SUPER NATURAL
Wildlife photographer DAVID LLOYD is renowned for capturing animals in all their natural glory and is now helping to raise funds to protect them
On David Lloyd’s Instagram account, there are two short sentences that tell us a lot about his work: “All animals wild and free,” and “All pictures Photoshop free”. In a photographic world where it’s hard to trust our eyes, with photos heavily altered or animals photographed in captivity, Lloyd’s wildlife photos stand out as classic, clean compositions, mainly focusing on the wildlife of Africa.
Originally from New Zealand, Lloyd is based in the UK and previously worked in graphic design. Photography started, he says, as an “obsessive hobby” to go out to Africa and take photos to put on his wall, but now his photos are on the walls of wildlife lovers around the world.
There’s a chance to pick up one of his prints for far less money than usual this summer. Lloyd is one of more than 150 globally renowned photographers supporting the second edition of Prints For
Wildlife (WWW.PRINTSFORWILDLIFE.ORG).
Created by photographers Marion Payr and Pie Aerts in the height of the Covid pandemic, the first Prints For Wildlife raised US$660,200 in 2020 for African Parks (WWW.
AFRICANPARKS.ORG), a non-profit conservation organisation that manages 19 parks in 11 countries on behalf of governments in Africa for the benefit of local communities and wildlife. This year, they have an ambitious target of one million
dollars, with prints on sale from well-known photographers (Steve Winter, Ami Vitale, Greg du Toit, Clement Kiragu, Beverley Joubert, Sudhir Shivaram…) and emerging international talent.
YOU’RE INVOLVED WITH PRINTS FOR WILDLIFE AGAIN IN 2021 AND HAVE SUPPORTED OTHER CONSERVATION PROJECTS AND CAUSES. DO YOU THINK IT’S IMPORTANT FOR WILDLIFE PHOTOGRAPHERS TO GIVE SOMETHING BACK?
I’ve been a photographer all my life. I first picked up a camera when I was five. I loved wildlife ever since I was young and I loved art, so these things came together. Before I was a photographer, I was a graphic designer. But ten years ago, it was an obsessive hobby of mine to go to Africa and to take photos to put on my wall.
What comes out of that is an empathy for animals. You start to understand them more. I always liked animals, but when you see them first-hand you start to develop more empathy. You want to care for them. You’re on their side and want them to do well.
There’s a part of me that says I’m using animals for my benefit and there’s some guilt around that, so it’s a case of wanting to give something back.
But I’m a little critical of people who criticise photographers for not giving back. It’s an evolution. It’ll come in time. It wasn’t like I didn’t want to give something back before. I was just enjoying myself but then it became apparent to me that I should do something. It’s a natural thing to want to give something back. It also goes the other way: a lot of people start off with a passion for animals and then their photography develops, like Jonathan Scott.
YOUR PRINTS FOR WILDLIFE PRINT SHOWS A GENTLE MOMENT BETWEEN A GIRAFFE MOTHER AND INFANT. WHERE WAS IT TAKEN?
That one was taken in the Maasai Mara in Kenya. It’s a very popular photo when I post it. It’s a genuine parent and infant moment. It’s very touching, and it has that anthropomorphic element.
DO YOU OFTEN TRY TO CAPTURE INTIMATE MOMENTS AND INTERACTIONS LIKE THAT?
People sometimes tell me that the animals either pose for me or I catch them in the right way. I haven’t gone out and said to myself I need to catch animals in a certain way. I just take what’s in front of me and it’s what comes through.
When I get the pictures, maybe with my subconscious mind I select the ones that are like that. I might crop a bit to tweak the composition to make it more appealing, but I don’t like to crop much. I don’t have a specific rule for how I take photos.
A LOT OF PEOPLE MIGHT ‘TAKE WHAT’S IN FRONT OF THEM’ BUT NOT GET SUCH GOOD RESULTS. WHAT ARE YOU DOING DIFFERENTLY?
I don’t know. I don’t want to make myself bigger than I am. I’ve been around animals all my life. We’ve always had animals as a family. Maybe on a less-than-conscious level, I see a connection and I take the photo. They look me in the eyes and I take the photo.
What I will say is that when someone goes to Africa for the first time, they’ll come back with some photos. The second time they go, their photos will be incrementally better. The third time, their photos will be much better. My wife told me that my photos were getting much better every time I went. That happens because when you go back you already have an awareness of what you’re looking for. You’re no longer taking what you took the first time, like a stock photo of a lion, and you can afford to take a chance on something else. Revisiting a place is the best way to get better photos. You’re looking deeper each time.
ON YOUR WEBSITE, YOU SUGGEST PHOTOGRAPHERS SHOULD STAY WITH THEIR SUBJECT FOR AS LONG AS POSSIBLE. HOW IMPORTANT ARE TIME AND PATIENCE TO GETTING GOOD PHOTOS?
I take photo tour groups out in Africa, and in-between I have my own space and time. Even if I’m not taking photos when I’m with a tour, I’m always observing. When I go out with my people, I tell them we’re not going to chase five species each day to get a photo of a rhino, a photo of a lion… It’s not about ticking boxes. It’s about what we see. If you can come out with one great photo a day, that’s all we ask for. We wait, sometimes all day, and hopefully something comes of it. But even if not, we’ve still learned something.
