Interview With David Lloyd: How He Markets Photo Safaris And Fine Art Wildlife Photography
This is the third of a new photographer interview series. I hope you enjoy it!
Click this link or on the video preview below, to watch or read the full transcript of a recent chat I had with David Lloyd – a renowned professional wildlife photographer and photo safari host.
Introducing David Lloyd
David is London-based, originally from New Zealand, and has been awarded six times in the coveted Wildlife Photographer of the Year Awards, as well as in many other global wildlife photography awards.
He was a pioneer of black-and-white wildlife photography and is known for his unedited images. He does not digitally embellish the wildlife portraits he captures, preferring to keep them as natural as possible. He’s also a published author.
Throughout this article, you can also see examples of his work. Visit his website for more.
Insights into his successful wildlife photography business
In the interview, David (pictured below) discusses his journey in photography and the evolution of his career, which includes leading safari tours and providing photography tuition – something he has done for the past 11 years.
He also reflects on the competitive nature of photography competitions and the satisfaction of having had his work shortlisted from tens of thousands of entries and showcased in Wildlife Photographer of the Year books and exhibitions, and the marketing boost this provides.
How he markets his wildlife photos and safari tours
David spoke about how he built his online audience on social media, and how he continues to grow his audience and engage his followers.
He shares that he is most active on Instagram and uses email marketing. More recently, he has benefitted from the creation of blog articles and search engine optimisation work, which I have supported him with.
Creativity and essential wildlife photography skills
During the conversation, David also reflected on the impact of COVID-19 on his work and shared how, despite the uncertainty of that time, the travel restrictions provided him with enjoyable opportunities to photograph local wildlife and flora and fauna.
He also emphasised the importance of patience in wildlife photography, advocating for a respectful approach to observing animals rather than chasing them.
Wildlife photography tuition
Looking ahead, David discussed his plans for offering new safari destinations in 2025 and beyond, noting the importance of evolving his offer to continue to attract repeat safari clients and in response to how these locations change over time. He will be leading wildlife photography tours to Amboseli in Africa and others.
He also mentions his special limited edition photography book set which is now available and a perfect gift for nature lovers.
Listen to the interview and subscribe for more
Catch the interview with David Lloyd here on my YouTube channel or click on the video below.
If you enjoy this, please like, comment and share on the video, and subscribe as there will be more photographer interviews, and interviews with photography industry experts, coming soon!
Huge thanks again to David for his openness during the interview and for taking the time to chat with me!
LINKS & FURTHER INFORMATION
David’s Online Store: Fine Art Prints
David’s Wildlife Photography Books
Video Transcript
Zoe: Today, I’m excited to be speaking with renowned professional wildlife photographer, David Lloyd.
David is London based, originally from New Zealand, and he specialises in fine art wildlife photography. He’s been awarded in many global wildlife photography awards.
David was a pioneer of black and white wildlife photography and is known for his unedited images. He does not digitally embellish the wildlife portraits. He captures preferring to keep them as natural as possible. He’s amassed a large audience on social media, around 200, 000 on Instagram and double that on Facebook.
As well as this, David is a published author of two wildlife photography books, and he is an experienced wildlife safari tour guide. He travels much of the year and hosts photography safaris to Kenya, Uganda and India, among others. So David, welcome and thank you for being here today.
David Lloyd: Thank you.
Zoe: So, David, you’ve had an incredible career so far. Can you take us right back to the beginning? When did the venture into wildlife photography begin?
David Lloyd: I guess there’s two beginnings, is that when the one when I started this full time, which was about 13 years ago now, I think, I was working in an advertising agency in London prior to that.
I’ve always taken pictures. I’ve had a camera since I was five years old. I’ve always remembered that. And I’ve had an interest in art, and I’ve always been interested in nature and wildlife. And they came together.
My father was a camera club man and for many, many years, and that’s where he went on his Monday nights. So he taught me a lot of things, but I was very young, but he taught me the basics, which I think is more important than you realize when you learn the basic stuff really young.
And I’ve always kept it up. I like taking photos of anything, but I also like wildlife and nature. It just seemed inevitable the coming together at some point.
