ONBOARD Magazine summer 2019

As for the mechanics of her art, Jody says the cameras are
largely the same, irrespective of whether she is ankle-deep in
desert sand, swimming in a tropical ocean, or paragliding at up
to 50mph with a $10,000 camera in hand.
“Obviously the big thing that changes in the water is the housing
of the camera,” she continues. “I always want the best one I
can get and don’t want to hold back to suit the environment.
Obviously a high frame rate is essential, and it must be compact
- if you are swimming with a really big, housed camera body, your
manoeuvrability is really going to be compromised.
“Technology continues to help this process along – with every
passing year the cameras are getting smaller and the frame-rate
is increasing. In the past, the cameras with the best quality were
also usually quite bulky and that was always a big challenge.”
While Rajan passed away in 2016, the value of Jody’s craft remains
in visual images will last forever. “The thing with photography
is that it has no shelf date, and there are very few things like
that in the world. It is fixed in time and preserved so that people
hundreds of years in get a glimpse of what life was like for us,
and that feels very special.
Elephants also form the basis of one of Jody’s main conservation
projects at the moment. “The Asian Elephant is running out of
space and they are having a lot of problems, particularly in Northern
India. You wouldn’t think population increase in elephants would
be a problem, but combined with loss of habitat it is, and there
is proving to be a direct conflict between the elephants and the
humans. I have also paired up with Sea Legacy and I am working
on some projects with them regarding ocean conservation. It’s
good to be busy!”
PHOTOGRAPHERS ARE ALWAYS GREAT AT BEING IN THE FIELD AND TAKING PHOTOS,
BUT THE BUSINESS SIDE SEEMS MUCH MORE OF A CHALLENGE. WE’RE NOT REALLY
TRAINED IN THAT AREA AND BEING IN THE OFFICE IS A COMPLETE JUXTAPOSITION
Jody, who part-owns a 60-foot catamaran called The Cabrinha
Quest, typically uses the latest Canon Mark III, a 50 Megapixel
Canon 5DSR for slower photography when not taking action shots,
and also has a variety of Leica cameras. In the water, she uses
Aquatech Imaging Solutions as housing for the Canon bodies.
One of her most iconic shots to date is that of an elephant
swimming in the sea. Rajan was thought to be the last of a group
of 10 of the animals who were brutally forced to learn how to
swim in the Andaman Sea, the stretch of water that separates
the Indian Ocean from the Bay of Bengal. His task was to bring
logged trees to nearby boats, but when logging was banned in
2002, Rajan was out of a job.
“I initially found out the story of the elephant by watching the
2006 movie The Fall. They had him swimming in this tropical blue
water in the film - I saw it and thought, ‘Okay, that can’t be
real’. I had been sailing around the world and there was nowhere
that this was happening. I thought that they had just created
a set for the movie.
“So I started doing some research and found out where they
filmed it, and that the elephant really did exist, so I went there
and found them!
“I would say, of the many hundreds I have done, that is the project
I have enjoyed the most. It was such a beautiful thing to see
the relationship that the elephant had with his owner - they had
been together for over 30 years and watching the bond between
them was incredibly special.
“I spent two weeks with them, just following them around,
documenting them and getting to know them a little bit. It was
like mother and child, and pretty incredible to watch. There is
nowhere else in the world where you will see that or experience
that, so that was incredibly surreal.”
Work commitments aside, Jody, much like Rajan in his final
years, is truly a free spirit. Ambitious in going after commercial
projects, you do sense she will never let business interrupt what
is a pure interest in the outdoors and art.
à
“Photographers are always great at being in the field and taking
photos, but the business side seems much more of a challenge
for us,” she admits. “We’re not really trained in that area and
being in the office is a complete juxtaposition, so it does become
a challenge to balance the two. Even social media is a full-time
job in itself, and obviously when you have more followers you also
come under a lot more scrutiny and criticism. Everything has to
be perfect, right down to use of grammar, it seems,” she laughs.
“Really, it is a combination of everything, but most of the time
I think I am getting that blend right.”
So has she ever taken ‘the perfect photo’? “Well, firstly, when
you want a particular shot, you will pretty much do anything to
get it, but I don’t really know if I necessarily believe there is any
such thing as the perfect shot,” Jody admits. “Really, it is all
so subjective. I definitely believe you can get lucky, but on the
whole great photographs require time… understanding light,
subjects, and time of day, particularly. For instance, I lived in
Morocco for a year and there were certain photographs I tried
to take. The perfect shot was all about light and the subject
coming into play, and I think I went back to the same place for
about a week to try to get it.
à
Whilst a huge advocate for the encouraging others to consider
the merits of photography, Jody implores people to go about
their craft in the right way.
“I think today we are trying to conform and take pictures that
we are seeing on Instagram… the ones everybody else is taking.
My advice, if you want to stand out, is to do the opposite of
that… oh and get some waterproofing housing for your camera!”
ONBOARD | SUMMER 2019 | 49