Rachel Bigsby

Among the growing number of emerging female wildlife photographers, Rachel Bigsby is one who has enjoyed a rapid ascent in recent years. With prestigious awards and TV credits stacking up, she tells Keith Wilson about the reasons behind her success and her high hopes for the future…

- Rachel Bigsby

Many professional photographers are self-taught, but how many are self-taught and without a degree or tertiary qualification of any kind? Step forward Rachel Bigsby, the 25-year-old Sussex-based wildlife photographer and Nikon Creator, whose stunning pictures have already been published by the National Geographic Society, and her long lens film work has been featured on national TV.

While other young women and men her age were busy attending lectures and tutorials at universities and colleges up and down the land, Rachel’s education involved making regular visits to Britain’s best-known seabird colonies to broaden her knowledge of their behaviour and ecology, and indulge her passion.

Her fascination for ornithology was nurtured at a young age by her nature-loving grandfather through regular birdwatching trips to their local coastal reserve. She also became a familiar face and then a volunteer at Skomer Island and RSPB Bempton Cliffs, all the while improving her camera skills and understanding of her favourite subjects through many hours of intent observation. In 2019, her persistence and dedication paid off when she was approached by BBC Earth to film wildlife for a new YouTube series, The Science of Cute. Most of us would view this chance as her lucky break, but Rachel is one who believes that luck is merely an opportunity seized. So, how have the opportunities come her way so quickly? Perhaps there is a secret to the success that she now enjoys.

It seems like the obvious question to ask, and right from her first response I am struck by the confidence that she projects…