85 Of The Best Wildlife Photographers & Their Stunning Nature Pictures
by Tom – Last Updated May 20, 2019
A major part of a Wildlife Photographers job is obviously to take amazing images of animals in the wild but there is so much more to it than that.
All these photographers seem to have a collective goal of highlighting problems that many areas of our natural world are facing through their photos.
At the same time, they also seem very privileged and humbled that they get to spend time with these incredible animals and call it their profession.
Being successful wildlife photographers requires a varied ability with your camera but more than that it demands patience.
Animals are unpredictable and can often be stubborn. Therefore getting the perfect shot, in the perfect light can take hours upon hour if not days to achieve.
As a result, we decided to compile a list of some of the best wildlife photographers who are shooting today. Hopefully, this will inspire you on your photographic journey.
Some of the people we have listed are famous nature photographers whilst others may be slightly less well known.
However, we hope that looking at their inspirational work will not only spur you on to take amazing wildlife photos yourself but will also make you think about the impact photos can have on changing peoples perception.
Whether that is their environmental impact or the way people behave towards the magnificent animals who also occupy our planet.
We’ve listed the photographers below in no particular order. We have also provided links to their outstanding wildlife images, so be sure to check them out!
Wildlife Photographers: 85 Of The Best Nature & Wildlife Photographers To Inspire You
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What are Wildlife Photographers?
As with many forms of photography there are skills and levels of experience you’ll develop over time. This is definitely true if you want to become a wildlife photographer and will take time and practice to develop. Additionally, the skills you learn might not necessarily be to do with your camera and settings per se but more how you approach your subject.
Wikipedia says this about wildlife photography “As well as requiring photography skills, wildlife photographers may need field craft skills. For example, some animals are difficult to approach. As a result, having a knowledge of the animal’s behaviour is needed in order to be able to predict its actions. Photographing some species may require stalking skills or the use of a hide/blind for concealment.”
We couldn’t agree more with this statement. Knowing what position to be in, where to capture the best light and action is all part of creating great nature photos.
Our Pick Of The Best Wildlife Photographers
Frans Lanting
Unsurprisingly Lanting has been hailed as one of the great wildlife photographers of our time. His influential work appears in magazines, books, and exhibitions the world over.
His work has been frequently commissioned by National Geographic, where he served as a Photographer-in-Residence.
He says his mission is to use photography to help create leverage for conservation efforts. Ranging from local initiatives to global campaigns. He hopes to do this through his publications, alliances, public appearances, and active support of environmental organizations.
Sergey Gorshkov
Sergey is a wildlife photographer who specialises in taking photos in the polar regions of Russia. He is also the founding member of the Russian Union of Wildlife Photographers.
His amazing photography has seen him featured and printed in magazines around the world. He has also won multiple awards in Russia, Italy, France and the U.K.
Sergey’s images show the resilience of animals to survives in the harshest of environments.
Darío Podestá
Dario Podesta is predominantly a biologist but has devoted a lot of time and energy over the past 15 years to his greatest passion which is wildlife photography.
He says that his main reason for doing it is because it makes him feel good and he enjoys it. He likes being on assignment and in direct contact with nature. Watching animals in their natural habitat and capturing fleeting moments from their lives.
His main aim with his nature pictures is to make people aware of the fragility of our natural environment and the need to care for it.
Karine Aigner
Wildlife Photography by Karine Aigner ‘Home on the Range’
On her first trip to Africa Karine Aigner fell in love with the continent. Her adventures uncover her fervour to tell the stories of life through the lens of a camera; her passion became stories of animals, their relationships to humans, and their own world.
Karine is an associate fellow with the International League of Conservation Photographers (iLCP) and a member of NANPA. Karine’s work has been featured in National Geographic Magazine, GEOLino, Nature Conservancy Magazine, and BBC Wildlife to name a few. Her imagery is represented by National Geographic Creative, and Tandem Stills & Motion.
Chris Brunskill
An award-winning wildlife photographer who has spent over twenty years searching for big cats in some of the last remaining wilderness areas on earth. Within two decades of almost constant movement, Chris has managed to capture iconic images of all of the big cats that roam the most untouched areas of the planet.
