This Wildlife Photographer Raises Awareness For Lion Conservation And You’re Going To Love The Gorgeous Portraits He Has Taken
This Los Angeles-based wildlife photographer named Simon Needham takes mind-blowing portraits of a wide variety of animals to raise awareness of endangered species and encourage conservation efforts.
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Lately, he was given the opportunity to visit Glenn Garriff Conservation in South Africa again to take promotional photos of the lions in their care. During this project, the photographer was able to get close to some of the rare white lions and capture their mesmerizing coloration.
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Even though sometimes mistaken for an albino lion, white lions actually occur because of a recessive genetic mutation in a condition named leucism. In order for a baby lion to be born with a white coloration, both parents must have this recessive gene. Despite the fact that white lions are native to South Africa, trophy hunting has made their existence in the wild a rarity, so you can almost only see them in sanctuaries like GG, which provides a big and safe space for them to live in. Needham visited this place to take free promotional photos of the lions that GG can use to promote their cause. Read on if you want to find out more about Needham’s experience at GG Conservation.
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Can you tell us a little bit about your background in art? I actually went to college and studied graphic design. After that, I started my own company at the age of 18 (ATTIK) which I grew with my partner James Sommerville to the point where we had offices all over the world and hired 350 staff. I was working as the group creative director and I mostly focused on the creative aspect of our company which also included directing a lot of commercials for my clients since we did a couple of photoshoots which I enjoyed very much. We then ended up selling the company after 25 years which gave me an opportunity to focus on the things I really wanted to indulge in more.
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How did you become interested in wildlife photography in particular? I wanted to travel more and take more photographs and I figured out if I was to offer my time to humanitarian causes and conservation NGOs, it would enable me to give back, as well as travel and shoot spectacular situations and subjects. A short while ago, you were able to visit GG Conservation to take photographs of their lions. Why did you choose to go to that place? It was just because I knew Suzy from GG and offered her my time to shoot content for her that she can then use to promote their highly important cause. So how was the entire experience? I’ve visited there a couple of times before as well and each time it gets better. I now feel more confident when it comes to working with the lions even though they can be very scary!
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Your photos of white lions have been loved by many. What can you tell us about this uncommon mutation? At GG Conservation they have a couple of white lions but white lions are very uncommon in the wild. This is because they’re white due to a genetic mutation in which two copies of the gene must be present for the white coat to show up in the animal...The white lions are classified as towny African lions (Pantera Leo).
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What did you feel when you saw a white lion in person? To be honest, being close to any lion is most definitely amazing, their power is palpable, however, with the added unique white coat it’s simply indescribable! Can you explain to us what GG Conservation is doing to help these animals a little bit? GG looks after approximately 77 lions that wouldn’t be with us otherwise. They really love these animals and they work extremely hard to make sure they are both happy and healthy. However, it’s a financial struggle for them in a lot of ways, including maintenance and vet bills!
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What’s the most important thing when it comes to wildlife photography in your opinion? I’ve actually been photographing wildlife for only about three years so I still have a long way to go, but one thing I do know is that it requires a lot of patience! What are some of the obstacles? As you would guess, the logistics of finding wildlife is one and usually requires a lot of effort and time to get to the point of actually capturing that special photograph. The other one is finding the exact spot for the lighting and background standpoint. After these, you just need to hope the animal will do something interesting! Can you tell us a little bit about your future plans and projects? I am hoping to return back to Africa in April or May to shoot for some other sanctuaries (assuming the COVID situation will be more under control).
