The Art of Motion and Light: A Journey into Wildlife Photography
By
Mohammad Murad
In a world that chases sharpness and technical perfection, I’ve chosen to embrace something different – motion, light, and emotion. My wildlife photography isn’t just a way to document the world as it is – it’s a way to interpret, to express, and to invite others into the stories I see in the wild. It’s my personal language, one that speaks not only through subjects but through how they move and glow under nature’s changing light.
Blurring Boundaries: The Language of Motion
I still remember the day it all shifted. It was a flock of cormorants moving across the water. I lowered my shutter speed, not expecting much, just experimenting. Suddenly, the scene transformed into something fluid and alive – a painting of movement, drawn by wings and ripples. From that moment, I realized photography could be more than a static record. It could pulse with life. Since then, I’ve embraced techniques like slow shutter speeds, panning, and Intentional Camera Movement (ICM) to infuse my work with energy. This isn’t just a technique – it’s how I tell the story of nature’s pulse.
A group of zebras ran for their lives when a nearby mother cheetah began her hunt. I used a slow shutter speed to capture the movement in the scene.The variation between light and shadow in this image, with a herd of gazelles running across the Mara’s plains, was magnificent to witness. I used a slow shutter speed to blur everything except the gazelles racing under the clouds.I often shoot with a slow shutter speed—I just love the effect it creates. One morning, I came across this lone Grant’s gazelle walking gracefully. The lighting and colors were perfect, and I wanted to bring the image to life, letting the viewer feel the subject’s movement. The soft rim light along the edges of the gazelle’s body added a beautiful touch, and with an aperture of f/5, the scene transformed into a painting full of life.An elephant’s four sturdy, pillar-like legs support its massive body—its front joints work like wrists, and it can even “hear” with its feet, detecting low-frequency rumbles from up to 20 miles away. I used a slow shutter speed to blur everything except the legs, capturing their strength and movement rather than a static, frozen pose.
Light as Storyteller: Crafting Mood and Emotion
To me, light is more than illumination. It’s a storyteller. I’ve learned to see how golden light can soften a harsh landscape, how shadows can add tension, how backlight can turn a simple bird into a silhouette of poetry. I let the light dictate my exposure and mood, transforming familiar scenes into something mysterious or sublime. Sometimes, I’ll wait for hours for the right light to filter through a scene, not to capture it perfectly, but to capture it honestly – as it feels. It’s about letting the light shape the story.
A White (Pied) Wagtail surrounded by flying mosquitoes at sunset in one of Kuwait’s nature reserves. Placing the sun behind the subject added a beautiful, glowing backdrop.A hyena, full-bellied, wanders at sunset—standing in solitude at the close of the day.A herd of blue wildebeest pauses after fleeing predators, their hooves kicking up dust. The setting sun casts a warm, yellow glow, adding a dramatic touch to the scene.
Foxes Under Kuwait’s Streetlights: An Urban Symphony
Framed by the glow of streetlights along Kuwait City. This was taken in an area near the shore called Doha, where colorful street and car lights – some higher than others – reflected off the sea. To create the rim light, I used two small handheld flashlights, waiting for the mother fox to come and dig up food she had hidden for her cubs. This unique technique allowed me to capture the magical glow of the urban night, highlighting a rare moment of wildlife in a cityscape.
For more than two months, I visited the foxes’ den four days a week, spending hours after sunset. At first, I kept a respectful distance, but slowly, the foxes began to trust me. They even approached my gear, licking the camera and my feet as I sat quietly. This experience was deeply personal – not just because I’m a father to five children, like the fox family, but because I felt a responsibility to protect these foxes.
An Arabian red fox cub gazes into the camera, with streetlights behind creating a beautiful bokeh.Framed by the glow of Kuwait City’s streetlights, an Arabian red fox kitten explores the night just outside its den.Framed by the glowing streetlights of Kuwait City’s Doha shore, two Arabian red fox kits explore the night just outside their den. Over two months, I visited the den regularly, patiently earning their trust. The mother fox brings food—sometimes fish, birds, or scraps—which she buries for her kits to find. Using small flashlights as backlight, I captured this intimate moment of the cubs digging up their hidden treasure. Their curiosity grew so much they even started licking my camera and feet!Against Kuwait City’s vibrant lights, an Arabian red fox mother surveys her urban territory. Over two months, I gained her trust, witnessing her nightly ritual of hiding food for her five curious kits. Illuminated by street and car lights, this image captures the delicate balance between wildlife and city life—a powerful reminder of nature’s resilience and our role in protecting it.