Zoe: Yeah, it does sound like it’s the perfect marriage of all of your interests then if it’s the nature, the photography…
David Lloyd: Yeah, I was on a safari just for myself, you know, somebody else’s wildlife photo safari. And then I met the owner of the camp and we didn’t know who each other was.
We started talking and he said, can you bring some people down? I never thought there was a thing I would do at that point. Then I had another approach from somebody else at the same time asking me the same thing.
I have quite a substantial hearing loss, so I didn’t think this would be a thing for me in terms of having guests, but it’s proved that it doesn’t matter too much. We find a way.
Zoe: Indeed, and you host so many safaris throughout the year now and you’re going to new destinations in the coming months and years, and you’ve been going back to the Masai Mara in Kenya, as in the countries I mentioned at the beginning, Uganda, India for many years.
David Lloyd: Yes, we’re just going to shake things up a little bit, and add a few new destinations and tweak the ones we’ve got just to keep it palatable, hopefully for most people.
Zoe: Yeah, exciting. But you presumably love returning because every single experience is completely different to the previous ones you’ve had at these places.
David Lloyd: I’ve never woken up not wanting to do it. And I think I’ve probably done about, oh, I don’t know, it’s more than a thousand days in the Maasai Mara. So I’ve never woken up not wanting to do it because there’s something new every day or potentially something new every day. There is certainly something new every week that you don’t expect. So it’s anticipation as well.
And even if it doesn’t happen, on a very quiet day, I’d rather be there than in the office in London!
Zoe: Yeah, absolutely. And what actually is your favourite animal to try and photograph? Or do you have several?
David Lloyd: That’s probably the most oft-asked question I get!
Zoe: Is it?! Sorry for not being original!
David Lloyd: Yeah it’s, well, it’s just a natural question isn’t it? It’s hard to find a favourite. It depends on where I am that day. It’s malleable, it changes. I’ve always said if I was to photograph something tomorrow it would be a bull elephant. But there is no firm favourite, but I know I could spend all day with elephants, that’s for sure, and never get tired of them.
Zoe: Yeah. Wow, a thousand days in the Mara, that’s, that’s incredible. I’ve spent, myself, I’ve spent about three, and they were probably three of the best days of my life, so, wow, I can’t imagine…you must have so many highlights and amazing memories. You’ve been doing this for so many years. How many years is it?
David Lloyd: Well, I first visited in 2007, then in 2009, and in 2010, and I’ve been running trips there since every year. So it’s become a kind of a second home in many ways.
Zoe: Yeah. And so let’s talk about the marketing of those. So obviously the wildlife photography you sell is in the form of prints, fine art prints that people can buy from your website. You also exhibit your work as well. And you also have fine art photography books.
So the safaris is another outlet for you, but who are those people who come on those safaris and how do you market them?
David Lloyd: Well, there were actually very few people like me advertising guided photo safaris. Back then, I didn’t do anything more than at the time than Facebook and I had a little bit of a following before my first trip.
I just reached out to people that I knew. I didn’t do much more than that. And I put it up on my Facebook page and I got people coming that way. And I suppose I was lucky that there weren’t hundreds of other people I was competing with. There were probably only about four or five others back then, and it just grew from there. It grew quite exponentially actually, to where we were doing 14 or 15 weeks a year.
Zoe: Wow. That’s a lot!
David Lloyd: I just posted on Facebook. There was no Instagram at that time.
Zoe: Yeah, the pre-Instagram days, but you’ve got a huge audience on Facebook, haven’t you, as I mentioned at the beginning, like 400, 000. So, I mean, you obviously must have invested in building an audience, growing that audience from the early days to amass that amount of people.
David Lloyd: It grew organically.
Zoe: Yeah, absolutely. That’s what I mean. So you must have put in the time over the years to, to grow that.
David Lloyd: There was a time, maybe five years ago or something like that, where the algorithm was completely different. And I was gaining a thousand followers a day at one point. It was two thousand a day or two thousand a week or something like that. I mean now, now if you don’t do anything you just, you drop off.
Zoe: Yeah, that’s unheard of now!
