WallMag: Tell us where it all began. How did you become a photographer?

I grew up sailing around the world with my family for five years on our homemade sailboat. I remember visiting the wildlife reserves in South Africa when I was about seven years old, and that is when I fell in love with wild animals. When we sailed through London a year later that my Dad bought me my first camera at a car boot sale for 1 pound, and I started to take some photos but, it took me ages to save up to get the film developed. So, I did not shoot often.

It wasn't until I undertook my first serious-adventure, hiking with a friend 30 days in the untracked wilderness of SW Tasmania. I was surprised to be given Australian Geographic sponsorship for the expedition, which they suggested, I spent on a camera to document the journey. It was still filmed, but, at least, it had a light meter, etc. The possibility of having my story in Australian Geographic inspired me to read up a little on how things like aperture and ISO worked. I was studying electrical engineering at university at the time and have never undertaken any formal photography training so, I was just self-taught on the side. The journey was a huge adventure and got a lot of media attention and even awards, which inadvertently shifted my whole life trajectory from becoming an engineer to a professional adventurer.

A year later or so, I made the switch to digital and was leading world-first expeditions across the Arctic islands. This was sponsored by Canon, doing motivational talks, selling photos, etc., and having way too much fun to settle for an office job. I became Canon's Australian ambassador for five years, scored a gig on a cruise ship down to Antarctica as their official photographer. It was on my way south that I realized everyone had amazing cameras and no idea how to use them. Most just left on 'Auto' mode.

To fill in time, I decided to create a photography crash-course, the guests loved it so much. Then when I got home, I spent three months creating a super-comprehensive practical 1-day photography course backed by Canon, Australian Geographic, Lowepro. I started running these courses all around Australia. It grew fast, I employed staff, and a year later was already running sold-out wildlife photo tours to many of the world's most wonderful places. Things just have got bigger and better since, right up until the global pandemic of 2020. haha.

WallMag: Can you tell us in detail about your achievements in photography?

While I have had a couple, I am not one for entering competitions or trying for awards, etc. I am not a member of any professional photography institution or anything like that. I just do my own thing. I am lucky enough that I get to travel, basically wherever I want for work. I end up in a lot of amazing situations and inevitably get some unique photos and videos, which are sometimes found online by production companies or stock libraries. I also get to sell them that is a win for sure, and sometimes they turn up all over the place. I've had pics, videos bought by National Geographic and Discovery Channel for documentaries, various tourism libraries. I have judged several, including the Australian Geographic Wildlife Photographer of the Year, and I am now proud to be a global Lowepro ambassador. I have photographed a crab species thought to be extinct, had images in global touring galleries, and printed wall-size in a visitor center in Kangaroo Island. Most of those individual photo successes involve a lot of luck, not only in snagging a great shot by being in the right place at the right time. But also, who happens to see and want one of my images.

My main achievement in photography, be creating my company-Chris Bray Photography, growing it into Australia's largest photo tour operator with a global reputation and customer base, and multiple staff leading multiple tours sometimes simultaneously. I am proud of that. When things got too busy to keep running the physical 1-day photography courses anymore, I filmed them and put them for free online. They have now been watched more than 2.5 million times, making it the world's most popular photography course!

I was also the first photographer Australian Geographic magazine ever sent on assignment overseas, which was to Papua New Guinea, so that was a delightful honor.

WallMag: What is your strength as a photography mentor that helps you to inspire other learning stage photographers?

I get a lot of comments every day on my free online photography course set of videos on YouTube (more than 2.5 million views so far). Most of them talk about how my teaching style is easy to follow. I seem to have a knack for explaining things more simply, without any of the unnecessary jargon or complex theory. It is perhaps because I never did any formal photography study myself. So, I learned by practicing and understanding what I needed to do to get the practical outcomes I wanted. People comment that I am approachable, friendly and that I get to the point, instead of waffling on about myself or repeating things. I guess people also look at what I get to do for a living, where I get to go etc. , and that's pretty inspiring for many people.

WallMag: Where in the world is your favorite place to capture wildlife, and why?

It is hard to beat Africa (possibly specifically Kenya) for just the sheer abundance & diversity of wildlife, and where you can be sure of seeing plenty of big & charismatic animals every day. You never know what you are going to find each day, but you know it will be amazing. So, for running my photo tours to share this kind of wildlife photography experience with my small group of guests, Kenya is my favorite destination. I have now run more than 20 photo tours to Kenya. So, I have a lot of friends there too. My personal favorite place for wildlife photography.

