Becoming a professional wildlife photographer might appear to be a daunting journey, particularly for women navigating a historically male-dominated field. Yet, despite its challenges, the path to success has been trodden many times. Guidance from seasoned professionals can illuminate the way. That’s why we’ve reached out to our world-renowned female photographers, inviting them to share their experiences as women in the world of wildlife photography and to offer advice for those wishing to follow in their footsteps.

Sue Flood

Sue Flood is an award-winning photographer, filmmaker, and mentor of Girls Who Click, a charity aimed at empowering young women pursuing careers in photography. She has worked on iconic series alongside Sir David Attenborough, including “The Blue Planet” and “Planet Earth” and produced various documentaries for the BBC Natural History Unit, spotlighting subjects ranging from killer whales and polar bears to the resilient Inuit communities of the Canadian Arctic. With a profound connection to the polar regions, Sue’s passion has drawn her back to these beautiful landscapes for over two decades.

“The harder I work, the luckier I get!”

Sue’s successes are down to her hard work and dedication. “When people say ‘you’re so lucky to have worked with David Attenborough / be a wildlife photographer,’ I always tell them: ‘Yes, the harder I work, the luckier I get!’”

After graduating with a Zoology degree from Durham University, Sue began her career by honing her skillset and laying a foundation to build on. “It took me seven years from writing my first letter to the BBC Natural History Unit to landing my first researcher job there,” Sue explains. Over those 7 years she volunteered for the Queensland National Parks and Wildlife Service, qualified as a dive instructor, helped excavate a shipwreck with a team from the Mary Rose and spent 8 months voluntary work at Bermuda Biological Research. All of these skills eventually helped her get her foot in the door at the BBC.

 

 

“During my time with the BBC my photography on location improved dramatically with advice from some of the stellar cameramen I was working with on location,” says Sue. “On Blue Planet, I was thrilled to capture images of two bits of behaviour that had never been filmed or photographed before – killer whales hunting gray whales in California, and polar bears hunting belugas in the Canadian high Arctic (see below images). Both of these encounters led to my first articles in distinguished wildlife magazines.”

“I realised that, after 11 years as a wildlife filmmaker I was enjoying photography more and made the rather brave decision to leave the BBC and see if I could make it as a photographer. It was a decision that I’ve never regretted.”

 

Even with her determined attitude, Sue still faced challenges during her career. “Some of the biggest obstacles I’ve faced have been down to plain old sexism,” says Sue, “for example, lack of equal pay or opportunities when doing the same job as a man, or people assuming I can’t manage in particularly testing conditions (e.g. camping at -40C!). However, I’ve persisted and worked hard to create opportunities for myself and simply get on with the job and show I can do it!”

Keen to help encourage more women to join the world of wildlife photographers Sue became a mentor for Girls Who Click, an organisation started by wildlife photographer Suzi Eszterhas, which seeks to empower girls and young women to enter the male-dominated field of nature photography and use their work to further conservation efforts around the world. “It’s extremely satisfying to see how Suzi’s vision and the support of like-minded photographers is helping change things for young women,” says Sue.

 

 

Ann Toon

 

 

Ann Toon is an award-winning photographer, journalist and conservationist. Her passion lies in photographing Africa, where she and her husband, Steve Toon, dedicate six months each year to leading photography workshops. However, running photo safaris is something Ann never saw herself doing; it was her love for Africa that steered her towards success in the world of wildlife photography.

“I was travelling in the game parks of southern Africa for the first time on a sabbatical from my first career as a journalist,” says Ann. “The wildlife blew me away. The whole place was so much more diverse than I thought and I wanted to find a way to be able to spend as much time as possible in these magical places.” Ann met photographers on her travels and saw an opportunity to achieve her goal. “I had no idea what would be involved or even how to go about it at first,” admits Ann, “but with hindsight that was probably a good thing. Had I realised how competitive and how insecure a profession it can be, I might have been put off.”

 

 

Working her way into the competitive profession as a woman also came with its challenges. “It is undoubtedly tougher for women in wildlife photography because as with many professions it’s been male dominated for so long,” explains Ann. “It’s also trickier because wildlife photography is often a solitary occupation, conducted in isolated or remote spots, so safety can be a concern in some places.”

