Staffan Widstrand is a photographer and a founder and managing director of the mass communication initiative, Wild Wonders of Europe. After an early background in the metal industry, he moved on to become an officer in the Royal Swedish Tank Corps, before changing track to lead nature tours and becoming involved in nature tour production management. This was when his more serious photography career began, and he established his own photography business at the age of 25. Widstrand was soon hired as a picture editor by Natur & Kultur publishers in Stockholm, where he stayed for five years. In 1990, he left employed life and started off as a full-time independent professional photographer, writer, and activist, working mainly on long-term projects, which he set up and raised funds for himself or together with a few colleagues.
Widstrand is a winner of numerous international photography and book awards, such as Wildlife Photographer of the Year, European Wildlife Photographer of the Year, Image of the Year in Sweden, and Emirates Wildlife Photographer of the Year. He is also the author of 15 books, a founder of the Swedish Ecotourism Association and its quality label ‘Nature’s Best’, a founder of the Swedish National Carnivore Information Centre, ‘The Big Five’, and a founding fellow of the International League of Conservation Photographers. His Wild Wonders of Europe initiative has to date reached an estimated 400 million people. Widstrand is also one of the founders of the pioneering conservation initiative Rewilding Europe, and of the upcoming Wild Wonders of China. In 2012, Widstrand was awarded the Gouden Wimpel – the highest award offered by the Dutch Postcode Lottery – for his services to nature. He has twice been a jury member in the Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition and, in 2011, was named as one of the world’s most influential nature photographers by Outdoor Photography magazine.
