Interview with Andy Rouse

by Sebastian Erras & Stefan Christmann of the GDT Youth Group
http://www.gdtfoto.de/jugendgruppe/

(Sebastian Erras, Andy Rouse, Stefan Christmann)

Sebastian: Andy, welcome to the International Nature Photography Festival in Lünen and thank you very much for your time and that you are giving us the the opportunity to interview you.

Andy Rouse: You are welcome, I’d do anything for the GDT.

Sebastian: First I want to give you a short introduction about the GDT Youth Group and what we do. 6 months ago I founded with Stefan and other young wildlife photographers a group for young talented wildlife photographers within the GDT.

Andy Rouse: How old are you both?

Sebastian: I am 22.

Stefan: I am 26.

Sebastian: So our goal is to connect and support young wildlife photographers, give them a chance to show their work and a platform to share knowledge and get feedback.

Andy Rouse: That is great. I had nobody when I began. Well, I was a young nature photographer once (laughs), but when, I had nobody I could ask for any advice or anything and the professionals, some of them, are really good and helpful and some are not. And these days it's so competitive, that obviously a lot of professionals, they see you as competition, because you're coming up. Doesn't bother me and never has.

Stefan: How did you start? What was the first thing that got you into taking pictures and that got you into starting a career as a nature photographer?

Andy Rouse: I see, that's a big question (laughs). First of all, it's animals first, photography last. I am not a technical photographer, it bores me senseless. I am an animal lover first and foremost, which is why I do, what I do. Ok, so the technical side, obviously I am pretty good at it, but I don't enjoy spending days on the computer. So the animals came first, my love of animals came first. When I was a student at university I was a tennis coach, so I earned money for being a tennis coach. So I took my money and bought a camera. A Canon AE-1 Program and you'll be far too young to remember it..

Stefan: I actually do (laughs)

Andy Rouse: ..ok, scarily I am not 26 (laughs). It was a really nice film camera and I took some pictures with it. Also while I was at university I was a zookeeper. So I earned some more money. You know, in university you got no money. So when I was a zookeeper, I was able to take my first pictures of tigers. And one picture that I took of a tiger drinking got sold by a very famous poster company in the old days, around the world and I got 500 pounds for it. That sounds like a lot but it was terrible. So I got the 500 pounds there and then and that kind of got me a little bit on the map, because I was nobody and suddenly I have had this really big selling poster of a tiger. And then in the town where I was brought up I went back to see my parents and I got to know a woman there who was feeding foxes in her front garden. So I started off a big thing feeding foxes and got some really interesting pictures of them chewing a gnome, you know a garden statue like an elf, if you like. People..(pause).. uncool people have them in their gardens..

(Photo by Andy Rouse)

Sebastian: (laughs)

Stefan: (laughs)

Andy Rouse: ..and so I got the fox chewing the head of one and I made a story for a local newspaper. It was a local newspaper, just for the area, but they did a quite nice story and they gave me 50 pounds and I was "Yeah, 50 pounds, that's fantastic!", and that really started off. So I suddenly had two articles and then one of the fox pictures won my first BBC award from nothing. I just came and won a BBC award from nowhere. It won the humorous views category, which used to be a category. And that day I remember as really good, I was on TV and I was interviewed and I was this nobody who suddenly came out from nowhere, you know. I was this student with long hair and a terrible suit, I borrowed. So I just turned up on the day, had a really good time and then had an agent approach me who I am still with today - I guess I always stay faithful to the people that helped me - and so I gradually got into that but then I gave up, because I graduated.

I graduated and then after that I worked for an oil company and they made it difficult for me to get time for my photography. So I gave it up for quite a while, about 5 or 6 years, which was a terrible thing during my twenties. Anyway, I was a different person during those years from what I am today. Then I changed jobs and I went to be a computer consultant traveling around the world under a lot of stress. I started to do two or three days with animals during these trips and I started photography again because I could afford now to buy a decent camera. So I did a bit of photography in the US, polar bears, diving with hump-back whales and all these things I wanted to do and I suddenly looked at myself and I thought - I was 33 years old then - "Ok, you're fat, you're ob-noxious" and I had this horrible computer mentality "Win at all costs". So I just decided that day to resign from a very well-paid corporate career. I got divorced, resigned, gave my company car back, all in one day, literally, and started as a professional wildlife photographer with 2,000 pounds in the bank.