However, I think its the arctic. The animals there are few and far between, often incredibly remote, and the conditions can be pretty harsh but, that makes it even more special. I love the challenge.

WallMag: Do you believe wildlife photography has an effect on conservation?

Absolutely. If people are not even aware of certain animals or environment, let alone see how amazing it is through photos and videos. How are they ever going to care about it? Sharing the beauty and wonder of animals and places that most people never have the opportunity to see themselves is vitally important to building support behind their conservation. Once people are aware and begin to care, then change can happen both at a political level. Also, inspiring and encouraging individuals to improve their own habits to help conserve our environment.

Wildlife photography tourism is also important in conservation. As the money tourists spend staying at lodge helps ensure that the wildlife is worth more to the locals alive to bring tourism and create jobs, than dead for bush-meat or killed by poachers.

On many of my social media posts, if the species I am showing that day, is endangered or under threat(as many are), I try to highlight their plight in the caption to help raise awareness.

WallMag: Can you throw some light on your photo tours?

Loved by non-photographers too. We seek out the world's most extraordinary wildlife and nature experiences then tour small groups there in comfort, providing unique access away from the crowds with an exclusive charter of ships, aircraft, vehicles, and remote lodges for not only the most incredible, unhurried photography opportunities on Earth but, also an unforgettable holiday. Most years, we run tours everywhere from Iceland, Greenland, Alaska, Kenya, Galapagos, Amazon, Patagonia, Namibia, Botswana, Antarctica, Tasmania, Kangaroo Island, Christmas Island, and more!

I love to travel but, I hate being stuck with loads of other people (especially when we've got nothing in common), being taken to the regular, over-crowded tourist attractions, or wasting hours in an amazing country just relaxing by some pool. I want to get the most out of my holidays, want to see as many different animals as I can. I want to travel through various landscapes and be shown hidden gems off the beaten path. I want to experience the culture, taste the food, meet new friends with similar interests, enjoy some luxury, and importantly. I want to have the time to take some beautiful and unique photos of it all. This is what we strive for with our photography tours and workshops.

It's not enough for me to spot a distant lion, tick it off and move on. I want to have the option to try and get closer on the correct side for best lighting even wait for him to lift his head and stare directly down the barrel of my camera lens for a great photo or to move on. When I am done - I want flexibility. I want the inside tips for the best photo location to be ready when the sun rises over the horizon and spills across the bay onto those boulders. If I can't quite get my photo to work, it'd be awesome to have a friendly pro-photographer right there to offer advice (not one who'll stand in front of me to get the best shot themselves!). If there's a seal colony out on an island nearby, then I'd want to charter a boat tour out there just with my friends onboard so we can spend as long or as short as we want to get the photos without being crowded on a regular sight-seeing tour. If the seal colony was a bit of a tourist attraction on a local beach then I'd want to wait for the crowds to leave, and go down onto the beach after hours - just us as a small group and a private ranger guide to photograph them at our leisure in beautiful evening lighting.

You don't even need to be a photographer to love this style of holiday- who wouldn't like a bit of luxury and a bit of extra patience from their tour leaders, or to be allowed to fly over lakes covered in pink flamingos in Africa in a doors-off plane or over a beautiful coastline in a doors-off helicopter for some epic views? Stay on a private island, learn some new skills with your photography, make some new friends, and have an unforgettable, unique holiday - all at the same time! There must be a reason more than half of our guests come back again and again on our photo tours!

WallMag: Can you take us through your photography process from the start to the end?

A day of wildlife shooting typically starts with coffee then I grab my camera batteries that have been charging overnight. Then, double-check all the camera gear, I might need is in my bag along with memory cards and lens cloth, any extra stuff I may need like a hat, sunnies, safety gear, and then get out there asap!

Apart from the usual camera gear, I often find myself bringing along an odd assortment of technology from radio-controlled toy cars with cameras mounted on them (I also bring a bottle of tabasco sauce to dissuade animals from chewing on the camera), to long wires to lower cameras down cliff faces, or remote triggers to leave cameras in interesting places to try and get some unique shots. Luckily I am sponsored by Lumix, and they loan me gear for these risky shots!

