ABOUT
Wildlife photographer David Gibbon lives in the north of the United Kingdom in a city called Durham. David grew up with just his mother – who had very little money – and a brother who had Schizophrenia after his father – who was a miner – died when David was just 8 years-old. Despite his disadvantaged upbringing, David has always had an interest in wildlife and the natural world, owning all of the David Attenborough documentaries. He first bought a basic Canon DSLR camera in 2009 after visiting a local nature reserve and seeing other photographers capturing amazing wildlife images.
David continued to become more and more engrossed in his hobby and began following the work of professional wildlife photographers and studying how they capture award-winning images. He first took an interest in the arctic after seeing Arctic Fox images from Iceland by Australian photographer Joshua Holko.
David decided to research how he could also photograph Icelandic Arctic Fox, so after spending several months contacting various people, he made a solo trip in 2017. One of the images he captured on his first trip was – to his surprise – shortlisted in National Geographic’s Travel Photographer of the Year.
David enjoyed the trip so much he decided to begin running tours there to fund his return. He found the trips became so successful they have sold out every winter since. In 2020, David entered one of his Arctic Fox images into the prestigious Nature Photographer of the Year and was thrilled to have it Highly Commended. Another of David’s Arctic Fox images was also awarded in Travel Photographer of the Year in 2020.
David then began to research how he could get to Ellesmere Island, the closest land mass to the North Pole, to find the elusive Arctic Wolf. After three years of planning, David went on a trip with Joshua Holko and polar explorer Conrad Dickinson. They suffered frostbite enduring temperatures below -50 degrees, but failed to find Arctic Wolf. Undeterred, David returned to Ellesmere in 2022 and – this time – successfully photographed Arctic Wolf, Polar Bears and Musk Ox. David’s image of charging Musk Ox was awarded in 2023 in Nature Photographer of the Year.
David now owns Wild Lens Nature Tours (www.wildlensnature.tours) – his own wildlife photography tour company that specialises in arctic trips. In January 2023, David successfully led his first tour to Mongolia to photograph Snow Leopards and Pallas Cat. David is currently planning an exciting and major expedition to Greenland – involving both helicopters and snowmobiles – to photograph its arctic wildlife next year. David shoots exclusively with the Canon R3.