YOU SPEND A LOT OF TIME EACH YEAR IN AFRICA. WHAT DRAWS YOU TO AFRICA?
In Africa, there’s so much variety. It’s fantastic. You go to Kenya, and you see so much wildlife. You go to Uganda, and it’s so different, with all the primates.
I think Kenya is a logical first step for anyone in wildlife photography. I spend three or four months every year in Kenya. The people at Entim Camp in the Maasai Mara have become close friends to me, like a second home. The Maasai Mara is particularly appealing for photographers because it has so much wide, open space. It you want clinical, clear pictures, you’ll be rewarded there more than many places in, say, South Africa.
I’ve started going to India too now. I’d been travelling to Africa for maybe ten years and wanted to try something new. Tigers are the biggest cats. The colours are magnificent.
IN AFRICA, YOU SPENT TIME PHOTOGRAPHING SCAR, AN ICONIC LION WHO DIED RECENTLY FROM
“Revisiting a place is the best way
to get better photos”
NATURAL CAUSES. HIS DEATH WAS INTERNATIONAL NEWS. WHAT DO YOU MAKE OF THE FACT THAT ONE LION CAN BE SO FAMOUS?
Scar has an iconic appearance. There was somebody who Photoshopped him once to make the eye ‘normal’, and he still looked magnificent. But the scar added to his personality. The poor guy had a scar all through his adult life. We saw him rubbing his eye. It must’ve annoyed the heck out of him. It was often covered in flies.
IS THERE A GOOD LESSON TO TAKE FROM SCAR: THAT WILDLIFE (AND PEOPLE) DON’T NEED TO BE PHYSICALLY ‘PERFECT’ TO BE ATTRACTIVE OR TO MAKE INTERESTING PHOTOS?
It’s a good point. I made a mistake years ago. There were two lions, Romeo 2 and Mohican, who had had a fight and were walking towards the camera. I was keen to get a head-on shot, and I said to the driver, “I don’t want this lion. I want the other one, because it’s better looking.” And I was wrong. He looked more perfect, but an imperfect lion with lots of scars and character on their face for purely photographic purposes might be more of an interesting picture.
WHAT CHANGES HAVE YOU SEEN SINCE YOU FIRST STARTED GOING TO AFRICA?
I first went out in 2006 and I’ve been going regularly since 2011. The biggest change I’ve seen is in the people. When I first took people out in 2011, there weren’t many photo tours and now they’re a dime a dozen. We didn’t get the crowds of people that we do now. That’s the biggest change, and the way a lot of people interfere with the wildlife.
YOUR PHOTOS HAVE A NATURAL STYLE. DO YOU THINK AUTHENTICITY IS IMPORTANT?
Personally, all I ask is that people are honest about what they’re taking. If you took a photo and the animal was not in the setting you’ve showed it in, say so. I like to keep things natural. I have no beef with people who don’t keep it natural but I do wish they’d say so.
I won’t even take a leaf out. It’s the start of a slippery slope. Next time, it will be a twig, then a branch, then a tree. There’s an obsession for people to get rid of every little distraction, so it’s not natural anymore. When it’s done in post-production, it gives us all a distorted picture of the world.
It goes the other way: you can achieve a really nice photo, and people will say, “Did you put the sky in?”, or, “Did you retouch it?”, and I didn’t.
I just believe you should keep battling away with what you believe in. But I do get the occasional comment that pleases me, which is that my photos are more natural than others. That’s good to hear. I’m getting somewhere.
YOU HAVE A BACKGROUND IN GRAPHIC DESIGN, LIKE MARSEL VAN OOSTEN. DO YOU THINK THAT’S INFLUENCED YOU WHEN IT COMES TO COMPOSITION?
Yes. I don’t know how directly. When you talk about composition, the first name that comes up is Marsel van Oosten. Another name that comes up is Chris Packham. Chris Packham has the best composition of photos of anyone in the UK, in my opinion. He has Asperger Syndrome, and people with Asperger Syndrome have an incredible sense of space and composition.
Composition is not the rule of thirds. Composition is not about rules. I never consider the thirds. A photo just looks right to me in the viewfinder. I ask myself, “Why does it look right?”, so I can convey it to other people. For me, it’s about ‘weight’. A bright part of a picture has weight, a texture has weight, whatever the eye directs you to is weight. It’s about the distribution of weight.
I have a photo of an elephant walking out of the frame, which is breaking the rules, but it’s balanced by the weight on the other side, by the grass. It’s not about using the rules.
I’m sure Marsel van Oosten and Chris Packham think the same – they just take what looks good. They have a great natural sense of composition.
I’m not a musician and can’t play any instruments. I could if I practised a lot, but
I’d never be as good as someone who has a natural ability. If you want to be good at composition, you need natural ability and to practise a lot.
To find out more about the Prints For Wildlife mission visit: WWW.PRINTSFORWILDLIFE.ORG @PRINTSFORWILDLIFE