Brooke Bartleson OM magazine

INTERVIEW
OM | ISSUE 001 | JAN-MAR 2021
Brooke
Bartleson

Discover why falling in love with
your subject is the most important
technique in Brooke’s photography
Photographer bio
Photography is a great way
to present the animals I love
so much to people who may
not ever get to experience
seeing them for themselves
Country: USA
Speciality: Wildlife
learnandsupport.getolympus.com
little-bear-wildlife.myshopify.com
How did you get into wildlife and
nature photography?
Ever since I was a kid, I’ve been
obsessed with animals. I’ve spent
my life in awe of their charisma, their
resilience, and all the things we can
learn from them. As I developed my
interest in photography, naturally I
gravitated towards animal subjects. I
quickly realised that photography is
a great way to present the animals I
love so much to people who may not
ever get to experience seeing them
for themselves. And people want to
protect and conserve what they love.
What are your current main bodies
and lenses?
My go-to body is the OM-D E-M1
Mark III. Lightweight, compact,
weathersealed, and durable as can
be: this body meets all of my needs
as an outdoor photographer who treks
long distances in search of my subjects.
Special features like Pro Capture Mode
and 60fps continuous shooting make
my job a thousand times easier by
ensuring I won’t miss any action. When
I need something even smaller I’ll opt
for the OM-D E-M5 Mark III. Though
it lacks some of the pro features of
the E-M1 Mark III, it’s still a fantastic
little camera that can withstand the
elements while producing great
images. As for lenses, I primarily use
the M.Zuiko 300mm F4.0 IS PRO and
M.Zuiko 40-150mm F2.8 PRO lenses for
my wildlife shots. You can’t beat the
world-class image stabilisation when
you pair these lenses with the bodies
I use. In the near future, I’ll be adding
the amazing new M.Zuiko 150-400mm
F4.5 TC1.25x IS PRO to my kit which
really will be game-changing.
Talk us through some of your
favourite photographs.
Grizzly bears will always be one of
my favourite subjects to photograph.
During a late-season snowstorm in
early June last year I found myself
lucky enough to watch a large male
bear attempting to mate with a female
bear (1). This was an incredibly unique
situation as bears typically hibernate
in the colder months so opportunities
to photograph them in fresh snow can
be rare. Thanks to my weathersealed
kit I was able to photograph the bears
for hours in the driving wet snow and
come away with the photos of
a lifetime.
Foxes are abundant where I live, but
that doesn’t necessarily mean they are
easy subjects. They move so quickly
and unpredictably that it can be easy
to miss the brief moments where they
are most photogenic. On a frosty
autumn morning, I followed a set of fox
tracks through the snow and eventually
caught up to my subject. I crouched in
the brush while the fox hunted across
the snow, listening for prey beneath the
surface. The breeze carried my smell
to him, and he briefly looked my way,
making eye contact before turning
back to his task. I fired off a burst of
(1) OM-D E-M1 Mark III | M.Zuiko 300mm
F4.0 IS PRO
1/640s | F4.0 | ISO 200
1
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