Wildlife Photography Essentials & Effective Planning with Eddy Savage

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In this episode of The Wild Photographer, host Court Whelan sits down with renowned wildlife photographer and nature guide, Eddy Savage. With over a decade of experience guiding in remote locations like the Great Bear Rainforest and the Arctic, Eddy has honed his skills in capturing stunning images of wildlife, from grizzly bears to the ethereal Northern Lights. His journey from a casual photographer to a full-time professional is one of passion, perseverance, and a deep connection with nature. Court and Eddy discuss the pivotal moments in his career, including his transition from adventure tourism to professional photography, and how he's learned to capture the beauty of the wild in some of the harshest conditions on Earth.

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Throughout the episode, Eddy shares valuable tips on wildlife photography, particularly focusing on the gear and techniques needed to excel in extreme environments. Listeners will gain insight into how to prepare for unique photographic opportunities, from shooting in freezing temperatures to understanding animal behavior in the wild. Whether you're a seasoned photographer or just starting out, this episode offers a wealth of knowledge, underscored by Eddy's genuine enthusiasm and expertise in the world of nature photography.

Expect to Learn:

• Eddy's background and how he started as a nature guide and photographer.
• Essential gear for wildlife photography and tips for capturing unique shots in the wilderness.
• Insights into photographing the Northern Lights and wildlife in extreme conditions.
• How perseverance plays a role in becoming a professional photographer.

Episode Breakdown with Timestamps:

• [00:00:00] - Introduction and Sponsor Shoutout: Court introduces Eddy Savage and LensRentals.com.
• [00:01:34] - Eddy’s Journey to Nature Photography: Eddy talks about how he got into photography and guiding wildlife tours.
• [00:05:41] - Starting with Aurora Photography: Eddy explains his passion for capturing the Northern Lights and what he carries in his kit.
• [00:14:50] - Tips for Aurora Photography: A discussion about settings, composition, and techniques for shooting the Northern Lights.
• [00:22:43] - Wildlife Photography Insights: Eddy shares his experiences photographing polar bears and grizzly bears in remote locations.
• [00:34:55] - Practical Gear for Harsh Conditions: The importance of having the right gear and staying prepared in extreme conditions.
• [00:49:35] - Conservation and Photography: How photography can be a tool for conservation storytelling.
• [01:00:48] - Conclusion: Where to follow Eddy Savage and final thoughts from Court.

This episode is kindly sponsored by:

LensRentals.com. 

• Check out Court’s photography and conservation work: CourtWhelan.com
• Follow Court Whelan (@courtwhelan) on YouTube for more photography tips
• Sign up for Court's conservation, travel and photography blog at www.courtwhelan.com
• View Court's recommended camera gear<

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:25):
Hey friends, I'm back with another episode of Wild
Photographer, and today we havenone other than the Eddie Savage
Phenomenal photo guide for somany different things.
You're going to learn a lottoday from him, from everything
from bear photography, generalwildlife photography gear, and
we're going to do a deep diveinto his Aurora photography,
which I know him best for,probably because I just drool

(00:49):
over the images he's able tocapture.
We're also going to learn aboutsome of his indispensable gear,
things that you probably aren'tthinking of, things that I
didn't even think about, that Inow carry with me in my kit
because of how cool andinteresting this is.
And we're also going to learnpretty unique about his journey,
his path to guiding nature,photo safaris, from younger

(01:10):
years of picking up a disposablecamera all the way to spending
100 plus days in the field withbears each year.
So it's going to be a great one.
Stay tuned.
But before that I want to do aquick plug, quick shout out to
LensRentalscom, a partner ofthis podcast that I've been
using for quite some time.
If you use the promo codeWILDPHOTOGRAPHER15, you can get
15% off.

(01:30):
They are sponsors of thispodcast and, more importantly, I
just want you to try thatsystem out.
Try out Lens Rentals.
It's a phenomenal way to rentreally high-end gear or not so
high-end gear, but it's a greatway to try a lens before you buy
it.
They also have a program whereyou can purchase the very gear
you rented, so you get to try itout.
Did I like this 14-24 lens thatwe're going to hear about in

(01:52):
today's talk from Eddie?
So, without further ado, let'sget into the talk today.
Let's get into the discussionwith Eddie Savage.
Eddie, welcome, so glad to haveyou on today.

Speaker 2 (02:04):
Yeah, thanks, Cort, and really happy to be here.

Speaker 1 (02:06):
Well, I've been looking forward to this one for
a little while now and I'm justgoing to jump right into it, if
it's okay with you.
I've got lots of questionsabout your photography, your
adventures.
We've got a lot to cover, soI'm just going to lead in with
my first.
Perhaps one of my biggestcuriosities and questions here

(02:26):
is you know, you lead somereally epic nature and wildlife
adventures to areas that a lotof people probably covet in the
world to get to Kind of.
I want to hear about yourorigin story.
How did you get into this, andwhat advice do you have to those
that might wish to follow inyour footsteps of this amazing
travel and photography career?

Speaker 2 (02:46):
Yeah, my origin story .
Oh boy, I mean, it goes quite aways back.
If you were to ask my mom, Iwas running around when I was
like 10 years old with a cameraa fake camera taking pictures.
And then we did this Rockiestrip when I was like 11 or 12
years old, where I was given oneof those disposable cameras and
of my family I came back withthe best composed images of the

(03:11):
whole family.
But as far as, how did I getinto this field?
I took outdoor education when Iwas in high school and I had
always I hadn't really beenexposed a lot to camping, the
outdoors, wilderness, all thatkind of stuff.
Just in how I grew up it wasn'tsomething my family really did
a whole lot of.

(03:31):
And then I took this outdooreducation program where we had
to do everything from learninghow to start a fire to build a
shelter, to go canoeing andportaging those canoes and
backpacking that kind of stuff,go canoeing and portaging those
canoes and backpacking and thatkind of stuff.
And the goal of that course wasto do and end up being like a
five day expedition in into thewoods with the whole class and

(03:56):
anyways.
So I described that that courseas kind of a light switch for
me, because prior to that Ididn't really have a direction,
I didn't really know what Iwanted to do.
And then I took outdooreducation and I'm just like whoa
, this is a thing I can do, this.
And that year I ended upgetting like 98 percent in the
class.
And I went back the next yearand I was the teacher's
assistant for the class andended up doing the kind of

(04:19):
leaving high school and I wentand ended up studying adventure
tourism in college and so thatkind of opened the door to a
whole variety of different jobs.
But I started my first paidguiding gig when I was 19 years
old.
I was doing multi-day kayakingexpeditions off the northeast

(04:43):
coast of Vancouver Island withorcas and black bears and all
that kind of stuff.
I worked at a place that theycalled Orca Camp in quotations
Orca Camp because it was thisbase camp right next to the
Robson Byte Ecological Reservewhere you'd wake up in the
morning, you'd start making yourcoffee and you'd hear from the
other side of camp orca, orca,and then you'd run down to the

(05:06):
beach and there'd be a pod oforca swimming past the beach 20
yards off.
So it was kind of like it waspretty extraordinary, especially
as a first guiding gig, but itdefinitely like lit a fire in my
heart and in my passion for theoutdoors and that led to other
things.
I tried a variety of differentum kind of careers or not

(05:28):
careers, but a variety ofdifferent guiding jobs, um all
of.
But the real struggle was kindof you know, when you first
start out, there's really only aseasonal especially in bc, if
you're doing kind of water-basedor ocean-based stuff, there's
only a seasonal um position,usually two to four months, and
so I kept kind of looking-basedor ocean-based stuff.
There's only a seasonalposition, usually two to four
months, and so I kept kind oflooking for what's next, what's

(05:49):
next, what's next?
Anyways, I started doinggrizzly bear viewing tours in
2013, branching off from mykayak guiding and other boat
driving experience that I hadhad and that kind of catapulted
me even further into this field,eventually linking up with
Nathav.
After working with grizzlybears quite intimately for four

(06:09):
years, I started talking withNathav about doing polar bear
trips, and then polar bear tripsin Churchill, manitoba, with
Nathav led to.
I think I did four trips myfirst year.
Three of them I was shadowing,one of them.
I led and then three weekslater I got a phone call from
from not having like hey, wewant you to lead these trips in

(06:30):
China.
We want you to leave thesetrips in Churchill for the
summer, we want you to doNorthern lights trips and kind
of.
The rest is history.
It's just really built off ofof that.