Since 2012 he has focused his attention on the largest cats in South America, the giant, water-loving Jaguars. His portfolio is a stunning celebration of one of nature’s most formidable predators. At the same time, it showcases many rare aspects of predatory behaviour never before captured on camera.
Felix Heintzenberg
An award-winning photographer, writer, teacher, father and optimist, living in southern Sweden.
In recent years Felix has published several wildlife books with three of them receiving prestigious literary prizes.
Skye Meaker
A South African photographer that specializes in wildlife pictures for conservation and enjoyment.
Skye has always loved nature and was fortunate enough to have parents that had a passion for it as well.
At the age of 7, they gave him his first camera. As soon as he took that first picture he instantly fell in love with creating wildlife pictures.
Julius Kramer
Wildlife photography is Julius Kramer’s passion and for more than 15 years he has been out and about with his camera. His aim is to tell stories with his pictures whether that is right on his doorstep or overseas.
Morgan Heim
Morgan loves helping wildlife and people and wants them to do a better job of living together. She does this by creating photographs and films that weave together the stories of wildlife and humans sharing our planet.
She is a Senior Fellow with the International League of Conservation Photographers. Morgan is also a former board member of the North American Nature Photography Association. In 2016, she became a National Geographic grantee for her collaborative project on urban coyotes. Her photos and writing appear in outlets, such as BBC Wildlife, Smithsonian, Nature Conservancy, World Wildlife Magazine and Newsweek.
Michel D’oultremont
Michel is a long-time nature lover and has been captivated by the animals surrounding him from an early age.
He has always enjoyed discovering the Belgian countryside searching for birds and wild mammals. He started by photographing water birds when he was very young. Later on, he turned his focus to mammals such as foxes, roe deer or red deer.
Today he covers thousands of miles through different continents; spending hours waiting for the right moment, the right light, and the right encounter. He loves taking nature pictures in Eastern countries, Scandinavia or the Belgian Ardennes.
In his view, photographing nature is more than a job; it is a way of life, a passion.
Tertius A Gous
Based in Somerset West, South Africa, Tertius A Gous is a specialist veterinarian, natural history photographer and guide for birding Africa.
Emanuele Biggi
Emanuele is an Italian wildlife and nature photographer and also a tv presenter.
His website displays a selection of his latest works along with news about him and the nature that he loves. You’ll also find information on scientific exhibitions that tour around Italy and the rest of the world.
Georgina Steytler
Georgina is one of the best award-winning nature photographers out there who has a passion for ethics and bird conservation.
Her awards include Wildlife Photographer of the Year. Bird Photographer of the Year. Australian Photography Awards. BirdLife Photography and the much coveted Australian Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year Portfolio Prize.
Georgina’s work is widely published in magazines and books. She also runs workshops and gives talks on bird photography throughout Australia.
Isak Pretorius
A specialist wildlife photographic guide from South Africa. Isak’s discovery of nature’s special moments at a young age shaped his aspirations of today which are to creatively showcase the beauty of his continent’s natural wonders.
His bird and wildlife images have won multiple awards and been celebrated nationally and internationally in many publications.
His fine art style is easily recognisable by their authentic, simplistic design and technical skill. Isak’s passion for nature is fuelled by the memories of a classic Africa. His aim is to create conservational awareness for his continent’s natural wonders.
It’s easy to see why Isak is one of the best wildlife photographers out there as his images are simply stunning.
Audun Rikardsen
This photographer is one of the most internationally awarded wildlife photographers in recent years. He has been the overall winner of 12 international competitions including the wildlife photographer of the year.
Audun has the unique combination of being both a photographer and a full-time professor in biology at the Arctic University of Norway in Tromsø. Growing up in a small fishing community in northern Norway, he developed a lifelong fascination with the Arctic’s rough landscape, culture, and wildlife, both above and below the ocean’s surface.
Being one of the best nature photographers for him, is about sharing his fascination, stories and knowledge of the Arctic coastline, often through the revelations of new and unusual perspectives. He remains a part-time photographer, working fulltime as a professor of biology at the University of Tromsø, he integrates photography into his fieldwork and uses his images to inspire his students and make his scientific results public.
