The irony!!
As can be witnessed in my previous blogs, I’ve spent week trying to find literature relevant to my planned dissertation and ended up having to think laterally and use articles on similar subjects then link them. Having finally submitted my work, I returned home to find my fiance had bought me a photography book as a late Christmas present. On the face of it, it was just another guide to improving wildlife photography techniques, with the usual chapters about equipment, composition, field-craft and working with available light. On closer inspection, however, this is exactly what I’d been looking for for weeks. As well as the usual stuff, it turns out that this book had individual chapters on photographing different types of wildlife and each chapter featured a section named “ethics and etiquette”! I couldn’t help but find it ironic that such a book literally lands on my doorstep when it was too late to use it in my reviews. As much as its too late now, its arrival is still something of a relief. I was starting to wonder whether my question was relevant or whether it was just something that is important to me. As it turns out, there is another photographer who clearly shares my view that the species comes before the shot and is responsible enough to make this a big focus of his book. My constant worry is that people are taking up photography and have no clue about ethical behaviour at all but this book, aimed at both beginners and more experienced amateurs, this help give me renewed faith that the information is out there.
