In All Animal Beings, Photographer, Ken Drake, delights readers with compelling animal portraits and stories, revealing some exceptional characters.
Luca, Juvenile Black Flying Fox. © Ken Drake / All Animal Beings (New Holland Publishers, 2017).
Luca was the first bat I ever photographed. I had been dying to photograph a bat for so long. I had heard how full of character they are. Luca was orphaned during a heat wave (Black Flying Foxes struggle to cope with very high temperatures, and when the mercury hits 44°C they start to literally fall out of the skies and out of the trees). I photographed him for the RSPCA, and their only instruction was to show how cute he is. This photo was taken very early in the session when Luca was still intrigued by what I was doing. He wasn’t in the least bit shy. He was just hanging there looking adorable and looking at me curiously with those big brown eyes. I tried a trick I use on dogs and made a squeaky toy noise at him. He tilted his head just like a puppy would. Flash and there was my portrait. For ‘bat’ people this photo looks strange, Luca was hanging upside down from a stick and I inverted the photo so people could relate to him more easily. Bat people are used to seeing bats hanging upside down and think this photo looks just wrong. Whenever the temperatures get over 40°C I always think of Luca and hope he is OK now that he is back in the wild. We have Black Flying Foxes on our property and I hope one knows of Luca. I also forgive them eating my mangoes. Well, it might be my friend!
Tal’ngay Dha’run looks a bit different from other Grey-Headed Flying Foxes as he has a condition called Leucism, which affects his skin pigmentation. His name means ‘white wing’ in the local aboriginal Yugambeh language. Tal is a real character, he loves flying and that’s how I captured his wings out, he is just about to take off to fly to his adopted Mom for a treat. When he isn’t showing off his flying skills he is a real cuddler! © Ken Drake / All Animal Beings (New Holland Publishers, 2017).
The photos in All Animal Beings appear to engage mutual intrigue between photographer and animal—how do you begin a session with a subject and is it important to form a bond before shooting?
For most animals it is crucial to build a bond before I even think about picking up a camera, if the animal doesn’t trust me, I can’t engage with them and if I can’t engage with them, I can’t find out about their personality and capture it. I always give my subjects some time to adjust to their new surroundings, and I only approach them when I am confident they have settled. Especially with pets I wait for them to approach me, usually their natural curiosity means I’m near the top of their list to check out! I don’t tend to use food to win them over, as often having food available means that in restricted with what we can do. For example, many dogs won’t play if they know there is food on offer, so if I want to explore their playful side I will try and win them over with a toy.
Birds tend to be very cheeky and playful, so when I approach them I do little dances, bobbing my head up and down whilst I talk gently to them. Sometimes they join in the dance, other times they will just start to look at me as an interesting person to get to know.
I don’t try and bond so much with reptiles, their brains are very different, so I give them time to settle and hope they don’t view me as a threat. Snakes are usually inquisitive if they don’t feel threatened, and they taste the air to get my scent which makes for great photos. In they are venomous I don’t let them get too close! For the book, the red belly black snake was pretty interested in me and the lights, so I could get some lovely dynamic photos. The Coastal Taipan felt threatened, so we cut his session short (they can be very dangerous when threatened).
What did you learn from the experience and how will you apply this to future endeavours?
I learned what a single image can do to an audience. My I always bear in mind how tame the animal is and set my expectations accordingly. For example Rio the Koala is an orphan, and was in human care and so very well socialized with people, I could interact with her fully. O the other hand, Ratty Fat Fat the Water Rat wasn’t much tamed at all, and they are naturally very shy, so I didn’t even try and interact with him as it would have stressed him out.
I’m always fascinated by the characters I get in the studio, and genuinely want to find out as much as I can about what makes them tick, and they seem to feel the same about me. I’m delighted this has come across in the photos! My whole approach is to prove to the world that these animals are very similar to us, they share many of the same emotions as we do, although their thought processes can be very different they do have intelligence, and they do have their own unique personalities.
When I was growing up (many, many years ago) the science of the time was telling us animal lovers that we were making up their intelligence and anthropomorphising their personalities, and that has spurred me on to tell their stories. Of course science has now caught up with us animal lovers, in 2012 many animal cognitive and neuroscientists signed The Cambridge Declaration on Consciousness stating that many animals, including all birds and mammals, are sentient. It seems that every week a new article comes out declaring new wonderful cognitive abilities in the animals we share the planet with, but many of us have known this all along. I’m hoping that people will see this truth in my photography, and just maybe treat them with a bit more understanding and respect. We are not so different from them, Humans are animals too, we are All Animal Beings.
