Charlie Hamilton James is a filmmaker and National Geographic magazine photographer, specialising in wildlife and conservation issues. His work concentrates on subjects and stories in East Africa and the Amazon and aims to present new understandings of social, economic and conservation issues through ideas of common humanity. Charlie has won numerous international awards including the Wildlife Photojournalist of the Year and the National Geographic Photographers Photographer Award 2021.

North American River otters (*Lontra canadensis*) - Charlie Hamilton Jones

We know that you highlight many species, and communities within your work but also that otters are a big part of that, as you are now such a passionate advocate for them. When and what made you want to highlight otters during your career?

I have been obsessed with otters since I was a kid and much of my career has been spent trying to work with them. I’m not exactly sure where it all started. I think it was the books my mum bought when I was a kid, I read them all and became totally consumed by the idea of seeing otters. Back then, in the early eighties, otters were extinct across much of England so it was almost impossible to see them. They were almost exclusively nocturnal back then and obviously very shy - I think as a result I saw them as kind of mystical creatures that fascinated me. I read Hugh Mile’s Track of the Wild Otter in my teens and watched his amazing film and that ultimately led me to Shetland when I was 16 - where I saw my first otter on my first day and that cemented a life time of working with otters. That was 33 years ago. I fly to Shetland this week to carry on shooting a film about an otter that I’ve been working on for a year now.

Obviously, to get the "perfect shot" takes a lot of time and effort, the finished picture that we all admire isn't taken in a second. So we'd love to know, when it comes to otters, what are the most challenging things you have to overcome to film them, and what in particular about otters makes them difficult to shoot?

Just getting any shot of an otter was enough for me when I started out, but over the years I became more and more obsessed with trying to explore every aspect of otters lives with my camera. I think the hardest stuff I shot was otters underwater. I started attempting to do this in the wild in Shetland when I was 17, with my camera in a plastic bag. Despite the weeks I spent trying I never got a decent shot - but I did have some incredible encounters, like watching a family of otters fishing in the kelp below me as I snorkelled above. Over the years I got better, and began getting better images. I don’t think I ever really got the perfect shot but I look back now and realise that I don’t really care because the experience is always more valuable than the image. I did however get one shot last year that I liked enough to frame and stick on my wall. It’s a shot of a wild otter we call Molly and she looks very relaxed as she floats in the water looking right at me.

We know that you have been involved in projects involving otters across the world, from the UK, to the US and the Amazon, is there any common theme you notice when it comes to otters across these regions, or noticeable differences in attitudes between them?

Different species of otters lead very different lives and that’s what make them interesting to me. I have to say working with the social species such as Smooth-coated, Giant and North American River otters is more fun than the species that lead more solitary lives, like Eurasian otters. They also tend to be slightly more bold which allows me to spend time a little closer into their world. I love the way they are fiercely protective of each other when they live as a group. I think Giant otters particularly - I have witnessed extraordinary moments when the adults have faced off and attacked huge caiman to protect their young. We even once witnessed a family of otters revenge kill a caiman after it killed one of their cubs. I have never witnessed this type of revenge killing by animals before. In hindsight it made sense. The otter family shared a lake with around 700 caiman - they kept the caiman in their place, but this one obviously over stepped the mark and had to be dealt with.

Giant otter (*Pteronura brasiliensis*) - Charlie Hamilton James

From your experience, what do you believe is the biggest "hurdle" for otters and their conservation?

Habitat loss and the degradation of rivers is obviously a huge concern for otters. I have witnessed it all over the world and it will only become more serious as human populations grow. This of course also plays into issues with climate change. Animals with fast metabolisms like otters, require a large amount of food to survive. Despite being incredibly efficient hunters, like all animals, they live on a knife edge. When their eco-systems begin to suffer, they are very quickly affected.

Do you have any funny/interesting stories when it comes to your experience filming otters?

I remember photographing river otters on the Snake River in Wyoming in winter. I was sitting in my canoe watching a group of seven otters as they came up the river and then I noticed another group of eight otters coming down river. They all spotted each other and swam to meet on the bank. I assumed the encounter would be aggressive, but it wasn’t. As I raised my camera up to look through it I realised I was watching fifteen otters all rolling around together. It was a brief moment but a friendly one and then they all went their separate ways. The photos weren’t great - but who cares, I got to witness a beautiful moment.

Lastly, what has been your favourite otter 'moment'?

I think the first time I saw a wild otter underwater was perhaps my most memorable moment. It was a large male otter swimming off shore by a sand spit in Shetland. I'd spent months saving all my money and making plans to photograph otters underwater and so was excited to see him fishing in what I considered a perfect location. He was diving down and fishing the sea bed below me and would surface every thirty seconds or so. Then out of the blue murk below, he appeared - all dressed in a silver suit of air with bubbles rising from him. I put my camera to my eye to take a photo and then just put it down - deciding to watch. I’m so happy I did that, didn't ruin the moment by trying to capture it. It was my first sighting of an otter underwater and the memory has lasted forever.

A massive thank you to Charlie for both answering our questions, and his work with not just otters, but all wildlife. You can see more of Charlie's work by hitting visting www.charliehamiltonjames.com!

Meet Charlie Hamilton James

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