Captive wildlife
The start of my wildlife photography journey
My wildlife photography journey began in zoos, where I spent many hours observing and photographing animals I had always been fascinated by. These places allowed me to be close to wildlife and helped me develop my skills as a photographer while learning to recognize animal behaviour and individual personalities.
During this time, I also completed several internships as a zookeeper, gaining hands-on experience working with a variety of species. These experiences deepened my understanding of animal behaviour, welfare and the important role education and conservation can play in modern zoological institutions.
I understand that zoos and captive wildlife are a complex and sometimes controversial subject and not every facility contributes equally to animal welfare or conservation. But I also believe that many modern zoos play an important role in education, research, breeding programs and funding wildlife conservation projects around the world.
There is a famous quote that says: “We cannot protect something we do not love, we cannot love what we do not know, and we cannot know what we do not see.” For many people, zoos are the first place where they truly connect with wildlife and develop that sense of wonder and empathy.
That was certainly true for me. My own journey with zoos awakened a deep passion for carnivores and big cats in particular, a passion that eventually led me to South Africa, where I became involved in lion conservation fieldwork, carnivore monitoring projects and documenting wildlife conservation in action.
Looking back, these early encounters with animals marked the beginning of my journey as a wildlife storyteller, one focused not only on photographing wildlife, but also on understanding and protecting it.
My journey with big cats eventually brought me to Kishindo, a private game reserve in the Free State of South Africa, where I spent time following and photographing both cheetahs and tigers.
What makes Kishindo unique is that, alongside fully wild cheetahs that form part of the cheetah metapopulation programme, the reserve is also home to tigers living within a managed conservation environment.
The tigers at Kishindo are non-domesticated, free-roaming animals that display natural behaviours such as hunting and territoriality within a large fenced landscape. At the same time, the project exists within an ex-situ conservation context, which has also made it a subject of discussion within the wildlife conservation community.
Spending time there allowed me to observe and photograph big cats in a setting very different from both zoos and fully unfenced wilderness areas. It deepened my understanding of animal behaviour, conservation and the complex realities surrounding modern wildlife management.
Although the tigers at Kishindo are free-roaming and display natural behaviours, I have chosen to include these images within my captive wildlife portfolio. For me, this distinction is less about the animals themselves and more about the environment in which they live and are managed.
Captive wildlife portfolio