Emmanuel Rondeau
Wildlife Photography by Emmanuel Rondeau ‘Tigerland’
Emmanuel has been fascinated by wildlife photography from an early age where he had completely lined the walls of his room with posters of animals he would one day hope to meet.
He is fascinated by how a visual story can touch people. He uses his images to tell unknown and surprising stories to inspire people to care about the planet. His pictures of nature have won countless awards and it’s easy to see why once you look at his work.
Cameron McGeorges
Cameron’s images of nature are shot from a different perspective to most as he uses aerial photography to show a different point of view.
He was inspired by a family trip to Tonga in 2012 when he saw drone shots of the coral reefs surrounding the island.
Sue Forbes
Teaching photography and travelling the world to capture amazing places and wildlife is where Sue Forbes passion lies.
Through her wildlife photography, she aims to capture the natural behaviours of animals. Her hope is that the viewer is transported into their world and understands more than just a visual representation of the animal.
Jan Van Der Greef
Jan’s pictures of nature aim to capture feelings of interconnectedness within the universe. He uses this within both his photography and his scientific work. This fuels his interests in metaphysics, philosophy and spirituality.
His style can be described as fine art nature photography, with a blend of figurative, impressionistic and abstract approaches.
Marc Graf & Christine Sonvilla
Marc’s work is all about storytelling and long-term projects. Over the past 10 years he has been working on wildlife photography, more wildlife photography and even more wildlife photography!
He is a professional and award-winning nature photographer and conservationist. His main aim is to help preserve the biodiversity of our planet’s ecosystems.
Christine is also an award-winning wildlife photographer who focuses on nature conservation and wildlife topics.
She uses photography, film and text to speak up for nature with the hope she can make a statement about current issues.
Tony Wu
A well-established nature photographer Tony Wu has been writing and photographing since 1995.
He frequently updates his blog with the mass amount of images he has taken over the years.
Valter Bernardeschi
An interest in nature photography was born towards the end of the seventies for Valter Bernardeschi. Valter started by taking pictures of animals and the landscape within his beautiful home, Tuscany.
Javier Aznar González De Rueda
A Spanish biologist, conservationist and wildlife photographer who focuses on the natural history, science and protection of the natural world.
Javier’s images of nature aim to offer a close-up view of the natural world when it is at it’s most wild and equally most fascinating.
David Herasimtschuk
Underwater image by David Herasimtschuk
With a background in freshwater ecology, much of David’s work focuses on creating imagery that offers a unique look into the secret worlds that reside below the surface of rivers and streams.
David works with Freshwaters Illustrated, a non-profit that uses film and photography to educate the public on a variety of freshwater topics. By doing this he hopes to inspire curiosity and help to encourage everyone to get out and explore their local river.
Jess Findlay
Based in Vancouver, Canada, Jess specialises in landscape and wildlife photography. He has photographed extensively in his home province of BC, Alaska and elsewhere throughout the Pacific Northwest. His travels also bring him each year to various locations in Central and South America.
Jess’ work has been honoured by Nature’s Best Photography, NHM Wildlife Photographer of the Year and has been featured in the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History, the London Natural History Museum and the Royal British Columbia Museum.
Greg Lecoeur
By capturing unexpected scenes of marine life Greg seeks to catch the attention of the general public in order to raise awareness of the fragility our ecosystems and the preservation of biodiversity.
Greg is a multi-award winning wildlife photographer, who dedicates his life to the marine world. He lives a nomadic lifestyle and his passion for nature keeps pushing him to explore and capture the planet in his unique way.
Lorenzo Shoubridge
His passion for nature photography comes from the love of the environment that surrounds him and from an unbridled attitude towards the microcosm. Lorenzo sees it as a parallel universe dominated by insects, arachnids and every other kind of arthropods that make it a real science fiction set.
In particular, the area that fascinates him the most concerns the lepidopterans, that is butterflies, with their bizarre life cycles and their superb beauty.
Thomas P Peschak
Ocean photography by Thomas P. Peschak
Thomas is an assignment photographer for National Geographic Magazine. He is also a Founding/Associate Director of the Manta Trust and a senior fellow of the International League of Conservation Photographers.
Thomas is thought of as one of the 40 most influential nature photographers in the world. The main focus of his wildlife photography is to highlight the most critical marine conservation issues of our time.
