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IMAGING
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S H O O T E R
dive. Often the best view is found floating
right next to the research boat, sometimes
even hiding underneath. I am most focused
on capturing behavior; I want to be there
while it is happening without interfering
with it. I feel I’ve spent a lifetime waiting
for the action to come to me. This is
probably intuitive, but the main attribute
above or below the surface is patience.
SF//
National Geographic has a different
way of looking at photography, as a
means to tell a story rather than creating
isolated single images. I assume that had
to influence your vision and execution.
FN//
Yes, absolutely. Because all of my
early photography was aimed at getting
published in National Geographic, I had very few rules:
•
Shoot something new, or shoot something old in such an
original way it becomes new again.
•
Get close to the action.
•
Tell a story.
•
Shoot fast enough to stop the action.
•
Keep trying new things. I never wanted to hear National
Geographic’s fabled photo editor Bob Gilka grumble the
crushing words, “Nothing new here.”
The one thing I wanted to do differently was to look whales in the
eye, to shoot them as I would land animals — not just as big shapes
underwater but real portraits of spectacular mammals. I also knew
I was in on a world of groundbreaking ideas and opportunities in
cetacean research, and I wanted to show that. Behavioral insights
and the eyes were most important to me. Then as time went by, I
learned the craft of photography.
SF//
Are you a gear aficionado, always trying the newest and
best underwater photo gear? As difficult as whale photography
is, I assume you’d want technology on your side.
FN//
Photography, especially underwater photography, is very
dependent on equipment. New pictures are often the result of
new gear — wider lenses or ones with a greater zoom capacity.
Yet, I was never very methodical about testing gear; if Littlehales,
Doubilet or Nakamura were happy with something, I knew I’d be
happy. Often my decision about gear was easy; I used whatever I
hadn’t broken yet.
I tried to travel light and keep it simple. As a general rule, if I
spent a hundred days in the field, I’d get only four or five chances
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