David Lloyd: I think that was just before the start of monetizing it a lot. So that was a good thing. And of course, sometimes when you do advertise on Facebook, you do a paid campaign, you get them that way too. They can work that way as well. But, I haven’t done that for a while now. I should pull my finger out a bit and do that. Because it’s getting more competitive.
And I think, and I’ll admit it, the trap is Instagram because it’s just easy. I don’t know if it’s quite as effective. There was a time when you gained followers quickly, but now that’s changed. But it’s still steady.
I think everyone who uses Instagram for marketing knows it’s not the same anymore. And that you need to market elsewhere, which is a good thing because you don’t want to put all your eggs in one basket and have it pulled out from under you.
Zoe: That is a risky strategy, isn’t it? Relying on a channel such as Instagram, because it’s always worked and then all of a sudden it kind of dries up and then you’re stuck. Aren’t you? So it certainly helps to have eggs in other baskets.
And that’s probably a good chance for us to be clear that we’re currently working together and have been for some time now. We’ve been working on your website. So, that is a showcase of your work where people can physically see your images, but also buy them from your online store.
Is your website at the heart of your marketing, and what part does blogging and the work that we’ve been doing together on SEO and optimising your content play?
David Lloyd: Well, yeah, I’ve always said that your website is your home, your gallery. As far as the internet goes, it’s the best place to show your work. But with the advent of Facebook and Instagram, for a lot of people, and maybe myself even, that took a back seat, which is unfortunate, because, you know, pictures are meant to be viewed big, and you can have a voice there.
So I’ve always had my website. And what happens with the website is you write what you want, you do what you like with it, and it does okay. And then you need someone to come along and tell you, this is how you need to write. This is how you need to write. Otherwise, the search engines is not going to pick you up as quickly.
So I’ve had to yield to that. You know, I have to yield to that and have it written in such a way that might not be 100 per cent natural for my voice, but it works. I can see the results. It took a little bit of beating, but I got beaten on that one.
Zoe: You’re talking there about the optimising of your content, the words and phrases using keywords, there, aren’t you? And yes, that is, that is a key part of the work we’ve been doing together.
I hope you don’t mind me saying, but when we first started working together, you’d got the images doing the selling to a large extent anyway, but the copy was written in such a way that you were missing out on opportunities to potentially rank on Google. So that’s what we’re trying to fix, isn’t it?
And as you say, it might not necessarily be the way you speak or write yourself, but if we can drop in keywords into your content, into your copy, that is helping Google have an understanding of what your site is about.
David Lloyd: Yeah. Well, the people who likes of yourself. know this stuff a lot more than I do. So why shouldn’t I listen?
Zoe: Well, hats off to you for taking advice.
David Lloyd: Yeah, it’s more pros and cons. That’s for sure. I’m pleased with that.
Zoe: Well, that’s kind of you to say, thank you. Well, and in addition to that, email marketing has been more recently something that you’ve been doing, but again, have you been building that list over time?
Cause it’s quite sizable. And presumably feeds off your Instagram following and your Facebook following as well, and your client list from previous safaris, for example.
David Lloyd: Yeah, it’s an old list because I used to have a newsletter some years back and then I don’t think I’m alone, but I get all, right, I’m going to do a newsletter now and after three editions, it fades away. Now, I’m trying to be more regular with it, with your help.
But yeah, it’s an old list. There is quite a number on there including those who have booked with me, bought something from me, and those who travel with me still – it keeps them updated and informed.
I think that’s a good thing for them, especially now I’m looking at these new destinations. Because the reality is as great as the Maasai Mara is, these people want to go somewhere else now because I’ve been many, many times. Yeah, so, I’m happy to say that they’re quite happy to keep travelling with me to new places and in the email newsletter I share those opportunities.
Zoe: So that’s interesting. So you’re referring there to clients repeatedly coming back to you on safari. They’ve, you know, had a fabulous experience presumably, and then want to continue that. So you’ve got a very loyal client base there that repeat clients and come to new destinations. So that’s a fantastic thing.
David Lloyd: Well, it’s a two-edged sword a bit. I’ve had 50%, sometimes it was more than that, coming on annual trips and, at the same time, I wanted new people, because I knew new people would also become repeat clients. But, I had a good base then, you know. I think COVID affected everybody and that sort of threw everybody off a little bit. So it took a hit then.
