ADVERTISING FEATURErofessional photographers
don’t always start shooting
their specialist subjects from
the moment they pick up
a camera – and they don’t
always take to their future specialisms like
fish to water.
“I started wildlife photography rather late
in life, and decided that I had spent enough
years shooting on Auto and should really
start to use the cameras I had properly,”
says Bedfordshire-based wildlife proGreg Coyne. “My gear was mainly point-and-
click gear, so I acquired a Nikon D7100 and
a 70-300mm VR telephoto lens and decided
to practise on garden birds. The results
were disastrous – it was so disheartening!”
Greg tracked down Danny Green, having
seen one of his images in a newspaper, and
emailed him for some advice. Danny replied
and, after an hour on the phone, Greg
booked onto a workshop with Danny’s
partner Mark Sisson and captured his
first ‘wow’ images of birds of prey.
Fast-forward to 2019 and Greg conducts
workshops of his own, passing on his
award-winning knowledge to others eager
to master the art of wildlife photography.
His career has seen him photograph animals
all over the world, with his passion for big
cats taking him to Africa, India and South
America to capture lions, leopards, tigers
and cheetahs. His richest trip, however,was to the Pantanal region of Brazil, where
he had over 40 jaguar encounters –
including one very special one...
“I was incredibly lucky to spend nearly
two hours with a jaguar we found while
cruising down a small tributary of the River
Cuiabá. It was sleeping when we came
across it, under the shade of an old tree.
You could hear the deep breathing from the
cat and we watched it sleep, dream, wake,
drink, stretch, and gaze across at us in our
small boat. It was a privilege to share that
time with such a magnificent animal.”
It was this trip to Brazil that convinced
Greg to switch from his trusted Nikon D5
to the Olympus OM-D system. “I was
considering moving over from Nikon, who
I had been with since before my hair turned
grey, to Olympus and its Micro Four Thirds
system. So I was loaned an Olympus setup,
and I took both systems with me to theWild at heart: From
Bedfordshire to Brazil
with Olympus gear
Pro wildlife shooter Greg Coyne on dream shoots, disasters,
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spent enough years
shooting on Auto”
Greg Coyne
Wildlife photographer
Greg offers trips and photography
experiences, as well as one-to-one days,
where you can spend time with Greg
getting more experienced with your
camera and capturing some great images.
http://www.gregcoynephotography.co.ukP