Diana Andersen

Diana Andersen is an award-winning professional animal photographer and writer, a qualified designer, and a past educator in visual arts. In the late 1990s, she gave up an artistic career to work with animals as a zookeeper and a wildlife carer specialising in black cockatoos. During this time, Diana became passionate about animal education, both in animal care and wildlife conservation. Her camera came out again to illustrate the books and articles she wrote for magazine and book publishers and her own company, Animalinfo Publications.

In recognising the power of an image to raise awareness of wildlife issues, photography has become a passion and the focus of Diana's wildlife conservation articles. Her wildlife imagery has allowed her to combine a love of animals and art and helps her share the beauty and fragility of what she sees through her eyes and lens. Diana also runs wildlife photography workshops and tours to locations in Africa.

Josh Galicki

INTERNATIONAL JUDGE

Josh Galicki is an award-winning wildlife photographer based in Washington, D.C.

He spends the majority of his time out in nature locally and also visits remote and wild places whenever possible. He grew up in rural Pennsylvania, which provided the opportunity to observe and appreciate birds since he was a child. It began with songbirds in his backyard and later led to exploration in polar regions, cloud forests, deserts, and isolated islands across the globe. 

Josh constantly strives to bring the beauty of nature to life while being informative through his imagery. Some of the best natural experiences can be waiting out the back door and it’s his hope that more and more people are inspired to be curious and start observing what’s immediately around them.

Craig Greer

Craig Greer is a professional bird and wildlife photographer based in Tasmania.

He is a previous finalist in the BirdLife Australia Photography Awards and Australian Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year.

Craig shares his knowledge with budding bird and wildlife photographers through his workshops and tours in Australia and overseas. 

Jason Moore

Jason Moore is a 58-year-old Perth-based father of two. Originally from southern Africa, he moved to Australia in 2007.  

He is a passionate about nature and the outdoors, with 850 bird species on his life list (mostly from Australia and southern Africa). Jason originally developed his interest in wildlife photography while working in the game reserves and national parks of Zimbabwe and South Africa. He has been involved in wildlife photography for the last 30 years.

Jason has been the recipient of BirdLife Photography Gold, Silver and Bronze medals, and he has won the BirdLife Photography Image of the Year Award multiple times. He has also been shortlisted in the BirdLife Australia Photography Awards for the past four years, and was a category winner in 2023.

Internationally, Jason’s photos have appeared in the annual Bird Photographer of the Year (BPOTY) book ‒ and in 2023, he won Gold in the Black and White category. He was also the overall winner of the Comedy Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition in 2023.

Jason has a particular passion for waterfowl and shorebirds, and one of his favourite pastimes is spending time with his camera and waders in his floating hide.

Peter O'Brien

Peter O’Brien has a passion for photographing nature, particularly birds. Although he started later in life, he has immersed himself in the competitive photographic world. Peter was the Competition Coordinator at the Castle Hill RSL Photography Club (the largest in NSW) for eight years and is currently the President. In addition, Peter is the Print Secretary at The Entrance Camera Club.

Peter developed an interest in national and international exhibitions and has achieved an Excellence distinction in the International Federation of Photographic Art (EFIAP) and was awarded Grand Master of the Australian Photographic Society (GMAPS).

Peter has achieved 53 international photography awards in nature including Gold, Silver, Bronze. By encouraging others, he has had the pleasure of seeing others achieving recognition at international levels when they did not believe that this could be achieved.

Following his involvement in international competitions, Peter has moved into the judging world and is an accredited judge with the Federation of Camera Clubs NSW.

Peter can be found most days out photographing birds, both for pleasure and capturing “that image”.

Shelley Pearson

Shelley Pearson has been a bird and wildlife photographer for over 15 years and lives in Secret Harbour, WA with her husband. She is very passionate about birds and conservation.

Shelley’s successes include winning the Bird Behaviour category in the 2018 Birdlife Australia Photography Awards, being shortlisted in various competitions and being published in multiple magazines and books. Recently, she was shortlisted for the 2024 UK Bird Photographer of the Year. She is sponsored by Fujifilm Australia/Japan and travels to bird locations around Australia to test equipment before its release. 

