An NHS worker whose photos of an elusive boar won a place in the BBC Countryfile calendar, says being in nature is her “stress reliever”.
Carol Gadd works from her home in the Cotswolds and says she took up photography as an antidote to her busy life.
Her image Boar To Be Wild, of a boar with her piglets in the Forest of Dean, will feature in the 2024 calendar.
She said being in nature and “capturing special moments” is “important” to her.
Ms Gadd spends her early mornings before work photographing wildlife
“It’s a real stress reliever but it’s much more than that,” she said.
“It’s completely taken over and being out in nature is really important to me.
Ms Gadd has photographed hundreds of animals and insects
“When you take a photograph of wildlife that’s something you can study after the event.
“You can look an animal directly in the eye and see their details. I love watching their behaviours.”
Ms Gadd spent several years trying to photograph the wild boar as she photographed animals and birds
She has spent many years recording and watching wildlife in nature and has become extremely passionate about her hobby.
She said she took her winning photograph in March, after searching the Forest of Dean for the secretive and elusive boar that live there for “several years”.
Ms Gadd said she is extremely passionate about being in nature
“It was an amazing experience to find them, but you have to be careful around them,” she said.
“It was a mix of trepidation and excitement. We found two females protecting two litters.
Ms Gadd also uses her favourite photos she has taken every year to make her own wildlife calender
“[In the photo] It looks like she’s smiling but she wasn’t happy and made steps towards us. We lowered the cameras and backed off,” she added.
Ms Gadd said she was watching the Countryfile show on TV as the presenters announced the competition and “almost fell off her chair” when they said she had won.
Ms Gadd said she was not expecting to be chosen as a winner
“I really wasn’t expecting to get anywhere,” she added.
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As we enter Autumn across the northern half of the planet, gardeners are weighing up whether the lawn could use one more trim before winter. The patch of grass in the garden has tried to be wild all summer, but has been kept in check by the mechanical grazer. But what’s wrong with some long grass? Why do we care about the maintenance of our lawns so much?
The trend was started by rich aristocrats in eighteenth century England and France, who used a tamed lawn to indicate how wealthy they were. (Back then it had to be clipped by hand, making it a very expensive enterprise.)1 This association with wealth has been passed down to the modern day. Like a gold watch and a fancy car, a well-kept lawn serves as a status symbol to your neighbors.
As this painting by James Mason shows, a well-maintained and manicured lawn has been a status symbol in certain aristocratic societies in Europe and the Americas.
But why did the rich aristocrats do it in the first place? Why were they proud that they could conquer nature? And why are we embarrassed to let our gardens become overgrown and unruly? Even with the modern move towards “rewilding” our gardens, we still feel the need to tell our friends that we’re planting native plants, or feeding pollinators, so the “wild” garden still has use and value. We’re still in charge, even when we magnanimously relinquish some part of our control.
The urge to bring order to nature is deeper than a transient social pressure. Instead, it’s a set of behaviors with deep evolutionary roots: a way of life that’s been selected for in our evolution over the course of thousands — or even millions — of years.
Our story starts somewhere in Sub-Saharan Africa between 2 and 3 million years ago. One evolutionary scenario suggests the emergence of the genus Homo was dependent on the increased foraging benefits created by fires.2 According to the “pyrophilic primate” hypothesis proposed by a team of anthropologists at the University of Utah, our very ancient ancestors may have intentionally begun moving burning or smoldering wood from naturally occurring fires to unburnt areas in order to increase the amount of foraging area they had access to after a fire.2 In doing so, our distant ancestors may have forever modified the ecosystem in East Africa, benefitting some species at the loss of others. Our existence today would imply this strategy of landscape manipulation was a winning one for early members of our genus. The populations who regularly exerted some change on the landscape through burning regimes possessed a key advantage over those who didn’t. Over time, it seems likely that any genes involved in the behavior linked to starting fires in the landscape would be selected for.
Potential evidence for larger landscape scale fire management dates back to 100,000 to 200,000 years ago,3 with one study finding evidence from 400,000 years ago.4 These dates correlate with the accepted date for our own species’ appearance on the scene roughly 2-300,000 years ago.5 Perhaps this distinct behavior is a key characteristic that led to our emergence as a unique species, and could even explain why humans were able to reach much higher densities in ecosystems that could not sustain similar levels of less-meddling Neanderthals.6
Wolves and Aurochs once roamed much of Eurasia. Now, their domesticated relatives (dogs and cows) are commonplace parts of human-constructed urban and agricultural environments. Photo by krebsmaus07, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
We know that behavioral traits are something that can be selected for in a short period of time. Take, for instance, our domestic animals. Dogs are our oldest companions, but it’s probably safe to assume that 20,000 years ago their ancestors were no different from modern wolves in their behavior. Over that time period they have lost fear of being near humans, evolved stricter social hierarchies,7 and even learned how to read our emotions.8 Likewise, our modern friendly, peaceful cows are descended from the fierce aurochs, beasts that Julius Caesar warned “spare neither man nor wild beast which they have espied.”9 Selection by humans has led to complete changes in behavior which are seemingly intrinsic to modern domestic animals.
