You're planning the trip of a lifetime and hope to photograph some of the world’s most iconic animals. Richard Barrett, one of Britain’s top wildlife photographers, shows you how to achieve this.

He tells you the best seasons, times of day, specialist wildlife travel companies and a myriad of things that will help you take that exceptional photo. Through his exciting stories of close-range encounters with animals – from Africa to the Arctic – you will learn about their particular habits, behaviour and the challenges they pose to the keen photographer.

Richard Barrett’s extraordinary journeys in search of tigers, jaguars, polar bears, grizzlies, orcas and many other rare apex predators have taken him to all corners of the globe. They are recorded in this collection of his stunning photos – each one telling the story of how it was taken, the circumstances, the weather, the discomfort, the patience and ultimately the reward of an extraordinary image.

When you have travelled half way round the world to see iconic animals in their natural habitat with the aim of capturing them on camera, a lot of planning, time, money and patience has gone into getting you to this point. You have a window of opportunity to take photographs that perfectly capture your subject and you certainly don’t want to mess it up! This is the advice I wish I’d known before I set off on my photographic safari.

Highly recommended for those with a love not only for wildlife, but also the techniques behind capturing it.

Richard Barrett has been a structural engineer working in the steel industry. He has always been a keen photographer but on early retirement he had time to devote himself fully to his passion of wildlife photography. Many of his travels in search of exotic mammals have been in the company of the world’s foremost wildlife photographers – talents such as Mark Carwardine, Danny Green and Marsel van Oosten – and from them he has learnt many of the skills of the field which he passes on in this book.