The Pro Interview
Canon Explorer Markus turned his passion for photographing birds into his career. “I’m doing what I always wanted to do,” he tells David Clark
Find out how bird photographer Markus Varesvuo’s pro career took flight
Photographing birds, as anyone who has tried will know, is difficult to do well. Most wild birds are small, fast-moving and keep their distance from humans. Long lenses and fast shutter speeds are often essential, and photographing them in flight is an art in itself. Patience, determination and knowledge of habitats and behaviour are all vital.
Yet for people with a passion for photographing birds, those challenges make it all the more exciting. The sheer variety of species and behaviour adds further interest to an absorbing and rewarding pursuit.
One of those people is Finnish photographer Markus Varesvuo, who has been fascinated by birds since his childhood and a professional bird photographer since 2005. We talk to him about his career, his influences, his equipment and the challenges of making a living from bird photography today.
Whereabouts were you born and where were you brought up?
I was born in 1960 in Helsinki, Finland. I’ve lived in its eastern suburbs all my life. Helsinki is a coastal city and I’ve never lived far from the sea. The east used to be sparsely populated and had big forests; even now the forest near me is protected, and has the look and feel of an ancient forest. This is where I scoured the shores, cliffs, meadows and forests as a young boy, after treasures that inspired a small boy’s mind, getting to know the natural world around us.
What came first, your interest in bird-watching or photography?
Observing birds came first. I started filling in a notebook at around 10 years of age or so. Some of my friends were similarly minded, and we had free range of the woods behind our homes, to roam and explore.
When did you start taking photos?
I took my first bird photo in 1972, of a pheasant. My father had a good Konica camera and he let me use it. I enjoyed capturing some of the moments of observing birds, and some of their beauty. I think I’ve always found them beautiful, interesting to watch and now also something that I could photograph.
I may always have been more of a photographer than a birdwatcher, although it took years to switch totally from bird-watching to bird photography.
Did other photographers’ work influence you?
Finland has a rich heritage in nature photography, and quite a few pioneers to follow. The big man, in bird photography especially, is Hannu Hautala, whose work was hugely inspiring. He’s also very nice, and willing to share knowledge, which wasn’t always the way with nature photographers – somehow it was seen important to keep one’s shooting locations and knowledge close to heart and not divulge any secrets. Hannu looked at it differently; he was kind to the fledgling photographers. Another photographer who had an impact on me as a photographer is Jorma Luhta. His uncompromising style and technical skills in creating stunning pictures are exemplary.
What work did you do in the early part of your career?
I studied economics at university, majoring in international marketing. Afterwards I worked first at Shell with leasing car sales, then spent a few years as a headhunting consultant before taking up the job of steering our family company started by my father. By that time it was a group of media companies, producing television programmes and commercials, classical music and music videos. After some 15 years as head of the group, we sold the business and I could start living the second part of my life, that of a professional wildlife photographer.
Did you maintain your interest in photographing birds throughout that time?
Yes. Always as a hobby. Raising three boys took some time away from the field
I had promised myself I’d be a full-time bird photographer by the time I turned 40. It took five extra years
but they grow quickly. I was a semiprofessional for quite a few years before turning full-time. So the transition was phased, which was good.
When did you realize you could make a living from photography?
I had promised myself I’d be a full-time professional bird photographer by the time I turned 40. It took five extra years. This was before the digitalization of photography, and just at the start of it, and there was still money to be made in wildlife photography if you were really good, worked hard and had some luck.
Was giving up your career a risk?
Financially yes, but I had built wealth to lean on, which could carry over the start and some rough patches too. With a combination of hard work and luck, and finding good partners to work with, I haven’t had to regret my decision. Otherwise, no risk. I’m now doing what I’ve always wanted to do.
Was your experience in business useful to you as a photographer?
What I learned while studying international marketing and in two decades of working in the business life certainly hasn’t been wasted in my present career. There are photographers out there with real skills and vision, but scant knowledge of how to move their pictures. It never has been easy but these days it’s decidedly hellish to try and make a living in plain photography. And if you have to finance your photography work by guiding or giving workshops, you lose time and energy sorely needed in wildlife and nature photography. The effort needed to produce good material without taking shortcuts is insane.
What was your first camera? And your first digital camera?
My first camera was the Canon A1. The first digital camera was Canon EOS-1D. I’ve never strayed from Canon.
Which camera bodies do you currently use?
I work with Canon’s professional DSLR bodies. Now it’s the EOS-1D X Mark II. I’ve also got the 5DS R for the 50 million pixels. The things I like about the 1D X are that, on top of everything else working more or less perfectly, it has extremely good autofocus and yields good picture quality, even with high ISO.
It would be even better if they could make it take more frames per second (in comparison with some of the more advanced mirrorless cameras). I use the 5DS R for portrait photography; it’s not my choice for action. It allows aggressive cropping without loss of image quality, and this is often necessary as birds are notoriously skittish.
Which are the main lenses you use for your work?
For ten years it was almost religiously the 500mm, now it’s the new 600mm f/4. It produces superb picture quality, even with the 1.4x and 2x Extenders. The combination gives great reach, which is essential in bird photography. I’m also very fond of the 70-200mm. It’s a lovely lens and gives me much more than just the bird – I get birds in landscapes and birds in their habitats. Many of my most successful pictures have been taken with this lens.
Do you always use a tripod?
