A long time ago I first visited Crete. Largest of the Greek islands. A place of prehistoric rocks, ancient civilisations, myths and an azure sea. Being keen on wildlife and nature I took my trusty binoculars with me. My girlfriend and I wanted to walk down the Samaria gorge but there were so many tourists we decided upon the nearby Imbros gorge instead. After a bus journey to the head of the gorge we arrived at a point with a wonderful view down the valley. It was here that I saw two of the largest wild birds I had ever seen. They were below me and flying toward me side by side. I watched them grow so big I could not fit them into the binocular field of view. Their flight seemed effortless and they gave the aura of oneness with the landscape. What a vision.

A few days later I watched a pair of these huge birds circling overhead. Something had caught their attention. After a while they descended to a point about a kilometre from my position. It was an area of small hillocks or drumlin type mounds about ten metres in height. I decided to try to get a better view so marched in their direction. I estimated my distance from where I had seen the birds land and, as I got closer, began to move stealthily. It seemed to take ages to get to the birds. When suddenly I heard a sound I will never forget. A sound that scared me. I am not easily scared but this was the sound of a powerful animal tearing the flesh of a large carcass. This stopped me in my tracks and caused me to ponder whether to continue trying to see what was happening. I had an ominous sense that the creatures doing the tearing up might not be happy with me disturbing their meal.

Being a dedicated watcher of wildlife I decided to proceed with utmost caution. I did not want them to see me but I hoped to see them. Despite moving as silently as I could, they heard me from behind a hillock and noisily scrambled into the air revealing their almost three metre wingspans. My heart thumped. After gathering my composure I rounded the last mound and discovered the carcass of a deer they had been ripping into. My guilt for having disturbed these birds caused me to hastily retreat in the hope that they would return to their prize.

Although this happened a long time ago I have never forgotten the sound I heard that day and have since sought out these birds in various places in southern Europe. Luckily I was able to return to Crete and on a visit a few weeks ago managed to spend more time with these huge birds. This time I had my camera as well as my binoculars. On a visit to the Arkadi monastery I spotted several Griffon vultures. Next day I returned alone and with my camera. My dream shot was a bird either level or below my eyesight as I had observed at the start of the Imbros gorge thirty years previously.

It was hot and so I slowly ascended a hill above the monastery where the vultures appeared periodically. There were many lovely Swallowtail butterflies, wild or semi wild goats and about 20 Ravens. I had never seen as many Ravens. These are enigmatic birds smart and playful. However no vultures. After about half an hour the first small group of four of these giant birds descended from a great height. The Raven is the largest member of the crow family considerably larger than the familiar Carrion crow. However it is dwarfed by the Griffon Vulture. I got a great chance to compare these two birds as a Raven decided to mob a vulture. The wingspan of the raven is not much less that my height (168cm) but it looks tiny in comparison to a Griffon.

I spent a lovely day taking the odd photograph but mostly just watching the birds doing what birds do. The Ravens are very playful in the air with their formation flying displays, their loud croaky conversation and their flying upside down, just for the fun of it. The vultures were using the updraft caused by the breeze coming off the sea colliding with the hill to gain height without so much as a single wing flap. The photography was not easy as the heat was causing haze and the intense bright light is not the best for artistic photographs but I did not mind. I was enjoying simply being alone on a hillside emersed in the nature that has been here long before the ancient Minoan civilisation.

I see this connection as an essential part of human wellbeing. We are nature and nature is where we, as a species, have lived for hundreds of thousands of years. The disconnect between humanity and nature is something that is peculiar to the short time since the industrial revolution in Britain, since about 1850. Where cities grew exponentially. I believe that within all of us is an inbuilt bond with the natural world. Modern urban living has managed to sever this bond for many people. I believe that this broken connection is unhealthy both for the individual and also, of course, for the planet. It allows us to develop an exploitative relationship with nature. What is it worth? What can we get out of it? How can we use it?

The climate crisis is the greatest challenge that has ever faced humanity. I took a module in Earth Sciences as part of another post graduate course I was taking at London University 35 years ago and the science was clear then. The only reason there is still debate about the science is the propaganda put out by the fossil fuel industry. The problem is not the science it is a problem of politics, economics and education. I am not going to get involved here in discussing these huge issues but get back to photography. My concern is, am I as a wildlife photographer contributing to the problem or supporting a solution?