Zoe: I’m sure it did.
David Lloyd: I think now. But this gives me a chance to do other things and I’m still here. That’s the main thing.
Zoe: Yeah. And that’s interesting. So I’d love to talk a bit more about who your ideal client actually is for the safaris and indeed the prints and the books.
I mean, are they actually the same people typically? And are they individuals or are they corporate entities buying artwork for their office premises and things like that? Or is it both? So who is that client first of all?
David Lloyd: Well, you’re right, you’ve got the travellers, you’ve got the people who buy prints and there is very little crossover.
I used to theorise that there’s little crossover because the people that come on my trips want their own photos. And they’re not going to have somebody else’s photo on their wall. I don’t know if that’s correct or not. There’s been some crossover, but it’s not as if 50 percent of the people on my trip will buy my prints.
They’ll buy my book. They’re happy to buy my book. That’s a little different. I suppose if I was a photographer going on somebody else’s trip, I want my own picture on the wall, if I’m honest, you know, I think that’s part of the idea, but a lot of people that buy my prints they don’t come on my trips.
Zoe: They just appreciate the image and enjoy it in whatever setting. And they’re usually private clients buying it for their homes, would you say? Or are they for other places?
David Lloyd: I often don’t really know exactly what it’s for, but I presume most of it’s for their home. And usually it’s something that they’ve had their eye on for a little while. Yes, sometimes it goes into their offices. I haven’t had very many corporate ones though, so to speak.
Zoe: Perhaps an untapped market for you!
David Lloyd: …Although I’ve had approaches from magazines. Magazines are a thing.
Zoe: Yes, of course. And in fact, that would be a lovely thing to move on to actually. So having your work featured, and of course those, wildlife photographer of the year awards plus all those others. I mean, you must’ve had a lot of press and been featured widely. So can you talk to us about that?
David Lloyd: I have been awarded six times in the Wildlife Photographer of the Year Awards, which is six times more than what I ever dreamed. If I think back several years ago now, to get the first one, that was probably the best one I did in 2011. To have six now is something I didn’t expect.
Zoe: Yeah. One is a huge deal. Isn’t it? It’s the ultimate awards. Is it not?
David Lloyd: The first one was, I was, I found my picture on the front of the portfolio book, I think it’s there.
Zoe: Yes. It’s there behind you.
David Lloyd: I think that was the first one. I don’t enter very many competitions, but I will enter the Wildlife Photographer of the Year especially. If you have any success there though, you need to be in the top hundred to be published.
The marketing they do is just incredible. It’s really, really good. And I’ve heard people say, “Well, I don’t bother. What’s the point?” But it is a lot about the marketing.
Zoe: Let’s give the listeners some idea of how many people are actually entering. How many entered last year, would you say?
David Lloyd: Well, there were 50,000 entries. They’ve been trying to…
Zoe: Wow.
David Lloyd: …break 50,000 for years. I think they’ve been like 48,001 one year. 47,000 another year. It’s about 50,000 a year, and then they take those and they take them down to, I don’t know, 10,000 and try to find the last hundred from that.
The last a hundred winds up in the book and exhibition. The traveling exhibition. They’re the ones who benefit from the marketing,
Zoe: So to be in the top 100 out of that 50, 000 entries is incredible! And I’m right to say that last year you had two in the top 100, didn’t you, in the exhibition? Which I thoroughly enjoyed seeing actually, because the exhibition tours, doesn’t it around the country and indeed around the world. So I saw that when it came locally to me here in Dorset and it was great to see your work there, wow!
David Lloyd: That is good. Everybody’s a bit competitive. They like to have a measure on how well they do. And I think that’s, that’s another reason to have competitions as well.
Yeah, it gives you some bragging rights, I guess, as well. It is satisfying, but it’s not easy, because if it was easy, I’d like to think that I’d get something every year or two. But for me, it seems to be one every three years, something comes through.
So it keeps you on your toes, let’s put it that way. It’s not like something you’ve planted. So it does, it is always going to be special when something happens. Yeah.
