The winners of the Sony World Photography Awards 2026 have been revealed and once again the prestigious competition, which this year attracted 430,000 entries from more than 200 countries and territories, was filled with incredible photographs and stories.
I was lucky enough to get a preview of the exhibition – open to the public at Somerset House in London until May 4, 2026 – and its more than 300 works, hear the winners from the 10 categories and attend the lavish awards ceremony. And best of all, I had the opportunity to sit down with Wildlife category winner Will Burrard-Lucas to discuss his series “Crossing Point” created in Kenya’s Masai Mara National Park.
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“For nocturnal creatures, nothing better than camera traps”
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Will Burrard-Lucas’ wildlife photographs are captured using a variety of setups, from daytime shots with a Sony mirrorless camera in hand, to camera traps paired with “old, second-hand DSLRs” and left in place for extended periods of time – the latter was his approach to the “Crossing Point” project.
Low-cost trail cameras are great for recording wildlife, but the image quality is usually poor and not detailed enough to distinguish specific animals. Burrard-Lucas, on the other hand, uses top quality photography equipment, combined with his self-developed camera trap system.
Burrard-Lucas’ camera traps are its own ‘Camtraptions’ devices and are based on a highly advanced motion sensor – the latest version being the culmination of years of development – which works with a number of leading digital cameras for wired or wireless operation.
For this project, Burrard-Lucas wirelessly paired the motion sensor with a Canon EOS 6D full-frame DSLR camera (equipped with a 35mm lens), which in turn remotely triggered three off-camera flashes. As he tells me: “Any old DSLR camera works great in a camera trap setup. [the camera] should work well with flash, where many mirrorless cameras fail. »
He gained access to closed areas of the national park where particularly rare wildlife species concentrate, including the notoriously shy rhinoceroses. A stream surrounded by lush vegetation was the scene of this vital project, an unusual setting for a park typically known for its large, open plains. “As soon as I saw it, I knew it was the right place,” Burrard-Lucas says.
The camera was mounted on a tripod and protected from the elements and remained in place for over six months; the composition you see was decided from the start with multiple considerations. The motion sensor is positioned to trigger the camera when the animal enters a specific part of the frame, and the camera’s focus is manually set to that spot, with off-camera lighting ready to illuminate it in low-light conditions.
With a project like this, Burrard-Lucas doesn’t need the latest camera gear with blazing shooting speeds and AI subject-detection autofocus. No, he needs “reliable” and “robust” equipment with excellent image quality, and that is also affordable given the number of camera traps he sets up and the environments in which he works. Whenever he sees “cheap old used DSLRs, I grab them,” he tells me.
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Most of the species the park was particularly interested in getting more data on are shy, nocturnal creatures, particularly rhinos. As such, lighting is essential and three flashes are positioned to illuminate the subject and immediate surrounding vegetation.
Once the setup was in place, Burrard-Lucas had the rangers trained to check the equipment weekly, change the batteries, and download the images from the camera’s memory card, fresh for another week of motion-triggered capture.
Rangers thought only one rhino resided in the area, but over the next few months they were surprised to identify eight different beasts. However, it was another discovery that left them “stunned”: one day, a kudu entered the stream. Kudu are found in other parts of Kenya, but until these unique nighttime photos revealed their presence, they were not thought to live in the Masai Mara National Park.
To photograph nocturnal creatures, nothing better than camera traps
Will Burrard-Lucas
“You can never predict what’s going to happen,” says Burrard-Lucas, but over six months his camera photographed a wide range of wildlife, from rhino to leopard, elephant, giraffe, surprise kudu and more.
For me, the pleasure of photography is being there and experiencing what I photograph in the present moment. So I was eager to hear how this alternative approach of setting the stage in advance for remote capture differed from when he was out there with the camera in hand, reacting to what he saw in front of him.
“They both have their place for different species and different projects,” says Burrard-Lucas, “but for me, for nocturnal creatures, there’s nothing better than camera traps, because it’s really about lighting.
“For these elusive animals, a photographer can wait 12 hours, but you can’t wait four months, so it’s the only practical way when you have that defined focal point.” For other creatures that don’t follow trails or are typically found in large savannahs, a camera trap is much less useful.
I ask Burrard-Lucas about camera trap photography for beginners, and he says, “It’s super simple, and so many people reuse their old DSLR cameras. You don’t need a lot of extra kit; the sensor, just one flash to start, keep it simple and leave it aside for a few nights.
I might just try this camera trap setup for myself; Burrard-Lucas sells all the necessary items except the camera on his Camtraptions website, which also provides a detailed guide. Whether I can photograph something as exciting as a rhino is of course another matter, but you have to start somewhere.
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