Seeing as humans can cause these behavioral shifts so easily in other mammals, why not in ourselves? In fact, there is evidence that our species has gone through exactly this shift in a process known as self-domestication.10 We are less aggressive and more cooperative than our ancestors,11 and since our split from the lineage containing Neanderthals, hundreds of genes shown to be involved in facial and cranial development have accumulated regulatory mutations.10 Many of these same genes have also been under selection in our domestic animals.10
So if we have evidence that some behavioral traits in humans have been selected for in our unique evolution, I suggest we add one in particular to the potential list. That behavior is the intrinsic need to exert some level of control over our environments. Whether it was our original homeland in East Africa, the forests of North America, the jungles of the Amazon or the savannahs of Australia, wherever humans arrived, those groups of people who actively modified their ecosystems were at an advantage to those who didn’t. From eradicating the predators that might kill our children, to burning scrub to force grass to grow and attract prey, to nurturing and planting fruit trees, those peoples that affected change on their landscape were safer and had more calories, and so would have passed on their genes more often. In the same way that a golden retriever has the urge to swim and bring things back to their owner, modern humans may have been bred to want to manage wild places.
Animals modifying their immediate environment for their own benefit is not a novel idea. Known as niche construction,12 it can be seen in behaviors such as termites building mounds and birds making nests. But the difference between humans and these other species is that we are completely plastic in how we create niches for ourselves. Rather than our niche construction behavior being specific like a beaver making a dam, instead in humans it is simply an innate desire to “improve” the world around us in any way we can to ensure the survival of ourselves and our descendants. Homo sapiens is an obligate ecosystem architect, and in any ecosystem this behavior will inevitably lead to an environment specific strategy that ensures a population’s survival.
Just as termites and birds build structures like mounds and nests as an evolutionary behaviors, our own species’ tendency to build and modify the environments around us may be a deep-seated one. L:Termite mound Treysam, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons. C: A Black-headed weaver building his nest. Photo by Charles J. Sharp , CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons. R: Yerba Buena Shoal Fill. Public Domain.
The evidence can be seen in the myriad of ways humans have adapted to environments around the world. Despite the popular view of non-Western tribal people living in harmony with nature before the arrival of modern farming, we now know that people living in every corner of the planet were modifying the landscape to fit their needs long before Europeans expanded their culture around the globe. When the British first landed on Australia’s east coast, they were amazed to find a verdant grassland perfect for rearing sheep.13 It turns out that it was a completely man-made landscape, created by Aboriginal Australians regularly burning the landscape in a controlled manner to increase kangaroo numbers, with the method even being dubbed “fire-stick farming.”13 Likewise the rich open forest landscape teeming with wild game, fruits, and meadows that greeted early American colonists was in fact created by Native Americans’ agricultural clearing and burning.14 Even evidence from the Amazon rainforest suggests that instead of being a pristine untouched wilderness, large swaths are instead overgrown orchards.15 For millennia before Old World diseases and harsh colonial policies wiped most of them out, indigenous groups managed forests to promote useful trees over other wild trees,15 and improved the fertility of soil with charcoal and organic matter.16
The advent of farming in the Middle East 10,000 years ago, often thought of as a pivotal change in how humans interacted with and shaped their environments, could instead be a continuation of an ancient pattern of behavior stretching back 300,000 years or more. The common image of this change depicts passive hunter gatherers following herds of animals around the grasslands of the Levant, when suddenly someone had a eureka moment and decided that instead of being helpless subjects of their environments, they would take control and grow the food they need from the seeds of grasses (i.e., grains). In reality the grassland they lived in probably existed in part due to their intentional burning, and genetic evidence suggests that humans started influencing the evolution of wheat and barley 30,000 and 20,000 years ago respectively,17 predating the agricultural revolution by 10-20,000 years. So rather than farming being a complete change in how humans behave, instead it could be viewed simply as an intensification of one of our natural behaviors.
The transition from wild grasses (R) to cultivated wheat and barley (L) began thousands of years before the traditionally marked start of the agricultural revolution. Photo by/Copyright of Richard Humphrey licensed for reuse under the Creative Commons Licence 2.0.
Jump forward now to the modern day. We are all too familiar with the ongoing crises affecting biodiversity and the climate. However, by simply blaming corporations, capitalism, and the worst excesses of the modern economy, we are giving ourselves scapegoats instead of addressing the deeper roots of why we keep damaging the planet. This harm is not the consequence of a particular culture or form of social organization; instead, it is a manifestation of behavior rooted in the deepest level of what makes us human. We need to accept that it is in our nature to want to control nature, and in doing so we can begin to recognize where this behavior is no longer in our best interest, but also direct it to where it’s needed. Every year our knowledge of how ecosystems function deepens — and our technical capacity to reshape ecosystems grows.
Human ecosystem management has already kept a number of species from going extinct. For example, a large proportion of Europe’s bird species are considered farmland birds,18 meaning they are evolved for open grassland or forest edge environments (i.e., savannah). In the past interglacial period, this habitat was created by Europe’s elephants, rhinos and other large herbivores which are now extinct,19 most likely due to human action.20 Yet these open landscape species survive. In a perhaps ironic twist, these birds are now largely reliant on ecosystem-meddling Homo sapiens for their existence, dwelling in habitat that is largely created by traditional human farming activities, which prevent closed canopy forest from taking over. In the absence of megaherbivores like elephants being reintroduced any time soon, we need to recognize our function as keystone species in these environments.
