Doug's Book Chapter 2

It’s the opening months of 2008, Alastair Fothergill had just been talking to me about his new big idea. Planet Earth had been a monster, viewing figures off the graph. My main effort for that had been the shoot in Kong Karl’s Land, going for the bear and cubs coming out of the den. The Diary piece that Jason and I made while on that trip, with the polar bear up at the window, had gone down a storm. It put me back in the public eye, lifted my profile another notch.

Now here was Al about to kick off Frozen Planet, the definitive series about the poles. Ideas for a book of my own stirred again in my head – maybe I could do something to coincide with the launch of the new BBC series. That wasn’t going to be for three years, but that in a way was a plus, plenty of time to write.

So I went to see Shirley Patton, then the editor in charge of BBC books. I was still carrying a lot of the old Naked Cameraman synopsis in my head, we chatted about that sort of idea. But it was while I was talking to Shirley that the light bulb went on. Suddenly, just like it’s supposed to happen. The classic flash of inspiration. Shirley had been insistent at wanting me to better define what my book would be. Was it picture driven? Or was the power in the words? How big? How many pictures? I was looking around her office for a book that inspired me, and I saw the British Gas Wildlife Photographer of the Year book. The one that’s produced every year with a selection of the winners and the best pics. And I remembered how a few years before, I had had a couple of pics in it. They’d asked me if I wanted to write the captions for those two, I said sure, but what should I write? “Anything at all” said Roz Kidman Cox the book’s editor, “Anything at all”. So I had a bit of fun, crafting 200 words about how to attract belugas underwater by singing down my snorkel. And in Shirley’s office, taking another look at that book, I had my apple on the head moment. The phrase “Every Picture Tells a Story” popped into my mind. I realised that every one of the pics that I wanted to include in my theoretical book did indeed have its own story to tell. It might be an anecdote about the animal in the image, or an explanation of the fantastic weather I’d captured in the frame, or what was going through my head as I clicked the shutter, or any other insight at all. Suddenly I didn’t have to think in terms of 100,000 words organized linearly, I could break down all that I had to say into much smaller manageable chunks. They didn’t even have to follow an order, I could give my grasshopper mind full rein. I could see all kinds of possibilities. I had half a dozen captions written on the train by the time I was back in Bristol. The first I ever wrote hardly changed from the initial draft. It was to accompany a shot of a Wandering Albatross with its wings outspread, displaying on Bird Island at South Georgia.

I was trying to film very young wandering albatross chicks being fed, but we’d arrived a few days early and they hadn’t yet hatched. But up on the hill crests, adults were displaying. Magnificent males with their 3-metre wingspan, beaks raised to the heavens, completely engrossed in their courting. I was able to crawl on hands and knees in the gullies between the raised clumps of tussock grass until eventually I was lying on my belly right underneath their outstretched wings. They weren’t bothered in the slightest, and my most vivid memory is actually of the sloppy slap of their big webbed feet as they padded around in the gloppy, muddy grass.
I finished a dozen captions, sent them and the pics back to Shirley. And waited for the idea to be commission. And waited ……. and waited. Until eventually they turned it down. I think they said it didn’t fit their brief, or they couldn’t see the sales, or …. or whatever.

There’s a joke that runs:
“Do you often procrastinate?”
“I’m not sure, ask me later.”
More dithering, more filming, more non activity from me as far as words were concerned. To this day I’m not sure how long that would have continued. 2009 went through, and 2010. A mad flurry of shoots in Antarctica, Sri Lanka, Antarctica, Sri Lanka and Indonesia between last December and March kept me busy, but I guess it was Sue coming out with her book Cold Places that was my major poke in the bum in the right direction. The Chinese philosophers say “The greatest journeys begin with the first step”. Well I’d been at the first step stage since doing my captions for Shirley, and the greatest journey relies on making progressive steps, not standing still afterwards. Better to adopt Sitting Bull’s strategy with his maxim “The way to cross the river is to cross the river”. And not stop midstream.

So on 15 April I sat down at the Mac to write an email.

From: dougallancamera@mac.com
Subject: hi there
Date: 15 April 2011 11:16:31 BST
To: smnbish@aol.com, kidmancox@blueyonder.co.uk

Hi Simon and Roz

Hope you're both thriving in your own special ways. Me finally back in Brizzle after Sri Lanka and Indonesia. In latter I swear you could hear the fungi eating your t-shirt even as you were wearing it.

Ok decision time ....... as you both know, I've been talking for a while about me and a book, and have been watching Sue's progress and success with hers. So time to get off ma ass I thought.

I'd really like to involve (and of course pay!) you both to work with me in the same editorial / design / cunning suggestion / "get real Doug that's daft" helpful professional ways that made Sue's book good.

Mine I see as different, but similar - bonny pics a lot of them big, captions of 100 - 250 words about each pic but each caption relevant to the pic in its own way. Eg could be bio facts about the animal, eco fact about the location, story behind the getting of the pic, why I have an emotional attachment to the pic or situation, some wee special insight of relevance etc etc. Each caption would stand alone but there would be bigger "themes" to sections of the book so one caption was part of a greater whole eg Antarctic, Arctic, Mountains. Basically by the time you'd read all the words, you'd have a better insight into me, the animals and places, the art and practicality of wildlife filming, the characters of the people involved in many of the films and series I've worked on, the moments of real danger, the moments of huge relief, the trials and tribulations, the triumphs, debunk some of the bullshit, tell a few jokes. I was wondering if there might be a place at intervals in the book for say half a dozen 12-1500 word mini articles, laid out differently from the other pages of the book, where I could write in more detail about something. Make those pages like a magazine article, different looking stylistically, maybe more small pics leading up to a big climactic double spread. But I'm very open to suggestions.

I've done a wee bit of work already - I have 10 "sample" captions written, with the pics. I'd appreciate your honest reaction to them some time.

I've done a very preliminary selection of about 400 pics from my collection but of course we would probably sit down and look at many more down the line once we have big themes squared away.

I've in mind a few picture slanted wildlife books whose design appeals to me, I'd love to have your opinion of them too and what good bits we could incorporate. And what naff bits we could do without.

So plenty to go on with!

And so - could and would you consider helping me? And if so when could we three meet up for a preliminary brainstorm to talk through the ideas? Maybe rough out a schedule, plan the next steps. I'm away with Liam next Wednesday and Thursday 20 and 21, and the following Tuesday Wednesday 26 and 27 I'm in St Andrews. But apart from that would hope to be in Brizzle for a few weeks. Not that I'm pushing you, but in a way, sooner the better as far as I'm concerned.

Look forward to hearing from you both, hugs from Doug

Finally, I felt I was not just on the starting blocks but actually up and running …..