Wild World

Nick Dale

Wild World

Nick Dale

18 July, 2026

Issue 4 - August 2026

I dreamed of becoming a photographer when I was 15, but my mother wanted me to go to Oxford instead!

I ended up reading English at Christ Church and working as a strategy consultant for a few years before retiring at the age of 29. I then travelled round the world for seven years, doing four ski seasons and working on an internet start-up in San Francisco before finally returning to London in 2005.

At that point, consulting work felt too stressful, so I decided to focus on 'quality of life'. I'm now a private tutor and an international award-winning wildlife photographer!

It happened pretty much by accident. I became a tutor in 2009 when I happened to read an article about Ten Ways to Beat the Recession, and I became a wildlife photographer when I got a random email inviting me to climb Mount Kenya!

I've been a professional photographer since 2013, visiting 37 countries across all seven continents and winning various photo contests, including Remembering Tigers and the Sunday Times/Audley Travel Big Shot.

I’ve written books and online articles for Expert Photography and Camera Reviews, and I teach photography and lead workshops in south-west London. I also give talks and slide shows to camera clubs and various other organisations.

I spend a lot of time in Africa, and I’ve been on over 500 game drives and boat rides. I’ve also worked as the Resident Photographer on a cruise ship and at various lodges around the world.

www.nickdalephotography.com

"I have a passion for wildlife, and I want to celebrate all its facets in my photography, including power, beauty, cuteness and humour. I love close encounters with animals and birds, and I want to share the pleasure of seeing them, plus the feelings of excitement, relaxation, tenderness and wonder they evoke."

People say that if you love your job, you never work a day in your life. It doesn’t feel like that sometimes being a wildlife photographer, but I certainly don’t do it for the money!

I started out taking portraits of animals. That was all very well, and a lion might look beautiful sitting on the African savannah at sunset, but there isn't much energy in that sort of picture.

What I try to do now is to focus on action shots. I still take portraits—and sometimes I don't have a choice!—but my ideal image is more likely to be a cheetah chasing down a Thomson’s gazelle than a bird on a stick!

My favourite animals are the predators, including brown bears, tigers, lions, leopards, pumas and cheetahs, and I like to use a long lens to get up close and personal with them!

It’s that sense of excitement that I try to capture in my work, and I'm happy to use whatever technology I can find to do the job.

The first time I saw a cheetah kill, I was with Paul Goldstein at Kicheche Bush Camp in the Masai Mara, Kenya, and it was the most exciting 10 seconds of my life! Paul gave me a few tips on camera settings beforehand, but when the chase began, it was incredibly hard to maintain focus on the cheetah as it was sprinting past at around 70mph—and then it was all over! I ended up with a sharp gazelle and a blurred cheetah, but it still captured the moment, and I managed to clean it up with the help of Lightroom…

On that trip, I saw five cheetah kills in a week, which was a miracle! However, I’ve always seen at least one on all my visits to Kicheche, so it’s one of my favourite destinations for wildlife photography.

Paul also introduced me to the idea that there are two types of safari. The ‘tourist’ version involves driving around until you see something interesting, then taking a few snaps and driving around some more. Rinse and repeat. However, Paul loves predators, so his version involves driving around until you see a big cat and then staying with it—all day if necessary! Yes, there might be a few hours of boredom, but at least you know that if it does end up hunting, you’ll be in prime position to capture the action.

Another favourite location of mine is Alaska. Thomas D Mangelsen once took an iconic shot of a brown bear on Brooks Falls with its mouth open, just about to catch a salmon in mid-air. He called it Catch of the Day. Inspired by that, I went myself in 2015 and ended up with my own version. People sometimes ask me how long it took to take the shot, and I say, “It depends what you mean. It was either 1/1600 of a second or a week!”

It was very difficult to take pictures of the ‘decisive moment’. Sometimes there were salmon but no bears. Sometimes there were bears but no salmon. Sometimes there were too many people, so I had to wait my turn. And sometimes I tried and failed—or just got distracted. Anyway, it was well worth it in the end!

And that’s the joy of wildlife photography for me. I get to experience and photograph once-in-a-lifetime moments from Africa to Alaska and everywhere in between. I love the technical features of modern mirrorless cameras that make action shots easier and easier, and, most of all, I love capturing, sharing and celebrating the lives of wild animals and birds.