If it's a new destination, new species, or some amazing moment, I tend to go as nuts as the next person and take way too many photos. But generally, I try to be selective and wait for just the right moment, lighting, eye-contact, clean background - whatever - and then take a few options. I hate sitting there at the end of the day downloading, and culling any more photos than I need! This is inevitably what I spend time on each evening though after downloading, backing up, putting things on the charge, and getting things ready for the next day. Ideally, I cull each day's photos that evening, else I will never have a chance to go back through them.

I use Adobe Lightroom to download, organize, and edit my photos. I tend to race through, pretty ruthless with the 'x' key (flag for deletion), and then pick out any good ones. As I go, and hopefully only keep maybe 10%, of which maybe 1% are actually photos I really like and will bother to tweak a little to bring out their best. However, I do not spend long on them. I very rarely ever use Photoshop, and I just try to make my images look like they did at the time. I am mostly just adjusting levels, exposure, white balance, cropping, that kind of thing.

WallMag: How do you manage to communicate your ideas more clearly to your followers?

During my photo tours, I and my other photo tour leaders, spend a fair bit of time running tutorial sessions in the evenings, going through our guest's photos, teaching them how to use Lightroom, etc. During the day while we are out shooting, we always give priority to helping the guests get the photo rather than take it ourselves. So, we suggest settings and compositions for something we are photographing, check their results and help them out with any issues they are having.

WallMag: Can you tell us about the most memorable wildlife photo you have ever shot and what made it so special?

That’s a bit like asking what’s someone’s favorite song - it changes all the time. Inevitably I eventually get bored with one favorite, especially if I have just had fun capturing something new and exciting. I’ve had a few stand-out moments that have been particularly successful: a lion cub coming up pawing and roaring at my GoPro attached to a toy car which has been used in everything from GoPro adverts on Tv to LG adverts in a train station in Korea; a pair of large male Komodo dragons battling that’s been used by Discovery Channel and National Geographic in documentaries; placing a camera inside the carcass of a buffalo killed by lions and waiting for them to return as well as a beluga whale carcass while polar bears marauded around; a cheetah jumping on top of our car; the extraordinary scene of a billion baby red crabs drifting in from the sea and carpeting the shore of Christmas Island in a moving red carpet heading up into the jungle… That’s had well over a million views online. I have also missed what would have been some spectacular footage, most disappointingly, wild wolves playing with my friend and me in the Arctic. Agh well!

WallMag: Is there any success story of your student that makes you feel proud of being a photography instructor?

All the time! It is such a lovely role to have, to be able to help people gain more enjoyment from their passion, be that just from my online free photography course videos or actually out on a photo tour somewhere amazing. I get quite a steady stream of emails from people writing to say that because of my courses they've gone on to do this or that, changed their life in some way, or somehow feel indebted to me for helping their journey to success, which is so lovely, especially as with the free videos online. I do not actually have to do anything, other than a reply to lovely messages! Many of our photo tour guests have won competitions and recognition through the photos they have taken on our tours. So that also is really lovely when they attribute that to us, our tours, and our way of teaching. It's incredibly rewarding.

WallMag: Can you tell us about your handbook to our readers and what they can learn from it?

To go with my online free photography course, I created an invaluable, compact, comprehensive, 32-page booklet. It covers everything from composition and exposure through to aperture, shutter speed, ISO, lighting, lenses, and more. It is also available as a physical printed booklet that we post all around the world every day. We even have a separate USA-based postal hub in America to send orders to the USA and Canada. It is also available as an iBook on the Apple iBook store, and as a Kindle book on Amazon for instant download. They are all pretty cheap, and the feedback I get from customers is that they find this booklet super handy!

I also sell a set of durable, plastic 'summary cards' for the neck strap of your camera, so you never forget the key points! These summary cards are available as an Apple and Android app too, from my website.

And, with so many people stuck indoors during this pandemic, I made a new ebook. It has just been released on Apple and Amazon too, '14 Indoor Photography Projects': Learn new photography skills with these 14 creative projects! Each exciting project is easy-to-follow and does not require any fancy gear, so you can get started right away. Projects include rainbow details on the surface of soap bubbles, graceful curls of smoke, water droplets, food, candle flames, light painting, panning, time-lapse, oil on water, bokeh shapes, star-bust effect, flash-basics, and more! All with suitable examples, setup, camera settings, troubleshooting, and other tips!

You can follow Chris Bray on Instagram, to stay updated with his work.

You can also have a look at his Website.