Justin Gilligan
Justin is a freelance photojournalist who has won multiple awards for his amazing wildlife photography.
Through his images, he aims to combine his scientific background and artistic flair. Resulting in wildlife photos that draw the viewer’s attention to the beauty of the natural world and issues that face it.
Paul Mckenzie
Paul’s wildlife photography is ever evolving. He started out just wanting to create a record of the wildlife he was seeing. After that, he became interested in capturing animal behaviour which he still does today. However, he is now also drawn to the aesthetics of the image. In simple terms, his goal is to try to create beautiful images that viewers can positively react to.
Cristobal Serrano
Cristobal has always been passionate about his vocation as a wildlife photographer.
He has aimed to capture nature at its wildest and most merciless. At the same time, he also tries on occasions to show its more tender and touching side.
Christian Wappl
The majority of Christian’s photography is conducted in pristine and vulnerable habitats, particularly in the tropics. His other strong photographic focus is the interaction of man and nature which is an ever increasing issue.
His aim is to inspire conservation by showing people the beauty and diversity of nature in remote corners of the world, but also in their own backyards.
Liron Gertsman
Cobalt-winged parakeets wildlife photo by Liron Gertsman
Liron is a young Canadian photographer whose image titled ‘Colour, Sound, Action’ won him a Highly Commended award in the Natural History Museums wildlife photographs of the year in 2018.
His aim with his photography is to spread the message and educate the public on the need for conservation of natural habitats.
Michael Patrick O’neill
Michael has spent the last 24 years travelling worldwide photographing diverse aquatic animals, habitats and the human impact on them.
At the same time, he has also written and used his wildlife photography for seven non-fiction marine life books. These aim to encourage children to read, write and become involved in science and conservation of the natural world.
Jose Manuel Grandío
Jose has been a Spanish wildlife photographer for over twenty years and specialises in photographing birds. With his images, he tries to tell small histories about wild birds.
As with most of the photographers featured in this list, he attempts to do this with the uttermost care not to alter their behaviours. Whilst at the same time being as respectful as possible to the environment where they live.
Karen Schuenemann
What drives Karen to take images of nature is to create a connection between a wild creature in its natural habitat and the connection that has to our own humanity.
She uses her camera to provide a voice for the animals and bring attention to a somewhat invisible world, one that we will often miss or not think about within our hectic lives.
Christopher Swann
This wildlife photographer has travelled most of the world’s oceans and been to some of the most remote and far-flung islands in the world. Christopher’s main passion is for photographing whales and dolphins.
Andrés Miguel Domínguez
Andres is a multi award-winning wildlife photographer who has always been attracted to animal life and in particular ornithology.
Shane Gross
Shane Gross is a nature photographer who currently lives in The Bahamas. He was a multiple award winner in the Natural History Museums Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition. He wants us to collectively use our skill, talents and abilities to make real conservation change.
Jayesh Joshi
Jayesh believes that mother nature is the greatest creative artist and he loves to capture her creations with his camera. The more curious subjects interest this nature photographer the most. He loves it if his photographs can evoke a feeling within the viewer.
Marco Colombo
Fascinated by insects, spiders, snakes, wild boars and foxes from an early age this wildlife photographer started making images in 1999.
Marco has won numerous Wildlife Photographer of the Year awards. He has also been a judge in several competitions such as ‘Nature Photographer of the Year’, ‘See in the Sea’ and ‘In & Out’ as well as many more.
Oliver Richter
Oliver is a wildlife photographer whose main focus at the moment is on photographing areas of the Arctic, Antarctic and Iceland.
Many of his works and in particular his landscape and nature photos have been frequently published and presented in exhibitions.
Britta Jaschinski
A German photographer who moved to the U.K. in the 90’s. Britta is devoted to documenting the fractured existence of wildlife, which suffers in the name of entertainment, status, superstition and ultimately greed.
Britta’s wildlife pictures are troubling, unsettling, sometimes hard-hitting and yet always beautiful.
Mark Cale
Mark’s portfolio is wide-ranging across multiple disciplines. In 2017 he was featured as a finalist in the Wildlife Photographers of the Year competition in the category of ‘Animals in their environment’.
