Hunting and Safety are two words that should go together quite easily, but quite often safety is overlooked as an important part of this popular sport.
I’m no hunter, I can’t even track my vehicle down in the carpark successfully, so meeting up with Mike and Dave from Hunter Safety Labs and going on a mock hunt with them was certainly educational.
Mike and Dave started HSL a few years back to try and find an elegant solution to the problem of hunters accidentally shooting other people rather than the prey. It’s quite a common problem, and research suggests that even the most experienced hunter will mistake a person for a deer at some time, which given their trained and lightning fast reflexes could result in a fatality. This is where HSL comes in, they’ve designed a system that can tell you in an instant whether you’re pointing your gun at a person or at the intended target. They’ve spend a long time perfecting this technology and being hunters themselves really makes this a trustworthy product.
For the photography, Mike and Dave wanted to show not just the outdoor, hunting side of the company but also the corporate side as these images would be used anywhere from the Hunter Safety Lab website and Facebook page, to official company documents. So we spent a an afternoon in the studio photographing the guys and then a morning out in the bush to capture the outdoor side of the brief. Dave also brought his son along, who is also a keen hunter, to show the human and family aspect of the sport.
We had a great time, and for me it was nice to get out in to nature and stalk my prey in a non-lethal way: with a camera.
Also, check out their Indiegogo campaign where you can pledge some support to help these guys make hunting safe!