My aim when I take photographs of birds and animals is to show off the wonders of nature, the drama of a hunt, the tenderness of parenting, the beauty of wild creatures, the challenges facing wildlife that we, as humans share, such as finding food, shelter and safety. I hope people feel my photographs achieve these objectives. So I use all of the photographers tricks like the soft light of golden hour, the low angle, the complimentary colours, the out of focus background, the environmental context etc. The trouble is while this shows off wildlife at its best it gives the impression that all is well in paradise.

People like to look at a nice photograph of a robin on a snowy branch or a hunting owl with evening light shining through its feathers. They do not want to look at pictures of plastic waste, wild fire ravaged woodland, trees stressed under conditions of drought. My niece worked in a cafe at Birling Gap on the South Coast of England less than ten years ago. Today the cafe has been closed due to the erosion of the cliff. Sea levels are rising. My pictures of beautiful wild animals are really a record of what we are about to lose. I am left wondering if my photography is helping people connect with nature or supporting our collective delusions that everything is normal and we have nothing to worry about.

I am going to carry on capturing and presenting the wonders of nature to as wide an audience as I can, since I feel it is, on balance, a positive thing. But I do wonder sometimes.

One of the things I love about travelling alone is it encourages you to talk to people and this trip was no exception. I met a young German woman who had just finished a work placement on the mainland as part of her ecology course, an amazing Scottish photographer who I spent a lot of time with and a very friendly farming couple who gave me great tips on where to find wildlife.

Most of all, however, I met the landscape and creatures that have intertwined here since before humankind. Our lives on this planet are but brief next to the eons of time that the waves crash, starlight falls, and clouds blow over the mystical island of Mull.

I decided to stay in the area around the cottage I had hired near the Ulva ferry. Even though my electric car is easy to drive, after driving from London I did not want to spend anymore time in the car. The area around Loch Ba, Loch Na Keal and Ulva are great for Hen Harrier, Sea Eagle, Golden Eagle, Dipper, Otter, Great Northern Diver, Merganser, Oystercatcher, Seal, etc. so why would you want to be anywhere else?

I like to make the challenge hard by photographing only wild birds and animals and not disturbing or interfering with them in any way. This means to make really good photographs I would have to have more time to work with the locations and the light. The animals and birds in this special place mean I will be returning, hopefully for a longer trip in the future. This short week did give me a greater understanding of how to find wildlife on this island and the fieldcraft needed for successful photographs.

Photographs, however good, are a poor substitute for ‘being there’. I try to capture the essence of these places in my film and photography but have to reconcile to the fact that I am only hinting at the essence of this special place.

Here are a few photos and a Youtube film of my trip to Mull I made while ‘up north’. Hope you enjoy, All the best, Martin, London, June 2026.

If you are thinking of taking up or becoming serious about wildlife photography you need to ask yourself some tough questions before proceeding. Are you happy getting cold, rained on, sunburnt, bitten by insects, exhausted carrying a heavy camera bag, bored, coming home after a long day with no photographs, taking your best picture only to find someone else has posted a much better photo of that subject on social media? Wildlife photography can be expensive, time consuming and demoralising. My advice is, if you want to succeed, you will need to remain positive through these challenges and above all, be willing to work at it. It only takes a split second to take the picture but can take months waiting for the right moment in nature where the environment, weather and the wild animal all combine to enable you to ‘get the shot’.

I am not the greatest wildlife photographer in the world but I try to improve my photography every day. I have been doing this for quite a few years now and I am out with my camera almost everyday. I invite others to provide me with feedback and aim to retain a self critical and reflective approach to my work. This keeps my wildlife photography in a state of continual improvement.

There are many ways in which you could improve your own photography. What follows are my suggestions and the route I have taken. These are, of course, not mutually exclusive. The approach I take is the cycle of continual improvement. This means you evaluate where you are now, consider where you want to be next, develop a plan to get you there, implement the plan, evaluate your progress, then repeat. This is a simplistic explanation of the cycle but is, I believe, the essence of all individual and organisation improvement plans and can be used in all walks of life. The key to success, as with all things in life, is to be as honest and open as possible. If you are honest about where you are then your plan is more likely to be realistic and relevant to the next stage of your development. I believe that wisdom is not about what you know but about knowing what you do not know. In other words knowing your limitations. It does not matter where you are on the ladder as long as you know which step you are on so that you have a good chance of finding the next rung of the ladder.

