Angela Robertson-Buchanan

Angela Robertson-Buchanan is an award-winning creative bird photographer, published children's author and lecturer with Nikon School and the Australian Museum. 

Angela combines her interests in wildlife and photography by creating projects and exhibitions where she can convey a conservation message, as well as supporting wildlife organisations by donating prints or a percentage of sales.

Angela is also the founder and curator of an annual bird exhibition held in conjunction with National Bird Week and the Aussie Bird Count ‒ an event by Birdlife Australia to inspire Australians to become involved in bird conservation. Each year, 20% of exhibition art sales are donated to BirdLife Australia’s conservation work, and the exhibition has raised over $20,000 in the five years it has been running.

Angela's photographic techniques align with her respect for nature. She relies on natural light rather than flash, a passion she teaches in her workshops ‒ as well as the importance of maintaining high ethical standards when you are working with wildlife.

Angela loves photographing urban birds and is fascinated how they interact with the man-made environment.

Peter O'Brien

Peter O’Brien has a passion for photographing nature, particularly birds. Although he started later in life, he has immersed himself in the competitive photographic world. Peter was the Competition Coordinator at the Castle Hill RSL Photography Club (the largest in NSW) for eight years and is currently the President. In addition, Peter is the Print Secretary at The Entrance Camera Club.

Peter developed an interest in national and international exhibitions and has achieved an Excellence distinction in the International Federation of Photographic Art (EFIAP) and was awarded Grand Master of the Australian Photographic Society (GMAPS).

Peter has achieved 53 international photography awards in nature including Gold, Silver, Bronze. By encouraging others, he has had the pleasure of seeing others achieving recognition at international levels when they did not believe that this could be achieved.

Following his involvement in international competitions, Peter has moved into the judging world and is an accredited judge with the Federation of Camera Clubs NSW.

Peter can be found most days out photographing birds, both for pleasure and capturing “that image”.

Melissa Zappelli

Melissa Zappelli is a self-taught nature photographer with a deep love for birds and their environment. She grew up on a remote desert cattle station and has always felt a strong connection with creatures and country.

Melissa has had images shortlisted in Australia, New Zealand, Antarctica and the New Guinea region (ANZANG) and Bird Photographer of the Year (BPOTY) photography competitions. A long-time interest in photography intensified back in 2014 when her husband was diagnosed with cancer and photography became a way to make sense of some extremely difficult life experiences. Time spent in the desert, forest and ocean photographing birds calmed anxiety and created perspective.

Melissa loves writing as much as she loves photography, and over time these two pursuits have become strongly intertwined as a means to evoke emotion, tell stories and create connection and meaning. These days Melissa uses her photography to advocate for conservation and the environment and to inspire a love of nature in others. 

Gary King

Gary King has a Masters degree in Natural Resources which focused on wildlife management.

He has had strong interest in Australia’s birdlife since boyhood when he kept an aviary of Australian finches. He had always wanted to see these finches in their natural habitat.

Due to other commitments this did not happen until he reached retirement. During the last 15 years he has spent a considerable amount of time travelling throughout Australia camera in hand. He has posted more than 1100 images on the BirdLife Photography website. A significant number of his images have been requested for use in education or conservation. He managed the internal BirdLife Photography competitions for 3 years and has subsequently acted as a mystery reviewer (judge) for these competitions.

Gary is currently the national President of BirdLife Photography.

To date every entry that Gary has submitted to international competitions, from wildlife to landscape and monochrome, have been recognised and received an award – but no winners yet.

Graham Cam

Graham Cam (PhD) is a research scientist, ornithologist, photographer and educator, and has engaged in bird photography from an early age.

Graham is an Honorary Life Member and former President of Birdlife Photography (BLP), and was recently presented with the 2024 BirdLife Photography Tom Oliver Award for photography education.

Graham shares his knowledge of photography and biology to BLP members and the wider photographic community, teaching the principles of bird photography and processing. He continues to act as an image moderator for BLP and is an accredited judge for the NSW Federation of Camera Clubs.

Graham was also awarded an Honorary Life Membership of The Australian Bird Study Association for 25 years of service to bird conservation. He has studied birds for over 57 years, using a variety of techniques including bird banding, censusing and photography.

Graham’s passion and dedication to the conservation of Australian birds and their habitats extends to promoting ethical wildlife photography. As a research biologist and former member of a CSIRO Ethics Committee, his advice to photographers is that the welfare of the bird or animal comes first, even if it means missing that once in a lifetime image.

Tim Van Leeuwen

Tim Van Leeuwen is a keen amateur bird photographer who became a member of Birdlife Photography (BLP) in 2014. During his time with BLP Tim has benefited enormously through spending his time with and learning from the talented and like minded members within BLP.

Tim has participated in the BLP internal competitions and has had some success winning silver medals in the advanced section in 2016/2017/2019. Tim has also had a number of his images shortlisted in BAPA and ANZANG competitions.

In 2018 Tim was awarded the Member of the Year award, served as BLP President from 2020 to 2023 and was a BAPA judge in 2023. In 2024 Tim was awarded Life Membership for his contribution to BLP.

Tim is married to Mandy and has three children and lots of wonderful grandchildren. As well as photography Tim is a keen open water swimmer.

Tim is excited to take on the coordinators role for BAPA and is looking forward to working with Birdlife Australia and his judging panel to find and award Australia’s best bird photographs for 2026.