Whether you’re looking for inspiration or want to fill your Instagram feed with more quality work, and specifically from women photographers, you’ve come to the right place.
Amy Davies recently shared her suggested list of the 10 women photographers you should follow for International Women’s Day, and I collated a list of some of my favourite female street photographers. But now, it’s time to put a spotlight on the women working in wildlife, nature and conservation.
From underwater and drone photography to birds and wildlife conservation photojournalism here’s a selection of my favourites in no particular order:
Ami Vitale
Ami Vitale is an acclaimed National Geographic photographer, writer, documentary filmmaker and founder of Vital Impacts. Ami’s career is dedicated to documenting and addressing global crises and spotlights critical issues affecting our world.
Rachel Bigsby
Rachel Bigsby is a self-taught wildlife photographer with a deep affinity with seabirds. Guided by purpose, passion, and a profound dedication to her craft, she has forged her own path in the field. Her work has been recognised with the Natural Artistry Award in Wildlife Photographer of the Year (2023) and the Portfolio Award in Bird Photographer of the Year (2023). She is also an ambassador for the RSPB and a Nikon Creator.
Lara Jackson-Turner
Lara Jackson-Turner is a conservation biologist and wildlife photographer aiming to be a voice for the voiceless, telling the stories of those who work tirelessly to protect some of the most endangered species on the planet. She was Highly Commended in the Animal Portraits category of Wildlife Photographer of the Year (2021) with her fierce lioness portrait, ‘Raw Moment’.
Margot Raggett MBE
AP’s recent winner of the Hero of Photography award for her Remembering Wildlife project, Margot Raggett is a wildlife and travel photographer specialising in Kenya, Masai Mara, Tanzania and more. Remembering Wildlife, a series of books covering elephants, rhinos, great apes, cheetahs, lions, African wild dogs, bears, leopards, and tigers have raised over £1.25m for conservation projects.
Joanna Steidle
Joanna Steidle is an international award-winning professional drone pilot, aerial photographer/videographer, and artist. In 2025 she was honored as International Aerial Photographer of the Year for her drone imagery, particularly related to marine ecosystems and ocean wildlife.
Britta Jaschinski
Known for her unique style of photojournalism, Britta Jaschinski’s work can be hard-hitting and yet they are hauntingly beautiful. Jaschinski is the co-founder of Photographers Against Wildlife Crime™, an international group of photographers and journalists who have joined forces to use their iconic images and powerful words, to help bring an end to the illegal wildlife trade in our lifetime.
Dani Khan da Silva
Dani Khan Da Silva is a South Asian–Portuguese award-winning National Geographic Explorer, and founder of Photographers Without Borders. She is known for her work at the intersections of Indigenous science, rights of nature, interspecies communication, decolonization, conservation, and ethical storytelling. Her long-term projects span orca matriarchs, interspecies communication and documenting critically endangered orangutan and tiger kin.
Celina Chien
Celina is a conservationist and photojournalist. Her award-winning photography tells powerful stories that harness empathy for change and advocate for biodiversity and environmental justice. Her work has been recognised by the likes of Wildlife Photographer of the Year, with a highly commended image in the 57th competition, before sitting on the judging panel of the 59th.
Latika Nath
Dr. Latika Nath is a conservation ecologist and photographer, an author, diver, hotelier and sustainability expert. She was the first women in the world and the first Indian with a Doctorate from the University of Oxford on Tiger Conservation and Management. Acknowledging her work on big cat conservation, she was given the title of the “Tiger Princess”. Latika is also a Leica ambassador and Nikon Creator, and travels the world to photograph various species, and has worked with tribal communities.
Ellie Rothnie
Ellie Rothnie is a UK based photographer, tour leader and photographic guide. She is a Canon EMEA ambassador and has won awards in numerous competitions such as British Wildlife Photography Awards. She photographs in the UK and further afield, with projects taking her to east Africa, USA and Europe. One of her current ongoing projects is with the charismatic Dalmatian pelicans of Lake Kerkini.
Tshepo Phokoje
Tshepo Phokoje is a Botswanan safari guide, photographer and wildlife advocate in the Okavango Delta. She is raising more awareness about the beauty of nature, culture and the people in Botswana. Her passion for storytelling led to the founding of Vixen Excursions (Pty) Ltd, a Botswana Pride Mark–approved company proudly showcasing the region’s landscapes, culture, and spirit.
Kate Newman
Kate Newman is a Melbourne based based photographer specializing in wildlife portraits and conservation imagery. From her backyard in Australia to the African savanna her work truly celebrates the wild and its beauty.
