Misery of a Wildlife Photographer

A couple of years ago I started carrying a camera with me when I worked in the field. I was in a new place, with many new species that I had never been exposed to and I felt the desire to document everything I saw. While this may have been a thorn in the side of my co-workers, always waiting for me to capture the perfect shot, it opened up a new world for me. This is how I was brought into the world of birds.  I spent most mornings on the beach around dawn, taking pictures of anything and everything I saw. Of course 80% of what I saw were new bird species. So I took the time to analyze every photo, slowly figuring out what each bird was and committing it to memory as best I could. This developed into what many might call a sickness, the birding bug. Symptoms include use of Merlin, eBird, and always lugging a fat camera around.

Taking pictures of birds out on the beach, while not exactly easy, is completely different than trying to take pictures of birds in dense forest. Here in the jungles of Ecuador, my camera would rather focus on every leaf and twig in frame than on the bright beautiful bird a couple of layers back. When I FINALLY get the focus right, the bird is usually gone. Although frustrating at times, it does make it that much more satisfying when you do capture the bird you’ve been chasing for 15 mins. Or 15 days. Or 15 weeks.

This is a struggle that every wildlife photographer faces. For every amazing shot you get, with the perfect framing, focus, and light, there’s about a million blurry photos of bird butts or empty sticks.

Here are some of my favorite shots from the past couple weeks. The hummingbirds are always fun to try and shoot. Their speed and jumpiness makes them particularly challenging, but their brilliant colors and flashes of iridescence make it all worth it.

On the flip side here are some of my best worst misses. It often feels like the birds are teasing me. They sit and sit and sit, then as soon as I pull my camera out, they’re gone. They like to lure me in, posing on the perfect branch, with the sun hitting them just right. I get my camera up, I get the focus just right, and it seems like just as I pull the trigger they move. This does mean I have quite the portfolio of perfectly shot sticks, of beautiful leaves, of fluffy white clouds and empty sky.

I have found a new obstacle here, which I have not had to face in earnest before. Foggy lenses. DUN DUN DUN. Despite living and working in sub-tropical ecosystems before, I have never had such a severe problem with foggy lenses! Instead of sharp, bright photos, I get cloudy and obscured. Around the Cabana is usually fine, but hiking further up into the cloud forest is a sure way to test your grit and patience as a photographer. There are certain species of wildlife that are only found at these higher elevations and it is infuriating to see something rare but not be able to get a clear shot.

This post serves as a warning to any photographers wishing to visit the reserve. Bring an abundance of patience. Exercise your ability to stay still within a swarm of mosquitoes. Pack an extra sense of humor, you’ll need it. Most important of all don’t forget an appreciation of blurry bird butts and near perfect photos. You’ll have a lot. And even if they aren’t the photos you show off to everyone you meet (as us photographers are prone to do), they will still serve as a reminder of your adventure in the jungle and all the hard work you put in to document it.