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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. Much of our wildlife is in conservation crisis, with 142,500 species on the IUCN Red List. Our students have a passion for wildlife and the natural world - and use their lens craft skills in filmmaking and photography to communicate the beauty and fragility of our environment and its inhabitants.
Ethical wildlife photography and documentary practice is central to the course ethos, with careful consideration of the environment when working outdoors on location, in often challenging locations and changing circumstances. Wildlife media professionals have extensive fieldcraft knowledge alongside sophisticated lens craft - and this is what our students have developed with a strong skillset of wildlife identification, tracking and behaviour with in-depth understanding of biodiversity, habitat and conservation. This academic year's graduating students have produced varied media outputs including series of photographs on a wide variety of subjects, they've crafted natural history documentaries and edited their own short films, produced websites, blogs and vlogs, plus created photojournalism projects. They've worked together in teams and individually on solo projects, collaborated with external organisations on important conservation projects, and have showcased their work in national conferences and competitions - demonstrating creativity, imagination, perseverance, talent and hard work. 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. |
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Adriana Vieira Barros
After finishing a photography course in Portugal and working as a freelance photographer, mostly on social and equestrian events and private photoshootsfor a few years, Adriana came to England to keep practicing photography and filmmaking - but this time focused on wildlife - as her dream is to work all around the world on wildlife conservation projects. Adriana’s passion for photographing wild animals and nature started on travels that she had the opportunity to go on because of her dad’s work, to places like the Amazon Rainforest and Mexico. While on the BA (Hons) Wildlife Media course, Adriana has made two films in Scotland, one about the Red Squirrels there and another about the Reindeer in the Cairngorms. Adriana’s final major project is a documentary film about rewilding in Portugal, that looks into the release of new “wild horses” to fill that missing role in biodiversity and how this helps the restoration of ecosystems and the populations of various endangered predators. |
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Rebecca Cooper
TikTok Rebecca is a keen naturalist and conservationist, who has explored the biodiversity of The Lake District and the various habitats across Cumbria from coastline to moorland. She has also travelled including to the Caribbean this year and photographed some exotic species there. She is entering her work into professional competitions such her Red Squirrel images to the Mammal Society photography competition, plus has set up her own photography business. |
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Georgia Costin
Georgia is an accomplished filmmaker who enjoys all aspects of filmmaking, from pre-production, to planning and location scouting, to the hands-on camera work out on location, to the post-production editing process. The film project Georgia produced as her solo film project in her 3rd year in Semester 1, ‘Hearts of the Fells,’ is a project very close to her heart -looking at the Fell Ponies which inhabit the wild Cumbrian hilltops. Georgia is a keen horsewoman and has previously specialised in equine photography. This film project developed further into her final major project, working collaboratively with her peer Abbey, to produce a longer film looking in more detail at the Fell Pony breed and its role in the landscape and its importance in people’s lives. Georgia worked closely with representatives of the Fell Pony Heritage Trust and farmers in The Lake District. |
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Holly Draper-Kilmartin
Flickr Since starting the BA (Hons) Wildlife Media degree course, Holly has been very involved with the activities of ‘The Wildlife Society’ and in her 2nd year of studies she took a leadership role in the team of students who organise alternate Wednesday work parties for campus wildlife conservation and wildlife walks in the local area. Holly has led countless walks around Carlisle to orientate new students and encourage them to explore places to observe wildlife that are right on their doorstep. Carlisle is a biodiverse city and home to a wide variety of wildlife. These wildlife walks are always well attended as well as the frequent ‘Work Party Wednesdays’ where students can contribute to the conservation of the campus keeping it clean of litter and well looked after. For her final major project, Holly was successful in achieving the award of £100 from the ‘Bright Futures Fund,’ through a competitive application process. With the support of the award, Holly travelled to Peterborough to watch and photograph Red Kites. Upon her return to campus, Holly also reached out to contact the ‘Friends of Red Kites’ group based in the North East who then offered to take Holly on one of their observation trips to observe some Red Kite nests and learn about the reintroduction of the species from an expert present in 2004 when the first Red Kites were released. |
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Faye Freeland
Faye began her BA (Hons) Wildlife Media degree journey armed with a deep passion for the natural world but a minimal knowledge of filmmaking, but throughout the last three years her passion has continued to grow, alongside her knowledge of the natural history of animals, conservation practices, animal behaviour, field craft, plus sound, lighting, camera and editing skills, all of which were previously unexplored. Always interested in learning new things, Faye ventured to the Isle of Mull last year to make a film about the Eurasian Otters that inhabit the island. Through this process she discovered she prefers hands-on work out on location and in the field -behind the camera is where she wants to be. This year this has led Faye to her most recent final major project, which has takenplace on the Isle of Man, highlighting the island’s situation with Wallabies inhabiting the island since their escape from a wildlife park there in the 1960’s. Through her contacts and interviews with the Ecosystem Policy Manager, the General Manager of Curragh’s Wildlife Park and the Chief Executive of the Manx Wildlife Trust, Faye wanted to shed light on how the ever-growing population of this invasive species has affected the island’s indigenous habitats and species. Both of these filmmaking projects would not have been possible without the invaluable help of the ‘Bright Futures Fund’ awarding Faye a grant for both projects and the unwavering support of her friends and tutors, for which she is forever grateful. These last three years have been a steep learning curve, but Faye has enjoyed every second of it and looks forward to producing more film and photography during her future travels, in order to create a showreel worthy enough to land her dream role within the BBC Natural History Unit. |
