BIOGRAPHY

Photography is my great passion. It’s a passion that has grown over the years as a way of channeling my obsession with kingfishers and otters. I now spend as much of my time as I can snapping with my camera. I’m not sure whether I have a style, that’s not for me to judge, but I do have specific techniques and ways of approaching a subject that I prefer.

I am obsessed with light; both natural and artificial. This comes from working with National Geographic Magazine, who demand the highest quality well lit images. I strive to work at their level and as a result either try to shoot everything in early morning or late evening when the light is best; or under more controlled situations, with elaborate strobe lighting set-ups.

When shooting wildlife my aim is to show the subjects as they exist in their environment. This is particularly the case with kingfishers, which are more often than not shot close up with wide-angle lenses in order to show them in their river landscape. I also try hard to take pictures that convey the character of the animals. My shots of lions and orangutans I feel achieve this. Basically, I try to take pictures that convey an emotion in the animal, or elicit one in the viewer.

As well as being a photographer I also work as a wildlife cameraman. Over the last twenty years I’ve worked on a wide variety of films, mainly for the BBC Natural History Unit. These include – Wildlife on One, Life, Planet Earth, Springwatch, Big Cat Diary, Andes to Amazon, Life of Mammals, etc

When I’m not out taking pictures I run Halcyon Media LTD with my wife Philippa. We specialise in making wildlife documentaries, mainly for the BBC. Films include - My Halcyon River, The Wild Wood, On the Trail of Tarka, Wye - Voices from the Valley (Natural World BBC 2) We also made Saving Grace for Animal Planet which was reversioned by the BBC into An Otter in the Family. Our last series - Halcyon River Diaries was a four part series for BBC 1 2010. It told the story of me and my family as we spent a year on the river outside our house getting to know our wild neighbors. We're currently making a Halcyon River Diaries Christmas special.

Occasionally I also write (although I hate writing). Books include – Kingfishers Published by Colin Baxter Photography (1995), The Matewix published by Harper Collins (2007), Kingfisher – Tales from the Halcyon River published by EM Books (2009) and Halcyon River Diaries published by Preface (spring 2010)