Our Guides

All our guides are either professional photographers, wildlife experts or have years of seasoned experience as enthusiasts. They all share a passion for the natural world and capturing its beauty on camera to share with others.

We also believe strongly in giving everyone time, and so always ensure we have enough guides on hand to provide help and advice.  Our aim is to give everyone the level of support they wish for, at all times. Similarly overseas, we ensure each group (usually limited to eight), is accompanied by a member of our team. Knowledgeable local guides will be used whenever appropriate to enhance the tour experience.

We are fortunate to work with a number of guest guides on some of our events, each an expert in their sphere. Heather Angel, who hosts our New Forest courses, has been one of the founders of professional wildlife photography in the UK and her work has been recognised with many international awards. Nature photographer Neil McIntyre, who specialises in photographing Scottish wildlife and landscapes, leads our tours in Scotland.

David Southard has worked in the photographic industry for over 25 years and has always been involved in Wildlife. After studying photography at college, he started taking Natural History image making seriously in 1986 when working as an assistant cameraman for a specialist wildlife film maker. During this time he concentrated on technical macro work including time lapse and studio lighting. He has photographed many subjects both in the UK and overseas and since then he has made many friends in the photographic and wildlife communities. He has been involved in management and photography training with a number of major photographic retailers and also in event management since 1997. He founded Wild Arena in 2003 with the idea of sharing his knowledge with others and utilising his contact in the photographic industry and zoological institutions to provide informative workshops with special access to a wide variety of animals

When David manages to find time he still likes to find those wild places and special animals to photograph. Scandinavia is a particular favourite of Davids and he was very pleased when his photograph of Bodari the King Bear made it through to the finals of the prestigous Wildlife Photographer of the Year Competition.

Wouldn't Leave Home without

 My main camera body is a Canon 1D MkIV which I love as it is good for everything, when it comes to birds and animals my 'standard' lens is 600mm f4 to big and heavy for some but I think it hits the mark. For more spontaneous pictures a 100mm 2.8 macro always opens up lots of potential for detail pictures and 24-105mm and a trusty set of Lee Filters sort out the landscapes. I'm never with out at least one Gitzo tripod to keep the camera steady and the pictures sharp whilst i'm kept warm and dry in a Paramo Espira smock and Cascada trousers.

Favourite Recent Project

 Whilst I am normally found behind the 600mm my other passion is Macro and recent work on new studio sets has produced some nice results of our desert Gecko's.

You can normally find David on most of the UK one day workshops and European tours. 

Janet Southard has been interested in wildlife and photography for many years, having studied photography at college and worked in animal care at an animal rescue centre in Surrey. More recently she has been involved in customer service and has extensive experience at making things run smoothly for clients – a very useful asset when working with the less organised guides at Wild Arena!

Having previously worked in film, medium format and black & white photography, she now concentrates on Canon D-SLR equipment and is particularly interested in photographs showing animal behavior and interaction. Janet is also responsible for much of the development of Wild Arena's own animal collection and she currently cares for 24 different species in our studio workshop. She is also responsible for Branston and Baloo, the company's lovable dogs, who are often seen snuffling around the Land Rover at many of our workshops

Janet has been working as a guide with Wild Arena since 2006 and now helps out on many UK workshops and short tours. Janet is also involved in wedding & social photography and undertakes other professional assignments throughout the year.

Wouldn't Leave Home Without

 At the heart of my camera bag is my much loved Canon EOS 1D MarkIII this has become a firm favourite thanks to its intuitive controls and superb full frame quality. My general preference for behaviour pictures or images of animals in a wider environment means that a combination of a 100-400mm f4/5.6 and 500mm f4 are perfect, for the longer lens i am also never with out my Gitzo tripod and fantastic Wimberly MkII head. Being prone to feeling the cold I am always wrapped up in my Paramo Torres smock and Aspira trousers.

Favourite Recent Project

Always keen to capture animals on the move I was thrilled to have the chance to catch some quick shots of Walker the Polar bear on our recent trip to the Highland Wildlife Park. His youthfull antics in the heavily frozen enclosure pool were both a great opportunity and lots of fun to watch.

You can normally find Janet on some of the UK one day workshops and European tours.

Peter Smart has been a keen and successful photographer all his life and enjoys travelling around the world, with a particular affinity for Africa. He turned professional in 2002 to pursue his passion for capturing images of wildlife and the natural world. Peter has been part of Wild Arena from its inception and continues to provide photographic guidance on many of the workshops and tours in the UK.

