Interview with Scott Linstead

Scott Linstead grew up with a fascination for building things that have to be foolproof. He wanted to be an aerospace engineer and was well on his way to a career in the field. He found the nine-to-five schedule, cubicle setting and punching numbers all day didn't suit him, so he switched to the teaching field, instructing math and science in public high schools. When his wife Stephanie bought a used bookstore, he finally had the financial stability to move on to photography. Today, he combines his technological know-how with photography to produce images that people wouldn't otherwise have the opportunity to see.

		PHOTOGRAPHER Scott Linstead Scott Linstead, who calls himself a behavioural photographer, has had his work featured in Ranger Rick, Natural History Magazine, Hewlett Packard among other publications in North America and Europe. He published his first book, Decisive Moments: Creating Iconic Imagery, in the fall of 2010 and writes a regular column on bird photography for Outdoor Photography Canada. He lives in Chateauguay, Quebec with his wife Stephanie and their three-month-old baby. For his latest project on capturing jumping spiders view his photo essay in the December 2011 issue of Canadian Geographic. (Photo: Raymond J. Barlow)
View photo gallery Tips from photographer Leave a comment

Q How has your background in engineering and your experience in teaching influenced your photography?

AIn terms of engineering, one way I distinguish myself in a market where even amateurs are producing world-class material, is by having a technological spin. It's a mixed blessing; I don't want to be pigeon-holed as a photographer whose work is seen as a series of science fair projects, with work that is so technologically advanced it ends up being sterile.

I chose [teaching] for less noble reasons; I wanted to have summers off to pursue photography. I was more introverted in university, and when I started teaching, it was trial by fire. You learn how to communicate to a group of 30 people in the worst environment possible. You learn how to project your voice and speak with economy so your point doesn't get lost. It's a struggle even now, when I give presentations at camera clubs, to get to the point and include pertinent details without getting lost in digressions.

Q How do you research an animal before you photograph it?

AI read a lot about the creature, not from any hardcore scientific source, but I find anecdotes here and there. Before the jumping spider project, for example, I was trying to find behaviour that was different to photograph just so I could use the tools. I realize that's like putting the cart before the horse, but I was trying to find stuff that was not easy to photograph so I could try out the highspeed equipment.

AWhen I researched jumping spiders, I looked through the Wikipedia page for information on the regal jumping spider. Few people can capture and sell spiders legally, but I found that there was a large population of jumping spiders in Florida and I tracked down a guy who was selling them.

I learned that you could hold one of those spiders in the palm of one hand, and if you hold out your other hand, the spider will probably jump to it.

So all my research is anecdotal; I learn from speaking with people in the pet industry. What does this creature do in captivity, and does it behave the same way it does in the wild?

QDo you think of yourself as a wildlife photographer?

ASomeone once wrote about me that I'm a behavioural photographer. I haven't abandoned wildlife photography; I try to keep a 50/50 balance of traditional and studio photography.

Originally, the idea of studio photography was an economic decision to produce very sellable images without having to spend lots of money.

It's not all come down to studio photography for me. I reserve that for clear-cut pieces where the technology to capture the same image in the wild doesn't exist. However, a lot of the highspeed photography that I do is set up to accommodate what I do in nature, like photos of bats drinking from a pond. I just set up my equipment around the pond. Those shots, and photos of barn owls coming to their nests with rats in their beaks, for example, are not controlled in any way. They're natural behaviour, and I just set up my hardware around them.

QHow do you set up your photos?

AI start by observing the animal's behaviour when you disturb its site by pulling up in a vehicle, for example, or walking by. I'm thinking of a barn owl: Maybe it hops off its branch, lands on another one, looks to the left and to the right. So I look to see what happens when something foreign is in the area. I'll do that one day, then again a few days later. If the owl displays the same behaviour, it means he or she went back to its nest and didn't abandon it.

I might stick around in a hidden location to see if the owl comes back within 30 minutes. I can get the feeling of its life cycle and whether I'm causing any momentary disturbance. If I figure out the animal is pretty robust, and not going to abandon its nest, then I can put together the hardware, piece meal and at key times during the day. In the case of the barn owl, maybe that would be at nighttime, when it's out hunting. When nothing is at the nest, I'll install sensors and flashes. The next day, I'll watch to make sure the introduced hardware doesn't affect the animal's behaviour. Once the whole set is built, it starts producing images overnight.

QWhat is the difference between photographing in the wild and in your studio?

AWhen I'm photographing something in the studio, more often than not, I pick a creature that's simple enough to not be stressed in captivity. If you take a koala bear for example, you would have to really pay attention to signals of stress. There are morals there to consider.

It_s also about being pragmatic: If an animal is under stress, it's not likely to perform. In an outdoor scenario, I'm trying not to disturb the more sophisticated, bigger-brained creatures. Indoors, I use a lizard, for example, which is an action/reaction kind of creature. If I can provide it food, humidity and the right heat level, it's usually OK. I guess the main concern in a captive scenario is whether you can generate the right habitat to make the behaviour happen. In the wild, the behaviour is already there. The question is: Am I going to disturb it by intruding?

QWhat would you consider going too far to get a shot?

AThere will be some stress involved in any interaction between humans and creatures. Wildlife photography is an easy thing to pick on, but really, our existence on the planet alone is enough to cause problems for a lot of creatures.

Causing something to fly from one branch to another because it's nervous is not critical. Birds do that all the time; that's how they survive.

I was photographing an elf owl in Arizona in a hilly, wooded area. There was so much hardware around the nest cavity that the owl hesitated to return. With the flashes there and strange stands, the owl probably started to interpret them as predators. At one point, I decided to abandon the project.

The concept is that you place priority on the creature above the photography if you notice anything that could potentially change its behaviour.

QWhat purpose do you want your photography to serve?

A'Conservation' is what almost every other wildlife photographer says. It's a lofty ideal, but I guess for me the purpose that [photography] serves, beyond the selfish one of providing a living for the family, is documenting interesting behaviours and events in the natural world that I wouldn't see otherwise. I want my photod to have an impact on as many people as possible. Wildlife photography that only sparks interest in a small demographic, to me, is a failed image.

QIn your blog, you mention a mini helicopter with which you're experimenting as a photographic tool. Can you tell us more about that?

ABasically, I have attached toy helicopters to a gizmo attached to a camera. It's my next big adventure.

I started using toy helicopters in my photography when my wife was pregnant. It was a de-stressor for me, crafting toys. I wanted to distinguish my photography through technology and do something not everyone else can.

I want to get an aerial perspective and it costs $750 to $1,000 per hour to rent a real helicopter. So many features related to the geographical part of Canada start off with an aerial photograph, so I'm trying to recognize a hole in the market that could be filled.

Plus it's always fun to fly helicopters.

Interview by Samia Madwar