January 2025 | Interview with Benedicta Justine, Ethical Wildlife Photographer

This was a challenging period in my life and photography gave me a quiet place where I could lose myself in nature and heal.

When I was five years old, my mother moved on her own to Bodega Pastures, a land-based community. She was the first single parent to join that community. I spent so much time outdoors playing in the woods, finding small creatures, watching the animals, and though I didn’t have a camera, this is where my love of nature began. My childhood was without television or electricity. My entertainment was what I could create with my imagination. That was a gift my mother gave me. My love of nature continued into adulthood. This is where I found peace. My curiosity for wildlife continued to grow, and when I finally got the opportunity to get my hands on a camera, I could share it with other people. Through this journey, I have become a more peaceful and healthy person today.

When I work with new photographers, I often say, Remember to stop and look at your subjects and enjoy what you’re seeing. If you get a picture, that’s a bonus. But if you don’t, you have the memory and joy of the encounter.

Most photographers, myself included, when they first start, want to get the picture. When you’ve experienced it for a number of years, it becomes more of a level of watching patterns and behaviors, and for me, it’s an act of meditation. This is one of the only times I can quiet my mind enough to be in the moment.

One of the benefits of Covid and the lockdown was getting to know the difference between who I thought I was and who I am. I realized that I’m an introvert who can hold conversations for a short time. People thought I was a social butterfly. In my early 50s, I realized that I tend toward ADHD which shows itself quite differently in women than men. For example, I do lots of multi-tasking and have been sometimes highly anxious with my workaholic habits. I’ve discovered the difference between being in survival mode and recognizing I’m safe now.

I inherited some of that survival mode from my mother who had an abusive, alcoholic father and was forced out of her home in her early teens. My mother left her hometown of Phoenix, Arizona, and for a time, was living on the streets of San Francisco. My dad, Rinaldo Albii, was a commercial fisherman whose wife had died and already had grown-up kids when he invited my mom to live with him in Bodega, northern California. When I was 14 months old, my mother met another man, Eli Bynum, while caring for a dear friend in San Francisco. Eli moved to Bodega with us, and he and my mom lived in another dwelling next door to my father. It worked well and everyone got along. Eli was a kind man who served in Vietnam and came back with a lot of PTSD. He worked various jobs such as at a wood mill and as a property helper in Cazadero. This allowed him to live in a tent for some years. I’d stay in Cazadero with him.

I moved to Trinity County when I was 17, and after some time, Eli reached out to me. We reconnected more deeply when I had my son, Cody, in 1994. By that time, Eli had fallen in love with photography. He got up at 5 am every day to shoot landscapes, festivals, and parades.

I married young and divorced young. I moved back to Bodega Pastures in 1997 and worked at the Bodega Pastures preschool for eight years.

In 2013, I got into photography. I asked Eli what he was going to do with his old camera. When I came back from work, the entire table was covered with manuals, lenses, and camera parts. He was so happy and excited as if he had a new puppy. He couldn’t show me enough!

This was a challenging period in my life and photography gave me a quiet place where I could lose myself in nature and heal. I was helping Eli with hospital visits. He got excited about the photos I was taking. After he passed, I used his camera for several years. I still carry his camera in my heart.

Eli liked really bright colors. At first, I mimicked him. Then, I found my own style of what I was seeing in Nature. It doesn’t matter what the books or other photographers say. You have to be happy with what you’re presenting. It has to be what makes me happy.

Every time I change cameras it pushes me to grow. Mirrorless cameras don’t have a shutter sound, which is great for shooting wildlife, and the shutter speed is a tenfold increase. You can take 1000’s of pictures. Not interrupting the animals is a game changer.

ItEvery day is an adventure. You never know what’s going to pop up in front of you. I try and get out early and stay out late. There are more arrivals just returning from their hunting early on. I don’t give locations for the safety of the animals. I’ve seen a lot of damage done because of location sharing.

The Otter and the Stingray

I was on Bodega Bay one super foggy morning. I wasn’t seeing a lot and I was feeling a little frustrated. I drove around the corner. There was a kingfisher. They’re very flighty. I got out of the car. I was trying to get out on the rocks. It was low tide. I was hiding on one side when I noticed in the middle of the bay was an otter. I scrambled down and hid behind a big boulder and was taking shots. The otter started tussling in the water, it had a huge stingray in its mouth and was heading towards me. I had my 1-500 lens. It walked right by me. It saw me and picked up its pace. It wanted to cross the highway. I’m guessing it had a brood across the way. I slowed the traffic down so it could cross.

Oftentimes, I choose not to take pictures of animals close to the road. I would not want to be the cause of an animal being hurt because I’m shooting!

Today, when people see you’re shooting, they stop to use their cell phones. They’re not usually looking at the whole area, the whole picture that can put wildlife at risk.

The Badger Family
 
On another occasion, I spotted a family of badgers in a field about 60 feet from the road. Photographers know my car and will stop to see what I’m seeing. I’d seen the mom come out. It was super-early, Then the babies came out. I sat in the passenger seat. Every time a car came, I’d lie flat so no one could see me. Then, I’d sit up again and start shooting. I was able to witness the mama badger move her family a few fields away to a safer zone not so close to the road.
 