Speaker 1 (06:40):
When it comes to China, I love it.

Speaker 2 (06:42):
Yeah, from Churchill to China, exactly, but when it
comes to China, I love it.
Yeah, from Churchill to China,exactly.
But when it comes tophotography, in that aspect I'd
say kind of a big turning point,like I had always like had
photography in the back of mymind during this entire process.
I remember when I went tocollege, like in the first week
that I was in college, I'm likewhat am I going to do?
I had, like this 1991 HyundaiSonata that had a green hood.

(07:08):
It was a white body, a greenhood and, being a young, a
teenage boy, with spray paint Ispray painted a Canadian flag on
the roof and it was just likethis, just brutal car to take
into the back country of of inthe logging roads around
Campbell River where I wasliving at the time, but one of
the the logging roads aroundCampbell River where I was
living at the time.
But one of the first things Idid is I went and I picked up a

(07:29):
little point and shoot camerabecause I'm like I want to take
pictures and so I would bringthat with me and I'd go driving
down logging roads with this carthat had no right to be on any
logging road and just try tofind cool places and do a bit of
exploration and get someinteresting photos, and it was
kind of a so it was always there.

(07:50):
And then, when I started doinggrizzly bear viewing tours in
particular, I was I was outwatching bears for 120 to 150
days a year and I was alsoworking alongside a whole bunch
of people that were really youknow, they were kind of in this,
this growth, with theirphotography as well, and it was
such a really a really cool hiveof passionate people with

(08:12):
cameras that we all kind of likebounced ideas and started
really kind of building ourskills together.
So that's when I bought myfirst DSLR was back in 2013.
And I kind of went off the deepend at that point and just took
full advantage of being out inthe Great Bear Rainforest
watching bears for 100 plus daysa year, camera in hand, you

(08:35):
know, working with people fromall over the world and their
cameras, making sure they'regetting good images, and that
ultimately led to a continuationof my photography craft in all
aspects of my career today.

Speaker 1 (08:47):
Yeah, it's, it's.
It's hard not to have a camerawhen you're in these
extraordinary places, like mysort of origin story with
photography is the same thing,you know, like you.
Just you start with gettingthese epic places.
You're like, gosh, I shouldbring a camera.
Sounds like you've had somenatural born talent, which is
which is a plus, but a lot of itis just, you know, in in the

(09:09):
right place at the right timeand in a lot of practice and a
lot of hard work, yeah, that's,that's fantastic.

Speaker 2 (09:14):
So, um, obviously it sounds like you're mostly
self-taught with photography,with a ton of experience yeah,
that's exactly it a lot of trialand error, and I think one of
my favorite parts just like onthat note is working with
travelers.
You know I get people that comefrom all different backgrounds.
I've got people like I had afellow on a trip last year who,

(09:37):
like his job was designing imagesensors on mirrorless cameras
and so just having to having,you know, a week to chat with
him about cameras kind of gaveme a different perspective.
So, yes, like I'm self taught,but at the same time I'm just
I'm almost interviewingeverybody that shows up with a
camera on trips.
Yeah, oh, my goodness, what areyou doing?

Speaker 1 (09:59):
That's amazing.
It reminds me of a story Iheard from Garrett.
Actually, you know, garrett,full disclosure folks in the
audience.
Eddie and I do guide togetherand we have a lot of common
connections.
But so, garrett, I was guidingwith him for polar bear trips
this, this past fall, and he wastelling me about a photo
presentation he was doing, Ithink, on editing, you know,

(10:19):
like a Lightroom workshop, aPhotoshop workshop, in the in
the evening, and he was guidinga photo trip and, you know, only
three of the 12 guests made itthere that evening.
Everybody else, you know,conked out, fell asleep, and
then at the end of thepresentation he goes through all
these workflows of Lightroom.
Have you heard this story,eddie?
I don't know.

Speaker 2 (10:42):
I think I remember it from polar bear season.

Speaker 1 (10:43):
But the end is that he asks you know like, oh, so
what do you guys do for youroccupation?
He says to the guests they'relike oh, we write the training
manual for Lightroom andPhotoshop, or something.
He's like oh, my God, like, wewrite training courses for
Lightroom and Photoshop and hereGarrett is on the podium
teaching them how to doLightroom.

(11:04):
Yeah, funny, funny stuff.
We get some amazing guests onour trips.
Yeah, you get guests thatdesign image sensors and
goodness.
So, yeah, the other part of thequestion I want to highlight
just a tad is and this isprobably one that's almost
better off later in thepresentation, but I've already
asked it.
So the cat's out of the bag.
But I get this question a lotand I'll be honest, I I kind of

(11:25):
have a hard time answering this.
So if you don't have a succinctor or you know, answer off the
top of your head, all good.
It's difficult to get into thisjob.
A lot of it's luck, right time,right place, and it boils down
to a lot of hard work and justdoing the right thing.
But if you were to be tellingsomeone of really any age, I

(11:46):
have a lot of folks that are intheir their second, third career
phase, wanting to do this kindof stuff, but someone at any age
that wants to follow in yourfootsteps to to be on bear
expeditions you know, more orless guiding them, taking
photographs, being in your role.
Is there anything that youwould pass on to them as hard
and fast advice what you shoulddo to get into this position?

Speaker 2 (12:09):
Yeah, absolutely.
I mean, I remember somethingthat a mentor of mine told me
when I was 19, 20 years old wasdon't stop.
Basically, what ends uphappening is, in particular,
like where I'm from, britishColumbia, a lot of the work is
seasonal, right, and people jumpinto a kayaking job or a bear

(12:30):
viewing job or or something likethat, and they can do it, you
know, for for three or fourmonths of the year, but then
maybe they go back to universityor maybe they have other goals,
other things in mind.
But there's kind of right, whenyou're starting out and you
you're kind of in this, thisfield, where there's a ton of
competition and there's there'sa ton of people with similar
levels of experience as you, um,it would.

(12:52):
It kind of feels like, okay,how am I possibly going to get
to this level?
But my, my number one thing isjust don't stop, just keep going
, keep being the person thatturns up um, keep being a person
that is constantly improvingtheir craft and and and then you
basically opportunities startto present themselves.
Suddenly you're the mostexperienced person in the boat

(13:14):
and you're just like, okay, cool, more opportunities come.
So that's, that's a big one.
Just don't stop, just keepgoing um and then certification
wise.
Can I just throw one out whichhas been like a game changer as
well.
Is the woofer, the wfr 90 hourcourse, that doing that one
course as far, like from aguiding side of things?
It's just like you look at thenumber of jobs that want that

(13:38):
certification um, it's it, itjust goes up like, like, like
what's available to you.
So that's another super goodintel.