Zoe: Yeah. Okay. And one thing you touched on and slightly earlier was about COVID and the impact of that clearly as a safari tour guide, all of the travel stopped at that point.
And then you mentioned that you had some more time to work on other things. So can you tell us about that? What were you working on behind the scenes and what typically are you working on behind the scenes day to day when you aren’t traveling?
David Lloyd: Sometimes I do nothing!
Zoe: Well, you’re allowed to do that!
David Lloyd: Well, there’s always something to do. I guess I’m always working on my pictures, edit my pictures a little bit. During the COVID time we couldn’t travel and the worst part for me was the uncertainty behind it. So you couldn’t plan very well for two years almost.
You can plan something and then you cancel it and you plan something and you cancel it. And it was kind of defeating. I did get away every year to somewhere, but everything was a shadow of what it was.
Zoe: Hmm.
David Lloyd: So it was very frustrating. Luckily, I had built up what I was doing well enough before that to remain secure. I was always going to come back, I suppose.
But we couldn’t travel very far, maybe half an hour in the car. For me, 20 minutes away is Richmond Park, which is a huge…I think it’s the largest inner-city park in the world. Yeah. If you’re in the middle of the park, there’s no sign of anything man-made. It’s just a deer park. And especially during COVID when no planes were flying, it was silent. It was quiet. It was just wonderful.
So I like taking photos of anything. I always take pictures of all the ancient oaks there. During Covid, I went to find out all the ancient oaks that have been there since Henry VIII was on the throne. So I made a point of looking for those.
I also tried different techniques and I started to take an interest in video as well as other things. So I was just building up a collection and it keeps your sanity as well. That’s what I was doing in those times.
In other times here, there’s always something to do. I mean, I’m moving my storage unit this week for one thing to somewhere else. I got to print some more pictures off. I’m always finding out about new things, like new techniques…
Zoe: …always learning, yeah.
David Lloyd: Oh, I can’t help myself! Even when I’m out in the vehicle, I mean, I think half the pictures I take or more, because I’m trying something new to see what would happen, rather than the same picture that I’ve been taking for the last 10 years, you know, which is easier to fall into.
So I’m curious that way. So it’s nice to try new things. And sometimes something comes off, and it works.
Zoe: Yeah. So constantly experimenting, which I presume would then be a big tip to share with anyone listening, in that that’s the key in a way. Like, to keep pushing yourself creatively, and keep trying new things?
David Lloyd: Yeah, we might be in a safari vehicle and we’re all looking at something – I’m going to make up an example – say, we’re looking at a sleeping lion. It’s not something that you immediately would grab your camera for. I often think, “Well, what if I tried this? Or if I did this? What if I just got a longer focal length? Or a shorter focal length or change my angle or use high key, low key, black and white colour?”.
There’s always something to do. A lot of the time it doesn’t work, but when it does work, it’s kind of satisfying. So, then you can pack that idea away for a while until the next time when something does happen and you can try that again.
Once, we were a bit tired of waiting for I think it was a leopard to appear from a gully somewhere and it never did. And there was a Topi, an antelope, on the horizon and it was a nothing picture because there was nothing else in the picture there.
And the other side, If I looked over the other side, it was a wonderful sky. So we just tried to do double exposures and see what would happen. So one exposure sky, then the next picture was, and it came out quite good. So there’s a little technique, even if a picture didn’t come out of it, a technique came out of it that we could employ for another time.
Zoe: Actually, we haven’t really mentioned the fact that on these Safari tours, you’re not just being a guide, you’re actually providing photography tuition, aren’t you as well? So that’s a really interesting example of the kind of things that you might typically do.
David Lloyd: It’s not a formal thing, I don’t think. I don’t really enjoy things that are too formal. It’s not like it’s a classroom and you must take notes or anything. It’s just being somebody who has done something more than you have done. Of course, I’m quite keen to speak about my thought process when it all happens and all that kind of thing.
Zoe: And I’m sure they want to hear that because of course they want to learn from you, don’t they?
David Lloyd: They do, yeah. The funny thing is everyone’s different and you don’t know everybody after the first day you meet them and some people just want to be left alone to take the pictures. And other people just keep asking questions all the time, which is good, but the people who don’t ask questions, I’m thinking, are you okay?
