Yesterday the exciting news was passed to me by a close friend that CNN published all of the winning photographs from Travel Photographer of the Year that included my photograph of the Pallas cat covered in hoar frost. This sort of syndication, publication and exposure is what other well known competitions should be aiming for (instead of lining their pockets with entry fees). In my opinion this sort of exposure is a lot more valuable than a cash prize or surplus photography equipment that no one really wants. It also helps increase the positive perception of photography as an art form amongst the general public. Kudos to Travel Photographer of the Year for making the effort to syndicate all the winners from all the categories to media outlets such as CNN. All of the winners were also featured on the Times website. Congratulations to all winners and to TPOTY for successful syndication.
In mid January 2025 I ran a workshop to the Altai mountains in Western Mongolia to find and photograph the ghost of the mountains – the Snow Leopard. This was my second workshop to this region of Mongolia in Winter and it included a number of incredible sightings and photography sessions with this stunningly beautiful cat.
We kicked off our workshop in the capital of Mongolia with a two-hour flight to the small town of Khovd in Western Mongolia. From here we took our pre-arranged 4-wheel drives another two and a half hours into the wilderness to our base camp on the upper steps of the Altai mountain range. The altitude at base camp is around 2100 metres, so quite comfortable for day-to-day living. Operational altitude is quite a bit higher toping out around 10,000 feet or just over 3000 metres.
This year the snow conditions in this part of Mongolia were superb with an excellent covering of snow at both base camp and on the mountains. Snow conditions are extremely unpredictable from year to year and even when conditions are ideal, the snow often doesn’t last long. Even though temperatures are frequently below -20º Celsius, the snow melts fast due to a combination of direct sun exposure and extremely dry air. The snow often goes straight to gas form, meaning there is no melt water lying around. We witnessed an astonishing amount of snow sublimate in just two days when it was below -20º Celsius with constant sunshine.
Snow Leopards are notoriously difficult to find and even harder to photograph, so to give us the best possible chance we utilised three fit young local trackers who live in the mountain region around base camp. Equipped with radios and fit as navy seals on pay day our trackers would go up into the mountains every day before sunrise and search for signs of recent passing of Leopards. It wasn’t long on our first day before our trackers sent back word of a leopard high in the mountains. We quickly grabbed our camera gear and began a one hour plus hike up the steep sides of the mountain screen slope. After some difficult climbing we reached a small snow covered plateau of sorts where our trackers advised us to wait. The Leopard was now on the move and no one (including the trackers) knew exactly where it was.
From our vantage point on the side of the mountain we were limited in what we could see due to the incredibly steep rocky terrain, low cloud and significant ice crystals in the air that hampered visibility. Nevertheless I was determined to try and locate the leopard and after roughly half an hour of searching with my binoculars I found it on the move between a rocky ravine covered in snow. The Leopard was moving quickly and after getting everyone onto the leopard with their cameras I managed to grab a photograph I am extremely pleased with. What I love about this photograph is the environment surrounding the leopard. Many photographs of Snow Leopard have less than ideal backgrounds, but in the snowy conditions we were able to capture the leopard in wonderful context.
Over the course of the next week we had several other sighting and encounters with Leopards in the area that included an incredible display of interaction between a male and female high on the near vertical sides of one of the mountains. This encounter was mesmerising to watch, as the male leopard tracked the female across the side of the mountains. When they finally came together we could hear female growling from the base of the mountains. This sort of interaction is incredibly rare to witness and was a real highlight of the trip. Photographically it was challenging as the leopards were at a significant distance and on a near vertical rock face that was impossible to reach – nevertheless, the encounter was enthralling.
The photograph of the month I recently posted for January 2025 was also shot during this workshop. Although this is not an image of Snow Leopard, it is probably my favourite wildlife photograph from this trip. The silhouette is of a Mongolian Ibex that appeared at the very top of this mountain range for a few moments while we were milling around the vehicles at the base of the mountains. At the time the Ibex appeared, my camera was packed up in the car as we had just returned from hiking in the mountains. Hastily I grabbed my camera bag and pulled out the R1 with the 600mm and 1.4 TC. I immediately recognised that this photograph was going work best as silhouette and set my exposure accordingly. Mercifully, the Ibex remained and posed for the perfect silhouette before disappearing again over the ridge. This sort of photograph is pure serendipity and can never be planned. The key takeaway for me is not just to remain prepared in the field, but also to recognise opportunity when it presents for this sort of silhouette.
On our last day we also spotted a wolf high on top of a distant snow covered mountain – unfortunately too far to photograph, but absolutely wonderful to see and experience. This was my first encounter with a wolf in Mongolia. We also had some superb cultural experiences and opportunities and although people photography is not my thing, I could not resist the chance to photograph one of our trackers young kids before he set off into the mountains to shepard the sheep and goats.