Speaker 1 (13:47):
Yeah, thank you for sharing, but don't stop.
I love that I haven't heardsaid that exact way and it
really resonates with me.
Yeah, people oftenunderestimate the value of time
when it comes to things likemastery and your craft.
So, yeah, if you are consistentand put in the time, amazing
things happen when you keep ongoing Well, well put.
Well, I'm going to switch gearsa little bit here.

(14:09):
We're going to get into some oflike the techniques and tips
and tricks and whatnot.
So I know you primarily as anAurora photographer only because
I'm constantly looking at yourAurora photos that I use in my
job for catalogs and magazinesand websites, and it's stunning
stuff.
It's, you know, not only is itgreat photos of the Aurora, but

(14:33):
it's great travel photographywhere it's Aurora with people in
like really really goodpositions, really kind of you
know, puts yourself in the frame.
When you look at Eddie's photosof Aurora, like you're, you're
sort of there Um, it'd be betterif you were actually there, of
course, but you're, you feellike you're there.
So, um, I'm going to dive intoAurora photography as our next
topic.

(14:54):
Walk me through your steps andyour thoughts as you approach a
night of Aurora, viewing what'swhat's kind of going on through
your head to get the best shotspossible.
And you don't have tonecessarily talk about the
examples I just talked about,although I'm sure you probably
will talk about them becausethey're they're really really
successful for you.
But yeah, your steps and yourthoughts as you approach that

(15:17):
night for the best shotspossible.

Speaker 2 (15:21):
Sure, um, I mean, it all starts with being prepared.
Prepared, I think that's kindof the biggest.
The biggest thing that that Imake sure that I am is prepared.
That means you know knowingwhere my headlamp is, knowing
where my gloves are, knowinglike just that, like just being
extremely dialed into your kit.
Um, is is step one.

(15:43):
So I have like a pocket that Iuse every single night, like
when I'm shooting Aurora.
It's usually minus 30, right,it's cold, batteries don't live.
So I've got one pocket that mybattery goes into.
I know where it is and justwhat being prepared and kind of
being dialed into your kit doesfor you is it makes things
really fast.
So the Aurora isn't somethingthat just kind of lingers in the

(16:05):
sky, like when you see it makesthings really fast.
So the aurora isn't somethingthat just kind of lingers in the
sky like when you see it make acool shape.
That cool shape maybe lasts for15 or 20 seconds.
So you have 15 or 20 seconds tobe ready, to be out of
foreground, to get the picture.
And so preparedness in thatsense and being able to make a
move very, very quickly is a big, a big consideration for me

(16:26):
when it comes to that camera'salways on the tripod, it's
always ready to go, the settingsare already set.
It's all I have to do is plugthe battery and make a switch
and away we go.
When it comes to kind ofconsidering foreground and kind
of changing scenery and andlooking at what people are doing
, a lot of it is is very organicin the sense that something I

(16:50):
try to do with my photography,or at least with my people
photography, is I do very little.
I do some staging, but verylittle staging like I just like
that.
There's.
There's kind of a moment whenpeople put their cameras down
for a second or maybe you see acouple that was taking pictures.

(17:10):
They just put their camerasdown, they put their their
phones in their pocket for aminute and they just stop and
they kind of have this.
You can just see the bodylanguage of awe flow over them
and it's when I see that thatI'm just like right there.
I want to capture that moment,not only because I and it's when
I see that that I'm just likeright there.
I want to capture that moment,not only because I think it's
going to make a great image, butalso because I want to give
something to them of that momentthat was a very organic, pure

(17:34):
moment of awe.
So that's, that's a big part ofwhat I'm, what I'm thinking
about when I'm taking peopleshots, when it comes to
foregrounds and that kind ofstuff, you know, I I go to
locations that I know prettywell um, each night, and then
I'm just trying to move aroundand and try different
perspectives, different anglesand that kind of stuff, and I'm

(17:56):
always, I always have like newideas.
I'm I'm actually I pull everysingle expedition leader that
comes on a trip, um pretty muchabout like that, every other
kind of co-guide that I've got,basically, so what foreground
are you shooting?
Or you know, you have any ideasfor northern lights this year,
you know, and, and trying tofoster that inspiration, I'll

(18:16):
also ask guests too, like, whatdo you think about this scene?
Because I want to make surethat we're tackling everything.
It's easy to go to the sameplace 20 times and be like, okay
, I'll just take this picturewith this tree here and the
aurora ought to show up behindit.

Speaker 1 (18:30):
And the way we go.

Speaker 2 (18:30):
Yeah, you get in a rut, sort of right.
You get in a rut, and so I'malways trying to find like ways
to work around that.
And I've, yeah, each year Ikind of I'm learning new things
and talking to people and youknow, the aurora in the sky is
never, ever the same.
It's it's always a little bitdifferent.
So, um, yeah, just kind ofpulling the people around me to

(18:50):
to help drive inspiration, andit works like really well,
especially if I got a group 10,10 or 12 people and we all start
talking about what we're doing.
You know, if we're out therefor a few nights together, the
first night we're all doing ourthing, and then we come back
together and then get a wholebunch of new ideas and go out
the next night and we're alltrying different things and it's
, yeah, it's, it's fun that wayand you get a good variety of

(19:13):
shots to pick from as well.

Speaker 1 (19:15):
Fantastic.
Yeah, a couple really keypoints I want to pull out from
that and reiterate really keypoints.
I want to pull out from thatand reiterate One is that when
you see the Aurora in a coolshape in a photo, you know
online, on a postcard, in a book, eddie's exactly right.
It that's like a 10 to 15second window and I don't think
people realize that enough that,yes, it's not like the Aurora

(19:37):
is a light switch where thewhole thing is on and off it.
It builds, you know, sometimesa little bit slowly, but the
real dramatic action when it'smoving and shape shifting and
the photos that you're seeing,that make the best photography.
It's pretty quick.
So, yeah, being ready, that's asuper, super practical, good
advice.
The other thing I want tohighlight is his suggestion of

(19:59):
use of people and shots.
Um, I think it is anunderutilized tool in landscape
photography, general naturephotography, when you're in the
biggest, most bodacious, awesomescenes, to include people.
I think the, especially forthose folks that aren't
photographing all day every yearand have this kind of burned

(20:22):
into their minds of of what theycould be doing.
If you're, if you're, on acouple of photo trips a year as
a guest, your naturalinclination is to get people out
of the shot.
Right, you have a big waterfall, you have a big Vista.
Let's, let's not have people init, like, this is supposed to
be a beautiful, tranquillandscape.
But I think obviously you, youknow once you get that shot, or

(20:42):
even before you get that shot,getting people in, even like,
honestly, I'm the same way withthe best aurora shots.
When the aurora is reallykicking, that's what I'm like
looking for people around I Iwant to get people my shots
because it is it.
It provides this very earthlycontext to everything.
I'm a big on context withAurora because it's so.

(21:04):
It is so otherworldly.
You need to have familiarthings in your scene, otherwise
it makes no sense.
And people, people, time andtime again, are awesome for
landscape photography.
It definitely gets into thegenre of travel photography, but
, yeah, people, a huge part ofit.
The genre of travel photography, but, yeah, people, a huge part

(21:26):
of it.
Uh, so, so, eddie, uh, talkabout your, your camera setup.
What?
What are you shooting with whenyou're, when you're in front of
aurora, when you're shootingnorthern light season?

Speaker 2 (21:33):
yeah, right now I carry two camera bodies with me,
um, and then also my smartphone, uh, which is kind of the last
five years.
They've really come a long way.
But, my camera body that I usefor most Aurora shots these days
is a Nikon Z6 and then a14-24mm f2.8 lens.

