18 September 2023
Clifton student, Branson Meaker, is making waves with his prize-winning photographs. The 17-year-old recently received his fourth international wildlife photography award in the 26th edition of the MontPhoto Fest.
It marked the third time that he has been recognised in the MontPhoto competition, while he has also placed in the prestigious Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition. “I am slowly getting better at competitions, but it is still very hard,” he said, “because there are [tens of] thousands of entries from 65 countries.”
“Drinking Giants”
His winning MontPhoto image placed him among the top three in the world in the 15-to-17-year age group. The shot, titled “Drinking Giants”, was taken in Mashatu in Botswana, Branson said.
“These elephants were coming down a bank, and there was a little pool they were drinking from. They were picking up dust, and when I saw that I knew what I could do with the photo. I made it very orange and dark. I prefer a darker themed, more orange, type of photo.
“I noticed that all of their trunks were down at the same time. I went to portrait, and I focused on the water and the elephants’ trunks, making them look synchronised, and the dust gave it a nice atmosphere, which made it feel like a cosy picture, in my opinion.
“Photography gives you an artistic eye. You can always recognise what could be a good photo,” Branson reckoned.
MontPhoto Exhibition
Next, his award-winning photo will be on show at the MontPhoto Exhibition in Lloret de Mar, Spain, from 6 to 8 October. It will also be published in the MontPhoto 2023 book, which features all of the winners.
Unfortunately, because he will be writing his matric final exams, he won’t be able to attend the exhibition to receive his award, and he will miss out on the various photographic workshops to which he has been invited, which also form part of his prize.
Branson and his brother, Skye, an Old Cliftonian, are self-taught, but both have received international recognition. Skye won the Young Wildlife Photographer of the Year in 2018 for a portrait he titled “Lounging Leopard”. Branson, meanwhile, has seen his photo of a lechwe, titled “Aquabatic Antelope”, exhibited in the Natural History Museum in London and, incredibly, at 10 Downing Street, the UK Prime Minister’s residence.
The Aquabatic Antelope | Wildlife Photographer of the Year | Natural History Museum (nhm.ac.uk)
“It’s about expressing my thoughts”
“It’s about expressing my thoughts through photography. It’s also about raising awareness, because many of the photos I submit have a cause behind them,” Branson said.
The lechwe, for example, is not widely known, and he enjoys exposing different animals to people, but there is another reason that is vitally important to him, too: “Photography is becoming a lot harder now, because animals are dying, they’re getting poached. Photography is also a means to tell others that we need to protect animals,” he explained.
Branson also shared what he sees as the secret to being a good wildlife photographer: “It’s about patience. That is what photography is, at the end of the day, and a little bit of luck. You have to see things to take pictures of them. Photography has definitely taught me patience over the years, which I think has helped my character.”
Thinking outside of the box
To produce award-winning photos, one has to think outside of the box, he continued. A photograph capturing an elephant in full would likely not win any awards, but finding the picture within a picture, as he did with “Drinking Giants”, is both the challenge and the reward.
Being among wildlife is also where he finds peace, he added. “I have grown up with my family as a wildlife photographer. It’s nice to go into the bush. I enjoy it. It’s freedom. It’s an escape from the world and from being online. When we go to the bush, we have no [cellphone] signal. Nothing!”
Support
His mother and father, Enid and Shawn, used to take wildlife photos. Now, though, mom has stepped back, but dad continues to enjoy his shared hobby of wildlife photography with their two supremely talented sons. They have supported the boys by investing in good equipment and they have been repaid by the manner in which Branson and Skye have embraced their opportunities fully.
Seeing the joy and fulfilment that it brings to the boys is their reward as parents, and seeing them being internationally recognised is a source of deserved pride.
Looking ahead, Branson said a future occupation as a wildlife photographer contains too many uncertainties. He’s instead considering a degree in business. He will keep on photographing, however, but it will be as it is now, a hobby.
You can find more of Branson’s wildlife photography at https://bransonmeaker.com/
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