How to Photograph Urban Wildlife: According to an Award Winner
I spoke to the Natural History Museum's Wildlife Photographer of the Year lumix People's Choice Award winner Sam Rowley about the importance of urban wildlife photography, how you can, and why you should, get involved, and why he wouldn’t recommend spending your nights lying on a London underground station platform surrounded by mice and the general public.
Photo by Christian Mackie on Unsplash
Wildlife photography
My own experiences of wildlife photography have involved wading through mud to photograph birds and primates in Peru, having sticks thrown at me by an orangutan I had been (unsuccessfully) hiding from in Borneo, and surprisingly, after all of these exotic travels, having a picture of two deer in my local park as my first print publication.
Wildlife photography is a very competitive, often challenging, but highly rewarding field of photography, and the payoff for perseverance, passion and talent can be huge. I caught up with this years Natural History Museum's Wildlife Photographer of the Year LUMIX People's Choice Award winner Sam Rowley to get his take on wildlife photography, discover how he captured his winning urban wildlife photography shot and see what advice he has for anyone interested in photographing urban wildlife.
‘As soon as I picked up a camera, [getting people excited about wildlife] suddenly became a lot easier’
Sam, a researcher for the BBC’s Natural History Unit, began his wildlife photography career at the same time I began my career in memorising Gwen Stefani lyrics; when he was ten years old. Sam ‘always had an interest in wildlife and the natural world’, which led to a determination to get his friends and family as excited about wildlife as he was, ‘as soon as I picked up a camera, it suddenly became a lot easier’.
Urban Wildlife Photography
Sam Rowley’s winning photo for the Wildlife Photographer of the Year’s LUMIX People's Choice Award depicts two mice battling over a dropped crumb late at night on a London underground station platform with the same fervour that people around the world are currently battling over toilet paper (I’m looking at you, anonymous Tesco lady). Wildlife photographers often face challenges when photographing wildlife for a variety of reasons, such as an animal’s elusive nature, fast movement or the fact they will categorically never position themselves how you want them to. While there isn’t any shortage of mice in the tunnels under London, photographing urban wildlife came with its own challenges for Sam.
Station Squabble by Sam Rowley - Winner of the 2019 Natural History Museum’s LUMIX People's Choice Award.
‘It was pretty humiliating, especially since everyone else was drunk other than me so that was even worse’. Late night commuters stumbling down to the underground after a few too many post-work beverages (can relate) would find Sam Rowley lying on the ground, attempting to photograph mice as they crept out of their daytime hiding places to snatch up crumbs dropped from Gregg’s sausage rolls during the day. The intrigued general public would often scare away the mice as they struck up a conversation regarding Sam’s unusual position, who would then have to politely terminate the conversation and get back to work. He is probably now very well-equipped for bar tending, as well as wildlife photography.
To my surprise, Sam revealed that he hadn’t been trying to capture the photo specifically for this competition, but instead took the photos three years ago when he became interested in the story of these permanent underground dwellers and their daily fight for survival (most of us can barely survive a ten minute tube ride in summer, let alone an entire lifespan down in commuter hell). So why did he wait until now to submit? Initially, being only relatively happy with the images, he shelved them.
It may be confusing now that he didn’t originally see the promise of this clearly fantastic image, but he wasn’t alone. He entered the same photograph into the British Wildlife Photography Awards and not only did it not win, it didn’t even make it through the preliminary judging rounds. This experience should serve as reassurance to budding wildlife photographers experiencing rejection; that what could be an award winner (beating 48,000+ images) in one competition could generate little interest in another.
Photo by Erik Mclean on Unsplash
Beginner Wildlife Photography
Starting out in wildlife photography or wildlife filmmaking can feel intimidating. TV documentaries show equipment worth thousands of pounds being lugged around, and productions on YouTube as well as photos on social media appear to be ever-increasing in their levels of quality and complexity. So what do you do if you want to share your passion for nature but you’re broke? Sam says; you don’t need expensive equipment, particularly not for urban wildlife photography.
Beginner Urban Wildlife Photography
Animals in urban environments are more comfortable around people than their wild counterparts, meaning they are easier to spot and you can get a little closer (but not too close, they are still wild animals. Definitely don’t try to pet deer in Richmond park if you don’t want to receive a lecture on the park rules from a boring blonde weirdo (me)). This means that you can photograph them with basic equipment, such as a phone or cheap camera, and still get fantastic results. Technology has advanced so much in recent years, that even the most basic photography equipment can produce clear and high-quality images. Wildlife photography is as much about storytelling as it is technique, as has been emphasised by Sam’s recent win, so use your imagination and find the unusual in the everyday.
So why get involved in urban wildlife photography anyway? Sam sums it up perfectly;
‘Over half of people in the world live in urban areas and a lot of those won’t see more than maybe a pigeon, a mouse, or a rat on a daily basis… these are the kind of encounters that people have and these are the kind of encounters that we need people to get excited about or they’re going to lose that connection with the natural world.’
So if you have a desire to share your passion for nature, access to a camera, and the ability (or stomach) to lie on a train platform floor, dress up as a pigeon and become one with the flock, or rummage through the bins of Pret a Manger with foxes*, then get stuck in and photograph urban wildlife. With an enormous amount of information on wildlife photography skills and techniques available for free online (I have listed some of my favourite resources at the end of this article), there has never been a better time to start your journey with wildlife photography.
Have you taken any wildlife photos? Are you inspired to start? Let me know and link to any images in the comments! I’d love to see them.
*You don’t actually need to do any of these things, please don’t rummage through bins.
This is one of my many personal wildlife photography attempts, you can view more at @forestladysteph on Instagram. This was taken on a Canon Powershot at London Wetland Centre. The pigeons love each other very much.
Beginners wildlife photography resources
Nature TTL - Offers a wealth of fantastic free online nature photography tutorials, I highly recommend!
Discover Wildlife - Has a subsection devoted to finding and photographing different types of wildlife.
Outdoor Photographer - Plenty of articles on wildlife photography, including kit recommendations.