(21:53):
So it's the kind of old versionof it or the F-mount version of
it.
So I just use it with the FTZadapter, the F mount version of
it.
So I just use it with the FTZadapter.
And then I've got I have aNikon D7200, which is.
I just picked it up because Iwanted to have a second body for

(22:16):
two very specific things.
One of them was for time lapses.
Something I like to do at thebeginning of the night, like if
we arrive somewhere forAuroraora, is I'll.
I'll pick a foreground, I'lltake my my, uh, my nikon, the
d7200, and I have a 10.5millimeter dx fisheye lens that
I stick on that one and I juststick it on a tripod somewhere
that has a really coolforeground.

(22:38):
Um, I have no idea what's gonnahappen for the night at that
point.
I just set it up and I turn iton on time-lapse movie and I
just get recording everythingthat happens in the sky until
the battery dies.
And then I'll notice thebattery dies, I'll go replace
and I'll just kind of keeprecording.
So when that Aurora comesthrough the sky.
I've got it in kind of thistime-lapse, this time-lapse

(23:00):
movie, in a pretty cool way.
So that's always nice because,yeah, it's just like the whole
night in one shot.
So those are my two cameras theZ6 I run around with, that's
the one I'm doing most of mypictures with, and then the
D7200 is off to the side gettingstuff.

Speaker 1 (23:18):
That's so interesting , so you set that up before the
Aurora even comes out.
Yeah, yeah, stuff that's sointeresting.

Speaker 2 (23:24):
So you set that up before the aurora even comes out
?
Yeah, yeah, and actually it's.
It's super cool because you youkind of have that whole process
of just the dark sky or maybethere's a little bit of cloud or
whatever, and then it's it'sjust shooting, taking a shot
every five or ten seconds, andthen the aurora comes out and
it's caught kind of that growth,that development of aurora and
also, if I like, a really coolway to do it as well, using

(23:46):
people.
Is you set it up so maybe we'vegot like a warming building
that we're in, like a cabin orsomething, so that every time
like the aurora comes out, yousee like this kind of really
high speed flow of people comingout, looking at the sky,
running around and then everyonegoing back in when the aurora
fades?

Speaker 1 (24:03):
it's, yeah, it's super neat and how long will
your battery last doing that?

Speaker 2 (24:08):
so that's the trick.
If I was uh, because it's dslr,um, my battery lasts pretty
long, like if it's, you know,the minus minus 30, it'll
probably last an hour and a halfokay, um and I have a theory
behind that, which is becauseit's constantly taking pictures
the camera is staying a littlebit warm.
It's like heating itself up Umand so it lasts a lot longer.

Speaker 1 (24:30):
Yeah, I never thought about that, but you're, you're
right, it's creating a littlebit of his own warmth.
It's, it's a warm bloodedanimal, exactly.
That's cool, um, okay, so talkto me about your camera settings
.
Um, yeah, what are you, whatare you shooting on?
Like manual mode, I'd imagine.
And yeah, let's talk aboutaperture, shutter speed, iso,

(24:50):
it's probably.
You know, I've talked aboutthis before on this podcast and
I've written about it, so I havemy own thoughts, but I I would
love to hear what yourperspective is on it yeah, no,
I'm, I'm.

Speaker 2 (25:00):
I mean I.
I vary things depending onwhat's going on quite a lot, and
so I usually have a startingpoint in the night which is iso
1600, five second shutter speedand then your widest aperture,
so for me that's f 2.8 um, andthen I go out see what's going
on in the sky, take a pictureokay, you know this is a bit
bright.
Then I can either drop my ISOor drop my shutter speed to

(25:23):
reduce the light that I'm justgetting there.
So that's where I start.
Now, what happens when theaurora is happening in the sky
is totally different, becauseyou can have so many different,
there's so many different waysin which the aurora can present
itself.
One of my favorite types ofaurora to photograph is a really

(25:43):
, really faint stationary band,and I say that because you get,
like with the, with the, theeffect of the camera and using
long exposure, high, so you getthe color in the sky, you can
get your greens and, if you know, oftentimes you can't really
see it at all with the naked eye, but you also will get a little
bit of red up above if it's, ifit's in the sky.

(26:08):
But what it enables you to do isbasically thoughtfully change
your foreground without beingtoo concerned about that aurora
going over to the other side ofthe sky, and then you have to
run 100 feet the other directionto change your foreground up,
so you can, you can be reallythoughtful and creative and kind
of move around.
So that's those really slowstationary bands, um, and if

(26:29):
those turn up on a really darknight then you get stars as well
.
So if those are in the sky thenI'm usually looking at like iso
2500, 15 seconds, shutter speed, f 2.8, and you get lots of
stars and that really faintaurora as well cool, so this is
probably more controversial.

Speaker 1 (26:48):
Yeah, those, those settings all definitely resonate
.
It's.
It's funny.
Aurora photography is like theeasiest and the hardest thing
all at the same time.
It's easiest because it's likehere are your settings, don't
stray from them very much, butbut so tricky because you know,
obviously it's like you'reshooting in the freezing cold,
it's at night, it's dark, you'reusually in big old mittens and

(27:09):
then probably the mostchallenging thing this is where
I'm getting at with thisquestion is focusing, and I've
definitely heard differentstrategies on this as well.
Totally, what's your take, yourtechnique, your thoughts on
focusing the camera whenshooting aurora?

Speaker 2 (27:25):
oh, it's something real treacherous to do when it's
minus 30, okay, but, like, justbecause it's like working with
um, working with gloves and thatkind of thing and and getting
everything set up, so, um, whenit comes to infinity focus,
that's where you want to be.
Of course, there's lots ofdifferent ways to go about that.
At nighttime, if possible, I'mshooting, I'm using a star and

(27:50):
I'm using kind of digital zoomon my camera to get in there and
then adjust it.
And then, once I find myinfinity, I will either mark it
or tape it or just rememberwhere it is and put the lens
back to that whenever I'mshooting.
And then, yeah, there's alsokind of a light painting
strategy where you can light,paint trees that are a

(28:11):
reasonable distance away fromyour camera, in front of you,
and then that gets yourforeground at least in focus.
And then, whether or not your,your stars, are in focus, you'd
have to just double check.
There's also trial and error,which has taken, you know, 15
pictures right around theinfinity dial.
Go, find, find the one thatworks the best, um, but yeah, I
think, like, the best strategyfor infinity focus is definitely

(28:32):
like, when it comes to beingprepared, you don't want to be
fumbling around with that.
If there's aurora in the sky,so try to do it in the daytime.
And if you just just go outsideand, like you know, pick a
building that's a mile away andfocus on that, make sure that
that's nice and sharp and thenlock your camera into infinity,
then, you're going to be in goodshape as well, so yeah, that's,
it's a really interesting topic.

Speaker 1 (28:54):
It's a fun fact, or more of like an annoying fact,
that your camera lens, if you go, you know, obviously one end of
the focusing dial is to minimumfocusing distance.
If you go to the other end,that's, you know, infinity more
or less.
No lens will be at trueinfinity at the very extent of

(29:15):
its rotation at the opposite end, meaning you can't just be like
, oh yeah, here's the closestfocus.
The other direction is thefurthest focus, like it's a
matter of nanometers ormillimeters, at least within
that, that rotation it's.
I've heard and read theories onyou know where your little hash

(29:37):
mark is on, where it saysinfinity.
You need to be on the inside ofthat line or the outside of
that line, and when I say line,I mean like the half a
millimeter line on your lensbarrel is what we're talking
about.
So it really is like fractionsof a millimeter, but it makes a
huge difference if you're tryingto get stars in focus or really
distance so that you can focus.
So yeah, eddie, great point ondoing it in the daytime.

