Declan Lagan London, United Kingdom

Envoy

Tabb

Having grown up in by the seaside in Dorset, I have always had a love of the great outdoors. Whether thats going for a surf, getting out for bike ride or getting to the beach for a swim and a bonfire. This love of the outdoors has propelled decisions throughout my life and is partly the reason I am so passionate about wildlife and conservation.

In 2014 I enrolled at the University of Bristol studying Biology where I would learn all about the living world, from how life first evolved, to deep-sea bioluminescence, and everything weird and wonderful in-between. My studies really have developed a love for the natural world and I am particularly fascinated by marine biology and sensory ecology, both which were subjects of my final year projects.

At Bristol, I started climbing, eventually ending up on the committee of the Expeditions Society. My time at University gave me the opportunities to travel all over the UK on weekend hiking trips, take summer trips hiking in the Norwegian arctic circle and a take-part fieldwork trip to the Algarve in Portugal. These experiences have given me exciting opportunities to develop my photography skills.

I have been making short videos since a very young age, when I’d use my dad’s handheld camera to make all sorts of (incredibly embarrassing) videos. Since getting a Canon DSLR in 2015 I have started develop my skills, taking my trusty (and now quite battered) camera everywhere I go.

More recently, I have been taken to opportunities to work & travel throughout the world. Since graduating, I have worked in Canada as a wilderness canoe guide; traveled around India and Nepal, worked in both the French and Swiss alps and worked as a Research Assistant in a very remote (and beautiful) part of South Africa. Currently, I'm studying at University College London and volunteer as a committee member of UCL's Festival of the Moving Image 2020.