1 Habit The Best Wildlife Cinematographers Have In Common

Most wildlife cinematographers share the same handful of traits:

• They are organised
• They are highly self-motivated
• They have incredible patience and focus
• They have developed great field craft skills and know how to anticipate animal behaviour

But what separates the best from the mediocre is the following::

The best play to WIN, the mediocre play NOT TO LOOSE.

Let me explain:

• Playing to win means doing whatever it takes to deliver a set of rushes (the footage you shoot on location) that sets the bar so high that no one wants to touch that story again
• Playing not to lose means playing it safe and delivering a set of rushes that clears the bar but does not raise the bar in any way/

This all boils down to Confidence.

There is some wisdom in playing not to lose at the beginning of your career. A set of decent rushes is better than a set of unusable rushes

Very quickly, you should switch to playing to win.

This entails being better prepared mentally and physically, perfecting your gear setups, and most significantly, taking way more calculated risks with your shooting.

An incredibly small percentage of the shots you take on location make it into the final sequence. Make sure those shots are as sensational as possible.