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Jared VanderMeer Wildlife Photography

@wild.vandermeer

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Wildlife & Bird Photographer 📷
Gallery & Studio in Sidney, BC 🇨🇦
Let’s be more wild! 🐾

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Hi, I’m Jared — a wildlife and bird photographer based on Vancouver Island, Canada 🦅🌿.

I’ve always felt a pull to nature, but it was the magic of this island that drew me in fully and inspired me to make the switch from creative and commercial photography to dedicating more of my time to the wild. Living here, surrounded by the ocean, old-growth forests, and mountains, it’s impossible not to be captivated. The daily presence of eagles, hummingbirds, and orcas hooked me completely — and I realized that telling their stories was the path I wanted to follow.

For me, photography is more than just capturing beautiful images. It’s about connection, education, and conservation. Each photo is a chance to share the lives of species that are fragile, resilient, and irreplaceable.

While Vancouver Island will always be home, I’ve been fortunate to share wildlife moments from across Canada and around the world. My mission is simple: to bring the wonder of the wild into view, and to spark more love and protection for the incredible biodiversity we’re lucky to live alongside.

These are some of my favourite wildlife and bird images so far. Which one speaks to you most? 🐾🌎

#birdphotography #wildlifephotograghy #canada by @wild.vandermeer

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a year ago

Welcome to Jared VanderMeer Gallery & Studio! @wild.vandermeer

A little bit more wild. 🦅🌲📸 🐾

It’s been a long road to get here.

From building a career as a creative photographer ( @jared_vandermeer ), to burnout, to rediscovering my passion behind the camera with birds and wildlife — photography has taken me places I never expected.

Today, my gallery and studio in Sidney, BC has become home base for showcasing wild moments, and my next chapter.

And I’m excited to finally bring more of that journey here to Instagram.

Expect stories behind some of my favourite images, wildlife photography tips, the gear I use, editing and creative process, conservation, adventures in the field, and a look behind the scenes at life in the gallery.

If you’re into nature, the wild, and photography, I hope you’ll follow along.

Welcome to my wild world. 🌎

📍 Sidney, BC, Canada

#WildlifePhotography #WildlifePhotographer #NaturePhotography #BirdPhotography taken in Sidney, British Columbia by @wild.vandermeer

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2 months ago

You have asked for more tips! Here are “7 Real Wildlife Photography Tips That Changed My Work”

Wildlife photography isn’t just about gear or luck — it’s about patience, timing, and learning to read the world around you. Here are 7 tips that truly changed how I shoot:

1️⃣ Expose for integrity. High ISO, underexposure, and overexposure all affect quality — but don’t fear ISO. A properly exposed image always wins.

2️⃣ Anticipate behavior. Watch how your subject moves and acts. The story happens between the moments and your settings need to be ready for it.

3️⃣ Study before you shoot. Learn habits and timing. The best frames come after hours of watching, not snapping.

4️⃣ Get eye level. Connection happens when your viewer meets the subject’s gaze — even if it means lying in the mud.

5️⃣ Chase the light. Mornings and evenings are gold, but mid-day practice teaches you the wild in every condition. Some of my best photos occurred midday in full sun.

6️⃣ Prioritize your lens. Megapixels help, but reach matters. A minimum of 400mm lets you photograph ethically, but not too close where atmosphere affects your images. I use the 200-600mm Sony G lens 90% of the time.

7️⃣ Practice every day. Consistency builds instinct. The more you shoot, the more nature teaches you.

Set your own goal, stay curious, and have fun out there — we could all use a little more wild in our lives. 🌿📸

#photographytips #wildlifephotograghy by @wild.vandermeer

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a year ago

A close look at a molting Anna's Hummingbird reveals just how incredible their feathers really are.

The bright pink gorget isn't a single patch of colour—it's made up of hundreds of tiny iridescent feathers, each replaced one at a time during molt. While new feathers grow in, the bird can look patchy or uneven, but within a few weeks those scattered flashes of colour become the brilliant display that catches the sunlight.

Sometimes the most fascinating stage of a bird's life isn't when it's at its brightest, it's while it's becoming that way.

#AnnasHummingbird #BirdPhotography #WildlifePhotography by @wild.vandermeer

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3 days ago

The unmistakable stare of a White-crowned Sparrow. 👀

Those bold black-and-white head stripes make adults easy to recognize, while younger birds wear softer brown-and-tan crowns during their first year. Their sturdy, yellow-orange bills are well suited for cracking seeds, but during spring and summer they also eat insects, and feed protein-rich insects to their growing chicks.

White-crowned Sparrows can be seen across Vancouver Island in gardens, coastal scrub and other open habitats. Some remain along the coast throughout the year, while many more pass through during migration.

Familiar, adaptable and much more striking when viewed face-to-face.