But they are okay. And they’re listening without necessarily responding. So what I will say is that when I started this, I learned a lot about animals, obviously. I know more about birds there than I’ve heard here in England now. And I know a lot about people than I used to. So my person management then was…good, but could have been a lot better.
Zoe: Okay.
David Lloyd: I’ve learned a lot now about people, which has been a really good thing for me. And I’ve learned a lot about myself as well, and how you deal with the world and everything else. So it’s not just about taking pictures, it’s not just about animals. It’s been about everything.
Zoe: And actually, what would you say makes, you know, the kind of essential skills of a wildlife photographer? Patience being one of them, presumably. What else?
David Lloyd: I think the best pictures come out of something that you’ve waited for. And I’ll be honest, it’s getting a little tiresome when I see pictures that people have chased if I see them on social media, you know, when they’re chased.
I’ve seen people chasing animals and big cats around the Masai Mara trying to get a picture of them. They drive and get in their way to get a picture of them and you can tell by the expression on the animal’s face is not enjoying it. I don’t think it’s very kind to the animals put it that way.
So I’ve always had the idea that we wait, then we just follow and wait for what will happen, rather than chasing the animal around.
And the patience thing I think is easy. I can be impatient for some things. But I can be very patient for other things and that’s being out waiting for something. It’s not an issue for me. You expect to wait all day and come away with nothing sometimes.
And also while you’re waiting, you’re observing and you’re enjoying your presence with something as well. So I don’t take it for granted.
There was one time when I couldn’t see anything, my guests could all see something, there were some trees in the way, and there was something that would normally interest me, a Leopard was eating something, something like that, and I couldn’t see. But if I had moved, so I could see, my people who paid for the trip wouldn’t have been able to see, so I stayed where I was.
When I started, I can remember being slightly irked if I didn’t get a picture. I’ve had the opportunity now. I’ve probably got those pictures now. One guy came up to me at some point and he showed me a picture on the back of his camera and I had never seen anyone so happy! He was just absolutely delighted and it doesn’t matter about anything else. That’s what matters to me.
Zoe: Yeah. Cause when you’re hosting people, the focus is on them and providing them with the best experience.
David Lloyd: You know, if you’re starting out doing safaris, leading people, then yeah, you’re going to be able to get the photos you want, which is still part of it. But there comes a time when that becomes not an important thing anymore. It’s about how happy they are.
The one really, really good thing about these safaris is that I make, and I’ve seen other clients make, really good friends amongst themselves. They’ve stayed friends for many, many years afterwards, and they still are now. Being in friendships formed amongst groups is a rather nice thing.
Zoe: Yeah, a nice little perk! Well, that’s fantastic. Thank you so much for sharing all of this, David. Is there anything you’re working on at the moment that we can mention that you’re planning in terms of the safaris or that we’re working on behind the scenes?
David Lloyd: Well, yes, I’ve got new destinations coming up. I’m looking at other parts of Kenya; Amboseli is one place, Tanzania too. I’m going back to Uganda and always do my India trips.
For this year though I want to concentrate on my pictures and my books especially. I’ve got the special edition of my current books that I want to put out there for Christmas.
Zoe: Lots of exciting things going on by the sounds of it and lots of opportunities for more amazing wildlife photography for both you and people who travel with you!
So it sounds super exciting with all those new destinations. And yes, the books are obviously perfect for gifting – Christmas occasions etc. I can vouch for the fact that they’re absolutely beautiful, these books and yeah, a great way to get an insight into the work that you can create.
So, well, all the best obviously with everything you are doing and these new destinations in particular, it sounds really cool. And thank you so much for sharing an insight into how you’re running your wildlife photography business, how you’re marketing, and how you’ve built up to where you are now. It’s absolutely fascinating!
So to those listening, if you want to go and check out David’s work, his website is at www.davidlloyd. net and obviously on social media do go and follow David too. He’s sharing a lot of amazing pictures and he would appreciate your support. I’m sure.
Thanks so much, David.
David Lloyd: Thank you.
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