
Lou Luddington
Marine Biologist-Nature photographer-Author
Reef community, Pigeon Point, west coast of Guadeloupe, Caribbean. The real glory of this shot was the soundtrack that surrounded me as I held my breath to frame it; a symphony of humpback whale song composed somewhere in the distance
Nature's sculptures. This image was awarded 'Highly commended" in the British Wildlife Photography Awards 2019.


About Lou
I am a nature photographer and writer with a PhD in marine biology and aim to provide a voice for the natural world through powerful images and writing. My main focus is on coastal and marine environments and in November 2019 my book “Wondrous British Marine Life: a handbook for coastal explorers” was published by Pesda Press.As a contributor to Oceanographic Magazine and other publications and blogger for The Finisterre Broadcast and The Do Lectures I get to shout out on behalf of marine life to an international community of ocean enthusiasts.In summer 2018 I held my first photography exhibition “The Sea From Within”, a milestone and launch pad for making my images available as fine art prints. Orders available through www.rookwoodstudios.com and by email request hi@louluddington.com.One of my images was highly commended in the British Wildlife Photography Awards 2019 and exhibited at the Mall Galleries, Trafalgar Square, London. Another of my images was runner-up in the Pembrokeshire Wildlife Photography Awards 2018 and Welsh Coastal Life magazine ran a feature on my work in 2019. My photography has also been featured in The Telegraph and BBC Countryfile magazine and I’ve worked on commissions for Visit Wales and TYF Adventure. My photography work is represented by Image Quest Marine the UK's leading stock image library specialising in photography of aquatic wildlife and environments. You can find many of my images for rights managed licensing for professional use through their website. For specific image enquiries, please email me.In 2019, after 19 blissful years living in Solva, Pembrokeshire with my husband, we sold up and moved aboard our 35 ft sailing yacht Noctiluca. We named our boat after the bioluminescent plankton that lights up the ocean on dark nights (Noctiluca means night light), as we planned to be ‘a light at sea’, documenting and championing the marine environment through photography, video and writing.Setting off on 1st August 2020 we began a voyage of the eastern Atlantic, travelling south to Portugal then striking out to the Canary Islands. After several months of preparations and delays due to Covid restrictions and technical problems we took off across the Atlantic to the Caribbean. After 2 and a half years as live aboard sailors and the voyage of a lifetime we finally returned home in December 2022, with full hearts and our perspectives forever changed.

Topside
Waiting for waves.
Nature's sculptures. This image was awarded 'Highly commended" in the British Wildlife Photography Awards 2019.
The anemones mouth. Part of my exhibition 'The Sea From Within' in 2018
Portuguese Man of War in its natural habitat offshore in the Canary Islands
Puffins on the water at Skomer Island with the St Davids peninsula in the background
Limpet in detail. The cone shape and shell ridges improve streamlining allowing heavy waves to wash over them, an adaptation to the high energy environment they call home.
Whimbrel-osaurus.I spotted this whimbrel clambering over rocks in morning light as I wandered along the shore. The glow and rough texture of the fossil-filled limestone and dark shadow cast by the cliff above gave the scene a primeval feel.
Teasel backlit in morning light in the Algarve, Portugal
White stork nesting on a roof top in Lagos, Portugal
A pair of chough in flight over Ramsey sound, Pembrokeshire
Auks cloud the air at sunset in north haven, Skomer Island
Northern gannet circling over Ramsey sound, Pembrokeshire
Atlantic puffin warming up its flight muscles in south haven, Skomer Island
Golden bladders. Bladder wrack glowing in low winter sunlight on Whitesands beach, Pembrokeshire
Juvenile Lesser Antilles Iguana enjoying a life of refuge on Iles de la Petite Terre, Guadeloupe. These iguanas are critically endangered.
Winter swell piling in to the west coast of Portugal
underwater
A shoal of Salema or dream fish foraging in evening light, Radazul, Tenerife
Elkhorn coral thriving in the Soufriere & Scotts Head Marine Park, Dominica. These corals are critically endangered.
Trompetero in distress, La Gomera. Over the course of a week thousands of these small fishes swam around clearly disoriented and injured then washed up on the beaches of La Gomera dead. Cause unknown.
Freediver Omar Mourade walking the under surface. Its another world down there, Radazul, Tenerife.
Bold arrows. A shoal of juvenile yellow mouth barracuda, Radazul, Tenerife.
Furbelows kelp looking shabby in autumn, Pembrokeshire
Guillemot underwater and ascending from a dive. These birds have been recorded at depths of 180 metres. Skomer Marine Conservation Zone, Pembrokeshire
Freediving among the corals and sponges of the Soufriere and Scotts Head Marine Park, Dominica.
Common dolphin bow riding up-close, Brittany, France.
Barrel jellyfish Rhizostoma pulmo basking in the rays, Trefin, Pembrokeshire
Stingray foraging, Iles de La Petite Terre, Guadeloupe.
Comb jellies hunting. Each casts their sticky tentacles like a net trapping plankton. They are then reeled in and wiped across the mouth to remove the catch, Caerfai, Pembrokeshire
Moon jellyfish, north Pembrokeshire
Grey top shell nestling among hydroids growing on kelp and illuminated by natural light, Hen & Chicks, Pembrokeshire
Catostylus tagi, a type of barrel jellyfish that we came across in a great bloom while sailing near Cascais, Portugal. They get flushed out of the Tagus estuary by the tide and are a sight to behold in evening light underwater.
Giant butterfly ray taking flight, La Graciosa
Black & White
projects
book
My latest project coming soon for 2023 is to crowd fund the publishing of my next book Wild Atlantic Life: a book of nature photographs, paintings, haiku poems and prose inspired by a 3 year voyage free diving and sailing the North Atlantic.Gathering and binding together the most poignant moments from this voyage, in the form of photographs, watercolour paintings, stories and poems, I share my love of the natural world in the hope that you will be wowed too.
Details on how to support this project coming soon ...

Family, La Gomera, Canary Islands (image from Wild Atlantic Life)
published work
Article published in Oceanographic Magazine
My book published by Pesda Press
Column published in Oceanographic Magazine issue 18
Feature article published in Yachting Monthly
Column published in Ocean Paddler magazine
Column published in Oceanographic Magazine
Column published in Oceanographic Magazine issue 20
Column published in Ocean Paddler magazine
I wrote a series of articles for Finisterre's The Broadcast that follows our 3 year voyage as liveaboard sailors:
Sailing Light
Life in Motion
The Crossing Part 1
The Crossing Part 2
Caribbean Cruisin'
Homecoming
Ground Rush
EVENTS for 2023

Coming soon ...

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