BA(Hons) wildife media |
Our students have a passion for wildlife and the natural world, combining fieldcraft knowledge of wildlife identification, biodiversity, habitat and behaviour, with the lens craft skills of photography and filmmaking.
We have all appreciated our local green spaces more than ever in recent years, finding collective peace, joy and solace in how the seasonality of the natural world continued despite the challenges of Covid. Wildlife benefitted from less traffic and pollution. However much of our wildlife is in conservation crisis, with 142,500 species on the IUCN Red List. Using their creativity, technical skills and scientific knowledge, our students create compelling wildlife stories through media, with the aim of communicating important conservation messages and making positive change. Areas of interest and research include the role of nature in mental health, the impact of habitat loss on specific species, plus media representation of nature through wildlife documentaries. We are proud of their achievements and thought-provoking work - we wish them all well on their onward individual journeys to employment and postgraduate study - and take this moment to collectively share and celebrate their success. Laura Baxter MA PGCE Programme Leader, BA Wildlife Media |
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Jude Connelly
The last three years have afforded Jude the space to develop his field knowledge - quite literally. Jude has spent significant time outdoors, along watercourses learning and documenting flora, fauna, and fungi, observing animal behaviour, and monitoring the evolution and issues these constantly changing habitats face over time - building contacts with such bodies as the Environment Agency, Eden Rivers Trust, and RSPB Geltsdale. Through the degree Jude has gained a more specific, science-based understanding of the natural world around us - from studying and observing the smallest Warblers and Orb Weaver spiders, non-native species such as Mink, through to apex predators such as the marvellously beautiful Sparrowhawk and regal Grey Heron. This immersion has consolidated his connection to nature. The programme has offered a flexible framework to progress his literary, music soundtrack, narration, camera, and editing skills - technically and creatively. It has provided scope to print, make, sketch, and also incorporate traditional and digital animation ideas he has into his projects. Wildlife image captures notwithstanding, there have been many personal highlights - from being 1st year course rep, collaborating with the other group members, attaining two consecutive ‘Bright Futures Fund’ awards, and recently recording Maddy Prior MBE for a project on the folklore surrounding the European Hare. |
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Brandon Downs
Brandon has worked diligently throughout his degree studies and has helped the rewilding and conservation activities on campus as part of student run ‘The Wildlife Society.’ Brandon designed amazing signage and interpretation for the campus to foster greater understanding and appreciation of the wildlife therein. Brandon has also achieved success with his final major project travelling to the island of Gibraltar and filming the Barbary Macaque monkeys resident there, looking at the interaction between them, residents and tourists; their conservation status and role of wildlife interaction with tourism. Brandon achieved an award of £500 from The Hadfield Trust ‘Creative Travel Awards’ to support this ambitious project. |
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Christopher Hansson
Wildlife and the natural environment have been Chris’s passion since he was child. He always wanted to see as many different species as he could and naturally this led to the beginning of his photography journey, recording his sightings. To begin with, Chris’s photography was simply a way of making memories, until eventually he realised that it could be much more than that. These passions came together to bring him to study Wildlife Media at the University of Cumbria, produce various photography and film projects. These images are some of Chris’s favourites that he has taken throughout his time here. There are two images of litter within the environment that he took during his final major project, as he has always wanted his two images of Kittiwakes that were taken during his expedition project, which has been his favourite project from his university experience. Kittiwakes are birds that Chris grew up seeing almost every day - but spending a whole week with them during his expedition helped him to see them in a new light and uncover their behaviour and interactions - stories that he had never seen before. Finally, there are two images that Chris took within his first year, which are images he is still fond of, where he was practicing and developing his skills. |
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Matthew Laverick
