International League of Conservation Photographers member & BBC Wildlife Photographer of the Year winner.

Nick Hawkins is a Canadian conservation photographer and photojournalist specialising in natural history, science and conservation. A biologist by training, Nick believes that photography and storytelling are key components of conservation.

OCEANOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE (OM): WHEN DID YOU FIRST CONNECT WITH THE OCEAN

NICK HAWKINS (NH): I grew up in New Brunswick, a small province in Atlantic Canada about 150km inland. I didn’t visit the ocean much until my early teens, when my family started taking me whale watching. We spent time on the beaches and snorkelling too. There definitely was a connection from those early family trips, but I grew up on mostly rivers and lakes.

I always loved documentaries and read books about the ocean. I always had an interest in the natural world in general – the lakes and rivers were just more accessible than the sea. That fascination lead to a degree in biology from the University of Brunswick. I took some marine courses, took field trips to the ocean. I did an Honours thesis which focussed on marine invertebrates, but I finished in crisis, feeling research wasn’t for me, but I still loved biology, the ocean and the people I’d met in research so I started looking for a way I could contribute, to still be a part of that community. That’s when I found the world of conservation photography.

OM: WHEN DID YOU FIRST PICK UP A CAMERA?

NH: My brother lived near my university. One lunchbreak I walked over and told him I was struggling with how I was feeling about my degree and my future. When I got there, I saw a National Geographic sitting on the table. It was open on a story by Brian Skerry about fisheries and bycatch. I looked into Brian’s work and discovered he’d formed the International League of Conservation Photographers (ILCP) with Cristina Mittermeier, who I also then looked up. My head exploded. These people were using photography to communicate science and research. I thought: maybe I could do that? I’d felt frustration with research for so long – doing great work but not communicating it with the public. So I bought a DSLR. That was in 2010.

OM: YOUR NOW A MEMBER OF THE ILCP. THAT’S BEEN A BUSY EIGHT YEARS!

NH: It’s been a pretty intense period. I’ve been out in the field with my camera most of that time, but I also needed to earn a living so I got a job as a naturalist on a whale watching boat. It was seasonal and I got to use my camera a bit – the operators loved it when I got great images. In the winter I’d travel to Central America, meet researchers, explore, take photos, experience what it would be like to be a photojournalist communicating science and conservation.

OM: WHEN DID YOU REALISE THE POWER OF OCEAN PHOTOGRAPHY AND WAS THERE A MOMENT THAT YOU ACTIVELY DECIDED TO HARNESS THAT?

NH: I’m not sure I could hang it on one moment. Paul Nicklen‘s, Cristina’s and Brian’s work have all been hugely influential. But seeing that magazine article and being introduced to ILCP was a big moment. I admired these people’s commitment to telling scientifically accurate stories, working in close collaboration with researchers. I saw the impact of having images that hooked people in, opened them up to a story – that’s when you could deliver a conservation message or something important, raise awareness for an issue. That power of combining research and photography became clear to me. I thought, ‘that’s it, that’s the way forward.’