About Stuart Wells

Before February 2009 if you gave me an SLR and asked me to take your picture, I would have looked at you with a blank expression on my face and asked you what button to push. The only camera I could use at the time was a standard point and shoot, several people had tried to show me how to use a SLR, but it was hopeless! I just wanted to point and shoot, that was good enough for me…… So I thought!

Whilst floating around in the Red Sea, in awe of the amazing marine life swimming around me, I realised my whole life all 30 years of them I’d loved wildlife, but like most city slickers only experienced this through TV documentaries or seen wildlife in Zoo’s! Suddenly it dawned on me, “I’m actually in the wild here”. On this trip I had upgraded my trusty point and shoot to a fancy underwater point and shoot, before I knew it I had used all my film in my camera and pestered my wife to get more from the scuba shop. Five cameras later you could say I was hooked!

The pictures I took were rubbish, but for me that didn’t matter, it had opened my eye up to what was possible, seeing animals and marine life in the wild was not just confined to a dream. It’s possible for us all to see, just stop and look around we are surrounded by beauty and life, we just don’t appreciate it enough to see it. For me the trip to Egypt changed the way I see things, it ignited a passion for photography and making images of nature for all to see.

The last three years has been a steep learning curve, I now use top of the range Canon DSLR cameras and lenses which allow me to create the image I want.

I have been on three African safaris, visited the Farne islands, numerous excursions in to the British country side and been on several big cat encounters within controlled conditions, and worked along side Scott Johnson from the Edge Photography.

January 2011 I Joined SINWP, a world wide society for wild life photographers. At the start of 2012 I gained licentiate grade from the Society and am currently working towards associate grade. Being a member of SINWP brings monthly competitions in which I have gained many Silver, Bronze and highly commended awards. In October and November 2011 I was awarded two Gold awards which led to one of my images being entered in to the societies grand final. My Monochrome image called “Danger by the River” was ranked within the top 5 images for the Monochrome catagory out of several thousand which I am extremely proud of, This image has also featured in the July 2013 edition of  Black + White Photography magazine. You can see this image in my Monochrome Gallery

In August 2011 Outdoor Photography magazine published one of my images of a Rock Agama which you can see in my Reptiles Gallery, hopefully there will be more to come.

I am currently working on and writing a book about the annual Wildebeest migration within Kenya’s Masai Mara with the aim to publish in the near future.