All the guides at Wild Arena are professional photographers, wildlife experts or have years of seasoned experience as enthusiasts. They all have a passion for photography and sharing their knowledge with others. Across the team we have a variety of specialised skills and we work hard to constantly develop and update our collective knowledge.
We believe strongly in giving all of our customers the individual time they need, and so always ensure we have enough guides on hand to provide help and advice for all. Our aim is to give everyone the level of support they wish for, at all times. Similarly, with all Wild Arena tours, we ensure each group is accompanied by a member of our team together with knowledgeable local guides to enhance the experience of our guests. Please click on the guides name to be taken to their website to see their work.
David Southard
Managing Director & Video specialist
I have worked in the photographic industry for over 30 years and have always been involved in Wildlife. After studying photography at college, I started taking Natural History image making seriously in 1986 when working as an assistant cameraman for a specialist wildlife filmmaker. During this time, I concentrated on technical macro work including time lapse and studio lighting. I have photographed many subjects both in the UK and overseas and since then I’ve made many friends in the photographic and wildlife communities. I have been involved in management and photography training with a number of major photographic companies and also in event management since 1997. I founded Wild Arena in 2003 with the idea of sharing my knowledge with others and utilising my contacts in the photographic industry and zoological institutions to provide informative workshops with special access to a wide variety of interesting subjects.
I am also an ambassador for Manfrotto, working with them on training and development with a particular focus on video convergence and studio lighting. I have been widely published in the photographic press having contributed to many titles over a number of years.
Janet Southard
Executive Director & Macro specialist
I’ve been interested in wildlife and photography forever, through my dad giving me my first camera when I was 13 and always having animals around. I studied photography at college and worked in animal care at an animal rescue centre in Surrey. More recently I’ve been involved in customer service and have extensive experience at making things run smoothly for customers – a very useful asset when working with the less organized guides at Wild Arena!
I previously worked with film, medium format and black & white photography and now concentrate on Canon D-SLR equipment. I’m particularly interested in photographs showing animal behaviour and interaction. I’m also responsible for much of the development of Wild Arena’s own animal collection and currently care for 29 different species in our studio workshop. But importantly I’m also responsible for Branston and Baloo, the company’s lovable dogs, who are often seen snuffling around the cars at many of our workshops.
I have been working as a guide with Wild Arena since 2006 and have been the official photographer at Knowsley Safari park since 2012. I’m also involved in wedding & social photography and undertake other professional assignments throughout the year for a number of commercial clients.
Kevin Lunham
Tour Guide & Nikon Expert
I completed a photographic degree many years ago and worked in the commercial sector specialising in food photography. I then moved into Photoshop manipulation when this was in its infancy, before becoming the technical director of a creative agency.
I’ve always been interested in wildlife photography since my aunt bought me my first camera as a young boy. I’m now working full time as a wildlife photographer and guide, regularly having work published in a number of publications.
I’m an Associate of the Royal Photographic Society and live in the Cambridgeshire Fens but I love to travel to some of the colder places on earth, especially in Northern Europe. When I’m not out taking photographs, I work as a field ecologist, monitoring and managing some of the UK’s most endangered wildlife.
Neil McIntyre
Wild Arena Guest Guide – Scotland
I am indeed blessed to be able to call home one of the most stunning areas in the UK, the Cairngorms National Park, where I run my wildlife photography tours and image library. Both focus on a wide range of iconic species and locations near to my home and throughout the rest of Scotland.
My work is widely published and used in many national magazines like the BBC Wildlife magazine and national newspapers. Organisations like the Scottish Natural Heritage, the Cairngorms National Park Authority and the John Muir Trust are also amongst my clients. In addition to these, my images have also featured in over 25 books.
Over the years I have been fortunate to have won several awards in the Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition including the Eric Hoskings Award in two consecutive years, I have also been a category runner up and had a further four images highly commended. In the British Wildlife Photography Awards, I won the portraits category with an image of a red deer stag, with a further 4 other images having been highly commended in that competition to date.
My thought process and why I take pictures is a simple one, basically it’s my feel and vision of the things that I have seen in the wild. A single image which allows me to share these never to be repeated moments with others. It is a real privilege to call myself a wildlife photographer and I feel duty bound to show our wildlife and wild places in the most compassionate and visually compelling way I can. There is no better feeling than having these magical moments; when you have that one to one encounter with a wild otter and it never even knew you were there, or standing on top of towering sea cliff looking out over a glistening sea with thousands of seabirds thronging around you. The sights, the sounds, the smells all make up the experience that stir the soul and are all part of the image making, “take what you feel not what you see”.
Oliver Wright
Wild Arena Guest Guide – Macro
I’m a professional photographer with my time split between Leeds (UK) and Abisko (Sweden), where I work full time as a photography guide.
I’m extremely passionate about photography and I’m multi-disciplined in numerous photographic subjects.
For the last four consecutive years my wildlife and macro work has been in the British Wildlife Photography Awards. I’ve been in the national press numerous times and also in BBC Wildlife, New Scientist, Digital Photography and Grand Designs magazine. I have been flown out to Switzerland to photograph a wedding. In the last 12 months I have done numerous talks about my photography which I really enjoy doing.
My goal in photography, as well as in life is; “to ensure that everything is done as well as it can be” and therefore I try to constantly learn and push my boundaries.
My other passion in my life is my pet Bouvier Eersel. I’m at times a keen scuba diver (I’ve dived all over the world Hawaii, Gozo, Sri Lanka, Egypt and The Galapagos to name a few) and mountaineer (my highlights are probably climbing the Matterhorn, Illimani in Bolivia and being in the British Climbing team).
Raj Khepar
Wild Arena Guest Guide – Photoshop
I’m a photographer, retoucher and furniture maker based in the UK. I’m also a Canon Pro Imaging Technical Expert. I take on all kinds of work alongside my personal projects including commercial clients (covering all kinds of campaigns from stop motion animation to print ads), events and weddings, corporate headshots and product photography.
I am a self-confessed nerd that is happiest when creating something new across multiple mediums. I love finding new challenges so that I might learn something new. I started photography in school, as it was pretty much the only way for me to be creative, I really couldn’t draw! It was a hobby that I only took seriously once I picked up some studio lights for a bargain price. I’ve been playing around with lighting ever since. I graduated from the University for the Creative Arts, Farnham in 2013 having earned a Ba Hons in Photography. University helped develop my story telling, and while I was there I was able to teach other students studio and location lighting techniques. I have since been freelancing, taking on work for a variety of companies doing family portraiture, making marketing materials for different products and shooting headshots.
Kevin Morgans
Wild Arena Guest Guide
Born in Cheshire, UK, Kevin is a multi-award-winning wildlife photographer, tour leader and photographic guide with a passion for UK wildlife. Widely published and with a formidable social media following. Kevin was last year a category runner up in Nature Photographer of The Year and was proud to see his mountain hare image grace the cover of the prestigious British Wildlife Photography Awards collection in 2018. He’s also had multiple awarded images in International photography competitions such as the Nature Image Awards and Environmental Photographer of The Year.
Specializing in the British Isles, from the highest mountains to the coast. Kevin’s work celebrates the beauty of UK wildlife across the seasons. He is an experienced guide who has been running 1-2-1 and group workshops for many years, using his experience and passion to pass on his knowledge of photographing the natural world.
