Ethical Wildlife Photography
What is ethical wildlife photography?
Seemingly, the meaning of ethical wildlife photography varies from person to person.
For one photographer, the use of bait, be it seeds, mealworms, peanut butter or fresh fruit, is an ethical way of getting ‘wild’ close encounters with animals otherwise elusive and tricky to photograph.
For some, the relocating of an animal, more typically reptiles or amphibians, onto a perch more photogenic for better photography, is ethical.
My background in Zoology & Conservation makes it difficult for me to consider feeding or moving animals for photography ethical.
If animals become reliant upon a feeding station which cannot be maintained, the species dependent upon this site will eventually suffer as a result.
For me, the best photography is the photography that is most removed from the subject.
Minimal impact and minimal distress.
Yet i can’t deny that the opportunity to photograph toucans on a feeding station in a cloud forest of Costa Rica would be difficult to pass up.
While in Costa Rica I discovered first just how much time you had to put in, walking countless paths in order to capture photographs of these animals in a truly wild environment.
No feeding stations or manipulating of animals were used to capture these images, instead I put in countless hours walking the paths of the Monteverde cloud forest, Cahuita national park & a reserve in the Osa Peninsula before coming away with images I was proud of.
Unfortunately, time is often a limited resource for people visiting these areas and as a result shortcuts are often taken.
Many people who spend thousands of pounds on photography trips to the tropics expect ‘once in a lifetime’ encounters with incredible wildlife, and this can often only be guaranteed by utilising well established feeding stations and hides.
Consider hummingbird photography, for instance.
These birds are the gems of the avian kingdom and among the most photogenic subjects you can capture. The majority of images you see of these creatures are obtained using sugar feeders, which attract various species to an accessible location, allowing you to patiently observe and photograph them for hours rather than only catching fleeting glimpses in the dense forests.
For me there isn’t a simple ethical or not answer, rather it’s a scale in which a lot of faith has to be put in the photographer themselves.
In my mind, the use of sugar feeders leans towards the ethical side of the scale, compared to something like baiting bears outside photography hides with peanut butter or other foods.
Why? I don’t really know, the sugar water feeding stations feels more innocent.
Hummingbirds are well worthy of attention and personally i feel these feeding stations wherever they may be provide an environment in which people beside photographers, who may otherwise not consider themselves birders, can witness first hand how beautiful these birds are.
The use of peanut butter as bait outside a photography hide provides no purpose besides creating opportunity for a photographer to take a better photo, therefore leaning more towards the exploitative side of photography.
Personally i’ve yet to sit in a bear hide to photograph bears, or sit outside a feeding station in the tropics for photographic opportunities so in that sense all my photos could be deemed ‘ethical’.
Moreover i’m sure there are many examples of these activities being completely ethical and good practice, where their presence positively impacts the animals on view and support local conservation efforts.
However,
Where do we stand on the sharing of locations of nesting animals with other photographers, even if the location is a sensitive site and disturbance could result in disturbed nesting.
What about if, through sharing photographs online on sites such as Instagram, people are able to find the nesting site and the above happens regardless.
For me the latter is a constant internal debate that i’ve had since photographing the barn owls at my local barn.
For the past year and a half this sight has been rarely frequented by other photographers and 9 times out of 10 I have this spot to myself.
I am however, frequently asked where this site is and whether people can tag along.
I don’t share locations as a rule, not for selfish reasons and wanting this to be ‘my’ spot but on pretence of protecting the owls. This sight is fairly recognisable to locals distinctive features in the photographs themselves make it a desirable spot to come and take photographs.
I have no doubt that my passion in life is wildlife photography, and sharing the beauty of our planet with others. While doing so i have had reels on Instagram reach millions of people and have amassed a following of 50,000.
Does this mean i am exploiting these barn owls for views?
By definition, exploitation is ‘the action or fact of treating someone unfairly, in order to benefit from their work’.
While photographing these owls, i have done my upmost to ensure my presence has zero impact on their breeding and survival, and i am confident that in this endeavour i have been successful.
If however, my photography reaches the wrong person, or someone who’s definition of ethical photography differs to my own, or the site becomes busy with photographers trying to photograph these owls which leads to a disturbance, does my version of ethical photography develop into exploitation?
I can control my behaviours at this site, but others I have no control over.
I don’t think there’s an easy answer or a one size fits all for this.
For myself, I control as much as I can and encourage the conversation of ethical photography as often as possible.
I enjoy chatting to photographers up at this site and have met a good few local photographers now who are incredibly knowledgeable and good people to have met.
I do struggle however with the idea that my photography may end up having a negative affect on these owls however that may come about if it ever does.
For now, this barn owl season at the barn has come to an end, they’ve successfully raised a clutch of two owlets, one male one female and i’ve been blessed to have had so many incredible encounters up at this barn.
As of writing this blog post they’re still around, but i expect them to be off any day now, at which time the waiting begins for the next season.
I appreciate you taking the time to read my ramblings on this. It feels good to finally have something written down around it and express my thoughts on the matter.
As always, conservation and animal welfare comes first in all the photography i have done and continue to do.