I will return to the mountain regions of Mongolia again early next year in January 2026 in search of this incredible ghost of the mountains. If you would like to join myself and Wild Nature Photo Travel on this unique experience in Mongolia please get in touch to register your interest. Places are filled on a first come first served basis. The 2026 workshop will run from the 13th of January until the 24th of January which is the perfect time for winter conditions to photograph this powerful cat. We will be taking just four people on this workshop to ensure the best possible photographic opportunities and experience for all.
We are continuing to receive really positive feedback on our Noise Reduction pre-sets for the Canon EOS R1, EOS R3 and EOS R5 MKII – thank you to all those who have purchased and downloaded the pre-sets and special thank you to those of you who have written to us with so much complimentary feedback. If you shoot one of these cameras and have not yet checked out our pre-sets there are full details on each here for the Canon EOS R1, Canon EOS R5 MK2 and Canon EOS R3. We also have historic pre-sets for the Canon EOS 1DX MK3. All of these noise reduction pre-sets have been optimised to give you the best possible result, and save you a huge amount of time as they can be applied on import.
The winners of the 2024 Travel Photographer of the Year competition were announced live early evening yesterday (January 27th, 2025, Sweden time) and I am thrilled to have taken out the ‘Best Single image in a Portfolio’ in the Nature Wildlife Category. Congratulations to all the other category winners, runners up and finalists.
“Every year the standard seems to get higher and higher and the judges’ job harder and harder. The incredibly high standard of entries for Travel Photographer of the Year continued in 2024, and we would like thank all our entrants for supporting us, together with our fantastic judging panel, who gave so much of their time to select the winners. The winners are fabulous – and there were so many really good images which nearly made it as well…”
In early January 2025, I ran my annual Winter workshop to the far Eastern Steppe region of Mongolia in search of the world’s grumpiest cat – the Pallas cat. A significant point of difference from others on this workshop is that we (my company – Wild Nature Photo Travel) will only take a maximum of six people to ensure we have a small intimate group to make minimal impact on each others photography in the field. With just a small group we can work together as a team and not be in each other’s way out in the field. I have watched other groups of up to ten or even more attempt this sort of trip as a group and it just doesn’t work effectively.
We began our workshop with a drive from the capital of Mongolia, Ulanbataar to our private camp in the Eastern Steppe region. Most of the drive is on regular paved roads with only the last couple of hours off-road through the Steppe. This year, conditions made for easy driving with little to no snow that saw us arrive at our camp in the early evening. We had time to settle in before dinner with high expectations for finding and photographing Pallas cat the following morning. It was a very interesting counterpoint this year as 2024 had been an extremely high snow year which made for really difficult driving conditions, but also exceptional photographic opportunities.
Our accomodation for this workshop was in both private and shared Gyrs (depending on preference). Each Gyr is equipped with a coal stove for heating, bed, wash basin and has plenty of space for equipment and luggage. The video below is a quick tour of one of the shared Gyrs.
We rose early on our first full day in the field and took breakfast before sunrise. This time of the year the sun doesn’t actually crest the Steppe before approximately 8am. With the sun just creeping over the horizon we set off from camp in our 4-wheel drives into the Steppe in search of the Pallas Cat. Despite the low snow conditions it didn’t take too long before we found our first cat and we captured the first images of this amazing animal.
The main photographic challenge this year was the lack of snow, which meant dealing with tall grass as an obstacle between the lens and the cat. This made the photography a little more difficult, but also more rewarding. With longer grass the best approach in my experience is to try and frame the cat amongst the grasses.
Over the course of the next week we photographed half a dozen different cats in various lighting conditions. Being a low snow year in the eastern region there was minimal opportunity for shooting the cat against an all white background. Instead the grasses of the Steppe served as the perfect addition to add environmental context.
Over the course of the week long workshop we also saw (but did not photograph) several Corsak Fox as well as a great many Upland Buzzards. We also sighted both Steppe and Golden Eagle as well as Saker Falcon and Mongolian Gazelle. The wildlife in this region of Mongolia never fails to disappoint and it remains one of the best untapped gems for wildlife photographers the world over.
I will return to the Steppe region of Mongolia again early next year in January 2026 in search of this wonderful wild cat. If you would like to join myself and Wild Nature Photo Travel on this unique experience in Mongolia please get in touch to register your interest. Places are filled on a first come first served basis. The 2026 workshop will run from the 2nd of January until the 9th of January which is the perfect time for winter conditions to photograph this beautiful (but grumpy) cat.
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