Thorsten Milse

Canon Ambassador Thorsten Milse is one of the most sought-after nature photographers in the world, with a track record to back up his popularity.

Thorsten was born in 1965 in Bielefeld in Germany and had an interest in photography from the age of 3. At 13 he bought his first camera – a Yashica FR1 – with the money he received following his confirmation. He went on to become an electronic technician and a graphic designer, before choosing to pursue his passion and become a professional photographer.

About four years later, Thorsten began to travel the world to photograph polar bear cubs. The captivating moments he shot caught the eye of major publications: Germany's GEO magazine initially picked up the story, followed by BBC Wildlife magazine in the UK and Nature's Best Photography in the US. The pictures went on to attract a number of high-profile awards, including Best Reportage Photographer from Danish magazine Illustreret Videnskab (Illustrated Science). A compilation of Thorsten's memorable images taken in Canada's Wapusk National Park subsequently formed the basis of a book, Little Polar Bears, which was published in 2006.

Today, Thorsten is recognised as one of the leading wildlife and nature photographers in the world. He has a particular interest in conservation and has worked on countless projects capturing the unusual, the rare and the fascinating.

Thorsten has photographed big cats across the globe, kangaroos and koalas in Australia and the unique wildlife of the Arctic and Antarctic. He has also collaborated with the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) on various projects, including tiger protection, snow leopard conservation and WWF's Arctic Programme. At the same time as pursuing his photography, Thorsten also works on 4K film productions, which have seen him document the Amazon rainforest and the coastline of South America.

His work has been published in over 25 countries and won numerous awards, including a prize in the BBC Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition 2005 and the Grand Prize in Nature's Best Photo competition in the same year. He has exhibited worldwide, including at the Smithsonian in Washington, Moscow's GUM on Red Square, various French and German photography festivals and in eight German cities with the Polar World exhibition. In 2014, Thorsten, in collaboration with WWF, took over central Hamburg for an open-air exhibition called Facing The Storm, highlighting the threat of global warming.

Recently, Thorsten has started to work more with moving images and uses them in his campaigning work with WWF and in his commercial work. The latter has seen him developing and executing concepts and designs for advertising campaigns using photography and 4K film in the Amazon jungle, the coastline of South America, Africa, the Alps and Madagascar for clients such as Toshiba, Sachtler and Canon.

He lectures and runs workshops and is the official Ambassador for the Sachtler/Vitec Group, Peli Products and Toshiba Pro Team, as well as working on Adobe's advocacy programme. In March 2021, his book, Survivor, was published in conjunction with WWF. To coincide with the launch, more than 50 images went on display at an open-air exhibition at the Überseeboulevard in Hamburg, Germany.

How has your previous career as a graphic designer helped inform your approach to photography?

"It was a long time ago that I made the transition, but my graphic design background has helped me, mainly in designing my books."



What is your favourite wildlife subject and why does it interest you so much?

"Mostly the predators. They're powerful, cool, majestic and their lives are full of action."



To what extent do you plan your images before you reach a location? Do you have specific techniques and pictures in mind?

"Although it's possible to see examples of a location or species in photos from colleagues, on the internet or in documentary films, I always have my own images in mind and I know the best equipment I can use to realise those images."



In what ways has wildlife photography evolved in recent years?

"Since the digital revolution, everybody is a photographer on social media. But there you only get to see small images and it's generally focused on single images, rather than a story."



Which developments in camera technology have made it easier for you to realise pictures that would have been much harder or impossible to shoot before?

"The Image Stabiliser in the long telephoto lenses. The way in which it enabled sharper handheld shots allowed me to work in a totally different way and bring more creativity to my photos. Now we have the flexible arrangement of cross-type AF points in the viewfinder that allow for faster and better framing, as well as the high ISO range, which extends the possibility for taking photos early and late in the day. These are big advantages for me as a wildlife photographer."

Thorsten Milse

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Instagram: @wildlifephotographymilse

Website: www.thorstenmilse.de