(29:57):
Once you figure out your lensis infinity, it's.
It's not going to really changevery much from from scene to
scene.
Um, so you can start to build alittle bit of a workflow in
that.
Yeah, I've heard photographersput their own little lines and
put tape and all that sort ofstuff.
I will say you know mytechnique.
Um, I've heard this.
Uh, you know the infinitystrategy.

(30:18):
I tend to go for more of like aforeground focus personally, um,
mainly because I'm alwaystrying to shoot in the trees or
close to trees, and you knowI've heard more people do it.
Your strategy, to be honest.
So maybe I'm doing somethingwrong here, but basically I, you
know, I set up in front of astand of spruce trees we're
talking about Arctic Canada withblack and white spruce trees

(30:40):
and I get a little flashlight onthem just so they're light
enough.
I focus it down, I switch fromauto to manual and then that
locks in focus.
So I know that those trees areat least in focus, at least the
foregrounds in focus.
The problem is is that everytime I move my camera I have to
change that auto focus, becauseif those trees make a meaningful
difference closer or furtherfrom my lens it botches it.

(31:02):
So that's definitely somethingwhere infinity comes in and you
don't have to worry about that.

Speaker 2 (31:07):
Yeah, you got a touch on that for a sec?
Yeah, please, um, yeah, so likewith that too, that I mean
something that I've got.
Well, I mean, like when itcomes to finding infinity on
different lenses and cameras.
I could have my you 14 to 24 F2.8.
And then I have somebody else's, 14 to 24 F 2.8.

(31:28):
Their infinity marks are notgoing to be the same.
They'll probably be a littlebit different, because each lens
is a little bit different.
I was manufactured, they tried,you know they want to have it as
as, as smoothly as possible,but they're likely going to be
off, like you said, the micromillimeter, right, but they
won't, they probably won't bethe same.
So you can't just rely on thatlittle infinity symbol or the

(31:49):
marking there.
You got to do it that way.
And then with my, with my lens,something that I try to do,
like with infinity is it's kindof got like the what is it?
The minimum focus distance?
So once you're at infinity withmy lens, it's like anything
from eight feet away to infinity.
Is it going to be sharp?

Speaker 1 (32:07):
um, and so that's why I I always kind of resort to
stars and stuff from eight feetto infinity is me sharp, and
that's just simply because ofthe wide angle nature of the
lens right yeah, and that's once.

Speaker 2 (32:20):
It's in that infinity position.
So and like I do that you know,I'll set my infinity focus and
when I'm doing like guest photosand stuff like that, if they
stand at six feet they're blurry, but then I ask them to take
two steps backwards and they'resharp.
The trees are sharp, the starsare sharp.

Speaker 1 (32:34):
Oh, interesting and did you determine that from just
tests like lens?
Tests on your own?

Speaker 2 (32:39):
I, I think with each lens that I've kind of used
primarily you can, that you canfigure that out.
But then also there might belike a calculator online or it
might have some.
I can't remember exactly whereI found the details, but it's
about for me it's about eightfeet On my lens with my current
setup.
I think that, like, especiallyif you're shooting at a lens
it's like an 18 to 55 orsomething like that, it's

(33:00):
probably going to be like 20feet.
Yeah, um, it changes prettyquickly with uh, with an
increase in the yeah, increasein focal length.
But yeah, I found thatinteresting yeah, understood.

Speaker 1 (33:14):
So a parallel to photographing northern lights,
at least in our world, becausewe do this in similar regions
and areas is photographing polarbears.
And this is where I believe Ifirst, probably first, met you,
eddie, way back in the days,photographing bears.
To start off with, my punchyquestion here, just kind of out

(33:36):
of personal curiosity, is whatis your go-to lens, what's your
favorite lens for photographingpolar bears?
I'd say I'd ask you know whatis your go-to lens, what's your
favorite lens for photographingpolar bears?
I'd say I'd ask you know whatis your strategy for
photographing polar bears.
But, holy cow, like we needeight more hours on this because
you know there's everything,every strategy imaginable.
But let me start off with atleast what's your favorite lens

(33:56):
for photographing polar bears.

Speaker 2 (33:59):
That is a great question.
I just want to say, yeah, Iremember meeting you for the
first time.
Um, it was my first year doingpolar bear trips in 2016 with uh
, and I think we shared a roomand I'm pretty sure I'm just
like how do I do this court?
Because I yeah, I think you'dyou'd already been doing it for
a few years by that point and Iwas just like, huh, new, new to

(34:21):
the new to Winnipeg, new toChurchill.

Speaker 1 (34:23):
Um, oh, yeah, Okay, yeah I appreciate your insight
back then.

Speaker 2 (34:27):
Nice, that was.
That was good.
You flatter me, thank you.
Um, I was going to say the uh.
So the lens, oh man, the lensthat I use for polar bear
photography has changed over theyears.
I used to.
I used to think that the bestthing to have was like a 150 to
600.
And I'm just like, yeah, youknow, this means I can get the

(34:49):
creatures that are the bearsthat are a little bit further
away.
I can get them nice and close,and I have, like this
versatility within the lens andI think that is superb, like
it's, it really is.
But kind of this past season andthe season before, I've
actually really switched to a300 prime, but not the F2.8, a

(35:12):
300 prime, f4.
And the reason for that isbecause it's a manageable size
but it is so sharp.
And the reason for that isbecause it's a manageable size
but it is so sharp.
And I feel like, if any, like Ithink that it is versatile in
the sense that because it's sosharp, even if there's an animal
that I would capture at 600mils, at the 300, it's still

(35:34):
just as sharp.
It's so, it's so beautiful, andthen I've just tried to be um
more creative with that lens aswell, um incorporating things
like panoramas, verticalpanoramas, um uh, and whatnot,
and I've, I'm.
Yeah, there's another processum folk like focus stacking,
that I'm trying to do with it,but right now, anyways, okay, my

(35:55):
favorite 300 prime f4 takenfrom the the uh, a page from the
book of Brad Joseph's.

Speaker 1 (36:03):
I remember that was his like, probably still is like
such a go-to lens, like all ofhis top shots, all with a 300 F4
.
Um, I love it.
I love it.
So this is a Nikon lens thatmakes this, or no.

Speaker 2 (36:17):
Yeah, it's a Nikon lens and the one that I got
because of when I, when I firststarted, I had seen some other
photographers shooting with the300 f4 and I was like, okay,
that's cool.
And so then I looked at it was600 bucks and it's an older
version, doesn't have a verygreat auto focus, but that's
fine, I get set up and I canmake it work, yep, okay.

Speaker 1 (36:38):
So talk to me about tele extenders.
Are you using one with it ever?
What are your general thoughtson tele converters?

Speaker 2 (36:46):
I haven't used a tele extender or tele converter.
Um, what I can tell you, assomebody who spends a lot of
time with grizzly bears as well,in the rainforest and in darker
settings, anything that reducesthe light to my camera, um, I'm
extremely scared of.
I don't want it I don't you know, maybe that'll change when we
get some new tech with withmirrorless cameras, and you know

(37:08):
we'll be shooting at 128 000iso um, but it's going that way,
yeah, um, but uh, at this point, like I, I was sitting in, just
as an example, sitting in aboat in the Great Bay Rainforest
last fall, and it was anovercast day, cloudy Um, and
there was, uh, someone sittingnext to me who had, um, I think

(37:29):
it was a 100 to 400, um with atwo times extender on it and it
was a Nikon Z8, like a very nicecamera, um, and I had my Nikon
Z6 with my 300 F4.
And I asked you know, it's likehow are things turning out?
Just like, you know, I'm atlike ISO 6400 and I can't get a

(37:49):
sharp picture and I'm just likewhat?
Like what's going on?
And I looked at his settings andbecause of the teleconverter,
he could not get his aperturebelow F10.
And F10 on a cloudy, rainy day,you're cooked Like, it's just
not going to work as you'd wantit.
So that really kind ofsolidified my feelings and I'm

(38:11):
just sitting there like shootingF4 with 300 ISO 2000.
And I'm like this is great.

