Recent SFU graduate and international award-winning photographer, Connor Stefanison, gave a free workshop on wildlife photography as part of the City of Burnaby’s Environment Week earlier this month.
The workshop was held on June 5 at the Piper Spit boardwalk at Burnaby Lake Regional Park, a location that the BBC wildlife photography award winner often visits for photo shoots. The workshop ran from 6:30 p.m. until around 10:00 p.m.
Stefanison told The Peak that the City of Burnaby contacted him and asked if he wanted to do a talk or presentation as part of the week’s activities. He opted for a workshop because he felt hands-on learning would be most valuable for aspiring wildlife photographers.
Participants were asked to bring their own cameras, a long and short lens — if they had both — and were encouraged to also bring a flash, a tripod, bird seed, and weather-appropriate clothing.
“A lot of people showed up,” Stefanison recalled. “Between 30 and 40, [. . .] which was more than ideal for one person [. . .] I was only expecting like 10 people.”
He also noted that the age group was mostly adults. “Well, I’m an adult,” he said, laughing. “But 40s, 50s, probably.”
Due to the large number of attendees, Stefanison had to change his original plans of a more hands-on tutorial; however, he felt he was still able to communicate the basic techniques of wildlife photography.
He began by introducing himself, and then explained to the group how to use specific settings on their cameras, how each setting affects an image, how to approach an image with natural and artificial lighting, and how to use wireless remote photography.
“Most of the people were beginners,” Stefanison said of the attendees. “[But] there were also intermediates, so everyone learned stuff.”
He also talked to the group about the various bird species in the park and the spots where they were active and could be found during different times of the year.
Stefanison was relieved by the positive feedback, telling The Peak: “Everyone seemed to like it, which was good, because I was worried with all the people that I would leave people out.”
However, he was encouraged by the attitudes of those in attendance, “Everyone was very enthusiastic about it, like everyone really wanted to learn. Everyone had a lot of good questions.”
Stefanison felt the event was an overall success, even though he personally was unable to take many photos.
“At the end we tried looking for an owl, but we didn’t get one,” Stefanison recalled. He admitted that during the entire evening, he only had time to take “five shots, just quick ones of people.”
