George Logan
Photographer, wildlife conservationist and passionate Born Free supporter.
About George Logan
A longtime supporter of The Born Free Foundation, George Logan is passionate about wildlife conservation. His work sees him travel extensively around the world and especially Africa, photographing wildlife and documenting big cat rescues.
Always imaginative, often poignant, George’s love of wildlife permeates his work. As a boy, he regaled classmates with stories about growing up on an African farm. Tall stories they may have been, but that passion and imagination is clear to see in George’s work today.
Born in Bellshill, near Glasgow, Scotland, George studied at Blackpool College of Photography before moving to London, where he is now based. A multi-faceted talent, George is equally at home on location or in the studio, working with people, animals and locations.
George’s photography receives global critical acclaim; he was awarded the prestigious Gold at the Association of Photographers Awards in 2005 and again in 2010.
His work regularly features in the IPA / Lucie Awards, Creative Review, D&AD and Creative Circle. He was also listed as one of Campaign Magazine’s Top Ten Photographers.
Most recently George was awarded three Silver Lions at Cannes, a Finalist at the AOP Awards, Winner at PDN New York and Finalist at The Sony World Photographic Awards.
“No one, in my view, more strikingly has, through his camera’s all-seeing eye, caught the multiple dimensions of Lions’ behaviour and depth of character than George Logan. He has an unfailing sensitivity and admiration for the individual animal. This, for me, shines through each page of the book and is deeply moving in so many ways. There are many wonderful wildlife photographers, but George’s images are amongst the most intriguing, thought-provoking and original.”
Born Free co-founder and actress Virginia McKenna OBE
When I was very young, I saw the film Born Free and was instantly obsessed. My mother bought me plastic animals which I would play with for hours. My favourite was always the Lion. I would imagine what it would be like growing up on an African farm, surrounded by the creatures that I loved.
I changed schools constantly and, in an effort to make myself more interesting, I’d claim that I had been born and raised on an African farm surrounded by all sorts of exotic wildlife. Of course, this wasn’t the case at all and I had simply moved there from a nearby town. It did however have me imagining how these creatures would appear in the rural landscapes that I was familiar with.
I’ve always been fascinated with Lions, I can watch them all day, with or without a camera. That fascination has fast developed into an obsession to try to do whatever I can to prevent them from disappearing for ever. Each time I go to Africa, I see fewer Lions…it’s clear that the wild places are shrinking rapidly. In my lifetime, the Lion population has dropped from approx. 100,000 to fewer than 20,000 and this really does feel like a crisis point for them.
In 2018, I had the incredible privilege of sitting with Sudan, the last remaining male Northern White Rhino, shortly before he died… the last of his kind, gone forever. It made the news for a couple of days, before the world moved on to its next crisis. We can’t stand by and let this happen to Lions.
So pandemic or not, we’re pushing ahead with this. Please watch our short film which explains exactly what we’re trying to achieve. All proceeds from this book will support, protect and help re-establish ‘The Last Lions of Meru’ in Kenya, a major conservation initiative in collaboration with The Born Free Foundation.
We have arrived at a crossroads. We are no longer preserving our wild spaces as a haven for wildlife. The Lion is Africa’s signature wild animal, but fewer than 20,000 remain in the entire continent.
The human race has to now decide whether it is prepared to share the planet with the last few surviving of the most iconic predator.
Why do we love Lions?
In the UK we have always held a love and respect for Lions, more so than in any other country. Lions haven’t lived on these islands since the Pleistocene era, but we feel an affinity with them that borders on the irrational.
We have Lions on our flags, our sporting teams, our money… and there are more Lion statues (10,000 in London alone) than there are actual Lions left in the wild.
‘I just like them’…. so said Martin Nduru, Born Free Kenya’s head driver and my trusted travelling companion on countless safaris. And I agree! There’s always something going on. Lion society is so complex that you’re never far away from the next drama, whether it’s pride interaction, takeover or internal squabble. I love all animals, but I’m borderline obsessive about Lions. I can watch them all day, with or without a camera. Can there be any other creature whose lifecycle sees them grow so dramatically from the tiniest cute cub into a hulking great fearsome beast?!
The males, even when they reach the head of the pride will only reign for 2-3 years maximum, before they are deposed. 75% of male Lions are killed by other male Lions. Every meal is a drama. Life or death. Any injury from a hoof or horn can be a death sentence. And all this happens in such a relatively short period of time. Lions generally only live around 10-15 years in the wild. But it’s so, so much better this way, than growing old and fat in some zoo or even worse, a breeding facility, prior to being offered as target practice in a canned Lion hunt.
At the start of last century there were half a million Lions roaming Africa. When I was born, in the sixties, that had number had dropped to 100,000. Now there are as few as 20,000. Some reserves over estimate Lion numbers to make themselves appear more attractive to tourists. Real population numbers may be even less than previously thought.
Lions are being wiped out silently. You don’t see many pictures of dead Lions as there are of Elephants or Rhinos. They are quietly poisoned, out of sight. Lions have no natural predators in the wild, yet we are losing them at the rate of two per day. There is a real possibility that they will become extinct by the middle of this century.
“Everyone seems to think that there’s an army of conservationists out here, protecting our endangered species… but there really isn’t.”
George Logan
“The problem you have when photographing or filming Lions is that they can sleep for 18-20 hours a day!
It’s what they do in those remaining 4-6 hours that make them just the most fascinating creatures.”