"So now what happens is the cameras follow me around and capture exactly what I've been doing since I was a boy. Only now we have a team of, you know, like 73 of us, and it's gone beyond that"
About this Quote
The pivot is the quiet admission of machinery. "Only now" does a lot of work, ushering in the modern reality behind the bush-romantic image. A "team of...like 73 of us" is a deliberately casual exaggeration (or near-truth) that signals how quickly a personal vocation becomes an operation. He says it with a shrugging rhythm, but the subtext is weighty: wildlife education has become media production, with budgets, logistics, and a brand that needs protecting.
"And it's gone beyond that" is the most revealing phrase. He doesn't specify what "that" is, because the point is the blur: beyond childhood passion, beyond solitary fieldwork, beyond even a TV show. By the early 2000s, Irwin wasn't just documenting animals; he was converting spectacle into conservation capital, turning adrenaline into advocacy. The quote captures the tension that made him culturally potent: a sincere naturalist whose public mission depended on a camera crew large enough to change the ecosystem around him.
Quote Details
| Topic | Career |
|---|---|
| Source | Help us find the source |
| Cite |
Citation Formats
APA Style (7th ed.)
Irwin, Steve. (2026, January 15). So now what happens is the cameras follow me around and capture exactly what I've been doing since I was a boy. Only now we have a team of, you know, like 73 of us, and it's gone beyond that. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/so-now-what-happens-is-the-cameras-follow-me-159836/
Chicago Style
Irwin, Steve. "So now what happens is the cameras follow me around and capture exactly what I've been doing since I was a boy. Only now we have a team of, you know, like 73 of us, and it's gone beyond that." FixQuotes. January 15, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/so-now-what-happens-is-the-cameras-follow-me-159836/.
MLA Style (9th ed.)
"So now what happens is the cameras follow me around and capture exactly what I've been doing since I was a boy. Only now we have a team of, you know, like 73 of us, and it's gone beyond that." FixQuotes, 15 Jan. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/so-now-what-happens-is-the-cameras-follow-me-159836/. Accessed 21 Feb. 2026.



