A wildlife, nature and travel photographer from South Africa.
Hello, I am Stephen Maycock.
I began my wildlife photography journey way back in 2011 when I was 14 years old. I used to have an old Samsung digital camera that I would bring with me on every trip, excited to snap any animals we saw on our family trips to begin a diary of sorts of the animals we would see. It wasn't until my sister, who had developed a keen interest in photography, bought her first DSLR camera that I slowly became fascinated by the art of photography watching her snap away in our back garden and on the family trips.
After a few years she upgraded and handed me the Nikon D3100 (the camera I still use today) and for some reason, being able to manually control and move even just the zoom lens and focus gave me such a childlike sense of wonder and curiosity. I had to test everything.
My photos evolved from quick 'proof of sighting' photos to sitting with an impala for 30 minutes, seeing what one button after the next would do. It was these experiences that actually made me appreciate and treasure moments with wild animals even more. The longer I sat, the more of the animals' personalities would come out and I soon became obsessed with capturing images that would convey both my emotions and attempt to convey the mood I felt from the animal.
I started an Instagram page in 2017 to share some of the pictures I was most proud of and this opened a whole new world. I began following many professional wildlife photographers and was introduced properly to the world of wildlife and nature photography. It has since been a journey drawing inspiration from the many phenomenal photographers out there and finding my own style and expression, something which has remained very fluid.
After obtaining my Bachelor's in Civil Engineering, I traveled to The Netherlands to study a Master's in Water Science and Management where I am striving towards a career in ecohydrology, combining my love of nature, wildlife and conservation with my more technical background of engineering.
Being away from the bush has pushed me to explore other avenues of photography, and whilst wildlife photography will always be where my heart lies, I have started to challenge myself and diversify my portfolio where I aim to capture remarkable scenes from my (hopefully many) travels.