Speaker 1 (38:17):
You know, this is easy, you know I can get lots of
sharp pictures at 1000, 1, 1000second yeah, oh man, my my like
alarm bells go off so loud whenI hear 100 to 400 with a two
times extender, it's I.
I hear people ask about it andtalk about it quite often
because on paper it sounds great, right, you know like, oh, I

(38:40):
could have a 100 to 400 or 200to 800, like how nice.
But when you start doing themath and start figuring out that
, that turns into, like you said, f10, f11 in some cases.
And, to be totally honest,although the 100 to 400 class of
lens is usually pretty darnsharp, I just noticed it does
not do very well with teleextenders.
So, yeah, if, if I had a littlesound effect button, I would

(39:03):
have my little warning siren gooff.
Just try to avoid zoom lenseswith tele extenders.
Um, they don't work very well.
With primes it's a differentstory.
But, uh, yeah, so okay.
So I don't want to get off ofpolar bears too much.
I opened the door, thefloodgate, to, you know, advice

(39:24):
on polar bear photography.
We don't have time to talkabout all of it, or even most of
it.
We should do a separate episodeon that.
However, I'd love to hear oneor two of your top tips for
photographing polar bears, andI'm not even going to bait you
or seed you in a direction likeyou could.
Yeah, you could say anythingyou could.
You could say like place ortime of year or technique or the

(39:47):
story.
I mean, just go go wild,whatever.
Whatever, top one or two thatyou want to share.

Speaker 2 (39:56):
Oh, man, a lot of my, a lot of my tips come down to
preparedness in that sense,because something that I've seen
happen dozens of times is, ifyou're going to miss putting
your camera down at a certainmoment, you will miss something,
you will miss a shot, aspecific shot, and so, um, I

(40:20):
would just say, be ready to tokind of hold your camera for
longer than you would anticipate, in less desirable conditions
than you would anticipate.
Um, and that's something that Ido when I'm with groups like I
am, I'm just like, don't likevery firm, I'm like don't put
your camera down, do not removeyourself, don't take your finger

(40:42):
off the shutter, do not removeyourself.
Because you know, as, as a bearguide, having seen, you know
hundreds and hundreds of bearsdoing their thing, you get a
sense, for you know, oh, thisbear's about to do something
exciting.
Or you see the two bears kindof going nose to nose, getting
ready to do a little bit of asparring action.
I know what's about to happen.
I need to communicate that witheverybody so that they just

(41:04):
stay.
And so being prepared and beingready to kind of go for the
long haul in the situations thatdo arise is super important.

Speaker 1 (41:16):
Okay.
Well, so before you go on toanother one or one or the next
one, let me ask this begs thequestion so you're, you're at
the ready a lot, yeah, what areyour camera settings while at
the ready?
And I'm honestly asking fromlike a personal curiosity,
because that is that's a toughone for me is like, yeah, that
that's a tough one, like I, Ialso know to be ready.

(41:37):
I'm probably not as disciplinedas you, but the other half the
equation is be ready with theright settings.
And, yeah, I fully get.
If you're like, well, itdepends on the situation.
Different situations havedifferent settings.
But what?
What first comes to your mind?
Like, what are you?
What are you thinking of?
Like, okay, not much ishappening.
Either the bears are sittingdown or they're no longer
visible, or you're not seeingany bears.

(41:58):
Your camera's at the ready, butwhat settings are at the ready?

Speaker 2 (42:03):
that's.
That's a great question whatsettings?
And so I've got three mainavenues of readiness.
So I personally shoot onaperture priority um for
wildlife I set my aperture umand then the the only.
The shutter speed basicallychanges in conjunction with my
ISO.
So that's the only thing thatI'm adjusting manually and that

(42:25):
that hails back from my timesitting in a boat in the rain in
the rainforest, where I amtrying to push my camera to get
the lowest ISO with the lowestacceptable shutter speed so that
I can preserve the imagequality.
You know, like I don't want tolet it get really, really grainy
, and so I was always trying tokind of pull it down right where

(42:45):
I wanted the shutter speed byadjusting.
That's the first thing I wouldadjust is my ISO.
So that's my strategy.
Now I've noticed that thatdoesn't work for a lot of people
.
So, but I'm going for.
My goal would be would be oh,here's actually another thing
with preparedness, there's avery small chance that I'm ever

(43:06):
resting my camera on something.
Um, I'm usually hand holding it, but that's also because I'm
the guide.
I'm always sure behindeverybody.
You know I don't have the primespots, but, um, if I had a
prime spot I may be resting iton something, but I'm.
But I also am recognizing that,in particular in churchill,
we're on the rovers that are onsuspension, so they're always
moving.

(43:26):
There's always going to becamera shake from vibrations,
not necessarily from the enginebut from vibrations, um.
So I am trying to achieve ashutter speed that will
basically eliminate thevibrations on my end of things.
The bear can do whatever itwants, but as long as I can

(43:46):
eliminate vibrations to ensure asharp picture on my end of
things, I am typically lookingfor one one-thousandth of a
second or greater than myshutter speed.
My aperture usually sits itdepends um, but it usually sits
between as wide as it can be atf4 up to about f7.1 um, maybe f8
if I have enough light for it.
Um, but typically if theanimal's 50 yards away and I'm

(44:10):
shooting at f4, that's fine,just fine with me.
Um and then my iso.
I'm just trying to keep thatdown, um, to preserve image
quality.
Um, that's my strategy when itcomes to a big one with bears is
exposure compensation.
White bears on white snow isexposure compensation.
A lot of people go plus one orplus 0.7 or two thirds or

(44:31):
something like that to helpbalance the amount of gray in
the photo.
Make that more of a properlyexposed white on white picture.
Amount of gray in the photo.
Make that more of a properlyexposed white on white picture.
Um, that's great, but always beaware of what, the how the
environment is changing, because, yes, you can have a bear on a
white pond, a frozen pond,covered in snow, but then it's
going to walk 20 feet and thenbe in front of some dark willows

(44:52):
and you're kind of in adifferent scenario there.
So just be aware with that.
But yeah, so I uh my isoadjusting for best quality, try
to keep it as low as I can.
Aperture stays the same,usually f4 to f7.1 um, and then
my shutter speed.
I'm trying to achieve one onethousandth of a second or
greater um, at least if I'm handholding um or on like a,

(45:15):
something that's slightly moving.

Speaker 1 (45:19):
Yeah, no, those are great.
Yeah, love it Fast.
You know that's fast stuff.
Fast from a lens, an F4.
Fast from shutter speed.
I've noticed my polar bearphotography has improved as I go
, faster and faster.
You know, like the idea ofshooting at one over the focal
length.
No, it's not fast enough formoving big bears, especially
because they tend to take up somuch of your frame that any, any

(45:44):
sort of movement just gives toomuch blur as a proportion of
your scene.
So yeah, fast, fast, fast.
Um, so I I cut you off before.
I think you were gonna saymaybe a second tip, were you on
to something?

Speaker 2 (45:57):
oh yeah, let me, uh, what was my other tip?
I might have lost it.
Um, yeah, versatility, um iskey.
So something that, uh, thatI've seen is you know, you've
got you have monopods or tripodsand all this kind of stuff.