This achievement has spurred him on to explore and expand his range of shots. Test himself in both subject matter and composition. Whilst at the same time retaining the qualities that give his images their unique style.
Klaus Tamm
Interested in nature since he was a child Klaus became fascinated by the photos of animals he would see in his fathers hunting magazines.
His aim with his nature photography is to create artistic images that encourage the observer to pause for a moment and reflect.
Peter Delaney
Photography has become Peter’s life. He lives and breathes it no matter where he is and it has taught him to see the world in a different light.
He has dedicated over 15 years to photographing the continent of Africa. Looking through his images it is easy to see the attraction.
David Lloyd
David is a fine art wildlife photographer who originates from New Zealand but now resides in London. His favourite places to practice his craft are Rwanda, Kenya, Uganda, Botswana and Richmond Park.
David has won awards in the Wildlife Photographers of the Year competition since its inception in 1991. He says that they continue to be his biggest inspiration to his photographic practice.
Klaus Nigge
Experienced wildlife photographer Klaus Nigge started his photography journey back in 1984. Over the years he has won multiple wildlife photography awards. He has also been featured in such highly thought of publications as National Geographic and GEO.
Brian Skerry
Amazing dolphin formation photographed by Brian Skerry
A photojournalist who specialises in marine wildlife and underwater photography. Brian’s work has been featured in various publications all over the world including BBC Wildlife, The New York Times and Sport illustrated to name just a few.
He has also written 10 books including the acclaimed monograph Ocean Soul. Brian is an 11-time winner of the prestigious Wildlife Photographers of the Year competition.
Rodrigo Friscione
Since Rodrigo can remember he was involved in the families diving shop. He was first drawn to free diving and spearfishing with a passion for underwater photography coming later in life. Photography has developed a craving for him to encounter large animals particularly those which reside in the ocean.
Ingo Arndt
Ingo realised that photography was a useful tool in environmental protection and this spurred him on to become a professional wildlife photographer. He has travelled around the globe for extended periods as a freelance wildlife photographer, photographing reports in which he portrays animals and their habitats.
In the past few years, he has been mainly on assignment for GEO Germany. With his images, Ingo wants to stimulate and increase the awareness of his viewing audience and show them the magnificence of nature.
Christian Ziegler
An internationally recognised photojournalist who specialises in natural history and science-related topics. Over the years he has been a regular contributor to the National Geographic Magazine as well as being widely featured in various other well-known publications.
By using engaging and informed storytelling Christian’s goal is always to highlight species and ecosystems that are under threat and share their magnificence and importance with a wide-ranging audience.
Mike Cohen
Mike is a full-time nature, outdoor and wildlife photographer. He uses his website to show people the magnificent places that they might want to visit. At the same time, he also hopes that his work will encourage discussion about photographic locations, technique, equipment as well as art and composition of images.
George Karbus
Recognised as one of the world’s leading outdoor and nature photographers George’s work captures moments of calm and serenity. He spends every day of the year in the water honing his craft. He believes that it takes more than just an artistic eye to create great images. It is his passion and his way of life.
Anthony Berberian
Anthony is an underwater and nature photographer who has worked with scientist and marine biologist on several scientific expeditions.
Jordi Chias
Jordi’s greatest passion is the sea and he has worked as a freelance photographer since 1998 specialising in underwater photography. His work has been published in many media formats from book to magazines. He has also won multiple wildlife photography accolades.
Edwar Herreno
His greatest passion in life is wildlife and nature photography especially if that is underwater. Edwar’s goal is to capture the most compelling images to show off the creates and environments in ways that will inspire and amaze people who view his images.
Eilo Elvinger
Eilo has undertaken photo reports throughout the world from Vietnam to Canada and Botswana to Hong Kong. During her trips, she developed increased concerns about climate change and its consequence for the planet. These concerns and interests in climate change are very evident in her wildlife photography.
Mats Andersson
Wildlife photography by Mats Andersson of a red squirrel
Winning multiple Wildlife Photographers of the Year awards throughout the world Mats Andersson images are works of art. He has been featured in major publications such as magazines, newspaper and calendars as well as publishing ten books.
Greg du Toit
Even though Greg has captured images of bears and wolves in Russia and polar bears in the Arctic his true love and speciality is still African wildlife.