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Alfie Hay
“According to all known laws of aviation, there is no way a bee should be able to fly. Its wings are too small to get its fat little body off the ground. The bee, of course, flies anyway because bees don't care what humans think is impossible.” Though this quote is from DreamWorks Animation’s ‘Bee Movie’ (2007), I feel itcaptures the reason I love nature so much - the fact that we think of ourselves as so smart, but we are still stumped by the world around us. Exploring what more mother nature has to offer and learning all I can about it is my passion. Though the majority of the world has been explored and going to space is a little too far in the future, travelling like Marco Polo up the Silk Road, Lewis and Clark though America, and Darwin around The Galapagos, is all I want to do. |
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Claire Henderson
Claire has always had a passion for the natural world and thoroughly enjoys using the medium of photography to showcase beautiful flora and fauna. Ethics and morality play a large part in Claire’s practice as a wildlife photographer as she believes the wellbeing and continued existence of her subjects are of the utmost importance. Development of fieldcraft skills has played a vital role in being able to successfully capture intimate images of her subjects without negatively impacting their habitats and behaviours. Claire believes it is vitally important for humanity and nature to peacefully co-exist and this belief is what led to Claire to create her Final Major Project ‘Plants, Health, Biophilia and Biophilic Design.’ Combining her passion for the natural world and health and wellness, Claire produced a series of images that she hopes raise awareness and understanding towards the importance of ‘biophilia’ and ‘biophilic design’ for human and biological health. This project was gratefully supported by The Bright Future’s Fund. Throughout the BA (Hons) Wildlife Media Degree, Claire has specifically developed her skills and abilities in photography - and she aims to take these skills forward into a future working practice. |
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Lydia Hollingdale
Lydia grew up in the Sussex countryside on the border of the South Downs National Park. As a result, she grew up with a love for the natural world and the wildlife that calls it home. During her time at university, Lydia has created several film projects, most notably being her third-year minor film project, a short film on one woman’s experience of wild swimming and its mental health benefits. This film achieved a 1st class result and was praised by the External Examiner and is being entered into the Royal Television Society awards by the BA Wildlife Media course team. Lydia is interested in how animals and humans co-exist and the relationship between humans and the natural world, this inspired her dissertation topic which was centred around the innate connection between humans and nature and the neglect of this relationship in recent years. With the help of The Hadfield Trust funding, awarded through a competitive pitch process, Lydia was able to travel to the Isle of Mull to film Eurasian Otters for her final major project film. The film celebrates the population of Eurasian Otters that are thriving on the Isle of Mull, thought to be due to the abundance of food and flourishing biodiverse habitats. Lydia is passionate about helping Otters living on the mainland of the UK to thrive - as they are on Mull. |
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Peter Howarth
Website Peter is an award-winning photographer and up-and-coming cinematographer hailing from the deserts of Arabia. From an early age he was inspired by the outdoors and spent his formative years admiring all things wild, before honing his craft as a wildlife photographer. Don’t I sound impressive! I guess you could say I am all of those things. You could also say I am a bloke from South Cumbria who loves being outdoors. If being the ‘photographer’ for conservation groups can get me in the woods, up mountains, or on the lakes, you can sign me up. See you out there! |
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Alex Noakes
Alex has loved nature and wildlife since a young age. Before joining the BA (Hons) Wildlife Media degree course, he had very limited experience with photography and filmmaking but throughout the course his confidence with equipment and his technical ability have increased dramatically. The piece of work he is most proud of is his final major film project, where he travelled to Portugal and Spain to film wolves and get expert opinions on the viability of their reintroduction back to the UK. |
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Kerri Owen
Website Kerri loves spending time watching wildlife, learning about new species and habitats and particularly enjoys photographing birds like Gannets, Puffins and garden birds. Kerri also enjoys photographing other animals, especially Seals, Red Squirrels and Deer. Kerri travels a lot to different places to see wildlife in various habitats, recently including RSPB Bempton Cliffs, which is a haven for all sorts of species of sea birds. |
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Abbey Wilkinson
Abbey is a highly motivated and determined naturalist and artist across various mediums, encompassing drawing, painting, photography and filmmaking. Her love for wildlife and the arts is something which has always been at the centre of Abbey’s upbringing, from childhood interests, GCSE and A-Level subject choices and then her degree studies with BA (Hons) Wildlife Media. Demonstrating a high level of skill with her photography, Abbey’s images have been featured in the University of Cumbria prospectus to illustrate the courses across the Institute of Science and Environment. Her final major project has been a film about the Fell Ponies of the Cumbrian hills, working with experts from the Fell Pony Trust as interviewees and bringing a filmmaking project to life in her final semester that she is very proud of, which will be entered into the Royal Television Society awards. Abbey hopes to continue to work towards her goals and the chance of being able to travel the world with her camera, learning from other naturalists and artists withintheir different cultural environments. |
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The University of Cumbria Institute of the Arts | Brampton Road | Carlisle | Cumbria | CA3 9AY | UK
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