Wilderseeker

New Zealand Geographic finalist Jason Hosking launched his wildlife and nature photography career by poking his lens into Muriwai’s bustling gannet colony to produce a stunning documentary study over three years. In this Q & A, he talks homemade drones, backyard birding and the importance of illustrating life hiding in plain sight.  

How do you think photography can help people gain an appreciation of nature? 

I think in the instant ‘everything’ age with all of its digital distractions it’s easy to quickly skim over images we see online and move on to the next without really stopping to take it all in. I’m guilty of that too and social media can be both good and bad in that respect. I think it takes a real discipline as an observer to stop and fully absorb an image before you. 

For myself personally, I think the right image can show people another perspective and open them up to hidden worlds or new ways of thinking to elicit change and hopefully inspire others to care and start protecting rather than exploiting nature. I would love people to see the wonder, beauty and fragility that I see in the natural world and if an image I’ve taken can give someone a greater sense of understanding, appreciation or motivation to make personal changes then I would be very happy to know that. 

Nature gives us so much and connection to it is essential for a balanced, healthy life I believe. Just imagine if we all worked in partnership with our planet rather than trying to control, dominate and exploit it all for individual wealth. What kind of world would we have then?

This year, you managed to get two photos into the New Zealand Geographic Photographer of the Year competition. How did you capture the pancake-ice shot?  

I was down in Antarctica on the Ross sea and it was just before midnight when I noticed this incredible glow coming in through my porthole. When I looked out, I saw a huge raft of pancake sea ice lit up by the setting sun. So , I quickly grabbed my camera and raced up to the deck to take in the almost midnight Antarctic sunset. The dark clouds brooding overhead really added to the drama and the feeling of just being all the way down there floating on a completely flat sea while that still, frozen air enveloped you, was totally surreal.
 

How did you get to travel to Antarctica? 

When I won New Zealand Geographic Photographer of the Year in 2015 one of the prizes was a trip with Heritage Expeditions, and the opportunity came up to go to Antarctica. One day early in the summer I got a call saying a passenger had fallen ill and that there was a spot available on the next voyage if I could make to Invercargill by the next morning. I was up in Northland’s Cable Bay when I got the call. The next 24 hrs was totally manic, I drove five hours back home to collect my expired passport and then navigated through Auckland’s afternoon gridlock traffic to get to the immigration building before they closed. I got there with about 20 mins to spare and by 8pm I had my emergency passport. Then it was off home to pack for the frozen continent and book a flight south.

From Bluff it took about 10 days voyage just to get to the Ross Sea though we did make a few stops to various Sub-antarctic islands on the way south.Once I was down there I was really struck by the harshness of life. This brutality pervades everything from the extreme environment to the weather to the nature of the wildlife.  I saw giant petrels and skuas knock over penguins and slowly kill them by ripping out their throats and stomachs. Some of those attacks could take 2-3 minutes before the penguin died so witnessing that kind of thing first hand was rather horrific. 

From a scenic point of view the vastness, solitude and just how white everything is was pretty special to see. After spending the day ashore exploring the frozen continent, I felt very fortunate to come back to a warm meal and comfortable cabin after spending the day out in such a hostile environment.  

What was some of the most exhilarating experiences that you’ve had in your 20 year career? 

Probably one of my earliest most memorable moments was when I first started assisting. I was assisting a photographer Darryl Torckler in Tonga, up in Vava’u. He was photographing humpback whales and I got a chance to jump in the water with them. It was just unbelievable. There was a big male floating about 40ft directly below me singing and the sound of his song reverberated through my entire body. Not just my ears, I could feel it in my bones. And the water was so clear, you could look down at them underneath you like the water wasn’t even there. A mother and calf came up really close and spent a bit of time checking me out. It’s probably one of the most amazing wildlife moments I’ve ever had I think.

Another very memorable moment for me was working again with Darryl down off the coast of the South Island. We were in the water at a seal colony and were completely surrounded by young, curious seal pups. They would slowly approach and taunt each other to get closer and finally their agile bodies would swoop down to investigate  us all the while twirling, spinning and twisting in these beautiful graceful arcs. 

Image: Darryl Torckler/One Shot