Capturing a wild career

Making a living as a wildlife photographer is not easy, but as Chen Liang discovers, a dedicated conservationist has found a way to combine his two passions - through much dedication and hard work.

How can one survive as a wildlife photographer in China?

Beijinger Xu Jian has tried to find an answer. He worked with Chinese National Geographic magazine for six years, and assisted one of the country's leading wildlife photographers part time for several years and full time in 2007, before becoming a freelance wildlife photographer in 2008.

Finally, in2009 he co-founded the country's first imaging biodiversity survey institute, Imaging Biodiversity Expedition Inc, together with four of his photographer friends.

Over the past five years, IBE has become a successful social enterprise that offers photographic biodiversity surveys to the country's nature reserves, forestry bureaus, scientific research and commercial institutes and NGOs.

From tropical jungles in Xishuangbanna in Yunnan province to no-man's land on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, photographers with IBE have launched 50 expeditions in 39 locations and taken more than 300,000 photos of 6,500 wild species.

"We can support four full-time wildlife photographers, including myself, and have a team of more than 30 expert (or cooperating) photographers," says Xu, director of IBE, at the IBE studio hidden in a residential building in northern Beijing.

According to the 36-year-old, his dream to be a wildlife photographer was born while he was attending Beijing Forestry University, where he studied between 1996 and 2000.He joined the university's mountaineering and environmental protection societies, and volunteered for several public campaigns to raise environmental awareness." I turned from being an outdoor enthusiast to conservationist in college," he says.

In 1997, he met Xi Zhinong, one of the country's leading wildlife photographers whose photos of Yunnan snub-nosed monkeys helped protect the endangered species' last habitat in northwestern Yunnan province, during a conservation-themed summer camp held for college students in the province.

Later, he realized that wildlife photography is a good way to combine his two passions." From Xi, I knew that photos could truly contribute to conservation," he says.

After graduation, he started working as a reporter and editor for the Beijing-based Geographic Knowledge magazine, which later changed its name to Chinese National Geographic. But he struggled to travel for more than a week and soon found that photographers' remunerations were so meager that it was impossible for them to make ends meet.

He joined Xi's Wild China Film Studio in 2007, and "learned a lot" from him. Even someone as successful as Xi, he found, couldn't make a living by selling wildlife photos in the country.

He became a freelance wildlife photographer in 2008, doing projects for various conservation NGOs." To be honest, I could support myself by working for NGOs," Xu says.

"But applying for a project, discussing it back and forth in e-mails, taking photos with limited time and funds, and writing reports afterwards is not what I expected from the job."

One day he read an article in National Geographic magazine about the Rapid Assessment Visual Expeditions (RAVE) survey taken by the International League of Conservation Photographers in Gabon. He was both impressed and inspired.

Then came the breakthrough in 2009.

Invited by a friend who was working with a research base of Peking University in the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, he joined a biodiversity survey at a nature reserve together with several other photographers.

"I took photos of amphibians, Guo Liang (who became another IBE co-founder) took photos of mammals and birds and another friend took photos of snakes, "Xu recalls." We had a lot of fun and became aware that we could do something by working together."

In the beginning, they called themselves RAVE, later changing it to IBE.

Later that year, Xu applied for a project to do photographic expeditions to Meili Snow Mountain National Park in northwestern Yunnan province during each of the four seasons, for international conservation NGO, The Nature Conservancy. He organized a group of wildlife photographers and recorded the park's fauna and flora. The results from the four expeditions led to the publication of A Field Guide to the Wildlife of Meili Snow Mountain National Park in 2011.

"More importantly, we figured out the development direction of IBE, "Xu says." It should be an enterprise, instead of a conservation NGO."

According to Xu, the funding for the Meili project was less than 100,000 yuan ($15,970). Every participant received 100 yuan per day as field-trip allowance. But they had to rent horses to transport their equipment in the park at 160 yuan per horse per day." We joked we were cheaper than horses," Xu says. "In those days many of us had other jobs to make a living. Wildlife photography was often a passion instead of a profession. But we knew, to support our passion, we needed IBE to be sustainable."

As a result, they registered IBE as a company in Beijing. Xu and Guo Liang were the only two full-time workers. The company managed to break even in 2010.

As the IBE photographs were seen by more people in books, magazines and exhibitions, their business started to boom.

"During our work, we found that even the best nature reserves in China are short of images to demonstrate their rich fauna and flora and to show case their achievements in conservation to the public, "Xu says. "We have huge space to grow."

He says that his team has been trying to standardize their working process over the past two years. "We usually send a team of five to seven photographers, often specializing in different fields, such as mammals, birds, plants and insects, to launch an expedition. After a survey, we will give a copy of all images from the trip and a comprehensive report to our employer."

He is also proud of IBE's contribution to science and conservation. Every year the IBE photographers, many of whom are researchers in different fields of life science, record between 10 and 20 news pecies or new records for China from their expeditions. "Ourphotos, all with GPS information, will help scientists and reserve managers research and protect certain species and their habitat," he says.

Through exhibitions and publications, their photos help more Chinese get a glimpse of the country's rich natural heritage. "Few Chinese know that our biodiversity is one of the richest in the northern hemisphere," Xu says. "You must know about it before caring for it."

The success of IBE has brought the institute and Xu Jian various awards, including a top prize at 2013 Ford China Environmental Award. The prize was200,000yuan. Part of the money was used to fund the latest IBE expedition to Dulong River Valleys in northwestern Yunnan, Xusays.

Contact the writer at chenliang@chinadaily.com.cn

Xu Jian lies prostrate to photograph flowering water buttercups during a survey in Qinghai province by Imaging Biodiversity Expedition Inc. Dong Lei / For China Daily