Two Days in Three Minutes: A Legendary Wildlife Photographer and the Little Moments That Make a Compelling Video
The challenge was to create a three-minute portrait of a legendary wildlife photographer. To do it, Alex Gorosh had to go beyond just asking questions.
There’s a moment in Alex Gorosh’s video with Tom Mangelsen that nails the challenge that even the most skilled and experienced wildlife photographers face. It comes just short of two minutes in, when Tom is shooting from the car window and says, “Don’t mess it up, Tom…c’mon.”
It was a moment that Alex was hoping for. “Tom will be the first to admit that with wildlife photography, for every shot you’re happy with, there’s a thousand that didn’t work out the way you wanted. I wanted to get the reality of just how difficult wildlife photography can be.”
Alex’s concern was time. “That’s always the challenge,” he says.
“Here’s this incredible photographer, but we deal with what’s available on the days we’re filming. With wildlife, that’s tricky because photographers often spend months trying to get an image that they’ve envisioned.” As it turned out, it was “a very fortunate, two-day shoot,” during which Alex was able to convey Tom’s dedication to capturing photographs that will make people care about wildlife and the environment.
“My game plan was to get his personality and what drives him, and to be sure he came across as the legend and the artist that he is,” Alex says.
To get that would take more than simply asking questions. “Tom has a very professional presence when you’re with him. He’s careful about his words, which is important in an interview. But when I want to show his personality, that’s a little bit harder because he’s conscious of the camera. So little moments—like him talking to his dogs or talking to himself when he shot from the car—were incredibly important. They weren’t planned—they were natural for him, and they showed I’d managed to create a relaxed environment—sometimes just cracking jokes, having a ‘we’re just hanging out’ attitude—to show that I wasn’t just there to get soundbites. It took some time, but we got closer to ‘Let’s try to forget the camera’s rolling.’”
The Z 8 was a joy to work with—image quality, processing speed, slow-motion capabilities, all packed into such a tiny body—it was amazing.
Confidence Factors
Alex used with a Z 8 and three lenses: NIKKOR Z 24-70mm f/2.8 S, NIKKOR Z 50mm f/1.2 S and the NIKKOR Z 180-600mm f/5.6-6.3 VR.
“In the commercial world I’ve done many projects where we’re using high-end professional gear that has a much higher price tag and a much larger footprint,” he says, “and now here’s this mirrorless camera—and I was truly blown away. The Z 8 was a joy to work with—image quality, processing speed, slow-motion capabilities, the resolution, all packed into such a tiny body—it was amazing. The Z 8’s capabilities are really remarkable.
“There’s a moment in the interview when Tom says he’s fortunate to live ‘on the edge of Teton Park, right behind me,’ and as he’s saying ‘behind me’ I just tapped on the LCD display, and in an instant the Z 8 switches focus and locks in. That’s a pretty complicated move—you’d typically need a camera crew and a focus-puller—but while I’m conducting the interview, it’s just a tap.”
The comfort zone provided by the Z 8 went a long way to help Alex get the footage he needed to create a three-minute portrait of a legendary wildlife photographer. “It would be easy to glamorize the lifestyle,” Alex says, “to make it look like every day he just goes out and takes a beautiful photo. But the truth is, there are so many long hours, so much waiting, so much just being patient, and so much experience with the animals, and I was trying to get across that truth in terms of what it’s like to actually live that lifestyle.”
Alex’s website features selections of his commercial work and short documentaries.