European farmland birds like the Grey Partridge (Perdix Perdix) rely now on human-controlled landscapes to serve as their habitats. Photo by Kostikidis Georgios, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Of course, direct human intervention is not always required to ensure the thriving of a species. Instead, sometimes the best thing is not to interfere but instead intentionally step back and let nature figure it out. In the 01960s, when the deadly rinderpest virus was finally eradicated from cattle in East Africa, the numbers of wildebeest in the Serengeti started to increase dramatically. There were calls by wildlife experts to start culling and managing the herd, but they were ignored by the park ecologists who figured nature knew best.21 Once the herd reached around 1.3 million animals it stabilized and changed the landscape in a way that benefitted many more animals. Increased grazing led to fire suppression which meant more trees grew, providing more food for elephants, whose numbers then increased. The difference between the savannahs of Africa and the grasslands of Europe may lie in their ecological history: the Serengeti retained its full suite of megafauna and other species, so was able to fully recover on its own, whereas Europe has lost most of its large animals — leaving humans as both culprit and last line of defense for ecological degradation.
The continued presence of megafauna like wildebeest in the Serengeti in East Africa has allowed that ecosystem to maintain itself with less direct human involvement. Photo by Daniel Rosengren, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
So through our actions we have reached our present predicament, where we can see that we are needed to help certain ecosystems, and yet some are better off without us. Our deeply ingrained unease at leaving nature unmanaged means that as long as we are around we will want to interfere with our environment. But just as we’re learning to overcome other ingrained behaviors like wanting to overindulge in sugary foods, we can also learn to tame this behavior. The key will be knowing where to show restraint, and where our input has value. The megafaunal extinctions caused by our ancestors at the end of the Pleistocene led to a simplification of the complexity of ecosystems22 outside of Africa and South East Asia, and this simplification can make ecosystems less resilient.23 But it turns out we can actually restore ecological functions using proxies for extinct species, one example being Pablo Escobar’s escaped hippos in Colombia filling the long empty niche of the extinct llama Hemiauchenia paradoxa.24 The prospect of de-extinction further promises that we will be able to restore extinct ecological functions and even potentially prevent runaway climate change by keeping permafrost intact in Siberia using mammoth-elephant hybrids.25
But even if the prospect of de-extinction doesn’t pan out, we could begin taking the very long view and starting the evolutionary processes that will reap ecological rewards for our descendants thousands of years in the future. If we can’t bring back the woolly mammoth, then instead we could introduce Asian elephants to parts of temperate Eurasia or North America which are warm enough for them to survive and thrive, but also have access to colder environments. Over time as some adventurous herds head further north following summer growth, natural selection will take the lead, and hairy elephants will start to reappear in the Arctic. Like our ancient ancestors in the Levant 30,000 years ago beginning a process that would lead to the agricultural revolution 20,000 years later, we can start putting the building blocks of future ecosystems in place now so that our descendants will live on a planet with fully functioning resilient ecosystems everywhere. Our innate desire to control nature has led us to where we are today, both the good parts and the bad. Recognizing this behavior means we can show restraint in the Serengetis of the world, and direct our efforts toward rebuilding the damaged parts.
References
1. Jenkins, V. (1994). The lawn: A history of an American obsession. Smithsonian Institution.
2. Parker, C. H., Keefe, E. R., Herzog, N. M., O’connell, J. F., & Hawkes, K. (2016). The pyrophilic primate hypothesis. Evolutionary Anthropology: Issues, News, and Reviews, 25(2), 54-63.
3. Gowlett, J. A. (2016). The discovery of fire by humans: a long and convoluted process. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 371(1696), 20150164.
4. Bird, M. I., & Cali, J. A. (1998). A million-year record of fire in sub-Saharan Africa. Nature, 394(6695), 767-769.
5. Vidal, C. M., Lane, C. S., Asrat, A., Barfod, D. N., Mark, D. F., Tomlinson, E. L., … & Oppenheimer, C. (2022). Age of the oldest known Homo sapiens from eastern Africa. Nature, 601(7894), 579-583.
6. Mellars, P., & French, J. C. (2011). Tenfold population increase in western europe at the neandertal–to–modern human transition. Science, 333(6042), 623-627.
7. Wynne, C. D. (2021). The indispensable dog. Frontiers in Psychology, 12, 656529.
8. Albuquerque, N., Guo, K., Wilkinson, A., Savalli, C., Otta, E., & Mills, D. (2016). Dogs recognize dog and human emotions. Biology letters, 12(1), 20150883.
9. C. Julius Caesar. Caesar’s Gallic War. Translator. W. A. McDevitte. Translator. W. S. Bohn. 1st Edition. New York. Harper & Brothers. 1869. Harper’s New Classical Library.
10. Zanella, M., Vitriolo, A., Andirko, A., Martins, P. T., Sturm, S., O’Rourke, T., … & Testa, G. (2019). Dosage analysis of the 7q11. 23 Williams region identifies BAZ1B as a major human gene patterning the modern human face and underlying self-domestication. Science advances, 5(12), eaaw7908.
11. Wrangham, R. (2019). The goodness paradox: how evolution made us both more and less violent. Profile Books.
12. Odling-Smee, F. J., Laland, K. N., & Feldman, M. W. (1996). Niche construction. The American Naturalist, 147(4), 641-648.
13. Jones, R. (2012). Fire-stick farming. Fire Ecology, 8, 3-8.
14. Denevan, W. M. (1992). The pristine myth: the landscape of the Americas in 1492. Annals of the Association of American Geographers, 82(3), 369-385.
15. Levis, C., Souza, P. F. D., Schietti, J., Emilio, T., Pinto, J. L. P. D. V., Clement, C. R., & Costa, F. R. (2012). Historical human footprint on modern tree species composition in the Purus-Madeira interfluve, central Amazonia. PloS one, 7(11), e48559.
16. Palace, M. W., McMichael, C. N. H., Braswell, B. H., Hagen, S. C., Bush, M. B., Neves, E., … & Frolking, S. (2017). Ancient Amazonian populations left lasting impacts on forest structure. Ecosphere, 8(12), e02035.
