images. Still, pre-trip research is essen-
tial, especially when time is short.
Unless you are documenting an ani-
mal rarely observed or studied in the
wild, the internet is full of information
on animal behavior. Read published
research by the scientists you’ll be join-
ing and their peers. Learn about the
place you are going. Study the climate,
weather, seasons and local conditions.
Do an internet search for images from
the place and nearby locations to start
visualizing your shots.
Make a shot list and keep revising
it throughout the trip. Your shot list
should reflect the story you are working
to tell: scientists hiking, working on
the boat and taking samples as well as
more creative images like the Milky
Way over the boat at night or the way
the morning fog fills the forest. The
shot list I created helped me to stay
focused and was a working document
that inspired me to keep visualizing
new images and adding to my list as
Top: The expedition houseboat
at sunset. This is where we slept
and ate and dried our equipment.
I stood on the shore for this image
and used a tripod. Dr. Laura Marsh is
standing on the top level.
MIddle: This amazing sunset was shot
from the houseboat while anchored in
a calm oxbow lake on one of my last
days on the expedition.
Bottom: At least one field team would
conduct night surveys using red lights
to search for night monkeys, the
smallest primate in these forests, and
other nocturnal animals. I set up this
shot during blue hour with one of the
scientists before the survey began.
Opposite: I checked with the locals
first to make sure this snake was
non-venomous before we picked
it up and set up this image in a
softbox. Working with another
photographer, we took images for
about 30 minutes and then released
the snake back where we found it.