Parkinson's sufferer talks about his new wildlife photography book

May 24, 2016

THESE remarkable images of some of the world’s most iconic creatures are all the more remarkable because the photographer has Parkinson’s Disease.

David Plummer, who is 47 and lives in Small Dole, took all of these shots, many in the Masai Mara in Kenya, since his diagnosis at the age of 40 in 2009.

And they are about to appear in his new book 7 Years of Camera Shake, which features a selection of his best work since his diagnosis.

It will be published after it became the UK’s fastest crowd-funded book, achieving 100 per cent funding in three weeks. David is now in talks with publisher Random House.

“The book is not my story of Parkinson’s– it is about what you can do if you do have it,” said David, who has only recently revealed publicly that he suffers from the disease, a progressive disease of the nervous system.

A kingfisher catches it's dinner.

“I want my photographs to stand alone as world class shots, not to be thought of as pretty good shots for someone with Parkinson’s.”

He added: “The diagnosis was like an axe falling and everything becomes more difficult with Parkinson’s. People think it is just shakiness but that’s only part of it.

"You also have reduced dopamine, which affects adrenaline, so you have trouble moving and there’s also fatigue.

Kingfishers communicate

“As far as work is concerned, it is a real struggle – and most of the time I’m working. But since the diagnosis, I have been more galvanised. I don’t know how much time I have got left to function so I try to get everything done. I don’t have time to dwell on it. My photography is a passion, an obsession, and it’s a reason to get out of bed every day.”

Wildlife and photography are David’s “two great loves”.

A puffin in flight

He recalls studying woodlice at the age of two and he bought his first second-hand SLR camera at the age of eight. His first full-frame shot was of a blue tit at its nest.

Later, when he was working in London, he would take photographs in his spare time, capturing shots of kestrels from the top of tower blocks.

As David only photographs wildlife in its natural habitat, he has carried out extensive research on animals and birds and their environments, and is prepared to spend hours waiting to get the perfect shot.

An Otter makes a Killing

“Taking the perfect image is a great quest,” he said. “The buzz that I get when I achieve it is the culmination of a lot of hard work and problem-solving to get inside the fear circle of that animal: there is nothing serendipitous about the perfect wildlife photo. And everything in the image is important to me: the animal, the perch, the background, the lighting.”

He added: “Some of my favourite shots are the jaguar, which are very special as they take a long time to find because they are so elusive.

"Also the little grebe, because I had to take the shots with the camera on a floating hide and me in the water, and the cheetah making a kill – some of those are once-in-a-lifetime shots.”

A cheetah focussed for a kill

He said earning a living from wildlife photography is “very, very difficult” so he also teaches photography for the Sussex Wildlife Trust and the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust, runs international wildlife photography tours of India, the Galapagos, Kenya and Rwanda, and private tours to Brazil, the Masai Mara and Hungary.

Playtime

He also runs wildlife photography courses on his 11 acres of ancient woodland at Scrag Copse and at Knepp Castle Estate, both in West Sussex, advises on eco-tourism internationally and runs the BN5 owl project in Sussex as sits on the committee of Henfield Bird Watch.

David, who recently appeared on The One Show talking about his life as a wildlife photographer with Parkinson’s, is also using his own experience to work as a volunteer peer support mentor for Parkinson’s UK and has become a spokesperson for the charity.

A fox caught on camera at night

“I deal with people on the phone who are struggling with the psychological aspects of Parkinson’s,” he said.

“I’m very positive about it. Positivity is a choice – you can choose whether you are positive or negative about it. But I believe you can’t afford the luxury of being negative."

A pride of Lions copies up together

• For more information about David Plummer and his book 7 Years of Camera Shake, visit davidplummerimages.co.uk. To pledge to buy a copy of 7 Years of Camera Shake, visit unbound.co.uk. Fifty per cent of David’s profits will be donated to Parkinson’s UK.

The call of the wild

All photos by David Plummer

http://www.theargus.co.uk/NEWS/14509640.Parkinson__39_s_sufferer_talks_about_his_new_wildlife_photography_book/