17. Allaby, R. G., Stevens, C., Lucas, L., Maeda, O., & Fuller, D. Q. (2017). Geographic mosaics and changing rates of cereal domestication. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 372(1735), 20160429.
18. https://pecbms.info/
19. Sandom, C. J., Ejrnæs, R., Hansen, M. D., & Svenning, J. C. (2014). High herbivore density associated with vegetation diversity in interglacial ecosystems. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 111(11), 4162-4167.
20. Andermann, T., Faurby, S., Turvey, S. T., Antonelli, A., & Silvestro, D. (2020). The past and future human impact on mammalian diversity. Science advances, 6(36), eabb2313.
21. Carroll, S. B. (2016). The Serengeti rules: the quest to discover how life works and why it matters. Princeton University Press.
22. Galetti, M., Moleón, M., Jordano, P., Pires, M. M., Guimaraes Jr, P. R., Pape, T., … & Svenning, J. C. (2018). Ecological and evolutionary legacy of megafauna extinctions. Biological Reviews, 93(2), 845-862.
23. Fricke, E. C., Ordonez, A., Rogers, H. S., & Svenning, J. C. (2022). The effects of defaunation on plants’ capacity to track climate change. Science, 375(6577), 210-214.
24. Lundgren, E. J., Ramp, D., Rowan, J., Middleton, O., Schowanek, S. D., Sanisidro, O., … & Wallach, A. D. (2020). Introduced herbivores restore Late Pleistocene ecological functions. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 117(14), 7871-7878.
25. Mann, P. (2018) Can Bringing Back Mammoths Help Stop Climate Change? Smithsonian Magazine
Birds at the Merced, California National Wildlife Refuge Credit: Linda Gast/Sierra Sun Times
October 8, 2023 – The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service encourages you to celebrate nature during National Wildlife Refuge Week, October 8-14, 2023. This special time is a chance to boost your health and enjoy the outdoors while experiencing the nation’s premier wildlife conservation network, the National Wildlife Refuge System. Founded in 1903, the system provides nature nearby to millions of Americans while conserving vital habitat for wildlife.
“National wildlife refuges are places that are so important to community health and the economy because they provide places where both wildlife and people can recharge and find respite. They are American treasures,” said Service Director Martha Williams. “National Wildlife Refuge Week is a great time for Americans to join us in celebrating and protecting the wonders of nature that can be found at a nearby .”
Increasing access to public lands and waters is a central component of President Biden’s America the Beautiful initiative. National wildlife refuges provide habitat for thousands of species and access recreation, from wildlife watching, photography, fishing, hunting and walking in nature.
National Wildlife Refuge Week occurs yearly during the second full week of October. This year’s celebrations will kick off October 7 with Urban Wildlife Conservation Day. Admission is free October 8 at national wildlife refuges that normally charge an entrance fee. Nearly 500 national wildlife refuges and wetland management districts offer free admission year-round.
For the third year in a row, the Service will partner with the Public Lands Alliance to host over 40 free walking events at wildlife refuges across the country in celebration of Refuge Week. Register for a free event near you or walk virtually for all of America’s Wildlife Refuges.
“Every year, Refuge Week ‘Walk for the Wild’ events attract more families and friends to discover and appreciate the wonder of nature at their doorsteps and grow awareness and support for national wildlife refuges,” said Dan Puskar, president and CEO of the Public Lands Alliance. “Through our unique partnership with wildlife refuges and more than 45 refuge Friends groups, ‘Walk for the Wild’ helps thousands experience nature and enrich their lives.
There is a national wildlife refuge within an hour’s drive of most major metropolitan areas. More than 100 urban refuges and dozens of urban partnerships and migratory bird treaty cities are part of the Service’s Urban Wildlife Conservation Program, which seeks to connect the 80 percent of Americans who live in and near cities with vital access to nature. These programs work with communities to understand needs, clear barriers to participation, advance urban conservation, and strengthen communities by improving access to green space, environmental education and outdoor recreation.
The Refuge System is an unparalleled wildlife conservation network of 568 national wildlife refuges and 38 wetland management districts. The Refuge System offers many healthful outdoor activities including fishing, wildlife viewing and wildlife photography while providing vital habitat for thousands of wildlife species, including many that would not likely have survived in the wild had it not been for refuge-led habitat restoration efforts. Whooping cranes, American crocodiles, California condors, manatees, sea turtles and American bald eagles are just some of the iconic species whose recovery has been bolstered by national wildlife refuges.
Refuge-led conservation efforts at places like Rocky Mountain Arsenal Refuge near Denver have generated a resurgence of wildlife viewing opportunities, supporting such iconic species as bald eagles, bison and black-footed ferrets within view of the city skyline. Tidal marsh restorations in San Francisco Bay and Willapa Bay in Washington provide new feeding and rearing areas for salmon and migratory birds, while also benefitting local communities through reduced flood risk, improved water quality and increased access to recreational trails.
National wildlife refuges contribute $3.2 billion per year into local economies and support more than 41,000 jobs, according to the Service’s report Banking on Nature. Visits to refuges have doubled in the last 10 years, reaching 67 million visits in 2022. National wildlife refuges also make life better by conserving wildlife, protecting against erosion and flooding and purifying our air and water.
Learn more about this year’s celebration, including virtual and in-person events by visiting: https://fws.gov/events. Source: USFWS
Photography is now available on prescription for people struggling with their mental health, as part of a project launched by Wex Photo Video and supported by the National Academy of Social Prescribing (NASP).
