If you haven't done it before, it's very easy to approach your first wildlife shoot with some pretty unrealistic expectations. In this podcast I'll take you through a few of the realities and what you can do about them.

The most important things you can do are to really understand what your camera equipment is capable of (it's your primary tool) and to approach the shoot with an open mind (be ready to grab whatever opportunities arise!).

Wildlife photography can make a huge contribution to wildlife conservation and education. Unfortunately some photographers engage in unethical practices, either unknowingly or deliberately, and these can have a very negative effect on the animals we photograph.

This podcast runs through eight common areas where the ethics of the photographer might come into question.

This is an important issue for me personally  as preserving wildlife and the environment are central to Graham Elliott Photography as an idea and as an organisation.

"Take nothing but photographs, leave nothing but footprints, kill nothing but time."

Things don't always go as planned and I had a small adventure in Zimbabwe.

I love history and I talk about what I loved about visiting the ancient Roman port of Ephesus in Turkey in 2013.
I also talk about what I look for when I visit new places, and when I walk around where I live. What's the story of your home town and how can you tell it in photographs?

Who do you show your photographs to? Do you show them to anyone?
You have a choice about where you can share your photographs and this podcast talks  through some of the options. There are also some traps that are easy to fall into and I'll tell you about those too!

What are the realities of doing a wild animal shoot. Whether your going to be on the water, or on land, there are a few things you might not expect.

This short blog runs through a few of them and they might help you both in your planning, and your expectations.

Have you ever taken a great photograph only to find that something's going on in the background that you hadn't noticed (or want in the final shot). Or maybe your photographs tend to look bland and uninteresting.
Whatever might be dampening your enthusiasm for photography, there's a simple approach you can use that will greatly increase your chances of shooting great photographs.
It's all in the approach. In this podcast I talk about why I believe you should stop thinking of yourself as a "photographer" and become a "visual storyteller".

Planning for a photography project that is off the beaten track involves more than simply picking the best flight.
There are various aspects to consider; documentation (passports, visas, etc), health (which vaccines and certificates are required), insurance (standard insurance often won't cover you) and personal safety.
This is before you start thinking about what equipment to take with you.
In this podcast I talk through the things I consider when I start planning a photography trip to more remote areas.

The Bengal Tiger is the largest species of tiger and the good news is that in some locations they are making a comeback. One of these is Kanha, in central India. The people managing conservation efforts there have recognised the importance of having the local people buy-in to what is happening in the reserve. These are their tigers and they will protect them from poaching and other threats.
This approach is endorsed by the gradual increase in tiger numbers in the reserve. This is especially important as only a few thousand tigers remain worldwide (from over 100,000 at the start of the 20th century) and some sub-species are now extinct.

Never one to miss an opportunity,  I decided to make the most of my time in Tanzania after climbing Mount Kilimanjaro. The Ngorongoro crater and the the surrounding national park are rich in wildlife and a wildlife photographer's dream!
I was also able to visit Olduvai Gorge where some of the earliest hominid remains have been found. These are believed to be the ancestors of our species. Olduvai Gorge may be where our species originated.

The preparation is over and now it's time to take the challenge. My biggest fear was not being able to summit and it was certainly a challenging time. Not everyone in my group made it.

Climbing Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania is challenging and, if not done correctly, deadly. Good planning is an essential first step before attempting it.
In this episode I describe the steps I took to get ready for the challenge.

I grew up while the moon landings were taking place and a part of me always wanted to be an astronaut. I’ve flown light aircraft (and tried flying a helicopter) and leapt at the opportunity to fly a twin cockpit supersonic MiG 25 up to 80,000 feet.

While not quite space, I could see the curvature of the earth and that most of the atmosphere was below me; the sky above was completely black.

In this podcast, I tell you more. 

The Chobe River in Botswana is a fantastic place to visit and has a wide variety of wildlife. There is also the opportunity for some interesting encounters and some encounters might be a little more than bargained for!

I only had a couple of days on the river but had some of my most memorable wildlife encounters there. I’ll tell you more about them in this podcast. 

This is the second part of my podcast about diving to the wreck of the RMS Titanic in 2001. In this episode, I talk about the dive.

 I’m very grateful to have had the opportunity. More people have been into space than to the ocean floor and the chances are that deep-sea exploration will be left to remote vehicles. 

I’ve been fascinated by the sinking of the RMS Titanic since I was a boy and clearly remember my excitement when the wreck was finally located.

In 2001 I was fortunate enough to be able to go on the first dive of the season to see the famous ship myself. In this podcast, I talk about the first part of my experience including the pre-dive preparation. 

Back in 1993, I took part in my first project as a volunteer. I was fortunate enough to volunteer with Kurt and Mich Jenner off the west coast of Australia.

In this podcast, I share some of that experience. I’m a strong believer in volunteering for wildlife projects for several reasons:

• Spending time with people who know what they are doing.
• Getting a truer perspective, especially understanding how much we do (or don’t) know about particular animals and environments.
• Unique access to the animals themselves (including access to areas closed to tourism).
• Challenging your preconceptions.

I’ll leave it to you to decide for yourself. I hope you enjoy the podcast. 

When I've travelled to photograph wildlife, whether on land or at sea, I've been in an unfamiliar environment.

However, if you know how to read the signs, every landscape tells its own story. So, just as you can probably find your way around your local town, and by extension other towns, because you know what to look for to get to where you're going, the signs are there in wild environments too.

In this podcast I share some of what I've learned about tracking animals and what those signs tell me about the animals I'm tracking.

Having volunteered several times now I consider myself an advocate. Volunteering is a great way to play an active role in conservation. If you're working with wildlife you get far better access to the animals than regular safaris offer. You're also likely to find out much more about the realities of wildlife conservation.

In this episode, I talk about my experience volunteering at the Nakavango Conservation Programme in Zimbabwe. This has been my favourite volunteering experience (on land) to date and I found that I didn't know as much as I thought about the best methods of conservation.

Elephant Human Relations Aid (EHRA) is a project dedicated to helping the population of African Desert Elephants in northern Namibia both survive and live harmoniously with the local population.

I spent a couple of weeks with this project at the end of 2019. I've volunteered with other projects and one of the advantages of this approach is the unprecedented access to animals they offer.

This is one of the projects I am supporting through sales of my fine art wildlife photographs.