Number 4 – Laurie Campbell

Laurie Campbell was once described by wildlife film-maker, Simon king, “as the doyen of Scottish nature photography.” Who could argue? Laurie Campbell in so many ways epitomises how a nature photographer should behave. In other words, he conducts himself in such a way that rather than talking a good picture, he lets his pictures speak for themselves. An incredibly knowledgeable naturalist (unfortunately, an increasingly rare trait in a nature photographer these days), Laurie is a great all-rounder. Equally as good shooting birds and mammals as he is landscapes, plants and insects.

From what I know of him, either through the occasional documentary or article, Laurie Campbell is a quiet, reserved man. Certainly not a flamboyant character but one that seems ideally suited to spending long periods out of doors, on his own.  An observant and practical individual who has built stone hides to photograph golden eagles or tree-hides to shoot nesting herons. Chris Packham once said of Laurie “that he is a man, impervious to temperature extremes.” A very useful characteristic, I would say, if you concentrate almost exclusively on Scottish wildlife!

Laurie Campbell was born in 1958 and studied photography at Napier University in Edinburgh from 1977-1981. He has the largest collection of Scottish nature photographs by a single photographer, amounting to over 140,000 images and was the first in Scotland to make a living from wildlife photography. He has authored a number of books and illustrated many which include, The Wildlife Photographs of Laurie Campbell, The RSPB Guide to Bird and Nature Photography, Badgers, Wild Scotland and Golden Eagle. For the latter, he dedicated 6 years covering the life history of this magnificent bird, often spending days in hides on remote Scottish hillsides. Represented by some of the world’s leading image libraries, including Getty, Laurie has received a staggering 26 awards in the prestigious BBC Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition. A testament to the consistent high standard of his work.  

He has a style of that goes beyond the ordinary. Careful use of light and viewpoint. Indeed, I would go as far to say that Laurie was one of the first British photographers to adopt the “low-angle” approach when shooting wildlife, something that is the norm these days. Laurie Campbell has influenced so many photographers and just from this text, you can see why. His superb images of river otters can be seen as a feature length spread in the latest issue of BBC Wildlife magazine but if you want to see more of his work, visit his website here.

Tags: laurie campbell, laurie campbell photography, nature photographer, scottish wildlife photographer