#WhiteCrownedSparrow #VancouverIslandBirds #BirdPhotography #WildVanderMeer by @wild.vandermeer

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6 days ago

A song that sounds a little different everywhere you go. 🎶

White-crowned Sparrows are easily recognized by the bold black-and-white stripes across their heads, but their voices are just as distinctive. Young birds learn their songs from nearby adults, creating regional “dialects” that can vary between different parts of the West Coast.

Here on Vancouver Island, some White-crowned Sparrows remain throughout the year, while others appear during migration. They are often found singing from shrubs, fence posts and other open perches, making sure their voices carry across the landscape.

A familiar bird with a song shaped by the place it calls home.

#WhiteCrownedSparrow #VancouverIslandBirds #BirdPhotography #WildVanderMeer by @wild.vandermeer

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13 days ago

A little post-preening stretch, perfectly timed. 🦆✨

This female Wood Duck had just finished preening at the edge of a pond when she stood up and gave me the full display—wings stretched wide, every feather on show, with perfectly still water surrounding her.

Male Wood Ducks might get most of the attention for their incredible colours, but moments like this are a reminder of just how beautiful the females are too.

Sometimes all you need is calm water, soft light, a beautiful bird, and the patience to wait for that one little moment.

Stay Wild Friends! 📸🦆 #woodduck #birdphotography #birding taken in Vancouver Island, British Columbia by @wild.vandermeer

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14 days ago

“I can’t photograph wildlife where I live.”

I hear this all the time, but I think sometimes we might just not be looking hard enough. 🐦📸

Wildlife photography doesn’t have to mean travelling thousands of kilometres, finding a bear in the mountains, or searching for some incredibly rare species.

For most of us, there are birds in our backyards. Wildlife in our local parks. Ducks at the nearest pond. Hawks overhead. Squirrels in the trees. Entire little ecosystems happening around us every day.

Some of my favourite photographs have come from ordinary places simply because I spent enough time there to notice something extraordinary.

Start close to home. Visit the same places again and again. Learn what lives there, how it behaves, and when the light is best.

You might be surprised by just how wild your neighbourhood really is.

Stay Wild Friends! 🐦🌲📸 #birdphotography #birding #backyard by @wild.vandermeer

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14 days ago

There’s something about a Blue Jay surrounded by the final colours of fall. 🍂💙

That flash of blue against the browns, golds and fading greens of the forest is hard to miss.

A familiar bird, a simple moment, and one of my favourite times of year to photograph them.

Late fall with the Blue Jays. 💙🍂📸

Stay Wild Friends! #birdphotography #bluejay #birdsofcanada by @wild.vandermeer

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14 days ago

“Ducks are so boring.”

I beg to differ. 🦆📸

The more time I spend photographing birds, the more I realize just how incredible ducks are.

Wild colours. Iridescent feathers that completely change in the light. Intricate patterns. Courtship displays. High-speed flight. Diving, splashing, fighting, feeding—and some seriously underrated personalities.

Sometimes the birds we see all the time are the ones we stop really looking at.

So here are 10 of my favourite duck photographs to make the case that ducks are anything but boring.

Which one gets your vote? 🦆👇

Stay Wild Friends! #waterfowl #birds #ducks by @wild.vandermeer

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14 days ago

The magical eight-coloured bird. 🌈🐦

The Lilac-breasted Roller is one of those birds that almost doesn’t look real.

Lilac, blue, turquoise, green, black, white, brown and rusty orange—all packed into one incredible bird.

I had the chance to photograph these rollers in South Africa, and seeing one for the first time was one of those wildlife moments that instantly sticks with you. Then it takes flight and somehow becomes even more spectacular, revealing brilliant flashes of blue across its wings.

Nature really went all out with this one.

Eight colours. One seriously unforgettable bird.

Stay Wild Friends! 🌈📸 #birding #birdphotography #lilacbreastedroller by @wild.vandermeer

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15 days ago

Hi, I’m Jared. I’m a wildlife photographer from Canada. 🇨🇦📸

Most of what I photograph comes down to one thing: spending as much time as I can outside, watching wildlife and waiting for those moments that make the wild feel… wild.

Bison pushing through a Canadian winter. A Belted Kingfisher exploding out of the water with a fish. A grizzly appearing through the forest. Blue Jays in flight. Hummingbirds feeding, nesting and showing off those incredible colours. A tiny Northern Pygmy Owl staring back at me.

Some photographs happen in a split second. Others take days, months, or even years of returning to the same species.

That’s what I love about wildlife photography. You never really know what you’re going to come home with.

Here are 10 of my favourite wild photographs I’ve captured along the way.

Which one is your favourite?

Stay Wild Friends! 🐻🐦🦬 #wildlifephotography #birdphotography #canada taken in Canada by @wild.vandermeer

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16 days ago