Some of the world’s best nature photographers live right here in Burnaby.
Best friends Connor Stefanison and Jess Findlay recently made a trip to Washington, D.C. to see their work on display in the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History. Both entered a photo for the Windland Smith Rice International Awards early last year and won in the wildlife category.
Stefanison submitted a picture of three muskoxen, taken during a week-long trip to Norway’s Dovrefjell–Sunndalsfjella National Park, while Findlay chose a photo of a sleeping sea otter in Alaska’s Kenai Peninsula. Both pictures will be on display at the Smithsonian for about a year.
The boys became best pals at a young age, living only a couple of houses apart. They took up photography near the end of high school, and one could argue they never looked back.
The NOW caught up with Stefanison to talk about nature photography and what it feels like to be at the top of his field.
How did you get into photography?
Jess’ dad has always been a wildlife photographer so Jess kind of picked it up from him, and my dad had an interest in it, so he bought a DSLR camera. I went out with Jess and his dad a few times on some bird-watching trips, just around the city and they joined a nature photography camera club. I went to a meeting with them; the first night was about bird photography, so that first night I learned quite a bit about it. I always had a big, outdoor background, just from camping and fishing. After joining that club, I just realized there were so many easy opportunities for wildlife photography close to home, like Burnaby Lake and Boundary Bay.
When did your hobby really take off?
I got pretty into it right away. As soon as I started, that’s all I did. When it really took off was in 2013. I won the wildlife photographer of the year rising star portfolio award. That was from the Natural History Museum in London, England. So I got that in 2013 and 2015. That’s like the biggest contest there is, and you get so much publicity from it. That really kicked everything off.
Is this your full-time job or are you doing something else on the side?
This is full-time. I’ll get random image sales and magazine assignments once in a while, but the main thing is teaching workshops. The main ones are week-long trips; we have some that we do in Manning Park – birds, mammals, landscapes. We have some in Vancouver for birds and then we have some in the Interior for loons.
What are some of your favourite places you’ve travelled as a photographer, and why?
Definitely the B.C. Interior I really like, just because I’ve been going there fishing all my life, and I know the area quite well. I really like Jasper National Park. There’s an infinite amount of things to shoot up there. Yellowstone National Park is another favourite and just the Vancouver area. There’s probably no better big city for nature photography than the Vancouver area.
What does it feel like to know you’re among the world’s best nature photographers?
(Laughs) I don’t know about that, but it certainly is really humbling being displayed in a world, top museum like the Smithsonian. Having done that in other contests, like in the Natural History Museum and the Royal B.C. Museum, it’s definitely really cool knowing that everyone in the world takes pictures, so it’s cool to know that your picture is kind of standing out amongst the crowd. I never would have thought that I would have been doing this years ago.
How did you come to choose the muskoxen as your photo entry?
When I enter a contest, I like to look at past images that they’ve chosen and see what their style is. I’m not really sure how I chose it. I don’t think the muskox was the best picture that I entered, but that’s all subjective with the judges, right? I wanted to enter at least one picture from that trip to Norway. That one had a cool arrangement of the three of them, and I think muskox are kind of a real eye-catching species.
Tell me about what it took to get that photo.
I had to go to London for that wildlife photography of the year award, so I figured I would leave early and go to Norway and spend a week hiking around there to get these muskoxen. I’ve always wanted to go to that park and see them, but it’s kind of a big trip to do it, so I figured it was the perfect opportunity to go. I hiked into the park and I was camping there for six days. To find the muskox, I would go off into the backcountry, go off trail. I was doing a lot of hiking every day. I estimated I was probably doing around 20 kilometres a day. You’d see the muskox so far away and because there’s no trees, and it’s all open, it seems like a short walk, but it would be quite a distance. I don’t think they wanted me around. It’s pretty hard to read their body language, so it was days and days of me sitting a little bit too far away from them to get close pictures. For the picture in the museum, just as I crested over the hill, I got a couple shots, and then they started moving on.
Did you ever get charged at?
Yeah. I had a few instances with the big, big males. It was my first encounter and my last encounter. You take a couple steps, hang out for a bit, take a couple steps, and then all of sudden, they just get up and run at you. There’s really no warning.
Any advice for those looking to get into the biz?
Just shoot locally and spend as much time shooting where you live. Lots of people get into photography and they think you have to travel super far to get great pictures. The more you shoot close to home, you’re going to know your local places a lot better than you will a trip to Africa. Keep working those spots and you’ll become a much better photographer.