Cristina Mittermeier
Cristina Mittermeier is a marine biologist, activist and one of the most influential conservation photographers of our time. Her images focus on demonstrating the relationship between human cultures, indigenous people and biodiversity, the ocean, and climate change. In 2014, she co-founded SeaLegacy with her partner, Paul Nicklen, a non-profit organisation using photography and film to promote the protection of the world’s oceans.
Fiona Wardle
Fiona Wardle is a conservation photographer and expedition guide who believes that empathy is one of the most powerful tools we have to protect the natural world. Her work is guided by a deep love for wild places and the quiet, often unseen stories within them.
Michelle Valberg
Michelle Valberg, C.M. is one of Canada’s most celebrated wildlife and nature photographers, an award-winning visual storyteller, Nikon Ambassador, and recipient of the Order of Canada whose career spans more than four decades and all seven continents.
Known for her evocative wildlife photography and powerful environmental storytelling, Michelle creates images that go beyond what we see. From spirit bears in the Great Bear Rainforest to polar bears in the Arctic and intimate portraits of wildlife across the globe, her work captures connection, emotion, and the fragile beauty of the natural world. Her photography invites viewers to engage, reflect, and care more deeply about conservation and our shared planet.
Priyanshi Bachhawat Nahata
Priyanshi showcases intimate pictures that range from the emotional bond between animals to the harsh realities of the predator-prey relationship. She stands against wildlife abuse and hopes people will take a closer look at the undisturbed side of nature as a result of her work. She runs many photography workshops around the world, where she also gives lectures on conservation.
Julie Chandelier
Whether in the polar regions, atop mountains, or beneath the ocean’s surface, French/Swedish photographer Julie has dedicated recent years to raising awareness through her imagery and telling the stories about the natural world we live in. She’s been fortunate to work on expeditions in some of the most remote corners of the planet, where extreme conditions make capturing images both challenging and unforgettable—from documenting whale research in the Subantarctic Islands to guiding in the high Arctic and Antarctica.
Kelley Luikey
Kelley Luikey is an award-winning fine art photographer known for her signature soft, dreamy style that brings a painterly, intimate quality to bird photography. While much of her time is devoted to photographing the birds of the South Carolina Lowcountry, Kelley also travels in pursuit of new species and fresh perspectives.
Dani Connor
Dani Connor is a wildlife photographer with a special affinity with squirrels. Following a trip to northern Sweden where Dani came across red squirrels, she discovered four orphaned baby squirrels. After sharing a viral video of Baby Pear, she was inspired to focus on YouTube, where she shares her journey of photographing wildlife.
Piper Mackay
Piper Mackay’s intrepid journey photographing African wildlife and cultural photographer has taken her on adventures spanning the whole continent. Driven to create compelling imagery and stories that make a difference, her work breaks expectations by moving away from the beaten path, immersed in the cultures and wild environments.
Her infrared photographs of indigenous women and giraffes in Kenya’s Maasai Mara won Travel Photographer of the Year in 2024.
Malini Chandrasekar
It was during Malini’s first expedition to the Arctic during the Pandemic that her life-long love affair with photography began. She combines her creativity, a love of storytelling and a highly developed sense of composition to photograph polar bears, arctic foxes and walruses, and more in extreme conditions. Malini captured not only their pure beauty but something more ephemeral. Her wildlife photography has taken root in an empathic awareness and a desire to foster a deeper understanding of the natural world.
Aztrid Novillo
Aztrid is a wildlife filmmaker from Ecuador currently based in the archipelago of Svalbard. Combining her background in architect and urban planner, with wildlife filmmaking, has allowed her to follow a path towards creating awareness of our interaction with other species and the effects of our settlements. She collaborates with NGO’s and part of the Girls who Click 2025 ambassador program.
Shannon Wild
Shannon Wild is an acclaimed wildlife photographer, cinematographer, and a devoted advocate for wildlife conservation. She has contributed her creative talents to esteemed organisations like National Geographic, NatGeo Wild and the United Nations. Shannon established Wild In Africa – Bracelets For Wildlife, a heartfelt initiative aimed at providing direct support to various wildlife conservation organisations. Additionally, she co-founded MAC MEDIA, a natural history and film production company.
Marina Cano
Marina Cano is a Spanish wildlife photographer that has a sensitive and intimate approach to wildlife. Her work has gained international prestige through competitions like BBC Wildlife Photographer of the Year and seen the covers of National Geographic. She has published books including Babies of the Wild and Wild Soul, and is a European Canon Ambassador, Banana Republic Wildlife Ambassador and Think Tank and Cotton Carrier collaborator, and collaborates with the likes of Vital Impacts and Remembering Wildlife.
