Wild Shots was founded in 2012, and is South Africa’s premier annual wildlife photography conference.

Wildlife photography is hugely popular in South Africa, and Wild Shots provides the first centralised event of its kind, bringing together amateurs and professionals alike, to learn from, and be inspired by, the best in the business. Wild Shots is now Africa’s foremost gathering of top wildlife photographers, where the power of photography to educate, inspire and conserve is discussed.

Sine 2015, Wild Shots has been running an Outreach Programme which inspires and educates under-privileged children from Government schools in the art of wildlife photography and its impact on conservation. These students are brought through to the Wild Shots event and an exhibition of their photographic work launched to showcase the best images and stories behind the images.

All speakers at Wild Shots are offered the opportunity to sell their books tours and workshops at the trade show. It should be noted that we do not pay speakers’ fees, and are not in a position to support travel costs, except in exceptional circumstances. We rely very heavily on sponsorship and delegate fees to cover costs for the events and are a not for profit organisation. The symposium’s aim is to explore how wildlife photography promotes a greater public appreciation of biodiversity and nature conservation in Africa. Wild Shots plays host to world class nature photographers and industry practitioners, who present their work and inspire the audience through seminars, workshops and discussions. The one-day event is very much about storytelling and inspiration, with an underlying conservation ethos – rather than a technical conference per se. The event has been running now for 9 years.

The event was co-founded by Harriet Nimmo and Sophie Dandridge:

During her time as CEO of Wildscreen, Harriet Nimmo was responsible for developing Arkive and founding WildPhotos in the UK. Harriet Nimmo has considerable understanding of the nature photography industry, its issues and interests, and a unique network of contacts with the world’s top wildlife photographers.

As founder of NHU Africa, its WildTalk film Festival, and bringing the BBC WPOY exhibition to South Africa – Sophie Dandridge has considerable expertise in delivering professional, high profile, world class wildlife media events. Now living in Maun, Botswana, Sophie runs a number of successful business including a tourism lodge on the edge of the Okavango Delta.