The project aims to help those struggling with mental health issues such as PTSD, anxiety, and depression. The idea is to boost self-esteem, reduce stress, and combat loneliness through the power of photography.
The prescription will include access to photography workshops, online resources, and photography equipment, provided by Wex Photo Video. Due to the fantastic results, social prescribing has become more popular as a way to help improve mental health. Social prescribing is the term for when a medical practitioner such as a GP or therapist, prescribes social activities as a way to enrich the patient’s life. In the UK this has involved the prescription of fishing, physical activities, and spending time in nature.
According to the UKGov website, social prescribing can reduce the need for medical support and has been shown in some cases to reduce GP consultations by an average of 28% and A&E attendance by 24%. Three community groups have already signed up to be a part of the program including Arts Network in London, creativeShift in Bristol, and START Centre in Greater Manchester.
NHS Doctor and Mental Health ambassador Dr Alex George, who endorses social prescribing, is also supporting the project. When speaking on social prescribing and the benefits of including photography Dr. George says:
“Social prescribing can boost self-esteem and improve your mental wellbeing. Having recently taken up photography, I can say first-hand that there is something truly remarkable about being behind the camera. Many people with mental health issues struggle to express their thoughts and emotions with words, which can make it difficult to convey how they are feeling and what they need. The saying goes that a picture is worth a thousand words – that’s exactly what makes photography such a powerful outlet for self-expression.”
If you want to get started in photography, check out our guide to the best beginner cameras
Many of us know firsthand the benefits that photography has on our well-being. Whether it is getting fresh air outdoors, translating feelings into creative imagery, or capturing time-lapses in a meditative state. Projects like this become much more viable when they have the backing of large-profile corporations such as Wex Photo Video. Wex’s support will allow more people to benefit from our hobby and get much-needed help. Paul Wareham, Marketing Director of retailer Wex Photo Video, says:
“Photography can be so much more than a hobby; it’s a powerful tool for conveying emotion. By giving people with mental health difficulties access to masterclasses, equipment, and ongoing support, we want to connect them to a wider community; help develop their self-esteem and give them a channel for self-expression. Whilst photography will never be the total solution, we hope that this project will help some people who are currently struggling.”
As somebody who suffers from the issues mentioned in this article, I am all for more of this type of work from large companies, and I am very impressed by Wex for driving this to fruition. This project will allow photography to be more accessible to those who need it most, and that is nothing short of admirable.
New Delhi, Oct 7 (PTI) At 80, Raghu Rai says he feels connected to life and nature through photography, a profession he picked up over five decades ago after leaving his “boring” job as a civil engineer. For Rai, the best thing about capturing moments on camera is coming face-to-face with questions about life and its ever changing nature. “I’m more than 80 and I’m still alive and there. I feel connected and I’m blissfully happy… It’s been more than 55 years but the most powerful part about photography is — life and nature is ever changing and ever challenging and that shakes you up,” the veteran photographer told PTI in a virtual interview. It was in the early 1960s when Rai said he left his “boring 9 to 5 job” and casually accompanied a photographer friend on an assignment. The ace photographer said it was a moment of “revelation” when he looked through the viewfinder for the first time. “When I put on a camera and looked through the viewfinder, suddenly all the energy and concentration came together. This was something that had happened to me for the first time. I could concentrate and penetrate through the world around me. For me, it was a great revelation. That’s why I couldn’t move to anything else,” he recalled. Rai started his photojournalism career as the chief photographer of national daily The Statesman and later worked as the picture editor of weekly news magazine Sunday. He also worked as a photo editor and visualiser of the fortnightly magazine India Today. He trained under Henri Cartier-Bresson, considered one of the greatest photographers ever. Cartier-Bresson is regarded as the master of candid and street photography. Some of Rai’s most notable works include the scenes after the 1984 Bhopal industrial disaster, the documentary series on Mother Teresa, the Dalai Lama and former prime minister Indira Gandhi. During his time in Calcutta, now Kolkata, the photographer extensively captured Indian cinema legend Satyajit Ray through his camera. Though people mostly write about his artistic work, photojournalism holds a special place for the veteran as he believes it’s the “visual history of tomorrow”. “Photojournalism is very precious to me. People talk about art photography, this and that… The purpose of photography is to capture the time we live in… be it a social or a political situation. “When you capture the essence of any situation at the right time, it is going to be the visual history of tomorrow. History is written and rewritten but visual history can’t be re-written,” he said. Rai is currently associated with National Geographic India’s photography reality show “#nofilter by IndiGo” as a judge along with filmmaker Imtiaz Ali. The community building initiative features nine participants who are tasked to capture the essence of India through their lens. The show premiered on September 30 on all platforms of National Geographic with new episode airing every Saturday. The programme will see Rai and Ali challenge the participants to explore the iconic locations of Delhi under specific themes. Rai said the enthusiasm shown by young photographers reminded him of his own rookie days. “You see your reflection in others in so many situations… That’s what connects you with young minds. When we were growing up, we didn’t have any such forum. It’s so good,” he added. As somebody who started with film cameras, photography in the digital era is “magical” for Rai. He believes technology empowers photojournalists today by giving them much more control. “Digital age is magical, even for me. Taking pictures with a film camera, being uncertain about results, was a bit mysterious. Today, you click a picture and the ability to see it right now gives you so much control. “It empowers you to sort of correct your path, gather your concentration and penetrate deeper. It’s a great aspect of digital photography. It’s like a painter using a brush and colour and knows what is happening on his canvas. It is unique to the digital era,” he added. The advice Rai has for the upcoming photographers is not to click pictures that they have already seen before. “I believe the human mind has a possibility of discovering something which is never seen before, provided your mind space is clean and you are looking at the world for fresh possibilities. “It’s tough because our mind space is already invaded with ideas, images, thoughts and sounds. That keeps dictating…You need to have the courage to say ‘hold on’,” he said.
