Would you like to get to know our Professional photographers better? Our new weekly feature will do just that ... 

This week the Spotlight is on Ben Osborne!

✭ How long have you worked for L&L?

"It must be well over 15 years. I started with a couple of long weekend wildlife photography workshops on the Farne Islands but my most consistent tour has been the annual Knoydart photographic (and gastronomic) adventure which is now in its 13th consecutive year. This regular date in the diary has been interspersed with tours to Greenland, New Zealand and the Shropshire/Powys borders. Orkney is soon to be added to the list."

✭ When did you discover photography?

"Too long ago to remember but my first camera was a Brownie box camera - which is a bit of a clue. I first took photography seriously when working on my final year project at Edinburgh University, using both super 8 film and 35mm stills to gain a closer insight into the foraging behaviour of Ringed Plovers at Aberlady Bay. It still seems extraordinary that this eventually lead to me working in Antarctica for National Geographic - although I admit to a few lucky breaks along the way."

✭ Which camera do you use?

"Whichever one is with me at the time (including my iPhone) but my main workhorse over the last few years has been the Canon 5D mk3 and a selection of Canon lenses. I’ve also recently been tempted to try smaller, lighter compact system cameras."

✭ Favourite place you’ve visited?

"This is an almost unanswerable question but Antarctica is the continent on which I have had some of my most significant moments as a photographer. Botswana and Shropshire come a close second. "

✭ What’s your favourite image of yours? 

"I love this image.  Durdle Door must be one of Britains best known coastal locations but it rarely looks like this. I always enjoy doing something different and to me this has a power and intensity that all the classic, lovely, calm, dawn images completely lack. "

✭ What’s your favourite food?

"Anything that is put on the table in the restaurant at Doune (our accommodation on the Knoydart tour). Some photographers have joined me on this tour repeatedly (including one who has been on all 12 tours to date) and they all dream of the food from one year to the next. I keep trying to convince myself that this isn’t the only reason they turn up! (It really isn’t!)"

✭ If you could be any animal what would it be? 

"Well, a few years ago it would have been something cool like a Wandering Albatross or a Snow Leopard….. However, on this frosty morning, I am sitting in our garden room writing this and watching our Golden Retriever stretched out on the (under-heated) floor having been served with her breakfast and in the certain knowledge that she'll get a good walk later in the day, possibly up the Stiperstones (a hill in rural Shropshire) and then a warm evening in front of a log fire. To be honest, that seems like a pretty good life to me. "

See all of Ben's upcoming tours and workshops here.