Raymond, Rescued Koala. © Ken Drake / All Animal Beings (New Holland Publishers, 2017).
Zena and Jazz, domestic pig and Blue Quaker Parrot. © Ken Drake / All Animal Beings (New Holland Publishers, 2017).
Were all the animals forthcoming with their character (if not) how do you coax a shy/uninterested animal to reveal its personality?
Not all the animals were that keen to be honest, a great example is Nacho the Scarlet Macaw. When his Dad (I hate the word owner, I don’t feel I own the animals I share my home with, I’m their guardian) brought him in he warned me that he was in a bad mood, and whatever we did his mood didn’t brighten, but I love the fact he looks grumpy in the photo, it’s so him! I didn’t photograph him for long, we let him sit high up on the air conditioner whilst I photographed other animals hoping he would change his mind, but he didn’t.
With Ratty Fat Fat the Water Rat we gave him some prawns, and he built a stash. We then slowly approached him from the side, and I photographed him peering around a rock to check if his food was safe. Very very few animals are uninterested, they are always interested in a new environment and new people if only to gauge if there is a threat, or food, or even fun to be had. It’s not just humans that are inquisitive!
What are some of the best methods for drawing the attention of an animal to your lens?
I try and use all their senses to get their attention, depending on the shot I am trying to get. Letty the calf spent a while calling for her Mum, so when she had settled and I had her in a good spot for the lighting, I did my best Moooooooo and she stepped towards me with an interested look on her face. With Jessie the Whistling Duck, she leaned in for a chin tickle, I removed my hand at the last moment and captured her leaning in towards the camera.
Often I just talk to them, they can’t understand my words but many animals can at least tell you are trying to communicate and it interests them. Dogs in particular can tell a lot about us by our tone of voice, and it can really help calm an unsettled animal. I do also use food, Dundee the Black Cockatoo is lifting his wings for a treat, and Rio the Koala was reaching out for some Eucalyptus leaves. Willy the Maine Coon Cat is my boy, he shouts at me all the time to hurry up and feed/cuddle him, to get him doing that in the studio I’m ashamed to say I teased him with food, I captured him telling me off. With for example snakes it’s often smell, the Red Belly Black snake is ‘tasting the air’ to get my scent so he can work out what I am, it made for a dynamic portrait.
Can you talk us through your process for adapting to the wide diversity of species in this collection (highlighting the best qualities of each animal)?
I wouldn’t so much call it a procedure as an approach. With the wide variety of animals I photograph, I can’t possibly be an expert on them all, but the people bringing them in generally are, so I do listen to what they are telling me in the studio. My main tools for all animals are patience and empathy, I am a very empathetic person naturally, and combined with the knowledge I do have of animal body language and behaviour I can generally see what kind of mood they are in. People say that animals can’t talk, but they are constantly communicating with us through body language and with experience you can pick up on what they are saying.
Part of the charm to this book is the unexpected friendships between different species, which surprised or entertained you the most?
I don’t get particularly surprised by inter species friendships, they happen all the time. I hear so often from humans ‘oh look! He thinks he is a cat!’ but I don’t think that is true, I think animals are open to friendships with different species just like we humans are, without getting confused about their own identity. The most entertaining has to be Sam the black Labrador with Little, the Black Australorp hen. Sam was so excited when Little joined in the session, she couldn’t contain herself, but Little treated her like a naughty puppy. Sam licked her once, Little told her off and she didn’t dare try it again. In the photo Little is practically sitting on Sam’s head. I had to make sure I gave the treats to Little first, she was definitely the boss in the relationship.
As with past works you have included the animals backstory with their portrait—what does this detail add to your imagery?
There is a limit in what you can say about an animal in a single photo, sometimes adding context really adds to the photo. For example, Kyro the American Staffie has such a great smile, it does make a great photo all by itself, but when you understand that he was horrifically abused (he was burnt badly with lighter fuel and his back is terribly scarred) then the smile shows just what an incredible character he is and what zest for life he has. He LOVES his new life, and this context adds so much to the photo.
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Help us go beyond the page
BEJournal understands that stories are a gateway to peoples hearts and minds and we want to empower our readers to use this inspiration to make a difference. Please take a moment to visit Ken Drake and learn about Paws & Reflect, a limited-edition coffee table book featuring past and present Zoo Studio fur-babies and wildlife affected by the current bushfires. Best of all: 100% of proceeds from every Paws & Reflect book sold will be donated directly to WIRES to help fight for the survival of our country’s native creatures.
