Being a storyteller does not only mean telling your own personal story. And so, my esteemed traveler, I introduce you to Chad Keates, a storyteller in his own right. In conducting this digital media storyteller interview Keates and I explored the influence digital media storytelling has not only in one's life but the surrounding community as well. Through an introspection of his life as a storyteller I discovered the benefits of portraying your life as an epic chronicle of events, taking your audience with you as you discover yourself.

Who you gonna call? (Snakebusters)

"Instead of having to keep them in a cage I wanted the photo."

"I don’t ever want to be a social media expert that dabbles in Herpetology. I want to be a Herpetologist that dabbles in social media."

Chad Keates is a Herpetologist PhD student at the Zoology Department at Rhodes University. As a graduate of the School of Journalism at Rhodes he dabbled in blog posting and writing about his interests. Through his post-graduate studies he has built up a large Facebook following of snake enthusiasts and reptile lovers as well as designed a website as a marketing tool for his professional persona. Keates uses these platforms to educate the public on common snake myths and works hard to bust them through vivid photography and critter walks.

When did you first discover your love for reptiles and how did that come about?

When I was younger, I was actually scared of snakes. When I was in pre-school some guy came to school and did a snake talk. He put a big rock python in my lap. I thought this thing was really cool, I like it. It was big, it was exciting, and I was sold.

How did you find your way to Rhodes studying Journalism only to graduate with honours in Zoology?

I never did well in high school, my brain wasn’t for it. I kind of got pushed towards writing and journalism. So, obviously Rhodes was the best option. I abandoned the Zoology dream because I didn’t deem myself smart enough to pursue it. I came to Rhodes and picked up Journ. I saw that you could do Zoology with Journ, so I picked that up as well. When it came to the end of third year I had a choice, either Honours in Zoo or fourth in Journ. I always loved Journalism, I respect it. I think it’s a good field. But I always wanted to be the story, not tell someone else’s. I chose the Zoo option and discovered my brain was wired for post-grad because I started to do very well, my love for animals pushed me out of Journ and my loves for snakes kept me in Zoo.

"I always wanted to be the story, not tell someone else’s."

In regard to Herpetology, in there a specific field you want to work in? Specifically in a South African context?

Well, Southern Africa is one of the best places on planet Earth to do Herpetology. In my spare time I go around the country taking photographs of anything I can find. It’s basically a big game of Pokémon Go except with wild creatures that like to bite. There are over 600 species of reptile in Southern Africa so South Africa is a great place to stay and study. So I’m going to stay here and get my doctorate.

You have amazing photos of the reptiles you find on your website, what got you into photography?

Photography, I kind of got into from a friend. So I got into herpetology and we started finding these reptiles and I could feel my journalism bug kicking in and I realised I could mould the two together. I created a website and I realised that I wanted to take photos of the things I found. After a while my friend was taking photos with a very nice camera and the photos were amazing. So I thought ‘okay, I’ll buy a camera.” I just got hooked because you want better photos of more and more things and upload them to your website and get a bigger repository and a bigger repository. I wanted to collect them all, instead of having to keep them in a cage I wanted the photo. That fuelled the website and that fuelled the photography.

What’s it like being behind the camera?

I’m into macrophotography. So it’s photos of small things. Most of my animals lately come from call outs. In Grahamstown guys find things in their gardens and I come and get the snake, making sure they don’t kill the snake, and then I release it. But before that I take a few measurements of the animal, sometimes take genetic samples, and take some photographs. During that process before I release it I put the animal on the ground and move him to a nice background and move him with a stick to put him in a position that I like. Then I take a few photographs and release the animal. Photography helps take away the myth of the animals through the beauty your photographing.

What is it you want to achieve as a scientist in your field?

I’m currently doing my PhD, specialising in genetics. So I use genetics to find new species. It’s basically taxonomy, so the naming of new species and seeing evolutionary changes over time. The goal is to finish the PhD but from there, I’m not quite sure yet. I want to just stay in the field, I definitely want to stay in Herpetology. Whether I am an active researcher, lecturer, work for an environmental conservancy agency. Something in the field that allows to me active search for reptiles and amphibians. But I’m easy, as long as I get to contribute something to nature that protects them.

