Anup Shah

Anup grew up in Kenya but moved to London to study for a PhD in Mathematical Economics before taking up a position as a lecturer at the University of Essex.

On a research trip to India in 1986, he saw a Tiger in the Wild-a-Watershed moment, taking him back to a past interest in wildlife. He visited Ranthambore National Park and, struck by the idea of studying a small area as an insider, undertook a six-year project resulting in some of the most impressive wildlife photography of our time. The idea of immersing himself in a place or subject has influenced the way he works ever since.

Study

He pursued a personal course of study and became interested in the work of the French photographer, Henri Cartier-Bresson which started to move his photography beyond zoological content and towards aesthetics.

Works

He returned to East Africa, experimenting with remote cameras, photographing large mammals from a distance in order to capture the more dangerous animals. He became knowledgeable about animal behaviour and spent weeks at a time following individual creatures or packs to observe their rites and rituals and to make crucial decisions about the best location and time of day in which to photograph them to the greatest effect.

Success

He won the title of wildlife photographer of the year an astonishing 14 times. His magazine work includes eight full-length features for the national geographic magazine. His images have also been published widely not only in magazines but in the six books he has produced. He has also been featured in The World’s Top Wildlife Photographers (2004), Horzu magazine and Masters of Nature Photography in the National History Museum in 2013.

He has spent the past decade with his wife photographing the Chimpanzees of Tanzania’s Gombe National Park for their new book ‘Tales from Gombe’.