Insider Knowledge

Photographer Liam Doran spent much of his career directing athletes to hit a mark on snow and  dirt—skiers, trail runners, mountain bikers. Today he’s branching out into wildlife photography. But the talent isn’t as easy to work with.

“I don’t get to yell through a radio to tell the mountain goats where I need them,” says Doran. “But I like the challenge. I have to do a lot more moving to create the scene I’m after. And with wildlife, I find it’s even more important to pull back and show the landscape to tell the story.

It’s important to show the landscape to tell the story.

It takes time to learn wildlife patterns and find the habitat. I’m constantly reading up on the animals, from their rut cycles to when they’re giving birth. It helps that my wife is a conservation biologist. She can put me on remote beaver ponds and I shoot them until the moose show up.”