When did you first become involved with media to tell the story of your work?

I started my first blog in third year Journ, just my opinion blog, my own stuff. When I got into Zoology honours I started taking more photographs and uploaded them to my website. The website just started to grow, it grew from nothing into something enormous. Now it’s half portfolio, and it showcases all my snake talks and snake walks all over Grahamstown and also half pictures, so you can go and see all the pictures I’ve taken. And then I have Facebook account, a twitter account, an Instagram account and it’s shared through all these different avenues.

Who is your target audience?

Everyone that doesn’t like snakes and everyone that does like snakes. Especially with the Facebook page, a lot of people on that page don’t like snakes but they’re absolutely fascinated by them, that’s the trend, they hate them but love them. The page is there to dispel myths about snakes and reptiles. The website is mainly to showcase myself, so it’s a portfolio in essence. It’s really helped me meet new collaborators, new researchers, get opportunities because guys see my work, the quality of my work, and they want to see more. The Facebook page is also geared towards getting my pictures out there, so that hopefully one day people might start to buy them if they get good enough and also to show people what you can find in the area.

What do you think about the people who don’t have access to your website or social media?

A lot of people don’t have social media, that’s why the website exists. The older generation don’t really like social media, so they go straight to the website, and then to supplement that I do a lot of snake awareness. Especially in the schools, private schools, government schools, schools that have access to practically nothing, I do them all over the place. It’s often those kinds of schools where the myths are the greatest because they don’t have access to the same materials that we do, so the myths grow into these monsters that you have to dispel. So often the best work is done in those schools. You bring a projector in, you show them pictures of the snake, you explain them and let them handle a non-venomous snake and it completely blows their minds.

What do you enjoy most about your media storytelling?

I really like sharing a good photo. There’s nothing better than taking a photo and you know it’s good and you want to see how it does. There’s also a challenge often a photo I deem to be very good is not good in the eyes of the viewers because there’s two different types. Field guide photography, a field guide photo needs to be big, clear, and everything needs to be in focus. But people out there on social media want a dramatic photo. So like, a picture of a frog with a drop of water on its eyelid, licking it off. For me that’s average. You don’t see the whole thing. The challenge is to get the whole thing in focus, so you can see identify it perfectly. And that’s the kind of photos I take. But then guys want to see the dramatic, so I’m currently sitting on that thing that, I know how to get more likes and more followers but at the same time I love taking the photos I like taking. So it’s a challenge of how to get my content out there and it’s really rewarding when it does well.

Do you have any role models or any other digital media storytellers that inspire you?

There’s a few. In South Africa we’re very lucky because there is a strong group of herpetologists. There’s several of them that are very good with social media. So one guy that springs to mind is Tyrone Ping. He is a social media expert that likes doing reptiles as a hobby. So he’s got it down, this whole system of getting things onto his Facebook, his website, his Instagram, and then I took him as a good role model for both his experts on snakes and with his social media. Guys like Luke Kemp, who’s a very good herpetologist, I follow him.

I saw that you have a YouTube channel, what’s it like with video?

Oh video does incredibly well. So video is kind of an untouched thing in Herpetology. Most guys stick with photographs and old wives’ tales but the best way to dispel myths is to put a video of an animal because that just tells a million stories. People like to see visuals and when visuals are moving in real time it can change so many perceptions. A Rhinkals snake playing dead, you can’t catch that with a photograph but when you see an actual Rhinkals playing dead it gives it more of a human element. I have a friend, Luke Kemp, and we do the Snakes and Mates videos and there’s two parts to them. We do one where we do bios on the snakes and the others are trip reports. So we take you behind what it means to be a scientist on a field trip. So we show you: ‘we’re going here, we’re eating like shit, we’re eating garbage, we’re on the road all day and all-night taking photos, we’re dirty, we don’t shower, we’re campsites, we’re finding cool things’. So it’s a behind the scenes thing. And it does well. We didn’t get a big following but a very loyal following. And guys just love the humour of it all, to see. Because often science is stooped in this mystery of how it’s actually done but really scientists are just big kids. I want to show what Herpetology is to the world, bring snakes to the world, so put them in the light and show them really without the drama and dramatics.

