James Kydd

James has spent eighteen years in the field across five continents working as a professional guide, wildlife photographer and bespoke travel planner.

He is particularly passionate about big cats and the art of tracking, leading trips to the Pantanal for jaguars, Patagonia for pumas and the Himalayas for snow leopards, where he filmed the first complete sequence of a snow leopard hunting its prey. 

His photographs have won international awards and have featured in numerous publications including National Geographic. He is a story-teller and photographer for the Okavango Wilderness project team who recently won the National Geographic Explorers of the Year for their 2,400km canoe expedition to protect the Okavango’s headwaters.

James Kydd’s artistic style

James’s images portray wildlife as totems within the realm of their kingdom, a palette of awe, fragility, reverence, and mysticism. He works together with the animals to create photographs with deep respect and sensitivity. Though he does print in colour his preference is the timelessness of black and white printed on museum quality archival paper.

His photographs have won international awards and have featured in numerous publications including National Geographic.

James Kydd National Geographic Explorers of the Year

He is a member of the Okavango Wilderness project team who recently won the National Geographic Explorers of the Year for their 2,400km canoe expedition to protect the Okavango’s headwaters.

James Kydd big cat photographer

James is particularly passionate about big cats and the art of tracking them. He leads trips to the Pantanal for jaguars, Patagonia for pumas and the Himalayas for snow leopards, where he filmed the first complete sequence of a snow leopard hunting its prey. 

Purchase photography by James Kydd from our online shop and help endangered species.

James Kydd’s work as a DSWF Art Ambassador

“Alongside our origin this is the most important time in our history to be a human being. We have never had such power to create or destroy, and the future of so many of our fellow animals rests on a knife’s edge. The images we see of the current state of our planet, while important, can often leave people with a dangerous sense of futility and despair.

There is so much wilderness left to protect, and this can only be achieved if we believe it can. I am honoured to be a part of a young and dynamic team of ambassadors supporting a conservation initiative that not only actively protects wildlife but does so through the celebration of its beauty”.

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