She has transformed her passion for photography into a full-time profession after working as a school librarian. Her deep love for capturing and sharing captivating moments in the field inspires her to constantly explore and learn, and Shelley is continuously mastering new editing techniques for wildlife videos and images and experimenting with light and photography methods in the field. She is dedicated to bringing her unique creative vision to life and inspiring others with her work.

Shelley also leads tours with hosts David and Frances Pollock at Wooleen Station, a cattle station in the heart of the Murchison region in WA.

Angela Robertson-Buchanan

Angela Robertson-Buchanan is an award-winning creative bird photographer, published children's author and lecturer with Nikon School and the Australian Museum. 

Angela combines her interests in wildlife and photography by creating projects and exhibitions where she can convey a conservation message, as well as supporting wildlife organisations by donating prints or a percentage of sales.

Angela is also the founder and curator of an annual bird exhibition held in conjunction with National Bird Week and the Aussie Bird Count ‒ an event by Birdlife Australia to inspire Australians to become involved in bird conservation. Each year, 20% of exhibition art sales are donated to BirdLife Australia’s conservation work, and the exhibition has raised over $20,000 in the five years it has been running.

Angela's photographic techniques align with her respect for nature. She relies on natural light rather than flash, a passion she teaches in her workshops ‒ as well as the importance of maintaining high ethical standards when you are working with wildlife.

Angela loves photographing urban birds and is fascinated how they interact with the man-made environment.

Michael Snedic

Michael Snedic is a professional wildlife photographer, writer, speaker and tutor. He has been photographing across Australia (and overseas) for the past 28 years and he has loved every minute of it! 

Michael is a Nikon School tutor in Queensland and was an Ambassador and judge for the Nature Conservancy Australia’s Photo Competition in 2015, 2016 and 2017. He also judged international nature photography competitions ‘WildArt’ (2022 and 2023) and ‘Nature TTL’ (2024).

He has written articles for magazines such as Australian Geographic, Wildlife Australia, and Australian Birdlife, as well as various UK publications including BBC Wildlife Magazine.  Michael has also been a regular feature writer for Australia’s highest selling photography magazine Australian Photography since 2006.

As founder of WildNature Photo Expeditions, he has presented hundreds of photography workshops to thousands of participants across Australia and the world over the past 21 years. 

Michael is very passionate about wildlife and nature photography and loves sharing his images and photographic knowledge with others. He is an advocate for ethical wildlife photography and his motto is “take only photographs, leave only footprints.”

Melissa Zappelli

Melissa Zappelli is a self-taught nature photographer with a deep love for birds and their environment. She grew up on a remote desert cattle station and has always felt a strong connection with creatures and country.

Melissa has had images shortlisted in Australia, New Zealand, Antarctica and the New Guinea region (ANZANG) and Bird Photographer of the Year (BPOTY) photography competitions. A long-time interest in photography intensified back in 2014 when her husband was diagnosed with cancer and photography became a way to make sense of some extremely difficult life experiences. Time spent in the desert, forest and ocean photographing birds calmed anxiety and created perspective.

Melissa loves writing as much as she loves photography, and over time these two pursuits have become strongly intertwined as a means to evoke emotion, tell stories and create connection and meaning. These days Melissa uses her photography to advocate for conservation and the environment and to inspire a love of nature in others. 

Graham Cam

Graham Cam (PhD) is a research scientist, ornithologist, photographer and educator, and has engaged in bird photography from an early age.

Graham is an Honorary Life Member and former President of Birdlife Photography (BLP), and was recently presented with the 2024 BirdLife Photography Tom Oliver Award for photography education.

Graham shares his knowledge of photography and biology to BLP members and the wider photographic community, teaching the principles of bird photography and processing. He continues to act as an image moderator for BLP and is an accredited judge for the NSW Federation of Camera Clubs.

Graham was also awarded an Honorary Life Membership of The Australian Bird Study Association for 25 years of service to bird conservation. He has studied birds for over 57 years, using a variety of techniques including bird banding, censusing and photography.

Graham’s passion and dedication to the conservation of Australian birds and their habitats extends to promoting ethical wildlife photography. As a research biologist and former member of a CSIRO Ethics Committee, his advice to photographers is that the welfare of the bird or animal comes first, even if it means missing that once in a lifetime image.