Kenya
“By nature I am quite an introverted person; however, my photography skills have given me a voice that I never felt I had before. I love telling stories with my images, and I can talk about what I love doing to anybody who will listen. Combine that with a love of animals that I nurtured from a young age, now I can’t believe that it’s my job to create portraits of animals, both domesticated and wild.
Back home I run a dog photography business called Hounds of Hong Kong, where I photograph people’s dogs on location in both the city and more rural areas (many people don’t realise that Hong Kong is not just urban jungle). My signature dog portraiture sees me play a lot with artistic edits, with the end results often becoming bespoke wall art for my clients’ homes. A major dog photography highlight of 2023 so far has been photographing the front cover of Hong Kong’s Society for Prevention of Cruelty for Animals (SPCA) magazine, Pawprint, which funnily enough was an off-camera flash studio shot!
My wildlife images, however, are quite a departure from my signature dog portraiture: with wild animals, you are given a fraction of a second to isolate the subject in a behaviour or interaction. You have no leverage, there’s no trying it ‘one more time’ and you are dealt the hand you’re given. Yet it’s this unpredictability that I love the most. Why? Because that often leads to the most incredible surprises – I have had many of those in the Masai Mara! My proudest moment in my animal portraiture journey so far has been winning Natural World PhoTOGrapher of the Year 2023 at The Tog Awards with an image I shot while on safari with Governors’ Camp: ‘Sentry Duty’ of Winda, one half of the Mbili Bora male cheetah coalition.
I am delighted to be spending 3 months at Governors’ Camp during migration season, and I hope to see you there too!
Why not follow me on Instagram @the.wildlife.side to see more of my wildlife photography or visit @houndsofhongkong to check out my dog portraiture”. My website is www.houndsofhongkong.com
Frankie will be based at Governors’ Camp from the 15th July – 9th October 2023.