Ann overcame the latter by working in a husband-and-wife team. “We can look out for each other,” says Ann. However, “sexism has always been and remains the biggest issue. People often assume my husband is the photographer and I’m just along for the ride. You constantly feel you have to prove yourself; especially at the start of your career. I’m quite a competitive person by nature so I’m continually driving myself to counter what people might think.”

“Ignore all the people who say it’s not possible or too competitive”

 

“My advice would be to ignore all the people who say it’s not possible or too competitive but learn as much as you can from ‘pathfinder’ women photographers who are already doing the job. Wildlife photographers work independently, and because of the competition to earn a living, tend not to share stuff or support one another that much. Women photographers are more ready to help each other so I’d say it’s worth reaching out.”

 

Tui De Roy

 

 

“My desire to photograph nature was born from a love for all things wild, instilled in me by my artist parents at a very young age,” says Tui. “It was also fuelled by the proximity of the unique wildlife of the Galapagos Islands, among which I grew up.” Tui’s passion quickly became her vocation as an award-winning wildlife photographer, author, adventurer and naturalist. “I never pursued photography as a career objective,” explains Tui, “it’s just something that I do out of passion for the natural world. That I manage to make a living from it is a bonus.”

One of the first moments of success in Tui’s career was at age 19 her cover story on giant tortoises of the Galapagos appeared in AUDUBON Magazine. Later, in 1995, a researcher friend invited her to Sulawesi Island where she was studying the Red-knobbed hornbill. Tui learned to climb giant rainforest trees and saw another boost in success when the resulting photo-firsts were published around the world (see below images).

 

However, nature photography has rapidly changed over Tui’s career. “At the beginning, this wasn’t an obstacle, but half a century later, it has become disheartening that nature photographers in most protected areas are seen as some sort of parasites,” says Tui. “Nowadays we have to jump through far more expensive bureaucratic hoops than either scientists or tourists for exactly the same access to wildlife.”

“Do it for yourself as a passion”

 

Competition is also fiercer than ever. “I think my approach is even more appropriate than it was 50 years ago,” says Tui, “do it for yourself as a passion while getting your earnings from another source.  You can then transition over to photography as a profession gradually as it begins to pay for itself.”

Sue Daly

Sue Daly is an underwater wildlife filmmaker and photographer based in the Channel Islands. “My interest began with underwater photography, probably the most complicated place to take a camera!” says Sue. “This started when I began to learn to scuba dive in 1988, while I was a student working for the summer in Jersey. I was fascinated by the marine life I saw and wanted to record it to show everyone I could what wonderful creatures there were in the seas around the Channel Islands.” Sue worked her way up to being a diving instructor and eventually an underwater photographer and filmmaker.

However, becoming an underwater filmmaker did not come without its challenges. “I wasn’t a ‘natural’ and was hardly able to swim when I first started,” Sue admits. Although “I think my toughest challenge was gaining my HSE part IV diving qualification which is what you need to work professionally filming underwater. I’d been scuba diving for 19 years by then but the commercial training uses quite different equipment and techniques, and mine took place in the chilly waters of Fort William. It’s a tough course and most of it was irrelevant to working with a film camera underwater but I needed it to progress into moving image work.”

One of the first moments of success Sue experienced was a visit from a UK diving magazine in the early 1990s while she was working as a diving instructor. Sue supplied images and wrote an article about diving in the Channel Islands. “I was so chuffed to see my work in print,” says Sue, “and it didn’t even occur to me to ask to be paid. I’ve still got that magazine but have since learnt to value my work. If it’s good enough to be published you should be paid for it.”

“The most important thing is to have a creative eye”

 

 

Sue’s advice to women trying to break in to photography is “not to be put off by the technical side of photography. It really isn’t that complicated and now we can take limitless shots to experiment while we learn. You don’t need to spend thousands of pounds on equipment these days when you can achieve amazing results with a simple digital SLR. The most important thing is to have a creative eye, which is something that’s much harder to learn than understanding your equipment. And of course, for wildlife photography, an understanding and passion for the natural world and bags of patience are essential.”

 

Marie-Luce Hubert

 

Marie-Luce works in a professional wildlife photography team with her husband Jean-Louis. Together they’ve been awarded several prizes in the prestigious ‘BBC Wildlife Photographer of the Year’ contest.