Yes, apart from birds in-flight shots, which are almost always handheld. Even flight shots are sometimes taken with tripod, such as photographing big raptor migration at flyway hotspots, when the movements are predictable and rather slow. I always use a tripod in a hide, be it flight action or whatever.
Do you use drones or camera traps to make your images?
No, but occasionally I may use remote control. That’s about as technical as I can get. There’s no flash for me either, I only shoot in natural light.
What photo processing software do you use?
I use Phase One’s Capture One for the Raw conversion, and to create a crude crop and all the basic adjustments (such as exposure, contrast, shadows, highlights, sharpness, basic noise reduction and so on). Fine-tuning is then done in Adobe Photoshop.
Do you spend much time processing images?
I shoot Raw files. What comes out of the camera is the raw material. My camera may take the picture, but I make it. So yes, I can spend quite a bit of time honing a picture to as near to my version of perfection as I can. But I’ve been doing it for quite a while now, so there’s a lot of routine and not every image takes much time. The trick is to understand one’s camera as a tool: the better one’s understanding of ISO, exposure, depth of field etc, the readier the Raw file.
What comes out of the camera is the raw material. My camera may take the picture, but I make it
Has digital technology made your job easier or harder?
Certainly both! I can shoot as much as I want, but I then spend a lot of time deleting. In action photography, one of the secrets to success, or any hope of success, is to shoot almost without limits. Bird action is so fast, there’s not much room for contemplating this and considering that, or waiting for the perfect moment; it’ll have gone by the time eye-mind-finger can produce a shot. Shooting portraits is a different game. There’s more time to consider and be sparing with the shutter. In terms of distribution, digital has made things easier. No more slides and postal services or couriers etc. Instead, an endless amount of copies of an image and pretty much instant delivery, even when you’re out there, shooting in some back-ofbeyond location. 4G coverage is good almost everywhere I operate.
What fascinates you about birds?
They fly. They are in the air. They are graceful and beautiful to look at and so varied. Take the Arctic tern, for instance, which flies from the southern hemisphere, where it ‘winters’, to breed in the northern hemisphere, skipping winter altogether. And to do that it flies a whopping 90,000-plus kilometres
Cute and funny, birds rarely, if ever, kill photographers. I leave tigers and polar bears to braver people
annually. Wow. Birds are strong and resilient, yet vulnerable in the human world. We make it hard for them to survive, robbing them of habitats, erecting houses everywhere without a thought to how the birds can navigate safely amidst all the windows. We kill them in so many ways, casually, unintentionally, callously. We class them as pests and portray them as something scary in folklore and films. And really, they are just awesome. Cute, funny, skilled, fascinating. Also, birds rarely, if ever, kill photographers. I leave tigers and polar bears to braver people.
How long did it take to shoot the images in your new book
Birds in Pictures?
It’s a collection of recent highlights over a period of about five years before the book went into labour, plus some all-time favourites from earlier years.
Where were they taken?
Mostly in my favourite places, such as Finland’s southwestern archipelago and the northeastern territories, where the east meets the west in the taiga forest; Lapland; northern Norway, Hungary, Spain. There are sections with pictures taken in Hokkaido, Japan and Canada – again, all about winter in the north.
What are the main challenges of photographing birds?
Several things come to mind, not in any special order. They are hunted in many places, which makes it hard to get within a good reach as they are understandably afraid of people. They are often masters of camouflage. They fly away. They are in the dark depths of the forests, or far out at sea, high in the air. They don’t stay put much, meaning there’s not a lot of time to find the perfect background, angle and light. Birds like bogs and hilltops and so on, which are not easily accessed.
What qualities do you need to take great bird photos?
Knowledge of birds is paramount. If you don’t understand their behaviour, you’re usually hopelessly late to any action, or you can accidentally do some harm, especially during the breeding season when they are at their most vulnerable. You need willingness to read literature on birds and readiness to get out there, to study and learn. There really aren’t any shortcuts. Patience is key as well. You need to master the art of waiting.
Which bird species do you most enjoy photographing?
It depends. I mean, there’s nothing I don’t like to photograph. I’d say it’s more about the locations and the conditions than about the species. I’m not hunting rarities. I hunt delicious light and a nice setting and then I want a bird in it. Obviously a part of the work is shooting library
material as well, and that’s very much about meticulous work on species, trying to cover them in all seasons, all plumages, all ages, action and portrait. But it’s important here, too, to get the best possible light, background, angle – because a library picture shouldn’t be boring, and needs a lot of attention to rise above the rest in fierce competition. Out of many, many favourites, maybe the snowy owl stands out, a bit.
How has photography changed in the past ten years as a business?
The environment is very different. The amount of photos, the ease of distribution, the number of amateur photographers willing to give away pictures for credits – all this has made it a pretty brutal buyer’s market. You can still make money, but for most photographers it comes less from photography and more from other activities within photography. Maybe things will even out in the future. Hopefully the good in the old order and the good in the new order of things will join forces, and quality will win.
What advice would you offer aspiring wildlife photographers?
Study the art of photography, the technical aspects and abilities in your gear. You can’t make truly great pictures if you don’t understand your tool. Today’s cameras are very advanced, so it’s also good to make the distinction between features that you need and features that aren’t so important to your style or field of interest. It helps for a picture to have a raison d’être, something larger to lean on, so it’s good to have a vision and plan it out like a project.