Notes come from around Chicago outdoors and beyond
WILD OF THE WEEK
Alan Anderson sent photos of limpkins, including the one above, from an outing on Sept. 29 to get a friend a “life bird” at Chicago Botanic Garden. “Have you seen one of the more than half dozen of them reported in Illinois this fall?” he asked. “(With climate change, we likely will see more.)” Their range reaches into Florida, according to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology (allaboutbirds.org/guide/Limpkin/overview), which also noted, “This bird’s haunting cries, heard mostly at night, are otherworldly and unforgettable.”
WOTW, the celebration of wild stories and photos around Chicago outdoors, runs most weeks in the special two-page outdoors section in the Sun-Times Sports Saturday. To make submissions, email [email protected] or contact me on Facebook (Dale Bowman), Twitter (@BowmanOutside) or Instagram (@BowmanOutside).
DALE’S MAILBAG
“I hope that these photos are worthy of publication. They were all taken in my backyard on the Southwest side of Chicago.” Dominic Wroblewski
A: Not only worthy, but it is that appreciation of the natural world immediately around us that I consider my life’s work. The photo below is one of many he sent.
Two squirrls photographed nose to nose on a tree on the Southwest Side of Chicago.
Tuesday, Oct. 10: Barry Jacobson, public affairs officer for the United States Coast Guard Auxiliary, on boating safety, Salmon Unlimited, Thornwood Restaurant & Lounge, Wood Dale, 7 p.m., salmonunlimitedinc.com
Wednesday, Oct. 11: Vince DeMarte (history/evolution of Chaos Tackle) and Brian Skaife (Chaos tackle and using it, if time, he’ll talk cameras), Fox River Valley chapter of Muskies, Inc., Schaumburg Golf Club, 7 p.m.
Wednesday, Oct. 11: Isaac Lakich, National Walleye Tour Angler, “Fall Fishing for Fat Walleyes,” Lake Geneva Fishing Club, Poplar Creek Bowl, Hoffman Estates, 6 p.m., lakegenevafishingclub.com
Thursday, Oct. 12: Eric Esko, of Musky & Pike Dreamers Guide Service, on post-turnover muskie and pike, Riverside Fishing Club, Berwyn Moose Lodge 424, 6:30 p.m., RiversideFishingClub.com
Today, Oct. 7: Scheduled opener of early catch-and-release fall trout in Illinois, but may be delayed because of hot water. Check updates at ifishillinois.org
FISH TOUR
Next Saturday, Oct. 14: Tour Root River Steelhead Facility, Racine, Wis., 9 a.m.-3 p.m., https://dnr.wisconsin.gov/topic/Fishing/lakemichigan/RootRiverOpenHouse
MARITIME FUNDRAISER
Oct 26: Maritime folklore and fundraising, Chicago Maritime Museum, Chicago photographer, Barry Butler, and Tall Ships captain, Tom Kastlle host, chicagomaritimemuseum.org/events.html
LAKE MICHIGAN FISHERIES MEETING
Nov. 1 (virtual meeting Nov. 9):Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant’s Lake Michigan meeting, including tracking fish with acoustic telemetry, emerging research on PFAs in Lake Michigan fishes and Indiana DNR fisheries report, Portage Lakefront and Riverwalk classroom, Portage, Ind., 6-8:30 p.m. register at purdue.ag/fall-2023-fisheries
Incredible scenes from nature have been captured by photographers in Cornwall.
There were more than 1,000 entries for the first Cornish Wildlife photography exhibition organised by the Cornwall Wildlife Trust.
The subjects range from kestrels in flight to blue sharks in the oceans off the Cornish coast.
The top 30 photographs selected as category finalists and winners will be displayed around Truro Cathedral from Friday until 17 November.
Cornwall Wildlife Trust spokesman Scott Marsden said: “Our 2023 Wildlife Photography Competition aimed to inspire the people of Cornwall to discover our amazing wildlife through their cameras and smartphones.
“We wanted to encourage more people to become aware of the unique wealth of wildlife in Cornwall, whether along the coast, in our moorland, heathland, farmland, wetlands, unique temperate woodland, or in our towns and villages.”
Follow BBC News South West on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. Send your story ideas to [email protected].
Sanitation workers clean up garbage on steep cliffs at Wulingyuan scenic area in Hunan province. [Photo by Deng Daoli/China Daily]
He calls for more financial support from the central government because it”s not easy for the local government to balance heritage preservation and economic development. They sometimes have to rely on future development to provide the funds needed for protection, but the investment in protection is high.
Hu also suggests that education about the uniqueness of Wulingyuan should start from kindergarten, exerting an invisible, formative influence on local younger generation. It will raise their awareness of protecting the natural environment and resources.
“Tour guides play a crucial role as ambassadors for Wulingyuan, and they should promote the heritage value. For example, they can improve their knowledge via training, and incorporate more heritage-related content to tour guide speeches, ensuring that visitors have an overall understanding of Wulingyuan,” he says.
The International Union for Conservation of Nature’s World Heritage Outlook assessed Wulingyuan as of “significant concern” in 2014, noting that its outstanding universal value was threatened by the development of tourism facilities, roads, and increased visitation.
