2026: TBA
Er, what am I doing again…?
Ah, the good old days…
This is my first blog post of 2026, so here’s what I hope to do this year. Unfortunately, there’s not much in my diary at the moment, so I’m going to need a bit of luck and a lot of money from somewhere…!
Goals
It would be nice to go on a few photo trips this year, but I only have one planned at the moment—to Tandayapa Bird Lodge in Ecuador. That one alone is going to cost me two or three grand, so I can’t really afford to book any more. My best hope now is to rely on someone offering me a free trip as a ‘resident photographer’. We shall see…
Equally, I can’t afford to buy any more camera equipment. I love having the latest and greatest gear, but this is going to be the first year for a while when I haven’t had the best possible camera on the market. I’m quite happy with my Nikon Z8 and 600mm lens (with the built-in teleconverter), but I only have the original version of the Sony ⍺1, which doesn’t have Pre-Capture. The updated Sony ⍺1 II costs nearly £6,000 (or $7,000), so that’s going to have a wait a while…!
All I can hope for, then, is that I get a stroke of luck or an unexpected financial windfall. In the meantime, I’ll keep ‘building my brand’ by publishing my work on social media and writing blog posts like this one.
Trips
"Mine's a Guinness!"
Tandayapa
I usually manage to get at least one gig every year as the resident photographer for a safari lodge, and my latest will be at Tandayapa Bird Lodge in the Ecuadorian cloud forest. It started with a random email in October last year. The lodge invited me to spend three nights for free in exchange for photos and videos of the local birdlife, including hummingbirds, tanagers and toucans.
It didn’t sound too promising initially—especially as it was addressed ‘Dear Amy’!—but I managed to persuade the manager to extend my stay to two weeks on reasonably good terms. It’s not going to be one of my typical visits to an African safari lodge, of course, but I’m looking forward to the chance to use flash photography to shoot hummingbirds.
Tandayapa is all about the birds. It boasts incredible avian diversity, with some estimates reaching over 420 species around the lodge and over 600 in the surrounding area. The lists feature numerous hummingbirds (over 30 species at the lodge alone) and rare endemic birds from the local Chocó region.
It’s hard to know in advance exactly what it’s going to be like, but I always like to learn new skills, and freezing hummingbirds with off-camera flash is certainly something I’ve never done before! I’ve booked a flashgun to take with me, and I understand there’s going to be a proper flash set-up that I can use around the lodge.
To help me get to know the ropes, I’ll be taking part in two ‘tours’, which I think are the same as workshops:
January 16–19 – Photography Tour
January 25–28 – Birding Tour
In between those dates, I’ll have to book a driver to take me to a few good spots in the surrounding area. I don’t know exactly how it’s going to work, but I’m hoping that the lodge manager can sort things out for me. She seems very helpful—and patient!
Paatli
My other invitation for a residential photographer job this year came from Paatli Fort Estate Resort in India. However, it’s only for a couple of nights, which is far too short! I’ve asked them to extend it to a couple of weeks, but I’m still waiting to hear back…
Paatli lies just outside Jim Corbett National Park, which is a great place to see Bengal tigers, so I’m hoping I’ll be able to book a week or two of game drives there. Again, nothing’s set in stone, but I might be able to work something out…
Equipment
My new Nikon Z8
Given that I don’t have the budget for a new camera body or lens, I’m going to have to content myself with updating the firmware for my Sony ⍺1 and Nikon Z8! That’s not very exciting, I know, but it’s all I can manage at the moment.
On the plus side, I’m a great technophile, and I look forward to seeing what new products Sony and Nikon bring to market over the next 12 months. In particular, I’d love Sony to launch a telephoto lens with a built-in teleconverter. I know I already have one of those for my Z8, but I would at least feel validated—even if I couldn’t afford to buy one!
Photography Coaching
A shot of a swan taken by one of my students
Workshops
I’ll be running wildlife photography workshops at the London Wetland Centre on the last Saturday of every month in 2026. If you want to come along, you can find out all the details on my Workshops page.
The sessions run from 1000 to 1400 and offer a mix of theory and practice—with a prize for the best photo thrown in for free! Here’s the general schedule:
1000-1100: Breakfast in the Kingfisher Kitchen with a laptop slideshow and talk on wildlife photography (given by me!)
1100-1115: Otter feeding
1115-1300: Wildlife photography practical (anywhere in the Wetland Centre)
1300-1400: Review (and competition judging)
We usually get a small group of people coming along, so that leaves plenty of time for individual coaching at the otter enclosure and throughout the Wetland Centre.
Private Lessons
In addition to the workshops, I also teach photography to private clients. I coached a couple of Chinese kids in December last year who wanted to enter the Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition, and I’m hoping they’ll want a few more lessons.
If you’re interested in booking a session or buying one as a present for a friend or relative, just drop me a line on +44 7942 800921 or at nick@nickdalephotography.com.
Awards
Bear Gills
My wildlife images have won hundreds of awards over the years, but it doesn’t really impress people because they’ve never heard of them! The only one people really know is the Wildlife Photographer of the Year at the Natural History Museum—so that’s the only paid contest I’ll enter in 2026. Apart from that, I’ll probably enter a few free competitions, but it’s not something I’m focusing on. I need to spend some more time taking decent photos…!
Print Sales
Teenage Kicks
The last framed print I sold was in December 2024 (see above), so I’m not very optimistic about selling any more in 2026! Having said that, I’m toying with the idea of hiring a sales associate on 50% commission to generate leads. I don’t really do any promotional work (apart from on social media), so it might work. Who knows…?
I was also approached by a company called The Creator Income with a view to transforming my social media presence and monetising my content. The guy I spoke to threw a few very big numbers at me, and I was tempted by the money-back guarantee—until I realised that I’d still have to plough in at least £100 a month! Hmm, let’s see…
Stock Sales
Eddie the Penguin
The one part of my photography business that keeps on growing is stock sales. I started distributing my images via stock agencies right back in 2013 when I became a professional wildlife photographer, and it now brings in a handy monthly income.
I belong to around 10 agencies, including Adobe, Alamy, Shutterstock, iStock (Getty Images) and Image Source/Connect Images (formerly Design Pics), and I upload 100 images a week. I’ll carry on doing that in 2026, but I’m gradually running out of new material, so I hope I’ll get a few ‘keepers’ from Tandayapa!
Writing
The one that got away…!
My major writing project last year involved trying to crowdfund a book on wildlife photography. Sadly, I couldn’t get enough people to sign up in advance, so it remains unpublished. My printer is still trying to put together sponsorship deals, though, so that may change in 2026. We shall see…
Social Media
My logo
I spend more time publishing my work on social media than I do taking pictures in the first place. I’m on just about every platform you’ve ever heard of (and some you haven’t!), and I reach hundreds of thousands of people every month.
However, it doesn’t seem to do me much good! Social media offers a very low response rate, and although I see the advantages of ‘building the brand’, it’s hard to see the point sometimes. Nevertheless, it gives me something to do every morning, so I’ll keep plugging away. At the very least, it’s a nice way to receive a few compliments!
Verdict
It’s a hard life…
I know it’s not a good look when the only way to sum up the year ahead is with ‘TBA’, but that’s about the size of it for me! It would be nice to earn more, travel more and buy more gear, but I can’t see that happening any time soon.
Having said that, I’d rather be Mr Micawber than Debbie Downer, so I’m sure something will turn up…
Happy New Year!
If you’d like to order a framed print of one of my wildlife photographs, please visit the Prints page.
If you’d like to book a lesson or order an online photography course, please visit my Lessons and Courses pages.