The next day, I hiked out to the new field. The cows kept running up, thinking I was going to give them hay, and blew my cover!
 
Nocturnal animals, when they’re feeding babies, will come out at all hours. This is when I get to learn the most about them.
 
This morning, I drove out to the coast early in the morning, hoping to see if Bald eagles were in the area. There were. When people ask me for details, as an ethical wildlife photographer, I won’t share where I saw them.
 
There’s a well-known place where great horned owls and their chicks nest. Some people will sit there for an entire day, talking at top volume, saying it doesn’t affect the owls. There are often crowds of thirty people gathered there. I think short visits are less impactful on animals. I often share this analogy. If someone came to your kitchen uninvited and stayed for 8 to 10 hours talking loudly day after day, would it impact your life? 
 
I’ve seen an owlet fall out and have to be put back in the nest. The craziness of people with dogs etc.
 
When Covid happened, I had a lot of empathy for people who wanted to be outdoors. Many took up photography. Staying with one animal too long doesn’t make you a wildlife photographer but someone who wants to be known for taking pictures!

I’ve had to unlearn some things that I was taught. It’s only seeing the effects on the wildlife, and how I feel afterward, that guides me.

In 2020/21, I decided that I was no longer going to be in groups of more than three photographers, and preferably just on my own, so I can feel good about the choices I make. Now, I’ve been given the nickname, Solo by some other photographers.

I’m always trying to pass on what I’ve learned. I share my experiences of things I’ve messed up on. For example, there was an osprey nest that was widely known. I walked uphill. I heard a car door slam, and the mother almost knocked a chick out. Wow! It’s not just about me! I don’t want to be a person putting them at risk.

I get more observation opportunities when I’m on my own in contrast to four or five people waiting together for a bird to fly and talking loudly next to its nest or roost.

One time, I was around Bodega Bay. I’d just taken a picture of a bobcat. A person came up and asked, Have you seen a bobcat? No, I was taking a picture of a jackrabbit (which I had.) He responded I’m going to check out some owls. I asked, Do you mind if I tag along? When we get there, he pulls out a whole calling system to bring the owls out and adds, If anybody comes, tell me, because some people don’t like this. Being naïve, I invited him to my property to see owls. After asking around I found that while this is a known practice among some, it is not in the best interests of the owls, and the invitation was withdrawn.

It took me a while to figure out that all that calling wastes the owls’ energy for hunting! You don’t know until you know. Some of these people are charging others to go into the woods and see raptors and other birds.

The Bobcat and the Weasel

There’d been a bobcat cruising the pasture. I drove up the road, past a corral, and saw the bobcat inside. I got my camera out and hopped the fence. Where did it go? I’m looking around. Where did it go? There was a divot in the earth. All I could see were the tips of its ears. I thought, It’s taking a nap. I rested against the fence posts. Ten minutes later, I see a long-tailed weasel, its head popping up. I wonder if I can get a picture of both in the same frame? At that very moment. The bobcat leaps up and grabs the weasel. The weasel has latched on with its teeth to the bobcat’s chin. The bobcat, possibly a juvenile, is wondering, I don’t know what to do. The weasel is saying, There’s no way I’m letting go. Then the bobcat sees me. I’ve got to deal with her, too? The bobcat then paws the weasel into the ground and bites it.

Being conscious that we really do have an impact on the animals around us, I try and lead by example and not affect our kindred creatures in a negative way.

Who’s got whom?

Sonoma Land Trust has made a short video of my work called “Little Eyes,” at this link:
https://youtu.be/9H9rm1At3tk
 
My work is also on display at the Bodega Post Office, Bodega, CA

You can enjoy more of Benedicta’s photography at www.benedictajustine.com
And on Instagram: BenedictaJustine1971 and FaceBook: FB Benedicta Justine.

Here’s a link to the North American Nature Photography Association’s PRINCIPLES OF ETHICAL FIELD PRACTICES

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Dear friends,

I’m delighted to share with you that the film, Meeting Light/Encontrando La Luz is now on my Welcome Page in two versions; one with English subtitles, and one with Spanish subtitles.
The poem cones from my book, At This Table, which is also available as a free download.
I would be grateful if you could let other Spanish speakers and communities know about the film.

Thank you!

ANNOUNCEMENTS

The Radical Intimacy of Spiritual Ecology

2024 • LONDON, UK

This talk, given at St. Ethelburga’s Centre for Reconciliation and Peace in London, delves into the transformative practice of spiritual ecology. It emphasizes awakening a deep, primordial memory of the Earth as a sacred, living being—a radical act in a culture that has largely forgotten this sacred connection. Remembering our intimate relationship with the Earth is a vital spiritual responsibility of our time. By recognizing and embracing this truth in our hearts, we sustain a practice of love and care for the suffering Earth—a being we are, and have always been, inherently part of.