This Award-winning Wildlife Photographer is Just 13 Years Old

If you ever doubted that young people are the future, then this wildlife photographer from Canada will make you think again. At the ripe age of just thirteen, Josiah Launstein has already earned more accolades than you can shake a telephoto at.

This short video from CBC Arts gives an insight into the photographic life of Josiah. We are taken on a tour of his craft, with his passion and understanding towards the natural world provided as an inspiration to us all.

Whilst following Josiah on a shoot to find bighorn sheep, he gives a simple explanation for his success:

“To be a wildlife photographer you have to have a lot of patience for the right lighting, finding the animal, or the right spot.

“Also the determination to keep going out day after day, because you’ll just keep getting better and better.”

First wielding a camera at only five years of age, Josiah’s true passion then began around age seven.

At age ten he was the youngest person ever to with the Young Outdoor Photographer of the Year award. The image that gifted him the title was a striking black and white frame of two bighorn sheep, their horns locked together in a ferocious battle.

In the 2014 Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition, 6 of Josiah’s 7 submitted images were selected as finalists. For 2017, the competition awarded him as a finalist in the 11-14 young awards category for his photo Raindrops. Depicting a monkey moth caterpillar in the rain, the abstract black and white image is to be displayed at the Natural History Museum in London, and will travel the globe with the international exhibition.

Now, once again, Josiah has been announced as the Young Outdoor Photographer of the Year for a second time.

To see more of Josiah’s work, visit his website or Facebook.