So, yes, I started off with that amount of money. And I then spent it on my first trip. I had done a lot of british wildlife, badgers, foxes. I have always been very good at fieldcraft, I really enjoy the fieldcraft side of getting close to shy animals, but I knew I needed a big boost in my career. So I went and did a big safari and I spent all of my savings on this really famous guy to help me, because I knew he was a bit of an adrenalin junky like me and during the three week safari we did amazing things like walking up to elephants and crawling up to lions and just extreme stuff. And I got some really good pictures out of it. In fact one of the elephant pictures I got, won the animal behaviour category in the BBC wildlife photographer of the year, which is the hardest category to win, it's where 75% of the entries go. And to win it, was good! I was really pleased. That was my second year of being pro, first year of being pro really. And then I got offered a magazine column, called "The expert's view" in Amateur Photographer magazine - we have lots of photo magazines like you do - in fact I am actually going back now to start a column next week for the same magazine I first started in!

So, I wrote a weekly column for a year and got quite well known and just built up my career from there really and that's kind of where the beginnings came from. It was a bit of a shaky start. I did not have a lot of money. A lot of people who start now - they say they are professional - but they just have millions behind them. So you really can't call yourself professional if you don't earn your living from it. So, that's where I started.

Stefan: Ok, were there any special things that happened, that you would say really lifted you up as a pro?

Andy Rouse: Yeah, winning an award in the wildlife photographer of the year competition is a big thing. And I've won, I think in total fifteen awards, and I have won seven in the past five years, which is quite a lot, because no one has ever done that. Not that I would ever push it but no one's ever done that. So that helped! And then I did a TV series which was on Channel 5, Sky and Animal Planet. It showed me getting close to animals and it really put me in the wrong light. It showed me as somebody who wanted to get close, close, close and it did the wrong thing for my career. It has taken me until this day to almost unravel that and although it launched me and did quite a good job it also did me a lot of harm. The wildlife photographer community in the UK kept me out and they still do. And that's ok, as everyone is entitled to his or her own opinion; in this world free speech is what makes a democracy. Now I have a big amateur following throughout the world and the UK. A lot of amateurs really like me, because I am approachable and will always try to help if I have the time in my busy life. You see I am approachable!

(Winner – Animal Behaviour – BG Wildlife Photographer of the Year 1998. Photo by Andy Rouse)

Stefan: Yes!

Sebastian: Yes!

Andy Rouse: I don't mind talking to amateur photographers, passing on my knowledge and helping them and looking at pictures. I run seminars, I run tours and these are all for amateur photographers and I won't allow really serious amateur photographers or wannabe professionals because all they think about is photography. And I don't want that! So I have really good fun people who like wildlife and who I can teach. And they will listen to me and I can affect what they do. I am really proud of putting something back to the community. I also run a blog and I don't run the blog for the sake of me. We get 50,000 hits a month..

Stefan: ..wow.

Andy Rouse: ..so I have a lot of amateurs who follow my work and I know I inspire a lot and that's a nice thing and there isn't a nicer thing in that. It's nice to win awards and it's nice to - like this morning - to present to the audience and you know that most people are really enjoying what you are saying in your pictures.

Sebastian: And the story behind them!

Andy Rouse: And the story! And there's no nicer thing than to inspire people. I think as a professional you often lose sight. And I am determined not to lose sight, but I am determined to keep the links to where I came from.

Stefan: Are there any people you actually admire?

Andy Rouse: Many! In the back of my last book "Concepts of nature" I had a whole section on inspiration. You have to look at people like Ansel Adams to start with, an amazing photographer, who taught us about -  well, you know he carried amazing amounts of gear in amazing places..

Stefan: ..and he knew his stuff..

