Elin Hartley

I started photographing animals on long hikes with a borrowed camera and never quite stopped. For the last decade most of my work has been in the northern Rockies, the wetlands of the central flyway and along the Alaskan coast, returning to the same places season after season.

Grey Willow is named after the willow thickets along the rivers where much of this work begins — the place moose browse, warblers nest and otters slide down the banks.

I write about the trips in the journal and release a small number of prints each year.

Field ethics

No baiting, no calls and no playback. Nests and dens are photographed only from established hides with long lenses. Distance rules in parks and refuges are followed without exception, and locations of sensitive species are never published. If an animal changes its behaviour because of me, I leave.

In the bag

Bodies

Two full-frame mirrorless cameras

Long

600 mm f/4, 1.4× converter

Walk-around

100–400 mm zoom

Landscape

24–70 mm

Support

Carbon tripod, gimbal head, bean bag for the car

Hides

One-person pop-up blind, ghillie cover