Will Burrard-Lucas (born 2 September 1983), is a British wildlife photographer and entrepreneur. He is known for developing devices, such as BeetleCam and camera traps, which enable him to capture close-up photographs of wildlife.
Will Burrard-Lucas | |
|---|---|
| Nationality | British |
| Education | Imperial College London, MSci Physics (2006) |
| Occupation | Wildlife Photographer |
| Website | www |
Early life and education
editBurrard-Lucas was born in the UK and spent part of his childhood living in Tanzania. During this time he became interested in wildlife and nature.[1] He attended Sevenoaks School in Kent[2] before going on to study Physics at Imperial College London.[3]
Career
editBurrard-Lucas has been a full-time wildlife photographer since 2010. Previously, he worked for a Big Four accounting firm in London.[3]
Burrard-Lucas works with various conservation NGOs including WWF,[4] African Parks[5] and The Ethiopian Wolf Conservation Programme.[6]
Inventions
editIn 2009, Burrard-Lucas created BeetleCam, a remote-control camera buggy, and used it to take close-up photographs of elephants, lions and buffalo in Tanzania.[7] In 2011, he returned to Africa to photograph lions in Kenya.[8] He has since used BeetleCam to photograph wildlife in other African countries, including leopards in Zambia and African wild dogs in Zimbabwe.[9] In 2015, Burrard-Lucas used BeetleCam to photograph wildlife at night in Liuwa Plain National Park in Zambia.[10] This series went on to win the Professional Natural World Category in the Sony World Photography Awards.[11]
While living in Zambia in 2012–2013, Burrard-Lucas also developed high-quality camera traps for photographing rare and nocturnal animals.[12] These camera traps were based on a passive infrared sensor and took photos using a standard DSLR or mirrorless camera.[13] In 2015, his work with camera traps led to a collaboration with WWF to photograph elusive animals in Namibia.[14]
In 2014, Burrard-Lucas founded a company, Camtraptions Ltd, which produces BeetleCams and camera trap systems for photographers and filmmakers.[15]
In July 2019, Burrard-Lucas announced his intentions to take two new versions of BeetleCam back to the African continent in search of lions for a new project.[16]
Ethiopian Wolf Project
editIn 2011, Burrard-Lucas collaborated with Rebecca Jackrel, a nature photographer from the USA, to document endangered Ethiopian wolves in the Bale Mountains of Ethiopia. The project was funded via a successful Kickstarter campaign which raised $13,705.[17] The photographers spent more than a month documenting the lives of the wolves and the work of the Ethiopian Wolf Conservation Programme.[18] The project culminated in a book titled The Ethiopian Wolf: Hope at the Edge of Extinction.[6]
Tsavo Elephants
editIn August 2017, Burrard-Lucas started working with Tsavo Trust in Kenya to photograph the last "Big Tusker" elephants in Tsavo. During the project, Burrard-Lucas used his BeetleCam to photograph F_MU1, a female elephant with extremely long tusks.[19][20] The project resulted in a book, titled Land of Giants, which was published in 2019.[21][22]
Melanistic African Leopard
editIn February 2019, Burrard-Lucas captured the first high-quality camera trap photographs of a melanistic African leopard, also known as a black panther, in Laikipia Wilderness Camp in Kenya.[23][24] Previously, only one such leopard had been photographed in Africa, in 1909 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.[25] The project resulted in a book, titled The Black Leopard, published in 2021.
Awards
edit- 1st Place, Living Planet Category, Travel Photographer of the Year, 2021[26]
- 1st Place, Animal Portraits Category, Nature Photographer of the Year, 2021[27]
- Highly Commended, Animal Portraits Category, Wildlife Photographer of the Year, 2021[28]
- Grand Title Winner, MontPhoto Awards, 2021[29]
- 1st Place, Dusk to Dawn Category, Travel Photographer of the Year, 2019[30]
- 1st Place, Animals in their Environment Category, Siena International Photo Awards, 2019[31]
- Highly Commended, GDT European Wildlife Photographer of the Year, 2016, 2017 & 2018[32]
- 1st Place, Natural World Category,[33] Professional Competition, Sony World Photography Awards, 2017
- Highly Commended, TIMElapse Award, Wildlife Photographer of the Year, 2014[34]
Publications
edit- The Ethiopian Wolf: Hope at the Edge of Extinction. 2013. ISBN 978-0981581316.