Andy Rouse: ..he knew his stuff, he came out with amazing pictures and he just did it for the love of photography. Hurly I really like who was a photographer on the Shakleton expedition in Antarctica. He took these amazing pictures of the old sailing ship "Endurance" when she was beset by the ice and eventually crushed by it. One night he put fifty lamps around the ship just to take one famous picture. So I like these things. It's probably quite different from what you thought I was going to say. You probably thought I was going to read off nature photographers. I have people who are friends, whose work I look at and it inspires me. Vincent Munier from France would be one, Laurie Campbell and Neal McIntyre in Scotland and also a multitude of photographers in Germany. In the US the style is different from what I take. Obviously Jim Brandenburg is a real inspiration, you know, these people are legends, but I don't go around and idolize anyone. I look at peoples' work but I am not really involved in the industry very much. I kind of stay away from all the photographic gatherings, I rather have my friends outside of photography. I don't pick up a camera for weeks, if not months, in fact I haven't picked up a camera since I got back from Svalbard on September 13th. I have no interest at the moment in doing it. So I think you have to realize that photography can take a hold of your life and wildlife photography is the worst one. Especially when you are young. You want to go out and party and have fun. Wildlife photography is not conducive to that, because you are out at very early hours if you want to shoot interesting things. So it is very important to balance your life and you have to realize that wildlife photography is your stress buster and you mustn’t let it become an obsession. If you start to force yourself to take pictures, the pictures are going to be rubbish, because every picture you take, is a reflection of what you feel at that moment. You have to take pictures when you are relaxed and in the mood.

Stefan: So is photography still a hobby for you?

Andy Rouse: The problem is the business side that comes into play. For example the photographers from National Geographic travel all the time and they don’t have to worry so much about the business side, which is fantastic for them. I would love to be in that situation. You can just concentrate on the animals and enjoy taking pictures. Unfortunately you have to make a living and run a business and that often clouds what we do. I’d like to go photographing black grouse every day for the rest of my life and I would never get bored. Unfortunately my bank manager is not such a big black grouse fan and I have to think of these things to know where my pictures might get used and even I don’t photograph for that reason I still have to think of where my pictures get used.

Sebastian: How do you pick your projects and organize them?

Andy Rouse: That is simple, I photograph only what I want to! I sit down and make a plan about what I want to do. At the moment I am making plans. I have got three or four tours running next year. I am planning to go back to India and photograph Tigers, as it is kind of unfinished business for me. I want to make a Tiger book and I am still missing images of cubs with their mother and this year is going to be a good “cub year” so I am definitely planning on going back there. But I don’t work on projects as such. I kind of just drift and do what I want to do. There is no point of me in doing project after project, because it would be forcing my photography and I don’t want to do that. I just would go out tomorrow, have a look at the local weather forecast, work out some of the local places I could go and go to the best one for what I want to do, but I don’t really have projects.

Sebastian: We have seen in your presentation today, that you have been traveling around the world a lot in the past, but you also photograph locally. What do you prefer?

Andy Rouse: I really like to photograph near my home and if you are at home you kind of have your life back. You can travel all the time, but if you are not lucky enough to travel with your partner, then very quickly you won’t have a partner anymore. So now I have a great partner and I want to be with her forever and to do that I have to compromise my lifestyle, because I can’t travel 6-9 months anymore. The hassle of traveling is enormous. I am also seeing a lot of things that I don’t like, for example, photographers pushing animals. Winfried Wisniewski gave a good example this morning in his talk, where desperate photographers left the trails to get closer to the Red-Throated Divers and now you can’t go there anymore. It is just outrageous and you see it more and more. It is not the professional photographers or the amateurs, who do that, it is the semi-professionals, who want to get that special picture, their trophy. Because of that I am picking the traveling that I do, so where I go, I go with a group of people that I can control and their behavior towards animals. On the other hand I also go to places, where I won’t see any people. It is also very important for me that I give myself time when I travel. I can’t give myself four days to get pictures of tigers, so I have got to give myself three weeks. I have to allow myself to get over the jet-lag. Then when I am in a good frame of mind I take good pictures.

Stefan: Do you have any tips for young photographers, who want to begin with nature photography and want to get known?

