About Me

Photography by Karen Kennedy

Since the age of five I have been fascinated by the natural world and had a passion for animals of all shapes and sizes, much to my mother’s dismay! My father was a military man in the RAF and therefore, my up-bringing was less than conventional. I loved travelling and visiting the far corners of the world but it did have its down side, although I did not realise this until I was much older. I always wanted a career as a vet or zoologist working with animals. In truth I wanted Sir David Attenborough's job but it was gone! Unfortunately the travelling meant I attended thirteen different schools, some of which I only attended for a few months before we had to move again, this had a major effect on my schooling, putting a stop to any chance I had of university and the career I wanted.

I continued to dream of veterinary school or zoology throughout my early adulthood and even though I became a successful business woman, eventually I packed it all in and returned to education. I started with an HND in Animal Care and Management as this opened the doors for me to either veterinary school or zoology at university. I chose the later and went on to complete a BSc (Hons) degree in Zoology, followed by an MRes Ecology and Environmental Sustainability degree.

During all this time my only connection with the animal world was through my photography and voluntary organisations such as WWF, BCT, SNH as well as smaller organisations such as Hazelhead Pet Corner and The Highland Wildlife Park. I even milked cows just to have some contact with animals; however, I soon discovered that photographing wildlife is where my true passion lies. Like Sir David Attenborough (Yes he is my hero!), I feel more privileged watching animals in their natural habitats, where they belong, than I do playing with my ferrets. Although that’s great too, yes I have ferrets - I told you I was weird, I even did my university research on bats, after spending the first two years with parasites! I must have done okay though as I was asked to present the findings of my MRes research at the Scottish Bat Workers Conference at Stirling University.

Well that’s my story of how I got here, now I specialise in Wildlife Photographic Safaris and have even started to learn a bit about Wildlife Film Making - although I am still new at this, but if you want to see how I'm doing check out my You Tube Site.