An SFU student has made history by becoming the first North American to win the prestigious Eric Hosking Portfolio Award, which honours the best young wildlife photographers from around the globe.
Co-sponsored by BBC Worldwide and London’s Natural History Museum, the award is given to the photographer with the best submitted portfolio of six to 10 photos. According to competition criteria, while choosing the recipient of the award, judges were looking for “fresh, innovative, creative and challenging images of the natural world.”
As stated by the website, “being shortlisted in this competition is something to which photographers across the world aspire.” For Connor Stefanison, who had submitted portfolios twice before, this was his year to win. “I tried really hard to get as many good photos as I could,” said Stefanison. “All of the photos except for the hot springs photo have been taken since last year’s deadline.”
Stefanison, 22, is currently completing a biology degree in ecology and conservation at SFU — however, his true passion lies not in the lab, but behind the lens.
Stefanison first became interested in photography while riding the trails of the North Shore and Burnaby Mountain. He made the transition from sports to wildlife photography after visiting a camera club that had a strong nature focus with his friend and his friend’s father.
“I kind of instantly got into it from that,” explained Stefanison. “I went on some camping the summer right after and I’d just go taking pictures of all the birds . . . the wildlife stuff came pretty naturally to me.”
Stefanison attributes his ease with wildlife photography in part to his experiences hunting, fishing, and trapping. “I think hunting has really helped a lot, just understanding animal behaviour,” said Stefanison. “And also hunting and fishing both have led me to know a lot of really good locations to go to. I have a lot of really good loon locations and that’s all from fishing.”
“Being shortlisted in this competition is something to which photographers across the world aspire.”
– Natural History Museum website
Of the six pictures that were chosen from his portfolio, each presented a unique challenge to Stefanison.
“The most difficult was definitely the barred owl flying, because I didn’t know how to use multi-flash before the picture and I hadn’t really used flash all that much,” said Stefanison. “A really tricky part was pressing the shutter at the right time because the owl’s flying by so fast and if you click it a little bit too late all you see are tail feathers and legs. But, if you click it too early, the owl is really small, so it took about two weeks of trying to get that right.”
In the photo entitled “Silent Flight,” Stefanison spent about a week and a half trying to get the blur effect right on the snowy owl. He also spent hours approaching the loon in “Evening Peace,” trying to make it comfortable, before snapping the winning shot.
Although originally deciding not to submit the picture “Lucky Pounce,” Stefanison was convinced by his friend and former editor of National Geographic to include it in his portfolio. “I didn’t think it was very original and the contest really looks for originality, but she insisted that I enter it, just because it’s a portfolio and it adds some diversity to it,” explained Stefanison. “Lucky” for Stefanison, this photo was one of the six that won him the distinguished prize.
“Vancouver is probably the best big city in North America for wildlife photography.”
– Connor Stefanison, SFU student
For would-be wildlife photographers, Stefanison has some tips and tricks that he feels may give newcomers to the industry an edge.
“One thing that I see a lot of beginners doing that I personally would like to see less of is cropping in really tight after they take a picture,” said Stefanison. “It’s often more pleasing to leave a lot of environment in the photos.”
He also advised photographers to take advantage of local opportunities. “A lot of people think, ‘Oh, I live in Vancouver, I can’t shoot wildlife because I live in the city,’ but Vancouver is probably the best big city in North America for wildlife photography.”
“There are so many great nature spots and good bird opportunities . . . exploring what you have around your neighbourhood would be a really good thing.”
Stefanison’s photos will be part of an exhibition at the Natural History Museum until March 2014.
Congrats bro!