Seeing wildlife differently: creative photography from familiar subjects

Wildlife photography often involves working at extremes. From remote environments and challenging lighting to the extreme levels of patience and persistence that can be required to get a shot, it demands more than technical skill – it's as much about observation, adaptability and creativity.

Professional wildlife photographer and Canon Ambassador Dani Connor has certainly gone to extremes to photograph nature. Not only has she moved to a different country to follow her passion, she's crowd-funded the purchase of a woodland – a place she now calls the squirrel forest.

Dani's interest in photography started close to home, with snaps of her pet dog, insects and ducks at a local pond. Then she won a photography competition organised by a zoo in the UK. She sold her prize to fund her first serious camera, a Canon EOS 550D.

She went on to study zoology at university, reasoning that it would help her get closer to wildlife and hence get better photos. She then worked at the Natural History Museum in London. But, fed up of "not seeing daylight and nature", she relocated to Sweden to volunteer for a photographer who had golden eagles hides.

It was during her initial five-month stay that her videos of red squirrels went viral. One video clip got 15 million views on social media.

"I had only a few hundred followers before this point, and within a few days I'd gained 60,000 more," she recalls.

"Even after years of making short films and really getting into video work, I still see myself as a photographer," Dani says. "I think it's because you can put so much into a single frame, and one photo can tell such a powerful story.

"Also, it's harder for a single frame to be perfect. You can get away with, say, a random branch in the background of a video, because the focus is more on movement and the behaviour of the animal rather than on creating an incredibly beautiful standalone image."

Dani is nothing if not a perfectionist. Despite spending countless hours in the squirrel forest over many years, she says she's taken "maybe 20 photos" that she's truly happy with.

Photography also allows her to be more experimental. "There are interesting techniques like using a slow shutter speed or working with multiple exposures. With video, it's often just a case of pressing record and hoping for something fun to happen. So, yes, photography is harder, I find, but more rewarding."

An understanding of animal behaviour is essential for a wildlife photographer, but Dani was surprised to see red squirrels near the village she moved to. “You can find them in a few pockets of England, but generally I'd never seen them," she says. "So, to come to Sweden and be surrounded by them was amazing. I quickly discovered the core area of a woodland they were in – what I now call the squirrel forest – and I have spent the past five years focusing on this area."

Even after photographing squirrels for all this time, Dani still finds they inspire her to keep pushing further. "The more I see squirrels and watch them do things, I know there are more images I still need."

Creative influences include other photographers on Instagram or Pinterest, and also less obvious sources. "I look at children's books because often they illustrate wildlife and animals in a very charismatic, whimsical way," she explains. "I've occasionally seen illustrations of things that squirrels have done, but it's so hard to get a photo of – for example, squirrels picking up and eating mushrooms."

As well as keeping folders of screenshots on her Pinterest and on her phone, Dani also maintains a notebook of hand-drawn thumbnails of photos that she'd like to capture. "Sometimes it can take me years to get an image," she says. "I found a lovely dead birch tree and wanted to get a squirrel sitting on it. It took months for me to encourage the squirrels to go in that area, then one squirrel sat in the right place. But I found the photo very staged. It looked like something you'd take from a hide and it didn't feel very wild." So she's trying again during different seasons, to see what that adds to the scene.

The squirrels have grown accustomed to Dani's presence. "When I whistle, they recognise the sound," she explains. "But sometimes I do workshops and the squirrels are really nervous on the first day – so they don't like other people. When I'm not here, I ask my neighbours to feed them once a week, and they never see them."

Dani feeds the squirrels a mixture of shelled and unshelled nuts, but says she is careful not to overfeed them. Baiting wildlife is a controversial subject in wildlife photography, and Dani suggests that larger predators shouldn't be baited. "It's important for them to be constantly in peak physical condition," she says. “If they become used to the bait and they're not maintaining their strength or hunting skill, then it can massively impact them when they suddenly don't have that food available."

The squirrels, however, are self-sufficient. "They're not always interested in the food I provide them," she explains, "because they're all in the tops of the trees eating pine cones and spruce cones.

"I also think there are things that can impact wildlife more than just baiting them with food – such as sound baits or scent baits. I think it's more important that wildlife photographers don't confuse animals in this way."

What advice would Dani offer to photographers who are looking to capture a familiar subject in a more creative way?

"Sometimes unique images actually just come from time. So I think when you're starting photography, it's important just to do the standard portraits as well," she suggests. “The more time you spend with animals, the more you're going to see something interesting.

"Spend some time taking pictures of different subjects as well. Although squirrels are my main focus, I still photograph any wildlife," she adds. Dani has visited Antarctica to photograph penguins, and Mexico to shoot monarch butterflies, and came back with new ideas for squirrel photography. "I've also tried street photography recently, and I got all sorts of inspiration about using different techniques, such as high-key and black-and-white."

She also recommends experimenting with different lighting. "It's very easy to shoot during the 'golden hour', but I really like 'blue hour' photography because you can get some moody cold tones. I think sometimes we need to force ourselves to shoot in midday light as well. When you're in the forest, midday light isn't as harsh as when you're in the open – you've got that lovely canopy to dapple the light."

For Dani, creativity doesn't come from chasing rare species in hard-to-reach areas – it comes from looking deeper at accessible subjects close to home. By returning to the same woodland, the same animals and the same scenes, she's able to focus on experimenting with new techniques and capture moments that others might miss.

Whether you are photographing squirrels, sport or street life, the approach is the same: spend time, make the most of the light, and keep challenging yourself to create differently.


Take part in Dani's “Wild Light” challenge on Canon Club.