Steve's Photographic Philosophy

For me photography is a mechanical process that provides a means to an end. The process begins with a discovery and ends with sharing that discovery with someone else, usually on a printed page. I consider myself more a photo-journalist than a wildlife photographer – not that labels mean a lot to me.

My primary motivation is to educate, and my reward is gaining a sense that I have ignited a spark of interest in others. I do not consider what I do an art form, although there are times when I am playing with my camera without an objective that I take images for art’s sake. Whether the results are art depends on whether they please me. If they do, in my terms they are art. This is rare for me.

Most of my photography is motivated by commercial objectives. If it was not, then I would not be communicating successfully. If a book jacket fails, I have performed poorly as both photographer and communicator, and my business (the process through which I communicate) suffers. This makes the commercial process the ultimate test: herein lies the art for me. Like spokes in a wheel, from the hub that is the creative concept radiate the many, many areas that have to be considered, including pricing, manufacture, selling, and, of course, photography.

The Photographic Equipment

My first camera was a plastic Mako Shark, a small, round 120 mm job, branded “tested to thirty metres”. It leaked at one metre!

In 1963, I purchased the first Nikonos camera released by Nikon. In 1965, I bought a twin lens reflex camera in a perspex housing and made my first serious, in-focus, colour photographs. I wanted large format and a sharp lens because I wanted crisp detail, so I bought a Rollie-marine twin lens reflex, then a Hasselblad in a custom metal housing. This equipment stayed with me until I changed back to 35 mm with the Nikon RS underwater camera.

In 1975, when I began topside photography, I started with a Minolta, and soon changed to Nikon, a brand I have been faithful to ever since. Today I use a Nikon 5 with a variety of lenses for wildlife photography. Landscape photography is primarily carried out with 6 x 7 format cameras, the Mamiya RZ and the Mamiya 7.

I like large format, especially for landscapes, because of the extra detail obtainable when the image is cropped. Depending on the opportunity in front of me, I may work with both 6 x 7 and 35 mm formats at once. With the new technology, fill-flash allows more opportunities to shoot in difficult lighting conditions.

I constantly use a tripod and cable release and while I used to use 64 ISO Kodachrome, I now mostly use 100 ISO Kodak transparency film.

When I’m taking a photograph, I think how an image will be used, approaching my work as a storyteller, and I try not to overlook any obvious opportunity. I make most of my photographic decisions on the spur of the moment.

I consider myself a beginner in this business, particularly in these times of advancing technology. Every day brings a new challenge, whether seeing from a new perspective, finding a new and exciting subject, or discovering that the computer buffs or camera technicians have invented something new. These are exciting times. Even though I have 340,000 images in my library, none of them is as exciting as the next photograph I will make.

My most important photo

I have selected this image (left) as the single most important of my career of forty years of photography because it represents my entire reason for making pictures and sharing them.

The picture was taken during the fight to save the Franklin River in Tasmania in 1983. Battle lines were drawn between dam supporters and conservationists.

These children are being driven to school in a car carrying a sticker promoting attitudes that support the destruction of the wilderness and the murder of those who are taking a stand to protect it. Before they have had a chance to form their own attitudes, they are being filled with those of the adults who have most influence on them.

My lifetime commitment is to educate the young, providing them with visual and written materials which inspire them to reconsider those community attitudes which could rob them of their heritage.