(46:17):
Um, got you have monopods ortripods and all this kind of
stuff.
Um, you know, a lot of this iscoming from like a, a position
where I'm like, as, as the guideon board, I'm never like in
front of people or I'm neverhaving those prime spots, and so
it's like I have to ensure thatif I'm going to get pictures,
I've got to be really ready, um,in that sense, to take a

(46:38):
picture when I actually have asecond to take a picture.
And so, with that, I just try tokeep my system versatile and I
keep everything set and readyand prepared.
And so, yeah, versatile, beingable to move from one side of
one of our polar rovers over tothe other side without, you know
, having kind of a cumbersometripod or monopod leg, getting

(46:59):
caught or tangling up with otherpeople, is really really
critical, just yeah, and, andwith that too, you know, bring
whatever lens you so desire.
But I like to kind of keep mysystem a little bit more compact
and manageable for, forversatility, um, in particular,
and this, this has gone, youknow, just just kind of keeping
things um, quick and easy to use.

(47:23):
For me has gone a long way inevery wildlife viewing situation
that I've got, because if I'mtrying to move my gigantic lens
over and that kind of thing thatit it takes those seconds that
you're not going to get backwhen the bear is all done doing.
It's really cool thing.

Speaker 1 (47:39):
So, yeah, it's all about that moment.
I know I've, I've always beentempted to, you know, try to
rent a 400 to eight or somecrazy lens like that, but then
I'm thinking honestly, like itis, it's always versatility.
It's really more about thetiming and the moment in your
positioning, that it is thecamera, the lens, and that's

(48:00):
sort of a function of the stuffthat you and I get to see as
being so rare that when peopleget to see it that, yes, a
sharper photo is better, butit's really about the moment and
the behavior that the viewerthe photo probably has never
seen before.
So, yeah, super astute advicethere.
Okay, so I'm going to zoom outfor the next uh, couple of
questions here from a 30,000foot view.

(48:20):
What is the Eddie Savage photostyle and why?
What is the style?
Every photographer has theirown style, of course.

Speaker 2 (48:30):
It has changed over the years and I think I'm still
trying to find my style when itcomes to.
I think something that I'vebeen enjoying in the last two
years is two or three years inparticular is is kind of
landscape wildlife shots.
So I have 10,000 photos ofpolar bear heads, you know, and

(48:56):
I could I could probably make abook on the different bear faces
, right, like whatever.
But something that I've reallybeen enjoying is trying to, you
know, kind of like the question,take the 30,000 foot step back
or just like move back from thescene.
Because you can get a pictureof a bear where the bear fills
the frame and you're just like,okay, cool.

(49:17):
Of a bear where the bear fillsthe frame and you're just like,
okay, cool, that's a bear.
But what I find moreinteresting nowadays is is
stepping back from that, be like, okay, we have a bear in part
of the picture, but where is thebear and and how can, how can
we put this animal into itsenvironment in a way that people
really understand the landscape?
And so I've been I'vedefinitely been toying around
with that a lot more um, doing,yeah, working, working with like

(49:41):
panoramic, like wildlifepanoramas, um, and stuff like
that and and uh, I met somebodylast year who was doing focus
stacking and I'm like, okay, I'mgonna try doing some focus
stacking, um with with bears yougotta be pretty still for that,
but yeah, I mean so just tryingto like zoom out on things and
get a whole, a broader picture.

(50:03):
And when it comes to landscape,I'm still very much figuring
myself out.
Um, I, I have historically beenmore of a telephoto landscape
photographer, so, and actually II would almost say that's what
I love doing, like I is isshooting a landscape shot with a
with my 300, for example.

(50:24):
Yeah, doing some forcedperspective.
Um, you know, bring that sun innice and close, make, make
those layers really, reallyprominent.
Um, I really like that and, uh,I think that that's.
I'm going to continue down that, that direction.
But I, I'm still definitelyfiguring myself out, um, both as
a wildlife photographer and asa landscape photographer, I just

(50:48):
love trying new things and andthere's a lot of different ways
to create a beautiful image.

Speaker 1 (50:52):
So, absolutely, yeah.
I mean, I think I think we, Ithink we're all evolving in that
way and I have to say, forbetter or for worse, the
remarkable progress of cameragear is kind of enabling, slash,
forcing us to change ourmentality on it too.
I mean, the stuff I'm able toget, like you were just talking
about with the high ISO, isgiving me new perspective on

(51:15):
things.
So, yeah, that's great stuff.
Okay, a couple kind of rapidfire questions here.
What is a piece of gear foryour nature photography exploits
that is surprisingly helpful,that people may not think about?

Speaker 2 (51:32):
Two foot by three foot microfiber towel A towel
Don't forget to bring a towel.
Okay, microfiber towel thatit's a double purpose.
One of them is it's a lenscloth, because it's a nice
microfiber cloth.
Number two is I'm I'm veryrarely ever shooting in optimal
conditions and I'll have rain,I'll have snow, I'll have water,

(51:55):
moisture, um condensation,something end up on my camera.
And I've got this two by threefoot microfiber towel.
It folds up and it fits intolike a cargo pant pocket and I
just pull that thing out and Ican dry my camera off really
quickly, clean my lens if I haveto.
It's just been like, yeah, whenI was in Iceland last year

(52:16):
Iceland and Greenland that thinglived in my pocket for two
months like the same pocket.
Gosh, that's really clever.

Speaker 1 (52:22):
I have to say, when you first said that, I was a
little, you know, I chuckled,like I'm sure most people do,
but it does make sense.
You know, I'm gearing up to goover to Borneo and I'm just
thinking like, yeah, I'm goingto get rained on a couple times,
and it rained on a couple oftimes, and it's not going to
push me inside, um, and all Ireally care about is enough
water accumulating that it getsinto the gears.

(52:42):
You know we all have protectedcameras these days, uh, with,
with waterproofing, but yeah,just a little, huh, okay, um.
Well, you know what I'm goingto.
I'm going to look up a goodmicrofiber towel, put it in the
show notes so everyone listeningis armed with Eddie's favorite
piece of gear, okay, cool.

(53:05):
So this I'm going to do onemore rapid fire question and
then we're going to go to alittle more of a deeper one.
But what is your favoriteX-factor lens?
And when I say X-factor, Idon't know if I've termed this
I'm sure I haven't butnevertheless, to me X-factor is
like it's the lens that you'renot going to use a whole lot of,
um, but the shot you could getfrom it on a given trip might be

(53:28):
like one of your top threeshots, and some examples for me
are like a nifty 50, like Idon't do a lot of wildlife or
landscapes with a 50 millimeter,you know, that's just.
It's a unideal focal length.
Um, a macro lens is one ofthose.
Like not every destination youcan use a macro lens.
You certainly can't use itthroughout the day.
And there are a couple otherfunky lenses out there like

(53:50):
ultra wides or that's not thatfunky, but like fish eyes.
So I'm kind of seeding thequestion a little bit here.
But that's what I mean by xfactor, like something that is
like.
For instance, I was talkingwith Rich DeGavea and his that I
sort of ascertained from theconversation was like a 135

(54:10):
prime for photographing gorillas.
I'm like you weirdo, but no, ofcourse not.
It's genius, phen's phenomenal,it's like a portraiture lens.