Peter established Wild Arena's overseas programme and has now escorted around 80 tours to a variety of countries including Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda, Botswana, Namibia, Zambia, Madagascar, India, Sri Lanka, Borneo, Indonesia, Brazil, Ecuador, the Galapagos Islands and the Arctic. He has also taught at many hundreds of Wild Arena’s photographic workshops at numerous locations around the UK. Peter treats it as a genuine privilege to introduce clients to the wildlife, landscapes and people of the countries he visits and his knowledge, experience, organisational skills and sense of fun ensures that not only will you have excellent photographic and game-viewing opportunities but also a highly enjoyable holiday!

Wouldn't Leave Home Without

I continue to use my much-loved Canon 1D MkIII on my frequent travels as it produces great images, has superb auto-focus and, most importantly, has never let me down in even the harshest environments. My favourite lens for most destinations is Canon's superb 70-200mm F2.8, often coupled with a 1.4x extender. This provides excellent image quality and offers great flexibility for capturing wildlife in its environment. On tours I usually travel light as my priority is to help the clients with their photography but when travelling alone I will often use my favourite "safari" lens which is a 300mm F2.8.

Favourite Recent Project

I am always keen to offer our clients new and exciting destinations with interesting and unique itineraries. It can often taken several years from the idea for a new tour, discussing this with clients, talking to specialists, launching it, and finally leading the first trip. Sri Lanka, Namibia, Madagascar & Brazil were all new destinations in the last couple of years and Zambia will be next in 2013. The Pantanal in Brazil proved to be an amazing destination for wildlife photography with an abundance of animals and birds and, remarkably, we enjoyed six incredible sightings of Jaguars ... I have already arranged a return trip for 2013!

You can normally find Peter in Africa, Asia, South America or the Arctic ... and, when travelling overseas allows, on our UK one day workshops!

Sue Jones has a deep interest in animal photography and has built an extensive knowledge of animal behaviour from the various venues that Wild Arena use. She has travelled through Africa and Europe in search of those elusive photographs. Having come to photography through the film age, she is still occasionally found in a darkroom. 

Recently, she has been experimenting with printing modern photos using classical techniques such as Cyanotype and Van Dyke brown.

Sue is an Associate of the Royal Photographic Society and a member of its Nature Group, and is studying towards a degree in photography. She can normally be found guiding our UK workshops along with Paul.

Heather Angel is a British award-winning wildlife photographer who traverses the globe in search of pictures – from polar bears in the Arctic to penguins in Antarctica. Even as a child she lived a peripatetic life, with her father serving in the RAF, she attended 14 different schools in as many years. Her passion for nature, led to a zoology degree at Bristol University; but it was only whilst working as a marine biologist that she became hooked on photography. In addition to managing her own stock library, Natural Visions, she is a prolific writer with 50 books – including one devoted to water – to her name.

Always an enthusiastic communicator, Heather tutors workshops all over the world. For more than a quarter of a century, Heather Angel has been at the forefront of nature photography in Britain and her work has been recognised by many awards both in Britain and overseas. Heather Angel was President of the Royal Photographic Society from 1984-86 and she has been a Special Professor at Nottingham University since 1994. Major solo exhibitions of Heather’s work have been on show in London as well as in China, Malaysia and Egypt. Her latest exhibition, Natural Visions, toured Britain throughout 2000 – 2004.

Neil McIntyre Award winning photographer Neil McIntyre is based near Aviemore in the heart of The Cairngorms National Park, where he has lived for the past 27 years. Specializing in Scottish wildlife and landscapes Neil devotes a large amount of time to his local area and wildlife such is the abundance of opportunities the area offers. Frequent trips to the West Highlands are another favorite. Neil's work appears in a wide range of magazines and books, amongst others BBC Wildlife and The Field , organizations like Scottish Natural Heritage and the Cairngorms National Park are regular clients. His book on Red Deer published by Colin Baxter is being reprinted and will again be available from June 07. Neil is also a past winner and has had numerous highly commended pictures in the Wildlife Photographer of the Year Awards. He is currently working on a new book venture. Scotland Wildlife & Landscapes.

David Fidler has been involved in the photographic industry for over 15 years. After completing his degree in photography he worked in London specialising in commercial images.

He currently works for a leading photographic company, which helps fuel his passion for wildlife and landscapes. David has recently been working with Wild Arena bringing his training skills, vast DSLR knowledge, fieldcraft techniques and friendly Geordie personality to the team