Marie-Luce’s interest in wildlife photography began as a teenager when she helped vets after school and photographed her pets with her father’s old Pentax camera. Later, as a biology student, she travelled to Norway and then Greenland to study muskoxen. It was here that she met Jean-Louis. He had more experience in wildlife photography and since ethology research opportunities in the field were scarce, they decided to quit everything and to start wildlife photography professionally.

[Above] Marie-Luce started out photographing pets with her father’s old camera. Since then Marie-Luce has greatly improved her photography skills but pet photography remains a passion for her.

“The obstacle came more from the absence of support from family and friends who were sure I would end up in the streets begging for food!” says Marie-Luce.” The first years were financially difficult, but this was absolutely not something to break our spirit. However, it took long time to be recognized as a female photographer. Wildlife photography was a macho world in the 90’s and many male photographers were just shaking heads or laughing when they saw me with a 500mm and tripod on the shoulder. It took a long time before I was considered a photographer and not an assistant.”

“I got a lot of hope when Wendy Shattil won the overall prize at the 1990 ‘Wildlife Photographer of the Year’ competition. We sat next to each other the evening before the ceremony and we spoke enthusiastically about foxes, sharing stories about “her” red fox family and “my” arctic fox family (that I had been photographing). Now, I see many female photographers in wildlife parks or when travelling, and it’s such a good feeling!”

Marie-Luce also feels that women have a much better connection to animals than men do. “Women look for experience and emotion and have a true respect for nature and animals.”

“No woman should abandon her dream!”

 

Unfortunately, “today the photography industry isn’t very healthy,” says Marie-Luce. “A passion of nature may not be enough to break through, but no woman should abandon her dream! It’s very important to develop your own style, a personal vision, a different angle, not to be lost in a maelstrom of average or similar pictures. In more than 30 years, Jean and I have never taken the same picture!”

Karine Aigner

 

Karine Aigner spent 9 years as the Senior Picture Editor for National Geographic Kids magazine before deciding to pursue a life of freelance photography and picture editing. She is now and award-winning photographer, conservationist, adventurer and leads photographic tours. She is also a member of Girls Who Click, a charity offering free photography workshops to young women wishing to pursue a career in wildlife photography. Despite her success, Karine admits: “for me, it was never about pursuing a career or pursuing a passion. At least not in the beginning.”

Karine started out teaching English overseas from her home in the USA and bought her father’s old camera with her. “It was a tool to use during my travels, to record my memories, and engage all the wonderful people I was meeting,” says Karine. “The camera meant I was able to connect my family and friends with the people, the cultures and the lives that I’d met on all my travels. When I realized what a powerful tool the camera was, I became more interested in photography.”

Karine’s first moment of success came as a surprise to her. Initially she photographed people for fun using a film camera. “Every time I travelled, I made images of the faces I encountered,” she explains. Upon her return home she would get the film processed in a lab and the woman who ran the lab really liked her images. She told Karine to get in contact with a wedding photographer looking for an assistant. “I wasn’t sure how portraits of village people in India looked like wedding work, and I’d never been hired to any job that was related to photography,” admitted Karine. Nevertheless, “He hired me, and tasked me with shooting the journalistic looking black and white ‘moments’ of weddings.”

[Above] Karine Aigner began her photography career photographing portraits for fun during her travels. Portrait photography is still one of her passions and is a powerful tool in story telling and raising awareness for conservation. 

“The biggest mistake you can make is to NOT share your work”

 

Making connections is important if you want to break in to the world of wildlife photography. “The more people you know, the more possibilities,” advises Karine. “Find subjects you are interested in. Give yourself projects. Go out and make pictures. Most importantly, the biggest mistake you can make is to not share your work. If you don’t share it, you can’t get input, which means you can’t get better, and if you don’t progress then no one is going to hire you, and if no one knows your work, you are invisible. Your resume doesn’t matter, your excuses don’t matter—what matters is the work you have to show.  An editor once said, ‘I can’t buy excuses….’  And that’s the bottom line.  Go be the photographer.”

Stay Tuned

For more advice from Nature Picture Library’s female photographers keep an eye out for part 2. Coming soon….