In short these are the areas I would think about concentrating on one by one, as all at the same time is very difficult. This assumes you are aiming to concentrate on wild birds and animals rather than captive or fed creatures. By the way there is nothing wrong with practising in zoos, wildlife parks or at bird feeders.

1. Learn about the natural world. This is something that you will always be improving as you go further in your wildlife journey but it really helps if you research the birds and animals in your area and their behaviour. Once you have a good understanding of this you need to expand your knowledge of fieldcraft, migration and the lifecycle of your subjects.

2. Get to know your camera. Learn the basics of photography. e.g. the exposure triangle, depth of field, focal length and field of view, metering modes, full auto/shutter/aperture priority, iso, focus modes, file types (JPEG, RAW etc.) and your own camera and its buttons and features.

3. Get some basic equipment such as binoculars and smartphone apps such as Merlin. I find 8x40 binoculars are best for wildlife. These magnify the image 8 times and have 40mm glass collecting the light for the image. The ratio is important as 30mm collecting glass (element at the end of the binocular) will make a dull image at 8 magnification. 10x50mm is a common binocular ratio but I find it hard to hold a set of ten magnification binoculars steady and so you end up with a difficult to see image. The free Merlin app recognises and identifies birds by their call. This is a very useful app which I can see no reason not to install.

   

4. Learn the basics of post processing. This means shooting in a RAW file format and installing a photo editing application on your computer. Popular choices are Adobe Lightroom, Luminar Neo, DxO Photolab (this is the one I currently use), Affinity Photo, Darktable (which is open source). In the past I have also used Lightroom and Darktable extensively. You will need to get a grip on exposure adjustment, colour temperature, noise reduction, adjusting contrast, cropping, and saturation in the beginning. Later you will move on to local adjustments and as you progress on your wildlife photographer journey you will be continually improving your post processing skills.

5. Keep up to date with technology improvements in camera gear, editing software and techniques used by other wildlife photographers. Engage with other photographers through clubs, online communities and friendship groups (often discovered at or focussed around your local nature reserve/open space).

   

6. Develop resilience. Wildlife photography is hard and you often come home after a long day with no photographs. You will be out in all weathers, be bored waiting for that special bird to fly by, be disturbed by dog walkers and joggers, be tired and hungry. You will need to remain upbeat and positive as nature is full of surprises and you never know what fate will throw at you. Remaining positive will equip you to gain the most from opportunities as they come your way. Remember that as long as you are observing and learning you are improving and so no time spent in the field is wasted.

   

7. Once you have got to grips with the basics of operating the camera and post processing it is time to turn your attention to the artistic side of photography. I like to keep my saved pictures in time and place organised groups. This enables me to review my pictures by year and observe my progress over time. For me step one is to take a good portrait shots of the wildlife in your area. The photos should be well exposed, in focus, have reasonable resolution on the subject and be reasonably pleasing to the eye. The next level is to take pictures where there is action. This could be birds in flight, animals contesting territory, conducting courtship rituals, mating, nest building, rearing young, predating on other species, feeding etc. Next you need to think about composition, the background and most important of all, light. You need to Identify good light and incorporate it into your photographs. When you get to the level where you are creating photographs that are well exposed, in focus, showing interesting behaviour, with pleasing compositions, with beautiful/complimentary backgrounds and in beautiful light you are definitely moving in the right direction. Doing all of this at once is not easy. When you start you may be taking twenty pictures a day that you are happy with. As you gain more experience you may well find that you are happy with one picture per week or even per month that you are happy with but your own standards will have increased significantly along the way. Consequently your photography is getting better.

   

   In conclusion I would say you should never stop improving but the important thing, as with life in general, is the journey. Get out as much as you can and enjoy the process of improving your photography.

   I hope this insight into my approach and how I improving my own photography provides you with some useful ideas to support you in your journey. Good luck.