Georgina Steytler
Georgina is a nature photographer with a passion for birds, ethics and conservation. She grew up in Donnybrook, a small country town in Western Australia, where she spent hours wandering about the native jarrah and marri bushland developing an enduring love of Australian nature. She works on various conservation projects as well as teaching the art and ethics of nature photography through workshops, talks and articles, both in Australia and across the world. Her first book, For the Love of Birds, was published by Australian Geographic, with all author profits donated to conservation.
She won the Behaviour: Invertebrates category in the 2025 Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition for her stunning image titled “Mad Hatterpillar.”
Tesni Ward
Tesni Ward is an award winning, professional wildlife photographer and OM SYSTEM ambassador. While the majority of her work focuses on British wildlife, she also photographs projects across the world and has aspirations to promote conservation and education through her images.
Patricia Homonylo
Patricia is determined to speak for the most vulnerable non-human beings and to give agency to the causes that drive her through her. Patricia has used her photographic and filmmaking to assist many animal and conservation efforts, including Madagascar’s The Mad Dog Initiative, Hope for Wildlife, Great Lakes Cormorants and more. She was recently awarded the grand prize and title Bird Photographer of the Year, becoming only the second woman to receive this honour, with recognition for her photojournalism in Wildlife Photographer of the Year and Nature Photographer of the Year.
Laura Núñez Bañuls
Laura Núñez is a Spanish wildlife photographer and conservationist who uses her photos and videos to raise awareness of endangered and lesser-known species. While this work now takes her around the world, her passion for photographing animals was discovered at an early age.
Kim Paffen
Kim Paffen is an Africa Expert, Wildlife Photographer, FGASA-qualified safari guide and content creator for Africa’s Wild Spaces. Over a decade, I’ve chased golden light across the Serengeti, tracked animals on foot in South Africa, qualified as a guide in the Maasai Mara, and her work has earnt recognition from NatGeo Photographer of the Year and Africa Geographic.
Imara Njeri
Imara Njeri is a wildlife photographer and filmmaker with a background in film production from the Toronto Film School. Her work spans wildlife, portrait, interior, and product photography—each guided by a passion for storytelling and capturing the essence of every subject. Through her wildlife photography, she hopes to inspire awareness, wonder, and respect for the natural world. She is also the founder of the We Are Nature community.
Amy Jones
Since 2018, Amy Jones has worked on the ground across seven different countries to document the plight of animals used for food, entertainment, fashion, and experimentation. Amy’s work seeks to replace false narratives with images of what is really happening to animals behind closed doors, giving people a glimpse into the places that are kept hidden. She is the photographer behind Moving Animals and her work has strengthened the campaigns of multiple animal advocacy groups.
Karine Aigner
Karine is an award-winning photojournalist who captures visual stories that explore the relationships between humans and the animal world. Her work has been featured in National Geographic Magazine, Audubon, The New York Times, Nature Conservancy Magazine, The Guardian, WWF and BBC Wildlife. Her photo ‘The Big Buzz’ of a cactus bee mating ball won the 58th Wildlife Photographer of the Year Awards in 2022, making her the fifth woman ever to win the grand title.
Melissa Groo
Melissa Groo is a leading voice and consultant on ethics in wildlife photography. She seeks to tell stories of the natural world through images and words. It is her mission to inspire conservation of the animals she is privileged to witness, and the habitat crucial to their survival. She has written extensive guides on the ethics of photographing animals. She is a Sony Artisan of Imagery, an Associate Fellow with the International League of Conservation Photographers.
Sue Flood
Sue Flood is a photographer and filmmaker, zoologist, adventure travel leader and public speaker. In January 2026 Sue was awarded an OBE (Officer of the Order of the British Empire) in the King’s New Year 2026 Honours List for Services to Conservation, to Science and to the Natural World. Her work takes her all over the world but she has a special passion for the wildlife and icy beauty of the Polar regions and is one of the very few women professional photographers who returns again and again to Earth’s harshest and most demanding environments.
Her first visit to the Poles happened during her 11 years in the BBC’s prestigious Natural History Unit, working on such global hits as The Blue Planet and Planet Earth, with Sir David Attenborough.
Maureen Gathoni
Maureen Gathoni is a conservation photographer from Kenya. Her work documents the interconnected stories of people, wildlife and conservation. Her goal its to create meaningful visual stories that inspire conservation and support environmental and conservation protection. Maureen’s inspiration comes from her mother who was the first female ranger in Ol Pejeta Conservancy, Kenya and is inspired to document those who are driving change in conservation. She is a current Girls who Click ambassador.
If you have a suggestion for a list you want to see, or any photographers you think should be added – let us know! Email [email protected] or contact us on social media.
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