Lessons from the Wild: Adaptability and Serendipity
My journeys have taken me from the deserts of Kuwait to the icy expanses of Mongolia and Iceland. Each place has taught me lessons in patience, adaptability, and openness to the unexpected. Lost luggage, arctic winds, extreme temperatures – they’ve all been teachers in disguise. Nature doesn’t wait for the perfect moment, and neither should we. Often, the most profound images come when we stop trying to control everything and simply let the scene unfold. I’ve learned to move with nature, not against it.
This Arctic fox took a peaceful nap behind snow-covered dry plants, looking right into my lens while curling its nose under its tail. I aimed to fill the frame without disturbing it. Captured in the remote Hornstrandir Nature Reserve, reachable only by a rough boat ride, this moment was truly special.An Arctic fox walks alone in Hornstrandir Nature Reserve, a wild land untouched since the 1950s. Pure nature and unmatched tranquility remain, with no infrastructure to disturb its isolation.The elusive snow leopard, nature’s ghost of the Altai Mountains, blends perfectly into the fiery orange lichens and rugged rocks of Mongolia. After enduring -34°C and fierce winds, I was rewarded with this rare glimpse—an awe-inspiring reminder of nature’s resilience and the urgent need to protect this endangered predator.
Beyond the Visible: Finding Your Creative Voice
At the heart of my photography is the desire to express more than just what I see. I want my images to be felt – to resonate on an emotional level. That’s why I experiment with techniques that go beyond the conventional. I want to translate the fragility of a bird in flight, the resilience of a herd, the silent conversation between predator and prey. My work isn’t about showing wildlife; it’s about sharing an interpretation of life itself. I encourage others to step away from the pursuit of technical perfection and to trust their instincts – to embrace their own creative voices.
Seagulls in flight along Kuwait’s seaside, captured with slow shutter speed to create an abstract, fiery-wing effect.Sometimes you find yourself in the middle of nowhere—and sometimes the middle of nowhere finds you. I see myself in this lion, roaming the African wilderness, protecting its territory and building a family in this stunning, wild heaven—the place where I truly found myself.They say art is limitless. This slow shutter shot of a baby elephant and its mother in Tanzania captures more than a moment—it’s my way of reinventing the scene, adding mystery, and expressing my inner self. Like a violinist playing a personal melody, photography lets me share my story, leaving interpretation to the viewer.Capturing the beauty of Masai Mara, Kenya, with slow shutter speed to reveal movement and mood.When worry and judgment fade, creativity blooms. Photographing the Greater Crested Tern colony on Kubbar Island with slow shutter speeds and upward camera movement felt like painting with light—capturing the mystical oneness of our universe.
Conclusion: The Journey Continues
Photography, for me, is a journey without a final destination. It’s a dance between light and shadow, motion and stillness, precision and chance. Through my images, I aim to bring viewers into this dance, to invite them to feel the world’s heartbeat. Every frame I capture carries a piece of my story – my challenges, my wonder, my deep respect for the natural world. I hope it inspires others to look beyond the surface, to find their own rhythm in the wild, and to see photography as not just a craft, but as an ever-evolving conversation with nature.
Mohammad Murad is a wildlife photographer from Kuwait, known for his artistic and abstract interpretations of the natural world. A Canon EMEA Ambassador and award-winning photographer, his work blends technical mastery with emotional storytelling. Mohammad’s images invite viewers to see beyond the surface, into the soul of nature.
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In a world that chases sharpness and technical perfection, I’ve chosen to embrace something different – motion, light, and emotion. My wildlife photography isn’t just a way to document the world as it is – it’s a way to interpret, to express, and to invite others into the stories I see in the wild. It’s my personal language, one that speaks not only through subjects but through how they move and glow under nature’s changing light.
Minimalism in photography isn’t about having less; it’s about revealing more by removing what are, in my opinion, distractions. It’s about creating space: space for the subject to breathe, and space for the viewer to pause and feel. In the following section, I’ll share a few practical tips I often use to bring simplicity into my work. They’re not strict rules, as the creative mind doesn’t fit in a box or, in terms of photography, a grid, but guiding ideas to help you focus on what matters in an image. Think of them as suggestions, things that work for me but might not necessarily work for you. This is simply my perspective. A vision. Minimalistic. Imaginative. Two-dimensional.