- Top Wildlife Sites of the World. 2015. ISBN 978-1921517594.
- Land of Giants. 2019. ISBN 978-1912751006.
- The Black Leopard: My Quest to Photograph One of Africa's Most Elusive Big Cats. 2021. ISBN 978-1797202914.
References
edit- ^ "Will Burrard-Lucas: How to get close to wildlife - Amateur Photographer". 9 December 2016.
- ^ "Noteworthy OS". Sevenoaks School.
- ^ a b "Brothers zoom in on the beauty of wild animals".
- ^ Photo, TIME. "See Rare Close Ups of Secretive African Animals". Time.
- ^ "Ingenious Camera Traps Capture Striking Photos of African Animals at Night". 30 June 2016.
- ^ a b "Ethiopian Wolf Conservation Programme". www.ethiopianwolf.org.
- ^ "Pictures: Lion Steals Roving Camera, "Takes" Photos". 28 April 2010. Archived from the original on 30 April 2010.
- ^ "A beetlecam's view of wild lions". BBC News.
- ^ "The private life of animals". Wildlife Photographer of the Year.
- ^ Cheng, Selina. "Photos: African lions and hyenas, captured by a robot camera under the Milky Way".
- ^ "UK photographer wins SWPA 2017 Professional Natural World category".
- ^ "Camera Trap Photography Made Easy!". Burrard-Lucas Wildlife Photography.
- ^ "Camtraptions Unveils New PIR Motion Sensor for Wildlife Camera Trapping". 12 June 2017.
- ^ Fleur, Nicholas St (29 March 2016). "Photographing Wildlife Without a Photographer" – via www.nytimes.com.
- ^ "Camtraptions launches PIR Motion Sensor".
- ^ TTL, Nature (10 July 2019). "10 Years of BeetleCam: Will Burrard-Lucas Looks Back". Nature TTL. Retrieved 4 August 2019.
- ^ "Ethiopian Wolf Documentary Project". Kickstarter.
- ^ "Ethiopian wolf photo gallery by Will Burrard-Lucas and Rebecca Jackrel - Discover Wildlife". www.discoverwildlife.com.
- ^ Street, Francesca (9 May 2019). "Incredible pictures capture rare 'Elephant Queen' in Kenya". CNN – via www.cnn.com.
- ^ Elephant Has Longest Tusks on YouTube, March 12, 2019
- ^ Burrard-Lucas, W. (2019). "Last Photographs of the Elephant Queen". Burrard-Lucas Photography – via www.burrard-lucas.com.
- ^ "Last photos of Kenya's 'elephant queen'". BBC Newsbeat. 2019.
- ^ Goldman, J. (2019). "Black leopard spotted in Africa for first time in 100 years". National Geographic. Archived from the original on 12 February 2019 – via www.nationalgeographic.com.
- ^ Burrard-Lucas, W. (2019). "Black Leopard: My quest to photograph the most elusive cat in Africa". Burrard-Lucas Photography – via www.burrard-lucas.com.
- ^ Lyons, Kate (13 February 2019). "First photographs of rare African black leopard captured in more than a century". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 13 February 2019 – via www.theguardian.com.
- ^ "Travel Photographer of the Year (TPOTY) 2021 Winners". Retrieved 8 March 2022.
- ^ "Black Leopard - Nature Photographer of the Year". Retrieved 8 March 2022.
- ^ "Night eyes - Wildlife Photographer of the Year". Retrieved 8 March 2022.
- ^ "MONTPHOTO VERDICT 2021". Retrieved 8 March 2022.
- ^ "Travel Photographer of the Year (TPOTY) 2019 Winners". Retrieved 8 March 2022.
- ^ "Gallery Siena International Photo Awards". Retrieved 8 March 2022.
- ^ "EUROPEAN WILDLIFE PHOTOGRAPHER OF THE YEAR 2018". Retrieved 8 March 2022.
- ^ "The winners of the Sony world photography awards 2017 – in pictures". The Guardian. 21 April 2017. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 15 February 2019.
- ^ "Migration in motion - Wildlife Photographer of the Year". Retrieved 8 March 2022.