Will Burrard-Lucas
NationalityBritish
EducationImperial College London, MSci Physics (2006)
OccupationWildlife Photographer
Websitewww.willbl.com

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.

Early life and education

Burrard-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

Burrard-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

In 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

In 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

In 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

In 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

Publications

  • 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

  1. ↑ "Will Burrard-Lucas: How to get close to wildlife - Amateur Photographer". 9 December 2016.
  2. ↑ "Noteworthy OS". Sevenoaks School.
  3. 1 2 "Brothers zoom in on the beauty of wild animals".
  4. ↑ Photo, TIME. "See Rare Close Ups of Secretive African Animals". Time.
  5. ↑ "Ingenious Camera Traps Capture Striking Photos of African Animals at Night". 30 June 2016.
  6. 1 2 "Ethiopian Wolf Conservation Programme". www.ethiopianwolf.org.
  7. ↑ "Pictures: Lion Steals Roving Camera, "Takes" Photos". 28 April 2010. Archived from the original on 30 April 2010.
  8. ↑ "A beetlecam's view of wild lions". BBC News.
  9. ↑ "The private life of animals". Wildlife Photographer of the Year.
  10. ↑ Cheng, Selina. "Photos: African lions and hyenas, captured by a robot camera under the Milky Way".
  11. ↑ "UK photographer wins SWPA 2017 Professional Natural World category".
  12. ↑ "Camera Trap Photography Made Easy!". Burrard-Lucas Wildlife Photography.
  13. ↑ "Camtraptions Unveils New PIR Motion Sensor for Wildlife Camera Trapping". 12 June 2017.
  14. ↑ Fleur, Nicholas St (29 March 2016). "Photographing Wildlife Without a Photographer" – via www.nytimes.com.
  15. ↑ "Camtraptions launches PIR Motion Sensor".
  16. ↑ TTL, Nature (10 July 2019). "10 Years of BeetleCam: Will Burrard-Lucas Looks Back". Nature TTL. Retrieved 4 August 2019.
  17. ↑ "Ethiopian Wolf Documentary Project". Kickstarter.
  18. ↑ "Ethiopian wolf photo gallery by Will Burrard-Lucas and Rebecca Jackrel - Discover Wildlife". www.discoverwildlife.com.
  19. ↑ Street, Francesca (9 May 2019). "Incredible pictures capture rare 'Elephant Queen' in Kenya". CNN – via www.cnn.com.
  20. ↑ Elephant Has Longest Tusks on YouTube, March 12, 2019
  21. ↑ Burrard-Lucas, W. (2019). "Last Photographs of the Elephant Queen". Burrard-Lucas Photography – via www.burrard-lucas.com.
  22. ↑ "Last photos of Kenya's 'elephant queen'". BBC Newsbeat. 2019 – via www.bbc.co.uk.
  23. ↑ 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.
  24. ↑ Burrard-Lucas, W. (2019). "Black Leopard: My quest to photograph the most elusive cat in Africa". Burrard-Lucas Photography – via www.burrard-lucas.com.
  25. ↑ 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.
  26. ↑ "Travel Photographer of the Year (TPOTY) 2021 Winners". Retrieved 8 March 2022.
  27. ↑ "Black Leopard - Nature Photographer of the Year". Retrieved 8 March 2022.
  28. ↑ "Night eyes - Wildlife Photographer of the Year". Retrieved 8 March 2022.
  29. ↑ "MONTPHOTO VERDICT 2021". Retrieved 8 March 2022.
  30. ↑ "Travel Photographer of the Year (TPOTY) 2019 Winners". Retrieved 8 March 2022.
  31. ↑ "Gallery Siena International Photo Awards". Retrieved 8 March 2022.
  32. ↑ "EUROPEAN WILDLIFE PHOTOGRAPHER OF THE YEAR 2018". Retrieved 8 March 2022.
  33. ↑ "The winners of the Sony world photography awards 2017 – in pictures". The Guardian. 21 April 2017. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 15 February 2019.
  34. ↑ "Migration in motion - Wildlife Photographer of the Year". Retrieved 8 March 2022.
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