Travel Photographer Interviews: Michael Lynch

All photos courtesy of Michael Lynch

Japan-based wildlife photographer Michael Lynch‘s work has appeared in various publications such as Apogee Photo, Photo Argus, The Nihon Sun, International Business Times, and PocketCultures. Matador Editor and photographer Lola Akinmade talks with Michael about his creative process.

How long have you been a photographer?

I try to take professional photos and I love outshooting some of the folks who call themselves Pros; some of them ain’t so hard to beat, others are. At age 59, I bought my first camera and decided I wanted to really learn how to shoot.

What – or who – got your initial interest going in terms of photography?

The great outdoors has always been where I preferred to be. Growing up in the mountains of upstate New York, I was always out in the woods, somewhere. I could never figure out why people would sit around in the house watching TV when there were so many real live things to see outdoors.

Cameras, over the years, I’ve had a few. Seems like every film camera I had, I’d wind up breaking, losing, screwing-up the film, winding it, or shooting rolls of film and leaving them lying around so long before developing, there’d be no pictures left on them by the time I’d have them processed!

Then, along came digital (50 years later). One day, about three years ago, I was walking my dogs along the beach and saw an osprey flying overhead. I mean, way overhead, probably 500 yards straight-up, circling overhead. I didn’t even know what type bird it was; I just knew it was big.

I took out my cell phone and with the camera, zoomed and shot it. Got him dead center in the frame. A little black speck. That’s when I said, “I want a real camera”.

I emailed my son in California and asked him to help me research, bought some Outdoor Photographer magazines and a few books on cameras and started what would be about a six month decision process.

Then, I bought a Panasonic DMC-FZ50. Close to 160,000 shots on it and still shoots. I’ll never part with that camera; still use it. And highly recommend it to anyone starting out. When I bought that camera, I had no idea I wanted to be a wildlife photographer.

What were your first photographic experiments or experiences?

First (serious) photographic experiences where I wasn’t just snap-shooting were with my cell-phone camera.

I used the basic camera books I’d bought and started doing all the standard, basic stuff: directional lighting, bowls of fruit, rule of thirds, composition, flash, texture… whatever you can imagine that can be done with a real camera, while I continued to search for which model camera to buy.

How would you describe the work you do now…wildlife/nature photography? Are you involved in the commercial world also? Any stock photography?

The work I do now, WOW, it’s insane! I have three gallery exhibits; two of them I sell from. The third one is in a library, just for display. My work in the past year has changed drastically, ever since I got into online travel writing. Where I used to spend 6-10 hours a day out shooting wildlife and maybe six hours on a monitor, it’s kinda reversed.

I initially joined Matador hoping to find writers to do the writing and use my photography for their articles. Here in Okinawa, I’ve been published in print magazines, just my photography, with someone else doing the writing. A cameraman in Japan gets paid a lot, a lot more than writers. I used to make a deal with writers, “You write and I’ll shoot and we’ll split 50/50 on any articles you have published”.

That worked great for awhile, ’till the economy went south and magazines cut back on their spending. Writers got busy doing their other full-time jobs and less writing so, I decided to give writing a try myself. In March 2009, Apogee Photo Magazine published my first article and I’ve been at it ever since, making just a little over what it takes to recharge my camera batteries!

Stock agencies find me through my website and contact me but I’m not interested in their contracts right now. Maybe somewhere down the line, like if I can’t walk anymore. Commercial work-I’m looking forward to breaking into the tourism/travel promotion agencies in Japan, but it may be difficult, being a foreigner.

What three tips would you share for amateur photographers who are interested in pursuing your style of photography?

1. Wake up early in the morning. You have to be wherever you’re going before the sun is up. The best light is early morning light and you want to be in position when the animals wake up and start looking for breakfast.

2. Know your ISOs. Be able to look outdoors and say, “It’s ISO 100, 400, 800 or 1600 out there, right now”. Before you step out the door, check the ISO settings on your camera, ALWAYS. There’s nothing worse than finding out the reason you just shot a burst of shots at a millionth of second is because you were shooting at ISO 1600 the night before and forgot to switch back to ISO 100.

3. Shoot a lot and study your EXIF data as you process each shot. Ask yourself, “What could I have done to make that shot better?”. Eventually, if you’ve mastered the basics, you will make better shots, or at least learn to experiment with different angles and settings while you’re out in the field.

What got you interested in wildlife photography?

Besides loving the outdoors, that first camera, the Panasonic, taught me I could shoot in burst mode. This was something I could never do before with any film camera, not fast enough to catch birds in flight, anyway. Not just birds, but, fish jumping out of water, birds catching fish, snakes striking out, geckos catching moths, bees buzzing flowers, you name it; I got hooked.

Which other photographers – old or contemporary – inspire you most?

Ansel Adams, the master of light and shadows, has to be every serious photographer’s idol. Contemporary, I’ll have to get back with you on that; there’s an Irish wildlife photographer I saw in Outdoor Photographer who has pretty much the same philosophy as me, “I don’t Photoshop.” Have to dig through an old stack of magazines to get his name.

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