Since then, Wulingyuan started to put more efforts into prioritizing preservation, and in 2020, the IUCN World Heritage Outlook assessed it as “good with some concerns”.
If you want to take stunning shots of Assassin’s Creed Mirage’s gorgeous scenery, then Photo Mode is what you need.
Like any in-game Photo Mode, Assassin’s Creed Mirage offers users an extensive range of customizable options to take the perfect pictures. Looking to find Basim’s happy-go-lucky side? Want to immortalize Baghdad’s stunning vistas? Then you need to be using Photo Mode. Here’s how to use it and all the options available.
How to access Photo Mode in Assassin’s Creed Mirage
Take pictures any place, any time. | Screenshot by Dot Esports
You can use Photo Mode pretty much from the time you get playable access to Basim in Assassin’s Creed Mirage, and this can be done by pressing L3 and R3 simultaneously on PlayStation, LS and RS on Xbox, or F3 on a PC keyboard.
Once you’ve completed this action, the gameplay will immediately freeze. The game will then give you an abundance of options to choose from to customize your photo however you want.
How to take photos in Assassin’s Creed Mirage, options explained
Create your own art. | Screenshot by Dot Esports
If you’ve never used Photo Mode in Assassin’s Creed Mirage or any other game and need some tips on all the customization options, let us help you out, as I understand it can be overwhelming.
Camera options
Depth of Field
A classic technique that allows you to control the clearness of the picture’s depth. For instance, if you just want the subject at the front to be crisp and the background to be a blur, you can do so.
Brightness and contrast options
Exposure
Exposure simply determines the amount of light in your picture. It allows users to increase and reduce the amount of natural light affecting the image, and lets you tweak it to suit your vision.
Contrast
If you want your picture to have a darker tinge or just a full-on removal of color, experimenting with the contrast may give a more desirable result.
Temperature
Like its namesake, temperature lets you control the hot and cold nature of the still. Want your colors to pop with more intensity? Then add some heat—and vice versa.
Tint
Similar to temperature, tinting makes it so certain colors are more catered towards in an image and can even favor one color completely.
Saturation
The art of saturation takes the existing colors of a photo and tweaks its vibrancy and intensity, meaning you can take an already glowing picture and turn the volume up to 10.
Noise
Noise can give the image a grainy quality, making it more unconventional and artistic. Obviously, the more you add, the more it will resemble TV static.
Bloom
If there’s a predominant light source visible in your picture, such as the sun or a switched-on light, then bloom can emit a blurry effect around that light, amplifying the source.
Fog
One of the most easy-to-understand photo mode features. Fog incorporates a fog-like effect and artificially makes a photo look like it’s been weather-hit. Obviously, it can add a spooky or chilling vibe to the scene.
Filter Options
Like with Instagram, you can add a wide variety of filters to set the mood and add a whole new twist to your framed image.
Frame options
Vignetting
An ideal technique for framing a picture. Vignetting creates a dark, faded border around the outer perimeter, and more significant vignetting can obscure the image and put more of a focus on what you can see.
About the author
Andrew Highton
Andy is a Game Guides Writer at Dot Esports with a host of experience working at Dexerto, Twinfinite, Keengamer, and more. He’s about as passionate a gamer as you’re likely to find and spreads that love across a ton of different titles, but will also talk everything football, golf, and wrestling! Be sure to follow his thoughts and ramblings over at @AndyHighton8 on Twitter.
Dispute: A youngster arguing with Dad in Poland’s Bialowieza Forest
Photo: Jacek Stankiewicz, Kraków Poland – The Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards 2023
That funny time of the year has arrived—and it’s not even Halloween yet.
The Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards has revealed the shortlisted images and videos from its 2023 competition, “all hilarious and sure to raise a cackle or a chuckle and wonder at the wonderful wildlife we share this world with.”
This year’s final shortlist of standalone photographs, videos and portfolio entries presenting a wonderfully eclectic mix of hilarious wildlife includes a kangaroo rocking the air guitar, dancing horses, an avian family dispute and an owl suffering the “Monday Blues.”
These images have been culled from thousands of entries submitted by professional and amateur photographers to this popular competition from around the world.
MORE FROM FORBESComedy Wildlife Photography Awards 2022: The Funny Winning ImagesBy Cecilia Rodriguez
The Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards, which also organizes the Comedy Pet Photography Awards, was co-founded in 2015 by professional photographers Paul Joynson-Hicks and Tom Sullam. They wanted to create a competition focused on the lighter, humorous side of wildlife photography as a way to promote wildlife conservation.
MORE FROM FORBESThe Funniest Pets In Photos, Finalists Of Comedy Pet Photography AwardsBy Cecilia Rodriguez
Each year, the competition supports a sustainable conservation organization and this year chose the Whitley Fund for Nature (WFN), a UK charity that supports conservation leaders working in their home countries across the global south.
Celebrating its 30th anniversary this year, this charity has channeled £20 million to more than 200 conservationists in 80 countries.
The Comedy Wildlife photo awards also offers the public the chance to vote for their favorite funny photo here and enter a free drawing to win £500 offered by the competition sponsor, Affinity Photo.
The Overall Winner, Category and Highly Commended Winners will be announced on November 23, with the top image earning a one-week safari with AlexWalker’s Serian in the Masai Mara, Kenya, as well as a unique handmade trophy from the Art Garage in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.
Teddy-Buddies
Photo: Thomas Vijayan – The Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards 2023
At Alaska’s Katmai National Park, grizzly bears are abundant and thus a photographers’ paradise. The challenge here is clicking a unique frame.