Do you face any complications with your digital media storytelling?

Lately I’ve gotten a lot of backlash from cat lovers. People ask me what happened to the chameleons in Grahamstown and an answer is that it’s been scientifically proven that cats, domestic cats, kill them. Then when I say this in my blog, irrespective if it’s a fact or not, I get attacked because I’m spreading lies. That’s quite a big one, so I try stay away from that. There are a few things, sometimes I’ll say this snake isn’t dangerous and someone will argue with me, saying that a snake chased them. When you’re scared of something you create big stories in your mind, so often I have to deal with these massive stories people come up with. It’s hard because you can’t say someone is lying but at the same time you have to otherwise other people will believe it. It’s a hard line. Where do you draw the line between you’re wrong, you’re being an idiot, and I understand your fear? Most of the myths you hear about snakes are completely wrong but sometimes convincing people they’re wrong is very hard because they are ingrained in them, they were taught as children to believe them. For example if you find a snake you have to cut its head off and burn the body otherwise the omens will come back. Then it gets even worse because then it’s religion and culture entwined and then it becomes very touchy. You can’t exactly tell someone their religion is wrong or their culture is wrong, or their practices are misinformed. You have to be very sensitive with people’s cultures. So sometimes you have to say ‘oh wow, that’s horrible I’m sorry’ instead of ‘I’m sorry, you’re wrong. That didn’t happen’. It’s an ethical dispute that you sometimes just have to deal with.

What will happen to your digital media storytelling habits once you graduate?

I want it to stay just as it is now, so it’s in that perfect balance. The problem is that I get into the habit of putting it on too much of a pedestal that my actual research takes a backseat and I don’t want that to ever happen. So I want to be a scientist that takes his science to the world, I don’t want to be a media teller. I see social media as a tool that I use very well but I don’t ever want to be a social media expert that dabbles in Herpetology. I want to be a Herpetologist that dabbles in social media.

What is your greatest achievement so far as a scientist?

I’m currently doing my PhD and last year I was fortunate enough to upgrade my Masters to a PhD. So basically my colleague deemed my work of a high enough standard to basically skip Masters and go straight to a PhD. It’s an honour because people respect my work and then the other day I got my first authored paper almost through the private process of review, so they’re on the cusp of accepting it. It’s very exciting because my colleagues and I discovered a new species of snake in Tanzania and a new genus in Angola.

What is your greatest achievement so far as a digital media storyteller?

There’s always little things that happen every day. I get asked to weigh in on the content of a documentary, guys will ask me to give a list of species that live in a particular area. Or people want photos for notice boards in reserves or people want photos for their blogs. I get interviewed for the newspaper quite a lot and for radio. When people ask for my expert opinion for national newspapers it’s very exciting. So because of the social media it’s really put me out there and because of the quality of my work people are acknowledging it, which is very nice because it’s given me great publicity. Scientists don’t realise that there are public personas and if you know how to market yourself you can get access to a pool of content that you never knew existed.

What legacy do you wish to create?

Everyone wants a bit of a legacy like Steven Irwin, you want to leave the world a better place than when you came into it. You want people to look at an animal they originally feared and look at them with a little bit more love. If I can make people loves snakes a little bit more then I’m happy. Then I’ve done something good.

You can view Keates' work at: https://nextgenherpetologist.co.za/

And:

Plaintive Rain Frog (Breviceps verrucosus)

Natal Black Snake (Macrelaps microlepidotus)

Award winning photograph: Juvenile Boomslang

"Let them handle a non-venomous snake and it completely blows their minds."