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Big Cat Photography Workshop
The Big Cat Photography workshop is a great opportunity to take photos of Bailey, the African lion, the Amur leopards and tigers, cheetahs and other animals along the way while learning about camera settings and other technical photographic aspects plus how knowing more about the animal species and their behaviour can help you to get great images.
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Professional wildlife photographer, Barbara Meyer will be available throughout the event to offer advice and to help participants with the settings on their cameras plus to answer any other photography related questions. Participants will also be able to learn how to deal with challenges like taking photos through the fence and through glass. Based on Barbara’s connection to wildlife conservation, our customers will also benefit from learning more about the big cats and their situation in the wild.
As on all our photography experiences, the Big Cat Photography workshop participants will have the option to have a 30-minutes online photography tuition session prior to the photography workshop; having access to tuition, tailored to their individual needs.
The Big Cat Photography workshops will start at 9:30am and will finish at 4:30pm (4:00pm during the winter months).
The maximum number of participants on our Big Cat Photography workshops is limited to 4 photographers per event (minimum of two). The small group size will benefit our customers in respect of getting good positions around the enclosures and having easily access to one-to-one support when needed.
2025 Dates
27th October 2025
7th November 2025
5th December 2025
2026 Dates
16th January 2026
20th February 2026
20th March 2026
17th April 2026
8th May 2026
5th June 2026
Wildlife Photography for Teenagers
The Wildlife Photography for Teenagers workshop is a photography experience for children, aged 10-15 years. This photography workshop offers the children and their guardian to learn different aspects of photography; starting with technical features like exposure and focus settings as well as composition of images plus how to approach taking photos of wildlife in captivity (through glass and fences) or in natural habitat areas.
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This photography experience for teenagers is ideal for any child with a keen interest in photography and/or wildlife. In particular children, who have taken up GCSE- or A-level Photography or who are thinking about choosing a photography career, will benefit from the Online Photography Tuition session, which is offered before the workshop as part of the package. The tuition session is individually tailored to each child’s experience level and needs. We can go over technical aspects of photography as well as photography projects, the children might work on and would like to add to with the photos, they intend to take as part of the Wildlife Photography for Teenagers workshop. Please just let us know what you would like to learn and get out of the photography workshop.
On the actual photography workshop day, professional wildlife photographer Barbara Meyer will help the children with setting up their cameras and teach them how to approach wildlife photography. Advice on any photographic aspects and how to capture the animal action will be available to the children (and their guardians) throughout the photography workshop.
The Wildlife Photography for Teenagers workshop will start at 9:30am and will finish at 2:30pm. As with all our photography workshops we limit the number of participants; in this case to 3 children and one guardian each. The small group size benefits our teenaged customers and their guardians as they will have more easily access to good positions around the enclosures and to one-to-one support when required.
2026 Dates
7th February 2026
19th April 2026
16th May 2026
Zoo Photography for Junior Explorers
The Zoo Photography for Junior Explorers workshop is a photography experience for our youngest customers (aged 6-9 years). This photography workshop offers the children and their guardian the opportunity to explore photography by taking images of different wildlife species at the Colchester Zoological Society. The main focus of the Zoo Photography for Junior Explorers workshop is for the children to learn how to approach photographing animals by moving towards them without being noticed, by observing the animals and assessing possible photo opportunities plus by looking from which angle the animal can be best presented and a better composition of the images can be achieved.
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We will usually stay in an area with most popular animals like for example the sealions and penguins or the wolves and tigers to enable the children to learn more about photography and the animals as subjects for their photos. The duration of the Zoo Photography for Junior Explorers is 3-hours and we limit the number of participants to 2 children (plus one guardian each).
On this photography workshop any type of camera from a digital SLR to a compact camera or even a mobile phone could be used. Though saying this, cameras with a longer zoom range will be of benefit. Furthermore, if a digital SLR camera or a bridge camera is available, the children and their guardians will also be able to learn more about technical photography aspects like how the exposure, focus and other functional settings on the cameras work and can help to gain better images.
As with all our photography experiences, our junior participants will have the option to have a 30-minutes online session prior to the photography workshop at the zoo. This allows us to tailor the tuition to each child’s individual needs.
On the actual photography workshop day, wildlife photographer Barbara Meyer will help the children with setting up their cameras and teach them how to approach wildlife photography. Advice on any photographic aspects and how to capture the animal action will be available to the children (and their guardians) throughout the photography workshop.
2026 Dates
7th March 2026
10th May 2026
13th June 2026
African Photography Safari
On the African Photography Safari workshop participants will be able to explore and photograph Bailey, the lion, elephants, rhinos, giraffes, cheetahs, hyenas, baboons, chimpanzees and many other wildlife species. As there are so many African wildlife species at the zoo, we will tailor this photography workshop around where we anticipate good photo opportunities and most of all around which species, participants would like to see and photograph.
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The African Photography Safari workshop is ideal for people, who plan to go on safari and would like to make sure, they will be able to capture the wildlife effectively when they will see the different animal species while being out in Africa or on any other wildlife holiday.
Professional photographer, Barbara Meyer offers a 30-minutes online photography tuition session for each participant on a one-to-one basis before the actual photography workshop plus support on camera settings and any other photography aspects throughout the photography workshop itself. Barbara will also share knowledge about the animals and how to approach photographing them at the zoo as well as in their natural habitat.
Based on Barbara’s personal safari experiences, our customers will also benefit from learning more about what to expect and what to look out for from a photographic perspective when being on safari or generally taking photos of animals in the wild.
The African Photography Safari workshops runs from April until September and will start at 9:30am and will finish at 4:30pm. The maximum number of participants on our African Photography Safari workshops is limited to 4 photographers per event (minimum of 2 people). The small group size will benefit our customers in respect of getting good positions around the enclosures and having easily access to one-to-one support when needed.
2026 Dates
24th April 2026
26th June 2026
Primate Photography
On our Primates Photography workshop, participants can observe and photograph the wide variety of apes, monkeys, and lemurs at the Colchester Zoological Society. This photography workshop will run from May until September as we know that over the spring and summer months, when the weather is warmer, there will be plenty of action around the more than 20 primate species at the zoo.
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The Primates Photography workshop will be particularly of benefit for people, who plan to see some of the primates like orangutans, chimpanzees, or lemurs in their natural habitat. Our customers will be able to learn on this photography workshop how to get photos, through observing the behaviour of the primates and anticipating potential photo opportunities through this.
Throughout the photography workshop, participants will have access to advice on any photography aspects and help with the settings on their camera. Additionally, our customers have the option to have a 30-minutes online photography tuition session before the photography workshop. Through this, participants will get one-to-one tuition on a level, they require. The session could cover anything from an introduction to the exposure and focus settings to refreshing previously gained knowledge and more.
The Primates Photography workshops will start at 9:30am and will finish at 4:30pm. The maximum number of participants on our Primates Photography workshops is limited to 4 photographers per event (minimum of 2 people). The small group size will benefit our customers in respect of getting good positions around the enclosures and having easy access to one to-one support when needed.
2026 Dates
15th May 2026
Please note, the Big Cat & Nature Photography terms and conditions apply to all photography workshop bookings.
