Photo by David Valdez
Meet Jennifer Leigh Warner
STORIES & INSIGHTSFEBRUARY 9, 2023
Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Jennifer Leigh Warner. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Hi Jennifer Leigh, thanks for joining us today. It’s always helpful to hear about times when someone’s had to take a risk – how did they think through the decision, why did they take the risk, and what ended up happening. We’d love to hear about a risk you’ve taken.
Even as a small child I knew I wanted to be a wildlife photographer. I would cut out pictures of big cats from the pages of magazines and plaster them all over my wall. But when I graduated I didn’t really know how to make a career out of taking pictures of wildlife yet. I started working for a portrait photograph company, teaching other photographers how to photograph preschoolers and all the while I was building up my wildlife photography portfolio. I would travel to places like Florida to photograph shorebirds and Wyoming to photograph grizzly bears and even Kenya to photograph Africa’s most iconic wildlife like elephants, lions and cheetahs.
After 9 years of working in the corporate world I was itching to be on my own but was too afraid to take the leap. I had a steady income and I was scared that if I left I would fail. In 2016 my boss suddenly fell ill and passed away, he was only 40 years old. This was an eye opener for me. You never know how much time you have left and I didn’t want to regret not perusing my passion.
I submitted my notice to my company and started working for myself as a full time wildlife conservation photographer. Taking that risk was scary and it hasn’t always gone smooth, but I never regret taking that leap.
Jennifer Leigh, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
My name is Jennifer Leigh Warner and I am a full time professional wildlife conservation photographer. I had a passion for wildlife photography at an early age, but didn’t start pursuing it professionally until after I graduated from college. I started my career with selling my images at coffee shops and restaurants, hanging them on the wall and hoping someone would fall in love with the work. I found that I had better luck and art markets and festivals instead and still to this day make a majority of my income selling fine art photographs at festivals.
After attending several workshops and photo tours I realized I wanted to pursue this avenue of wildlife photography as well. I joined Wildside Nature Tours and started leading tours and workshops out in the field as well as conducting online workshops. I love being out in the field with clients. Sharing these special places with photographers and helping them get images that they are proud of.
I have also become a public speaker for camera clubs and bird festivals, inspiring photographers and nature lovers to appreciate the natural world.
Making pretty pictures has never been enough for me and I wanted to use my photography to help save the places and wildlife that I encounter. Conservation photography has been a big part of my career. Working with non-profits to tell their stories, publishing articles in books, magazines and blogs and creating media assets to help raise funds and awareness for those organizations doing incredible on the ground efforts to save these species.
The work that I am most proud of is when I see my images used in posters, websites and newsletters to raise awareness about an issue. This is why I became a photographer in the first place and when I see my images changing hearts and minds it makes me feel like I am making a difference.
What sets me apart is that I always put my subjects wellbeing above myself and my photographs. Ethics is the most important element in nature photography as far as I am concerned and I do everything in my power to not let me or my photographs negatively impact the place or animal I am photographing.
Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can provide some insight – you never know who might benefit from the enlightenment.
One aspect that I think some non-creatives struggle with is why creatives deserve to be paid for their work. Even after all my successes I am still asked on a regular basis if I will work for free. There is this strange notion out there that if you are enjoying your work or if you are working for a non-profit than you should do it for free. As someone who still has to pay the bills, including gas, food, insurance, equipment and what not it I don’t understand why this thought process still exists.
Photography is a powerful tool to tell stories and get information out there and if all creatives are working for free than they would have to stop creating and get other jobs.
I am starting to see a small shift in the appreciation for quality photographs but I am hoping that non-creatives can start to think about how often they saw an image that changed the way they see the world and how important it is that we support those artists creating that work.
Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?
Over the past two decades I have had to adapt to many changes in my career. My husband and I have moved around a lot for his job and each time I have needed to start over in building my client base and what projects I am working on.
I travel a lot for my work but having projects close to home is also important for me. Each time we move I have had to pivot. I think that has allowed me to learn to adapt pretty quickly to my new surroundings.
When everything shut down in 2020 because of COVID I had to adapt in my career as well. I starting producing online classes, selling my images online more and finding close to home projects to work on.
As a creative it is important to develop the skills needed to adjust to changes. You can’t let these challenges derail your creative process.
Contact Info:
Website: https://www.experiencewildlife.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ExpWildlife/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/expwildlife
Image Credits
Bio Photo by: David Valdez All other photos by: Jennifer Leigh Warner
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