This image full of expression and proper eye contact by both bears is a perfect frame of love and friendship. “To get this image, I laid down flat on the water and stayed there for a long time waiting for the right moment to click,” said Thomas Viajayan.
Monday Blahs
Photo: John-Blumenkamp, Salt Lake City United States – The Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards 2023
This great gray owl spent most of the afternoon in America’s Grand Teton National Park posing majestically and looking, well, wise, recalled John Blumenkamp. But for a moment or two after doing some elegant stretching, it would slump and give a look that said, “Is Monday over yet?”
Three King Penguins emerge from the water at Islas Malvinas seemingly holding hands—er, wings.
Part Of Your World
Photo; Danielle Goonan, U.S.- The Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards 2023
This trip to the Seychelles was Danielle Goonan’s first big endeavor after getting scuba certified. She caught this Bat Fish on one of her dives.
Walk Like An Egyptian Goose
Photo: Allen Holmes, UK – The Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards 2023
A territorial avocet wasn’t happy about this Egyptian goose arriving early to place a towel on its sunbed. Fortunately, the avocet apparently was a master in the art of kung fu.
Excuse me, sir, but I think you’re a little too young to be smoking.
Photo: Dakota Vaccaro, U.S. – The Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards
While Dakota Vaccaro was working deep in the Virginian woods, a family of grey foxes took up residence under the deck of the abandoned cottage next to her location.
“One day while practicing their hunting skills on bits of moss and branches, one of the kits lunged at a small chunk of wood and started rolling around with his prize,” she recalled. “Tired after his hunt, the kit lounged on his belly still holding the wood in his mouth, which gave the strong resemblance of a cigar.”
Don’t Look Down
Photo: Brian Matthews, UK – The Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards 2023
An Atlantic puffin does an inverted Snoopy impression while watching jellyfish off the Farne Islands in Great Britain’s Northumberland.
Doing The Tango
Photo: Danny Sullivan, U.S. – The Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards 2023
These two Wild Mustang stallions show off their athletic abilities while fighting each other in Wyoming’s McCullagh Peaks. No horses were hurt doing the tango.
This picture was taken in the monkey forest in Ubud, Bali, where monkeys are king. Sometimes they give a show; sometimes, they climb on you searching for fleas or stealing your cookie.
Snowball
Photo: Jacques Poulard, France – The Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards 2023
A white grouse makes its way through winter in Spitzberg, Norway.
I Don’t Know
Photo: Jakub Wozny, Poland – The Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards 2023
A dragonfly enjoys sunrise from a horsetail surrounded by dew.
Air Guitar RooI
photo: Jason Moore , Australia – The Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards 2023
Jason Moore was driving past a mob of Western Grey Kangaroos in Perth, Australia, feeding in an open field adorned by yellow flowers. Stopping to shoot, he saw this guy seeming to strum on his air guitar.
The Cabaret Bear
Photo: Khurram Khan, U.S. – The Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards 2023
On Alaska’s Barter Islands, a polar bear cub found this log kind of intriguing when it suddenly stood up, using it almost like a performer does.
Fake News!
Photo: Matti Rauvala, Finland – The Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards 2023
A Sulawesi macaque turns to his local leaf to catch up on the news.
Go To Your Room Little Brother!
Photo: Mark Schocken, U.S. – The Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards 2023
Two great horned owlets were having it out in Tierra Verde in west-central Florida.
Mama owl had briefly left the palm-tree nest to get some rest from these hyperactive soon-to-be fledglings, according to Mark Schocken. Although they were having fun, in this photo, it looks like a scolding between brothers is in process.
Air Apparent
Photo: Paul Goldstein, UK – The Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards 2023
You have to applaud this leopard’s effort impressive if futile effort to go airborne in the Masai Mara.
Actually, she is displaying her temper as she is being bothered by three young cheetahs.
Turn Right Bro…
Photo: Pratick Mondal, India – The Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards 2023
“I was in the jungle (at Bharatpur, Rajasthan, India) when a Macaque came out of the jungle and started scratching its armpit keeping its hand straight at the same time,” said Pratick Mondal. “A deer appeared behind at that moment.”
One For The Family Album
Photo: Zoe Ashdown – The Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards 2023
An unusual and almost miserable end to a perfect moment arrived for this Striated heron, which had been preparing for a successful fishing expedition in South Africa’s Zimanga Private Game Reserve.
The Happy Turtle
Photo: Tzahi Finkelstein, Israel – The Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards 2023
The swamp turtle is surprised and smiling when a dragonfly lands on its nose in Israel’s Jezreel Valley.
This snowy owl landed outside Vince Maiden’s house in Creemore, Canada, as he was watching a movie. He grabbed his camera to capture its moment of contentment.
The Floral Feast Chronicles. This image is one of a portfolio series.
Photo: Alex Pansier, Netherlands – The Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards 2023
This image is part of a charming collection of photographs capturing a quartet of mischievous ground squirrels in Vienna, of all places, each engaging in their own hilarious antics as they attempt to nibble on a colorful assortment of flowers.
From the surprised expressions of the caught-in-the-act culprits to the determined munchers and the territorial nibblers, these candid moments offer a delightful glimpse into the playful and sometimes competitive world of these furry floral aficionados.
The First Steps: This image is part of a series in the Portfolio category.
Photo: Wayne Sorensen, Australia – The Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards 2023
It’s paw-to-paw action as a pair of “pretty-faced wallabies” cautiously approach each other for some fun on the beach. The image is part of a portfolio taken in Cape Hillsborough, Australia.
All standalone photographs, videos and portfolio entries here.