His fine art wildlife works are easily recognized by the tangible mood, primitive energy and vibrant colours that they convey. These intimate interactions with the natural world, skillfully composed and captured in-camera, have brought Greg international acclaim as a wildlife photographer.
Santosh Shanmuga
An award-winning freelance nature photographer who is currently based in Washington DC.
Santosh hopes his images can captivate people with the beauty of life on this planet, and in the process educate and inspire them to do something to protect all the world’s species.
Aaron Gekoski
Award-winning environmental photojournalist, TV presenter and film-maker. Aaron’s goal is to make conservation accessible to all and he is currently working on a global campaign called ‘Raise the Red Flag’ which aims to raise awareness about cruel wildlife tourism attractions.
Steve Winter
If being one of the worlds best wildlife photographers mean you have to have been attacked by rhinos in India, stalked by jaguars in Brazil, charged by an 11-foot grizzly in Siberia, and trapped in quicksand in the world’s largest tiger reserve in Myanmar, then Steve Winter is definitely up there. He specialises in photographing big cats and is the winner of multiple wildlife photographs of the year awards throughout his career.
Mate Bence
Mate Bence is a Hungarian nature photographer and the most successful photographer in the history of the BBC world competition.
Justin Hofman
Justin is building a growing portfolio of wildlife images that he hopes to share with large audiences. As his travels grow further abroad he is more interested in conservation photography than ever before.
His website is simple and focused, with the intent to only show the best and most recent work and you can also keep up to date with his latest work on Instagram.
Adrian Steirn
Adrian’s passion and knowledge of wildlife have seen him travelling across the world. His work as a conservationist has seen him document rainforests from Brazil to Uganda, mountain ranges of Nepal to the Caucasus, the plains of the Serengeti and beyond.
Simon Stafford
From a young age, Simon developed a passion and fascination for the natural world. He devoted much of his time to observing and learning about the wildlife close to his family’s home in rural Kent. Simon was awarded as the overall winner in the mammal’s category in the Natural History Museums Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition in 2016.
Nicholas Dyer
Incredible wildlife photography by Nicholas Dyer of African wild dogs
An award-winning wildlife photographer Nick lives a nomadic lifestyle journeying through eastern and southern Africa.
His passion for wildlife and photography began when growing up in Kenya, where he lived until his late teens.
For the last seven years, he has been exploring and photographing eastern and southern Africa. This has seen him develop a deeper insight into issues facing African wildlife and conservation.
2013 saw him visit Zimbabwe’s Mana Pools where he fell in love with their painted wolves. He has since spent over a year in the park photographing them on foot and has developed a deep insight into their nature and a passionate concern for their survival. He is the chairman of the Painted Wolf Foundation and the author of Painted Wolves: A Wild Dog’s Life.
Andrew Parkinson
One of Europe’s most awarded wildlife photographers. With more than 50 individual awards featuring more than 100 awarded images his photos consistently feature in the worlds most prestigious wildlife photography competitions.
Andy only works with animals that are wild and free and is known for his uncompromisingly ethical approach to his subjects, abhorring those that put their pursuit of images before the welfare of the animals.
Ronan Donovan
Donovan taught himself the technical aspects of photography and filmmaking while working for eight years on a series of wildlife biology projects. In 2013, he decided to pursue photography and filmmaking full time because he thought he could have more of an impact through visual storytelling than he could as a biologist.
Christophe Salin
Christophe travels through nature to show how amazing it is but also how fragile it can be. His priority above all is to be able to share his passion for nature and raise awareness about the protection and conservation of the natural world through his wildlife photographs.
Marsel Van Oosten & Daniella Sibbing
Marsel Van Oosten was a winner with one of the best wildlife photographs of the year in 2018. Together with Daniella Sibbing he runs Squiver which offers exciting trips for nature photographers to great destinations.
His passion for wildlife photography was sparked after a trip to Tanzania and having close encounters with animals of the Serengeti.
Mac Stone
Over the years nature photographer Mac Stone has travelled and captured some of the most remote areas in the world. His current work focusses on America’s swamps in a hope that he can change the public option on the country wetlands.
