"Shoot the same species of animal again and again – it'll make you a better wildlife photographer"

For my talk I have chosen to include some of the habitats that I photograph wildlife in, starting from the high mountains photographing animals like musk ox, making my way to the coast where I photograph seabirds.

Throughout the talk I want to emphasize that how we choose to photograph nature matters, both to ourselves and to wildlife.

I picked up my first DSLR when I did a masters in Wildlife Biology and Conservation in 2009; it was a way to document the animals I studied in the field.

Later on, I remember seeing images by Bence Mate in the Wildlife Photographer of the Year competitions and being in awe at the photos he was making.

I must have read The Handbook of Bird Photography, which Bence co-authored, several times as I tried to learn the ins and outs of becoming a better photographer.

That the welfare of the animals we photograph comes before the image. Nature photographers can do a lot of good when it comes to highlighting conservation issues and, simply, sharing images of wildlife can encourage more people to take an interest in the natural world.

However, as nature photography is becoming ever more popular, we can also do a lot of damage by trying to get the best images by any means necessary.

One of the images that really stands out to me is of a roaring red deer stag in autumn. I had just started to use OM System cameras (previously Olympus cameras) and I had set up a hide in the hills where red deer usually rut.

As a result of scouting the area and learning the routes the deer might take, I set up a hide in a location that would give me a nice autumnal background as a stag passed by.

Thankfully, my research paid off and I was rewarded one morning as a big stag walked right past the hide, letting out a roar as he passed.

This image was the first of mine to be used on the cover of a wildlife photography magazine, so it means a lot to me for many reasons.

I think one of the best ways of standing out and improving as a wildlife photographer is to shoot the same species of animal over and over again.

For the last five years I have been capturing, and taking people out to photograph, the black grouse lek in Scotland each April.

Having spent so much time with this animal I've noticed that I'm much better at predicting their behaviour and this has led to a wide portfolio of images in various weather and lighting conditions.