Photography, writing and travel by Ian Wood

Wildlife travel and nature photography

I’m slightly dubious about an about page. Should I have a photo of me holding a camera as if to prove I’m a photographer ? Or maybe another with a pen in hand to say I also write.  I hate to be predictable so there’s none of that. Instead I’ll tell you a little of what I do and more importantly what I love.

I’m a writer and photographer who specialises in nature, travel and wildlife. My work has appeared in numerous magazines and newspapers around the world including BBC Wildlife, The Guardian, Nat Geo Travel and the Telegraph (my Books and Articles page has a few links and PDF’s of samples of my work). There’s been the odd award along the way including winner of the Telegraph big picture, highly commended in British wildlife photography awards and runner up as Nat Geo Traveller travel writer. This year I have two images in the finals of both Wildlife photographer of the year and the British wildlife photography awards.

I also run photography holidays and workshops, which I’m obliged to say are inspiring. But chances are – if you’re reading this – you don’t know me from Adam – whoever he is. From each trip that I run, I contribute significant amounts to wildlife conservation and I’m proud that over the last few years these have now raised tens of £1000’s . Donations are made from my wildlife photography holidays to The Orangutan Foundation, Jane Goodall  Institute and Gorilla Doctors. All of the testimonials on my holiday pages are genuine, unedited feedback from people who’ve been on trips with me.

That will probably say far more than my personal hype, so if you’re interested, click here and it will take you to my holiday & workshop section. An added bonus of running small group holidays has been the many friendships which have blossomed – like a fragrant flower. That last bit is supposed to sound corny by the way; not the bit about the friendships – the bit about the fragrant flower. I’m sure you understand and now I’m using up vital space; maybe I’ll cut the bit about the fragrant flower.

In 2020 I launched a range of limited edition great ape prints and it was an honour for Sir David Attenborough, Dr Jane Goodall DBE and Ashley Leiman OBE to sign the 1st edition prints of a mountain gorilla, chimpanzee and orangutan. These were sold in an online charity auction and raised nearly £7500 which was donated to Gorilla Doctors, Jane Goodall Institute and the Orangutan Foundation. The full range of 13 prints signed by me are on sale and a further 25% of all proceeds from these also goes to these three NGO’s. Full info is here.

Attenborough gorilla print

The Oranagutan's World

My latest book entitled The Orangutan’s World is a collection of wildlife photos from Borneo alongside inspiring quotes about nature, wildlife and conservation from many people including Sir David Attenborough, Joanna Lumley and Jane Goodall. And best of all, every single penny from the retail price goes directly to support a forest regeneration program in Borneo where tens of thousands of trees are being planted. In this crazy world we live in, it’s sometimes easy to lose heart about the future for our wild places but there are plenty of projects which give me real hope. If you fancy joining me on one of my Borneo orangutan photography holidays we’ll witness firsthand this inspiring project. Huge thanks to everyone who gave their time for free to make this book happen. NEW The first edition of this book sold out quite quickly but the second edition has now been printed. To purchase a copy please buy directly from the Orangutan Foundation’s online shop here as then all the money from book sales goes straight to their forest regeneration project in Lamandau Borneo, which is a vital orangutan release site .

Things I love (in no particular order)

Nature – oceans – rainforests – swimming with wild pods of dolphins – honesty – photography – sharing fine food with fine people – exploring – laughing – orangutans – learning other languages – humans (though sadly not all of them) – reading inspirational books – sharks – comedy – mountain gorillas – Guinness – manta rays. I could go on for much longer, but I think I’ll stop there. Oh and there’s certain people too of course – but they know who they are and people aren’t really things. But then oceans and orangutans aren’t just things. In fact what is a thing ? I’ve just looked it up. ‘Thing’ : an object, fact, affair, circumstance or any concept considered a separate entity; any inanimate object. Mmmm I’ve been back through the list and only Guinness seems to fit that description – which would be ridiculous to leave on its own.

Swimming with dolphins, Tracking gorillas - wildlife book

Illustrated with beautiful photography, this book shows you how and where to see the world’s iconic wildlife in the most ethical ways possible. From tracking mountain gorillas to swimming with wild pods of dolphins; from stalking lions on a walking safari to sharing the ocean with humpback whales.

” We need books like this, which encourage us to be adventurous in our travels while treading lightly along the way.” Jonathan and Angie Scott of the BBC’s Big Cat Diary

Available through Amazon and all good book shops.

Swimming with dolphins tracking gorillas book Ian Wood