Andy Rouse: I think “getting known” is the wrong way to put it. What you want to do is, is to do wildlife photography because you love wildlife. If you start photography with the goal to get known, I think it is the wrong way to start it. You can make yourself a name, but the chance of being professional now is low. Only because the market is shrinking so much right now. Stock agencies are shrinking. You could go and take one exceptional image of a tiger and you go to a stock agency with that image, they won’t take it. They will say where are your 500 other images that we need to sell. You show them your portfolio and it might be really good, but they will say that they have already seen those images or already have similar ones. It is becoming harder and harder to make a living with photography.

Stefan: So you think it is better to finish college and get a normal job?

Andy Rouse: Yes, I think, you should do photography as a hobby aside to something else. Then you can slowly grow your photography. You don’t want to jump into a professional career straight away, because it is just not going to happen. You continue with your normal life and the things you love. When you jump in straight away now, you have to make money straight away and you would just be stressed, you would be working every hour and you have no normal life anymore and you photography will suffer under all this stress. You are almost so desperate to make that you annoy all your potential clients. It is a lot easier if you take a step back, finish college or go on a “gap year” after college and travel for 6 months or a year. What’s wrong with that? There a relatively cheap ways of traveling for young people and you can start taking pictures dur-ing your travel and see if you can do it as a full-time job. If you want to build a name then it is easier if you take your time and build a collection of good images and not just one or two very good pictures. Another point is that you have to have strength and depth. We have seen Jari Peltomäki’s pictures of owls this morning. They are taken over 18 years! That is strength and depth and that is the thing you have to build up.

But it is very hard to get known. I am not known or sometimes I think I am not. I am not really known in the US. Only a select few know me there and that is because of the competitions. The reason is also that I don’t make a real effort to be known in the US and I make no effort of selling myself in the US. It is a different market and the photography is also kind of different over there. Their market is very targeted towards American photographers and they are very patriotic.  However, I have a few agents in the US, that sell very well for me and I just did three calenders for an American client.

Sebastian: One last question. After a three-week trip you probably come back with thousands of images. How do you pick your best ones and what makes a wildlife image exceptional?

Andy Rouse: Something that stops me dead, when I zoom through my images and there will always be a “Wow”. I have never had a trip where I didn’t have an “wow image”. But the problem sometimes is my emotions. When you are there and take the picture you are very excited, but then when you are back home the image is not that perfect. So it has to be an image that other people like as well. The fighting tiger image, for example, is such an image. As soon as I saw it, I knew if I get that image it would be a great one, because it was unusual enough. On the other hand it is very hard to get a great polar bear image. All polar bear pictures are brilliant, but to get an outstanding one, is very difficult, because you are not putting yourself down on the ice with them which is too dangerous. You are not gonna allow them to be next to your wide angle lens, be-cause then you probably would be dead and the bear might also be killed, so you mustn’t put the bear in such a situation either. So in the end what you are relying on is the light. You say light is usually a hit or miss. The light in the arctic is normally a miss. So it is quite hard to get good polar bear pictures. To come back to your question, it has to be an image that stops me right away, one that I really like and think that I want to show the GDT, one that I want to show people on my iPhone. An iPhone is actually a great way of looking at your pictures. It is a very small device and you can put thousands of pictures on it. I actually have my latest expedition on it and it shows you instantly of the pictures is good or not. Because if it looks good on the iPhone it will look good anywhere else. I used to make a lot of editing decision on a downloader with a small screen, but after making several errors, I stopped doing that. (smiles)

(Highly Commented – Animal Behavior - Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2009. Photo by Andy Rouse)

Sebastian: Andy, I would like to thank you in the name of the GDT Youth Group for your time and all the interesting insights you gave us into your career. I hope that this wasn’t the last time we have seen you here on stage in Lünen.

Stefan: Yes, I think all this information is going to be very insightful for the young GDT members and everybody else who reads it! Thank you for taking your time and for making this so easy for us. It's been a pleasure!

The interview was recorded Saturday, October 24th. Check out Andy's amazing images and his blog on http://www.andyrouse.co.uk

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