BIRDS AND NATURE
Catherine Lefrancq
Nature and wildlife photography are an incredibly important part of my life. Over the years, I have never discovered another activity that causes me to feel so in tune with my surroundings. The vibrancy of the natural environment and the animals that live within it make them a never ending subject of fascination for me. The nature of modern society means that fewer people have the opportunity to spend long periods in the countryside and rural areas. As a result, we lose a sense of why it is important to protect. By going out into nature and recording it through photos, I aim to demonstrate its beauty, and why its preservation is so important.
I am a self-taught photographer, and therefore I take my pictures by instinct rather than technical consideration. My photographic work therefore varies considerably from one picture and subject to another. Most of the time I shoot handheld, without a tripod, in order to be freer in my movements. I particularly like to get down to ground level when photographing animals, trying to keep quiet so as not to disturb them.
Taking pictures in areas of silence and solitude is particularly enjoyable, as it allows me to fully immerse myself in the photography. For example, in “Birds on Earth”, all the photos were taken at nightfall. “Birds on Earth'' and “Wild Beauty” centred around birds and flowers.
The beauty of these subjects makes them nature’s own work of art; all I had to do was translate this through my camera. Through these works I hope to emphasise how precious this wildlife is to our world, and that we would be all the poorer without their exquisite beauty.
This article first appeared in PRISMA, Issue 9.