Speaker 2 (54:24):
But heck, yeah, you should use that for
photographing gorillas.
So that's what I'm getting athere.
There was a lens that I boughta few years ago.
I saw it pop up at one of thecamera stores around here and
I'm like, oh, that would be fun.
And actually it's become aregular for time lapses in
Churchill during Northern lightseason.
It's that.
It's that 10.5 millimeter DXNikon lens, and it was when I

(54:48):
bought it.
It was actually manipulated, soit had the lens hood very
meticulously cut off of it,cause it usually has like the
permanent fixture on it, and sonow it's just this boldest lens
with no lens hood around, and,and I think the the purpose, uh,
that it was basically to getlike a full circular photo.
Um, I bought that with one shotin mind, which was I wanted to

(55:11):
go into a cluster of trees andshoot straight up through the
trees so that the trees comearound in a circle around the
the aurora shot, and I did thatand it was great.
Um, so that one is kind of likea little a sneaky little
x-factor lens.
I haven't found an applicableuse for it outside of um very
specific shots and time lapsesin churchill, though, but it

(55:34):
always comes with me um fornorthern lights photography
trips.

Speaker 1 (55:39):
Okay, yeah, no, that's exactly what I mean.
So 10.5 millimeter, this in DX,you'll have to remind me, on
Nikon, that's like the cropframe.

Speaker 2 (55:46):
That's a crop yeah.

Speaker 1 (55:48):
Yeah, so an equivalent on full frame would
be like a 14 or 15 millimetersomething or other, but it
probably that exact thingprobably doesn't quite exist.
That's one of the things withcrop factors is that, you know,
oftentimes you get some reallycool niche lenses, um, okay,
good, good to know.
Okay, so the.
The final question here, um,that we'll take a little bit

(56:09):
more time on, involvesconservation.
Um, with photography, how doyou see photography personally
intersecting with the world ofconservation, whether it's in
the trips you lead, whether it'sin the uses of the photos you
produce from them?
How do you see thatintersection?

Speaker 2 (56:32):
um, that's a.
That's a great question when itcomes to conservation.
I think that there is.
I mean, when I, when I lookback on it, humans, we're all
storytellers, right, we lovestories, we love reading, we
love learning, we love creatingimages out of words.
And I think that photography,when paired with words, in the

(56:56):
form of maybe a short entry, ashort journal, a short article
about it, it has the ability toreally bring people into a very
extreme level and so a veryintimate level as well.
You mentioned it earlier.
Like you know, an Aurora shotwhere it feels like you're
actually there.
I think, when you're talkingabout kind of these larger world

(57:17):
conservation issues, if youdon't know much about what's
going on in the Arctic butthere's a good photo journal
kind of put together aboutsomething that's going on
conservation initiative in theArctic it can help bring the
reader learning all thisinformation much closer to the
actual scene and get a bettervantage point.
So I think there always will bean extremely important place for

(57:41):
any conservation initiativewith photography and connecting
people to a place.
Yeah, I would love to have abetter understanding for my
personal work of being able to,you know, use my pictures in
that way to bring people'sattention to those things and,
like, I do it in a limited waywith, uh, with instagram or you

(58:03):
know that kind of thing.
But, um, finding a way forphotographers and photographers
photographers like myself to toreally have a greater impact
with their images would be wouldbe nice to see, but I don't
know exactly how to do it yetit's something that I think is
going to come online at somepoint.

Speaker 1 (58:20):
I mean, I think it exists in very nascent ways, in
very kind of siloed parts of theindustry, but nothing really
mainstream yet.
But yeah, I share your thoughtsthere.
Now, on the same front, do youhave any advice for someone that
would be much more in thebeginning phases of their

(58:41):
photography or maybe they'requite far into photography but
more beginning in their travelphotography and wish to think
through a lens of storytelling,of conservation, storytelling
anything that comes to mind thatyou'd like to pass on to that

(59:02):
individual to think about, to doto, to learn to harness what's
you know, approaches that youfound successful, or even just
things that you think would behelpful, that you wish you knew
back when you started?

Speaker 2 (59:11):
I think that, oh, that's that's an interesting
question.
Um, I think something that Ithat I look back on now so it's
something I've been doing morerecently is doing a lot more
writing two pictures that I tookin the past, which is
interesting because when I tookthose pictures, I wasn't
necessarily thinking, oh, I'mgoing to take this picture so

(59:34):
that I can write a little youknow, a thousand word
conservation story about thisspecies.
So that's something that Ithought was interesting.
I mean, if you go into a placethat I'm thinking about China a
lot right now, because that's mynext expedition I've been doing
, I've been writing a fewarticles about it to put with
pictures that I took five yearsago, in some cases seven years

(59:57):
ago, but so, definitely likegoing into that.
When I go to a new place, I'malways trying to document
everything as thoroughly aspossible and I often end up with
probably about 200% more photosthan I would actually ever want
.
Or, like you know that I that Ishould have, I mean there's no,
there's no limit.
Or, like you know that I that Ishould have, I mean there's no,

(01:00:18):
there's no limit.
Hey, there's no limit, you canjust keep taking pictures, but
I'm really thankful that, youknow, seven, five to seven years
ago, when I was doing theseChina expeditions, I was going
to these remote nature reservesand I know that these places are
not extremely well traveled, Iknow that these animals are not
seen by a lot of people in thewild well-traveled, I know that

(01:00:40):
these animals are not seen by alot of people in the wild.
I know that this ecosystem, theenvironment that I was in, was
exceedingly rare and so, knowingthat, going into it I took a
lot of pictures.
I took pictures of pretty mucheverything that I could imagine,
documenting it, from where wewere staying, the vehicles we
were driving, the people we wereworking with, all the way to,
you know, the fleeting twominute glimpse of an endangered

(01:01:03):
species that we got to see,trying to document everything.
And then I left with that,knowing okay, I've got these
images, and I didn't do anythingwith them or even look at them,
you know, except periodically,time to time, shuffling things
around, until I was like, okay,I've got the energy, motivation

(01:01:25):
and mindset right now to writesomething and put a story to it
and then publish that, so thatthere's kind of this information
going about them, so assomebody going, you know, just
starting out, or you know you'regoing to be going to these
special places.
You're going to be seeinganimals that are in a state that
will not be the same in 10years.
If we look at most species onthis planet, there's a lot of

(01:01:50):
changes happening quite quickly,and so it's like you're
capturing kind of a glimpse intime.
But you're also getting thisextremely special opportunity to
capture these animals, and so,um, don't pass that up so that
maybe you can, you can look atit, and if you, if you end up
wanting to use that or end upwanting to do something with

(01:02:10):
that in the future, you've gotit.

Speaker 1 (01:02:13):
So well put.
Thank you, eddie.
Well, uh, final final question.
Final question how do folksfind you?
How do they find you on social?
Do you have a photo website youwant to direct people to?
Where can we find Eddie Savage?

Speaker 2 (01:02:27):
You can find me on Instagram Eddie Savage Photo,
facebook Eddie SavagePhotography, and then my website
, eddiesavagephoto.

Speaker 1 (01:02:37):
All right, fantastic.
I will put those in the shownotes.
Eddie, you are a gentleman anda scholar.
Thank you so much for joiningme today.
I really appreciate it.
I love talking with you.

Speaker 2 (01:02:47):
Yeah, thank you, court.
I really appreciate all yourquestions and, yeah, love
working with you.
I love reading your posts andlistening to your podcast, so
I'm excited to be featured.
It posts and listen to yourpodcast, so I'm excited to be
featured.
It's cool, awesome.
Anyways, I'll see you somewherein the world for five minutes,
as is our habit these last fewyears.

Speaker 1 (01:03:05):
I know right, it has been that way.
All right, Well, let's make ithappen a little bit longer next
time.
Well, cheers.

Speaker 2 (01:03:11):
Eddie, thank you.

Speaker 1 (01:03:11):
Hey, take care, bye.