Wildlife in South/Central America Photos and Interview with Jason Rothmeyer
We were lucky enough to ask one of our favorite photographers Jason Rothmeyer a few questions and share some of his wildlife photographs from Central/South America. Jason is a world traveller, wildlife photographer, reptile enthusiast and a former pro skateboarder. Here is a video Jason released not long ago and he is still on top of his skateboarding game. Follow along with Jason on Instagram @rothdigga
You are on the road all the time, for quick trips do you bring a full camera set up? If it’s a short trip to somewhere that I have NO CHANCE of doing a side mission then I’m not bringing any setup, just a cell phone with a lens (olloclip) for skate footage and that’s it. I have a small Dakine bag that I can fit a good amount of stuff in so that’s my usual go-to for a decent setup on a small trip that I’m going to shoot. I can bring my flash, 10-22mm wide, 100-400mm zoom, 24-105mm and body plus probably my 100mm macro depending on what I may find.
Are you able to plan little detours to check things out when you are doing an event or work project? Usually yes. But I went to Brazil and Australia this year and didn’t get to do a side mission on either trip and that’s a rarity for me so I’ve been blowing it. That was just due to a very packed schedule of back to back trips. There was a stretch where I did 5 years in a row of South Africa contests and did a side mission each year…
Where is your favorite place to look for snakes? You can lie if you don’t want to give up a secret location, right? Locally it’s Arizona during the monsoon season. Anytime from late June-Sept is absolute reptile heaven out there. It rains nearly every day and all the animals are moving out there. Reptiles, amphibians, mammals and everything in between. Internationally I would have to give the nod to Peru…just pure insanity when you consider the amount of snakes and stuff to find there.
What is your ideal camera set up for a strictly photography trip? My setup is as follows- Canon 5D MK III body, 100mm macro, 100-400mm zoom, 10-22mm super wide angle, 24-105mm general and I’ve got the 580ex II flash. I have a 1.4x extender as well for that big zoom lens, but I never use it as the quality drops a bit and if I need it closer I’ll just crop in editing. Not a crazy setup but I know how to use it so it works. I’ll trek my big tripod around, always on a car trip and most of the time on an international trip as well. I need to get a lighter tripod setup though as I tend to overpack when hiking and sometimes that stuff gets heavy.
When your focus is on photography how are you planning ahead for your destinations? I would assume with wildlife and nature photography you need to have some idea of where you might be going. I study like crazy… part of the fun for me is figuring out where I’m going, constantly scanning google maps for side roads or rock formations that might yield something I’m looking for (canyons, etc). Plus asking for advice from others who have been there helps. The Instagram snake and wildlife community is usually very helpful and I’m pretty good friends with folks on there. If it’s a big trip, I’ll buy whatever field guide there is (they’re usually as big as a dictionary) and study up on ranges of animals before I go. Then when I get back, I can use that book to ID any animal I shot that I don’t know about. But there are specific books for each thing- IE Reptiles and Amphibians book, then a separate bird book, so I’ll usually just get those 2 things.
Shooting in an unknown place in Central or South America are you more careful with snakes or wildlife that you haven’t been around before. Do they react similar? Are you able to tell if a snake you found is venomous? Most of the time I do know what I find but I play it VERY SAFE for the most part. Typically any viper is easy to ID…those are simple. In South America it’s the odd coral snakes and things you have to watch out for. In South Africa there are snakes that look just like a benign snake in the US that are pure death. I had a vine snake in South Africa in my cabin while I was there with my wife and had to move it outside so I could shoot some photos of it (of utmost importance…ha). That is a snake with no anti-venom so if you get bit, you bleed out of your eyes, ears and organs until you die…but it looks like nothing sketchy when you see it. Same as Australia, I found some random little snake while out road cruising and just scooped it into my hat off the road so I could shoot it and sent the image to someone who was giving me advice on spots. He said “Nice find, that’s a small rough scaled snake. Don’t get bit, you’ll be dead in 30 min”…so since then I’ve REALLY been careful.
When did you begin seeking out snakes and reptiles? I’ve always been interested in wildlife since I was a little kid. My brother and I used to catch snakes all day long when visiting our dad up in Oregon and Washington. I picked up photography when I was pro at skateboarding but never really had any interest in shooting skating. I started shooting wildlife photos while visiting my dad in Alaska and got hooked. Sometime in the 90’s I started getting into bird photography and concentrated on that until I saw some really nice photos of snakes online and just didn’t understand how the person who shot them was able to find a snake so easily. So I did the research, met up with some people who showed me the ropes and I was off. That was probably around 2006-2007 or so and I’ve been pretty hooked ever since.
I’m always looking at the photos you take and just think what if that snake tries to bite. I know you’re experienced but have you had any close calls over the years? In reality it’s not as dangerous as it looks. We have the tendency to think every single snake is going to try to kill us but 99% of the time it’s just trying to get away or doing it’s best to not be seen, and there are plenty of indicators that a snake is about to strike. The only dangerous snakes around SoCal/AZ/NV are rattlesnakes and the general rule is that they can only strike 1/3 to a 1/2 of their body length. Even with that I will shoot a macro shot of a snakes eyeball at very close range and still not have any issues. Plus, the camera for the most part will take the strike if it happens, but I try not to ever get them riled up because I don’t want the snake to injure itself.
If someone is really into snakes and wants to begin looking what would your first suggestion be? Almost anywhere here in the US there are snakes to find. Most of the time it’s just a matter of going out and looking. You just need to know a few things to boost your success- what’s the right time of year to find them? What’s the right time of day? What’s the right area? Looking at range maps of snakes helps identify the area to narrow that down, obviously wintertime when it’s cold isn’t the best time but neither is noon during summer when it’s 100+ outside. But generally speaking you just have to go out and look. If I’m ever contemplating whether I should go out or not I always think “well, I’m not going to find anything here just sitting on the couch” and that usually gets me out of the house to go find stuff.
Are there any holy grail animals you are hoping to find in your travels someday? Animals in general, I have a few. I really want to go shoot photos of wild polar bears. So a trip to either Greenland or Svalbard is definitely in my future. So is an Antarctica trip for penguin colonies, leopard seals and just the landscape in general…both of those are pricey trips so they’ll have to be special occasions. Another one is the jaguar, but I may very well be able to check that off the list as I have a 10 day photo trip coming up this Thanksgiving to the Pantanal in Brazil. It’s a snake/wildlife trip but that zone is basically the number one concentration for wild jaguars. There are so many others- an area of Western Australia called the Pillbarra has some absolutely insane looking snakes and I’ve wanted to go there. There are some cloud forest snakes I have yet to find in Central America that I need to shoot as well…so many!