Arshdeep Singh
A well known young wildlife photographer from Jalandhar, India. Recently he won the Young Wildlife Photographer of the Year Award (Asia) which is the top wildlife award on the Asian Continent.
He ventured into the field of nature and wildlife photography in 2012 and hasn’t stopped since. His main passion lies with photographing birds and he does this travelling with his father Randeep Singh, who is also a well-known photographer from India.
For Arshdeep, wildlife photography is not only a passion but he also sees it as a way to preserve nature and wildlife around him.
His work has been showcased in national and international publications such as Lonely Planet UK, Lonely Planet Germany, Lonely Planet India, BBC Wildlife UK etc. Just think if his wildlife photography is this good at such a young age how amazing he will be in the future. It’s scary!
Angel Fitor
A professional photographer, writer, and naturalist who has mainly focussed Angel’s work on the marine and freshwater natural environments since the late 80´s.
Ganesh H. Shankar
Wildlife photo by Ganesh H. Shankar
A nature photographer for over 20 years Ganesh focuses on creativity and art. He believes that the act of making images or images making themselves is insignificant compared to the mystery of nature itself.
Guillaume Bily
Recently Guillaume has been trying to highlight the landscape and wildlife by attempting to recreate the atmosphere and emotion he felt in these wild locations. He has won multiple wildlife photographs of the year awards in his time as a photographer and in 2015 published a book entitled ‘Wild Lights’ which concentrates on landscape and wildlife photography at twilight and dawn in Scandinavia.
Scott Portelli
Scott is an international award-winning underwater, nature and wildlife photographer. A member of the Australian Institute of Professional Photography (AIPP), he is regarded as a leading professional in his field. Scott has spent thousands of hours in remote locations across the globe filming and photographing wildlife, the underwater environment and wild places.
Juan Jesus Gonzalez Ahumada
Still learning about nature photography each and everyday Juan tries to make new and better photographs each time but believes that the journey travelled to create the image is the most rewarding part.
Nayan Khanolkar
Nayan turned towards wildlife photography when he was posted in Keoladeo Nation Park, Bharatpur. This gave him the opportunity to interact with many professional wildlife photographers and observe them as they worked. The behaviours of bird species fascinated him the most but he has recently turned towards capturing urban leopards which have become the main focus of his pictures of nature.
Sam Hobson
A wildlife and conservation photographer, best known for his work with urban wildlife. Sam is published regularly in international magazines, books and newspapers and his pictures have been awarded in many competitions.
To create his signature up close and personal wildlife portraits, he uses a combination of short lenses, fieldcraft, technical knowledge and creative lighting – often combined with remote triggers and camera traps to get that little bit closer without causing a disturbance.
Nicola di Sario
A black and white nature and wildlife photographer who believes that shooting in this way removes distractions that interfere with the viewer’s ability to see shades, textures and contrasts.
By doing this Nicola feels the composition becomes the key to guide the eye through the image using lines, shapes, shadows and allows images to get straight to the point about the message they aim to convey.
Lance Van De Vyver
Photo of Hyena by Lance Van De Vyver
A multi award-winning wildlife photographer Lance started shooting when he was studying Zoology at Massey University in New Zealand. He currently works as a photographic guide in South Africa which allows him to spend a lot of time with nature around like-minded individuals.
Where To Go Now With Your Wildlife Photography?
Thanks for checking out our list of the best wildlife photographers.
Hopefully, we have inspired you to get out there and start taking photos of the wildlife around you. Taking photos of your pets or documenting a trip to the zoo can be a great way to start your journey rather than thinking you need to jump on a plane to Africa.
If you want to improve your general photographic ability before taking the dive into wildlife photography you should check out our in-depth online photography course. This will teach you the fundamentals of photography and also give you access to expert photography mentors who can help guide you to become the best photographers you can.
In addition to this post, we have also reached out to everyone on this list asking them if they have any tips for getting better nature photos. We will either compile those tips into a new blog post or add them to this one to provide you with further insight into what the pros consider to be the key elements of great wildlife photography.
If you think there is anyone we’ve missed out as well don’t hesitate to let us know in the comments section below!
Further Reading
- Wildlife Photographs of the Year – Natural History Museum
- Why Wildlife Photography Is So Difficult – Thomas Heaton Youtube
