"Every encounter is different," explains wildlife photographer David duChemin

There is a wildness, not only to the subject but to the process itself. It’s unpredictable and every encounter is different – I love that! But most of all, it’s the encounters themselves. Even those times when nothing goes well or the results aren’t what I had hoped for, to have had time in the presence of incredible creatures like bears or wolves and to have been outside and part of the natural world – that feeds my soul. I use the word ‘wonder’ a lot in discussing my work and the reason why I do it is in the hope of experiencing more of that feeling of awe.

I find them equally, but differently, fulfilling. The one I do purely for myself – photography – gets me outside and fills a part of me that nothing else does. The others I also do for myself, which is gratifying, but I do them for others too. Together, the two callings make me whole. However, I think whatever legacy I leave, it will be my teaching and, more specifically, my writing that will have the most impact.

Happily! My talk will revolve around this one idea: that for most photographers our biggest challenges are not technical but creative. Those challenges have less to do with cameras and lenses and more to do with the human behind the camera. Our best photographs are as good as they are because of our imaginations, our courage and willingness to take risks. They resonate with others because we have something to say and find creative ways to say it, ways that rely on depth of feeling more than depth of field. Excellence of craft is so important to what we do, but it’s insufficient. My talk, Light, Space and Time, like my new book from which I took the name, is about meeting those creative challenges so our work is not only good but is truly our own.

Photographers who nurture a rich inner life and who also take risks by trying new things have less difficulty staying out of a rut. The sparks come from the friction of meeting new challenges with fresh efforts. 

In creative endeavours, there’s a concept of optimal performance called ‘flow’ and that can only happen when we are dealing with challenges. I don’t think we do our best work when we’re repeating ourselves, doing what is comfortable or overly familiar. It’s probably true that bored photographers will create images that are boring, at least to them, and the antidote to boredom is trying something new, something that feels a little out of our immediate grasp creatively. Learn something new, try something unfamiliar. Whatever you do, I think inspiration will be most reliably found in creating, not in consuming.