Matthew has always had a passion for wildlife photography and conservation, he spent most of his childhood out in nature birdwatching, which is where his interests lay most predominantly, as can be seen through his choice of projects while at university. Project have ranged from filming Waders on the Solway, photographing Eagles on the Isle of Skye in Scotland and filming Puffins in Wales for his final project. Matthew is interested in increasing his understanding of conservation methods and being an ethical wildlife photographer and filmmaker, in the hope that he is able to spread awareness and understanding of ethical methods of experiencing wildlife, nature and the environment. With the help of the Bright Futures Fund Matthew was able to travel to Skomer Island in Wales for his final project and film the sea birds that live on the island. The film focusses upon the life and struggles that Puffins face during their time on the island and how the island is maintained by the Welsh Wildlife Trust to protect the species that live there. Matthew hopes to continue to improve his filmmaking abilities and understanding of the environment to move on to a career where his is able to conserve the species and ecosystems we have in the UK and other parts of the world. |
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Alexandros Leontiades
Alex joined the University of Cumbria to study from his home country of Cyprus and following the compulsory period of national service there. Alex is a skilful naturalist as well as a photographer and filmmaker and has enjoyed exploring the wildlife locations and reserves throughout The Lake District and wider region. He has volunteered at Eskdale Nature Reserve (Microsoft Word - May 2021 Bulletin.docx (lockerbie-wildlife-trust.co.uk) and Rickerby Park volunteers who look after the parkland opposite the campus. Alex is interested in how humans and wildlife co-exist and recent projects have focussed upon the Fox, an iconic mammal in the UK that is also much maligned in its cultural representation throughout history in folklore, literature and imagery, through to newspaper headlines in the present day. Alex has made links with multi-award-winning professional photographer Matthew Maran (ABOUT | Award Winning Wildlife Photographer | Matthew Maran) who has worked on many urban wildlife projects including many focused upon foxes. Matthew has won accolades in the Wildlife Photographer of the Year, European Wildlife Photographer of the Year and the British Wildlife Photography Awards and Alex is now benefitting from his advice and mentoring, developing his own career as a wildlife photographer and filmmaker. |
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Samuel Mason
Samuel has spent his whole life so far living on a farm, this is where he grew his fondness for nature, developing an appreciation of the landscape and the seasons, understanding the interconnected ecosystem and becoming a passionate advocate for wildlife conservation. During his time at University, Samuel has worked on many different wildlife filming and photography projects, some of which are on display here. During the pandemic Samuel was commissioned to create a short video about the farm animals during springtime at a local farm shop business in his hometown. This year Samuel has been focusing on the UK’s native Red Squirrel. He has ventured down to the Isle of Wight to conduct an interview with Helen Butler MBE, to find out more about the Red Squirrel population on the island. Recently he has been working on a film project that has seen him travel to Brownsea Island in the South of England, Anglesey in Wales, then up to the Galloway Forest in Scotland. Through this project Samuel hopes to highlight the beauty of our native Red Squirrel and some of the conservation efforts that are being made to save them. Samuel was grateful to receive £200 of support through the ‘Bright Futures Fund’ to enable him to complete this project. |
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Noah Reinhard
Noah has always had a fascination with the wonders that the natural world has to offer. An interest in both media and nature led Noah to his journey to study Wildlife Media at university level. By studying the BA Wildlife Media degree at the University of Cumbria his wildlife and media knowledge has been enhanced and nuanced. Undergoing each step of the content creation process has emboldened his passion for ethically acquiring footage of rare and hard to reach species and natural events. Over the duration of this experience Noah has gained an understanding of the value of blending these two passions together in order to showcase and create awareness for nature-friendly projects. Films have explored the Red Deer rutting season in The Lake District; the diverse wildlife of Anglesey; the art of Starling murmuration's in the skies of Cumbria; plus the local wildlife conservation initiatives in Rickerby Park in Carlisle. |
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Emma Taylor
“I just wish the world was twice as big and half of it was still unexplored”-David Attenborough. A passionate media creator and environment enthusiast, Emma has a special interest in the outdoors and travelling the world and aims to capture the natural beauty of this planet. Over the past three years Emma has been studying a BA (Hons) Wildlife Media degree at the University of Cumbria. This study has expanded her ever-growing knowledge on all aspects of media from camera work to directing, with a keen interest in editing. During Emma’s time at university, she has been a strong student voice for the course by being the student academic representative and a student ambassador for the university at open days and events. Emma has gained employment as an outdoor instructor in the heart of The Lake District and her enthusiasm for the world around us has grown ever stronger. The technical, creative and fieldcraft skills and abilities Emma has developed in her studies are now put into practice every day. |
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The University of Cumbria Institute of the Arts | Brampton Road | Carlisle | Cumbria | CA3 9AY | UK
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