The pressures of content creation in wildlife photography
In today’s world, a lot of people are sharing their passions and creativity online, with the chance to make a living from it. Whether it is writing stories or blogs, creating art or products to sell, or showing content through photography or videography. It is clear from the start that whatever you are passionate about and want to share, there are potentially thousands of others doing the same thing and it can become a competitive world that you find yourself in. There is also the pressure in social media to share content continuously, and to contend with the often irritating algorithms, to build and grow an engaging audience.
Looking at images and watching video content of other wildlife photographers worldwide who have amazing wildlife encounters on almost every outing, other photographers, myself included, can often feel deterred from sharing content that isn’t as amazing or exciting. As a result, over time I developed the mindset that I need to find exciting moments with wildlife each time I go out with my camera. But this could come at the cost of the welfare of the animal, and it is those moments where I put the animal’s safety and welfare first over getting the image. I would much rather leave the species in a relaxed and comfortable state, rather than push more into their space and ultimately put the animal at risk of stress or injury. It can become easy for one to feel the urge to get closer for a better image, but having respect for the wildlife we live alongside is greater than getting the image.
When it comes to posting content regularly, is it important to note that in reality, most often with photographing wildlife, not every day will be a successful photography day. A lot goes on behind the scenes that is not frequently shared or talked about by most photographers, such as going to a location multiple times across several weeks with little to no success, or when bad weather results in canceled trips. Staying committed to a project might mean extending the time frame of when to publish content (with the reasons above being good examples in wildlife photography) and it is something to keep in mind, especially for anyone who wants to do weekly content. Scheduling posts always helps to keep a regular stream of content on your social media pages, and I have also found it helpful to record B-roll footage of nature scenes I find, even if I don’t have my camera on me, to potentially use for future video content which then avoids recording loads of footage in one go and ending up with a dead camera battery — I have experienced this multiple times!
While I enjoy sharing my wildlife stories and content, I try to avoid becoming too fixated on the number of likes or shares I get in comparison to others, and remind myself why I started to share my work in the first place — to share the natural world through my lens. Anyone who is looking to go viral and is more focused on the number of views and followers, then it could be seen that those people are not fully focused on the ethical side of their field of work. I also tell myself that it is better to be authentic with my content, rather than copy-and-paste what other photographers are doing or repeat certain trends that only last a few weeks at best. While inspiration from other photographers and videographers can help, such as how to approach a certain subject, just remember that you are as unique as the images you take.
If I am to offer any tips or advice for those looking to share their images or videos on YouTube (for any theme, not just wildlife photography!), it would be to create a schedule that works for you; decide and plan your content and also how and when you share it once you’re happy with what you’ve created. Algorithms change frequently so it is not guaranteed that your content will be pushed as far as other forms of content, but I often avoid following trends in algorithms if it meant to change my content style which I might not be comfortable with doing. As I mentioned before, I would rather be authentic with the content I share and what I talk about in my videos, than change aspects about myself or the topic for the sake of becoming ‘viral’.
To end this post, I read a tip from landscape photographer and YouTuber Thomas Heaton that has helped to change my mindset when it comes to creating videos alongside showing my images. The line that stuck with me was this:
You must distinguish between what is a photo shoot and what is a video shoot.
This mindset has helped me to better plan my time out with my camera. By saying to myself ‘This is a video shoot’, I won’t just be considering what the main topic in my photography will be, but also how to best show my process and experience to the audience through the content I want to record, and eventually put it all together in an engaging and informative video.
You can read his whole blog post here — https://thomasheaton.co.uk/should-all-photographers-do-youtube/
