Picture credit: Rylee Isitt - CC0 Creative Commons
If you were walking down a street in the Richmond borough of London at night, you might spot a man with his camera standing in front of a bus stop. You might think he is waiting for one of those night buses showing up every 25 minutes.
On a closer look, you’ll notice the man is not facing the bus stop, but he’s gazing beyond, just a little further away, at a stand of scruffy urban greenery, that sort that divides the urban roads from the rural city outskirts.
That man is Sam Hobson, wildlife photographer. His work has been published in many esteemed publications, including the National Geographic and the BBC. “We all sat at bus stops,” Sam says, “We’ve been bored in a cold morning waiting for the bus to work, and it’s not very exciting. The idea that you could potentially see a deer, however, that is exciting.”
And this is what Sam’s animal urban photography is all about. Talking about what prompted him to start doing this job, Sam says it was about doing “something unexplored, that’s the way I think about things, it’s my philosophy”. Sam’s photography specialises in wild animals living in urban environments. He says it is about reminding people that there is wildlife around. To notice it, you just need to open your mind. He wants to push people to see metropolitan landscapes as something worthy of interest, rather than having to go to the countryside to see exotic animals.
The romantic idea of wildlife, which Sam thinks comes from a long history of nature documentaries, causes people to think that “there’s this place that still exists in our world where animals roam free, untouched by the hand of mankind”. “Unfortunately,” says Sam, “the majority of people, especially living in cities, have actually lost touch with nature. They don’t see the impact that their decisions are having on the environment.”
“If you can get people to care about wildlife and nature on their doorstep that’s a start to make way to thinking about the broader conservation issues"
A viable solution to prompt an increasing awareness in people then would be to get them to care about wildlife, showing how it is relevant to them, something they can relate to and might experience in their day-to-day life. “Basically,” Sam starts, “If you can get people to care about wildlife and nature on their doorstep that’s a start to make way to thinking about the broader conservation issues, and if they become interested in nature, they will start appreciating the wildlife around them.
“And I think that’s the thing with a lot of my pictures,” says Sam, “it’s not always about trying to shoot something surprising but it is trying to take something that might look ordinary and make interesting”. For Sam, his photography is about picturing animals in a different light, creating a lively picture about species living in urban environments and providing a background that brings something intriguing with it, to remind people that “this kind of stuff is actually quite exciting and impressive.”
And perhaps the best example of this in Sam’s photography are his iconic fox pictures, featured in several national and international magazines and websites, and which earned him a place in Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2016/17.
“I have tried to catch an image that said something about their inquisitiveness, something almost anthropomorphic. Their cheekiness, for example. By capturing them almost as individuals rather than as beasts, I wanted to get a close-up portrait people could relate to.”
Explaining the hardships of capturing shots of such elusive animals, Sam admits that the process behind his photography is very similar to flow journalism. It starts with the research of his subjects. Sam says that in order to do so, he frequently speaks to people that are “almost like the eyes and the ears of the city”, like night bus drivers, or security guards who spend the whole night watching the streets. “Most of the times, talking to those people you often find really good stories.”
Once he gets a lead and finds his subjects, “It’s a form of slow photography”, says Sam. He often spends weeks with his subjects, many times starting his sessions without even photographing them, but just getting them used to his presence.
In describing his photographic process, Sam says that a basic knowledge of animal behaviour is also necessary. “Knowing that it’s the right time of the year to photograph a certain species for example, or that there are going to be cubs in a specific area. You also need to know about the species’ unique character and treat different animals individually, sometimes.”
You need to get them used to your presence,” he explains, “it is necessary to make them used to the sound of the camera, the shutter, without being too close, then the flash gun. At the beginning aiming the camera not directly at them.” It’s about introducing things slowly and test how at ease the animal feels with you at every stage of the process.
Talking about his future plans, Sam says that “I recently bought a van and converted it to a sort of a caravan, so I’m hoping next year I can use that to drive around Europe a little bit and spend more time at each location without having to get back to the hotel or to the UK so I can do a bit more of a flow.”
You can see Sam’s photos on his website here.
Alessandro Mascellino