Picturing freedom: conservation photography with the Canon EOS 5D series and Speedlites

Storyboarding shots

"Most photographers are looking for wildlife pictures and experiences in nature or travel photography. It's not that easy to sit down and storyboard a project on something like badgers, and to get the access for those shots you've identified and to make it happen. It can take a long time and a lot of dedication."

Cameras that cope in all environments

Neil also uses the camera for remote photography and for camera trapping – connecting the camera to a sensor that can detect the movement of warm objects such as animals – so he needs to know that the camera will be safe when it's left out in the elements. "Dust and rain are two big issues when shooting in Africa and in the UK. I need to know that those cameras are going to carry on working and be reliable and get me the shot that I need them to get."

A further benefit of the EOS 5D range of professional DSLRs, in Neil's eyes, is the autofocus. When he has to move quickly – say, when photographing a rhino released from a cage – he needs to be sure he can "rely on a fast, crisp focus."

The Canon EF 16-35mm f/2.8L USM lens is the first piece of kit he puts into his bag. He shoots at f/16 to f/22 with a little fill flash. "More and more over the last few years, that 16-35mm has been my go-to lens. It allows me to get close, to freeze the action. Sometimes there might a static subject such as the rhino in the boma; other times it might be a rhino being released from a crate and there's lots of movement. This lens allows me to get up close and capture the moment, capture that feeling.

"I'm not too fussed about frame rate. That's not a main driver for me. I think it probably was earlier on in my career, photographing a lot of birds in flight and typical wildlife action. For me now, though, it's come down to image quality."

Light and motion

Neil also finds that the commissions he receives are increasingly demanding video as well as stills. "There are things we are seeing, such incredible wildlife behaviour or interactions, that sometimes are not done justice in a still frame," he says. So it's essential he can switch between high-quality stills and 4K video without having to lug around additional heavy equipment or even change lenses in the field, which adds to the risks of getting dust on the sensor or just missing the moment.

To ensure his photos are well lit, Neil always carries a couple of Speedlites. He likes to be in control of how he's exposing a picture and make sure key points are well-lit – usually the face of an animal or person. "Sometimes you can set one up to the side maybe on a tripod, or mount it somewhere, or use one handheld while then photographing with the other hand," he explains.

Surprisingly, he says: "Botswana is an extremely difficult place to shoot. It's got incredible light, with a gorgeous golden sun at the beginning and end of every day, but I find it's a very flat light to work in – very harsh and white. My theory is that this white light comes from the dust from the Makgadikgadi Pans, the salt flats in the middle of the Kalahari, and it takes the edge off all of those rich colours you normally think of when you imagine Africa. So it's a very harsh light to work in." That's another reason he always tries to shoot with a flashgun, "just to try to balance and control some of the light."

Starting out

Wildlife has long been a big part of Neil's life. He was born in the UK but moved to South Africa when he was a boy. Suddenly he was surrounded by "incredible, iconic wildlife," so photographing these animals felt like a natural progression. Neil started working with long lenses at first, capturing "beautiful portraits, shots with nice lighting, and birds in flight." His work slowly evolved into the journalistic and documentary style he's known for today – a change that came from thinking more and more about conservation issues.

His first big project focused on African wild dogs (also known as painted wolves). He became aware of this endangered species while training to become a wildlife guide in South Africa. "I just thought: 'this is a story that I absolutely have to tell,'" Neil says. "It's such an under-appreciated species.

"African wild dogs weren't being featured at all in the big documentaries, and photographers were largely overlooking them. A lot of the private game reserves and people who were making decisions around wildlife and conversation were overlooking them. Many still saw them as a sort of pest. For me, that had to change."

It wasn't the obvious choice for a first project. Neil had already been in South Africa for 15 years before he saw his first wild dog. Additionally, by the time he started the project, he was living back in the UK – 6,000 miles away. Nevertheless, Neil completed the project, and once it was finished he showed the series to BBC Wildlife magazine. The magazine didn't print it, but commissioned him shortly after on the strength of it.

He published the work as a book, Underdogs, to raise funds and awareness of the African wild dog, and he estimates that photographs from the project were seen by more than three million people worldwide as part of the 2010 Wildlife Photographer of the Year exhibition and book.

"I thought, what better way to launch myself into this career than to set a mark early on, to say this is the kind of work I want to be known and recognised for," Neil says. He also realised that it could open doors to "the right editors and magazines. And then people could look at my work and say: 'That guy, clearly he's a photojournalist. He's also a conservationist, and he's thinking about narrative'."

Neil – who holds a master's degree in photojournalism from University of the Arts London – now lectures in Marine and Natural History Photography at Falmouth University. Between the African wild dogs and the rhinos in Botswana, he's worked on conservation projects about the Okavango Delta, the importance of the captivity breeding of birds, and Britain's uneasy relationship with the fox. For his next project he's tackling the issue of badger culling in the UK.

"It's not easy telling positive stories about negative issues," he says. "It takes time. It takes dedication. I've done this for 10 years and what drives me on is to see that people are taking notice of my work, switching on to these causes, and supporting the wonderful, inspiring people who are doing incredible work in the field. That's how I measure success in my work. Rather than Facebook likes or Instagram followers, it's about reaching people."

What happened to Neil's young rhino? When he first started visiting Botswana, he says, there were no rhinos. Now if you fly over the Okavango Delta and look down, you see scores of wild rhinos living free in the wilderness. "It's the fruits of the labour of everyone involved in that process," he says.

Rhino monitors recently spotted Neil's young rhino in the Delta. It was fat, healthy, and with its mother. "Apparently he takes exception to the presence of people," Neil says. "Good news!"