Rachel Bigsby Profile
• Based in Sussex, Rachel Bigsby is a self-taught wildlife photographer and Nikon Creator who is best known for her photography of British mammals and seabirds.
• Pictures from her recent coverage of the avian flu crisis decimating British seabird colonies were published globally by the National Geographic Society.
• Rachel has also used her long lens skills filming badgers, fox cubs, kingfishers and seabirds for BBC Earth, Springwatch, The One Show and Countryfile.
• She assisted Simon King on location in Sussex for an episode of the recent Sir David Attenborough-narrated series Wild Isles, on BBC1.
• Rachel was a finalist in the 2023 British Wildlife Photographer of the Year, and her work recognized in the Bird Photographer of the Year and the New Scientist Photography Awards.
Many professional photographers are self-taught, but how many are self-taught and without a degree or tertiary qualification of any kind? Step forward Rachel Bigsby, the 25-year-old Sussex-based wildlife photographer and Nikon Creator, whose stunning pictures have already been published by the National Geographic Society, and her long lens film work has been featured on national TV.
While other young women and men her age were busy attending lectures and tutorials at universities and colleges up and down the land, Rachel’s education involved making regular visits to Britain’s best-known seabird colonies to broaden her knowledge of their behaviour and ecology, and indulge her passion.
Her fascination for ornithology was nurtured at a young age. Most of us would view this chance as her lucky break, but Rachel is one who believes that luck is merely an opportunity seized. So, how have the opportunities come her way so quickly? Perhaps there is a secret to the success that she now enjoys.
