". No, I cannot. I have never intentionally, knowingly harmed a species. In the early days, I used to shoot with flash when I was shooting frogs and snakes. When I was informed about how continuous/stong lights can impact the eyes of the species, I reduced using light directly to the eyes of the subjects and stopped using flash completely.
The idea of the blog is not to point fingers at someone but to tell new peer photographers, that perfect photograph at the cost disturbing the wildlife means nothing. Try to enjoy the wildlife and understand their behavior, when the opportunity presents photograph them. It is NOT normal to handle snakes/other species with no proper training or experience. It is NOT normal to torture a subject to get an aggressive frame. It is definitely NOT okay to removing from their habitat and placing in a photogenic place so your photograph looks beautiful. It is called wildlife, sometimes the image is going to be cluttered, ACCEPT IT. Observe them, the opportunities will present themselves. Just because you saw someone do it, you don't have to do the same.
It is more like a rant, I understand that. But if someone finds this article and decides to change their methods, It is worth it. Thank You
