Nicolas Reusens

Bats in movement

He was born in 1975 in Bogotá and am a self-taught photographer of Swedish descent, currently based in Barcelona. Since his first venture in Japan, where he acquired his first digital reflex camera, his passion has been entirely devoted to the fascinating world of photography. Initially immersed in the macro universe, his interest has expanded towards High-Speed photography and nature photography as a whole.
He is a tireless traveller, always in search of visually impactful moments. Although his heart beats strongly for the Amazonian exuberance, and he has explored countries like Brazil, Venezuela, Colombia, and Peru, and conducted private workshops in Ecuador, his steps have taken him to remote corners such as Thailand, Sri Lanka, South Africa, Northern Japan, Scotland, the islands of Wales, Panama, Poland, Cuba, and Madagascar. His professional specialization has focused on one of the most biodiverse countries on the planet and a leader in habitat protection, Costa Rica, mostly focused on techniques like Extreme Macro and High-Speed.
His works have been featured in various publications, both scientific and photographic, including recognitions in National Geographic (Spanish and American editions), TIME with the best photos of the year, two featured articles on Petapixel, and numerous appearances in Daily Mail, The Telegraph, The Mirror, Chinese Photography, Focus Magazine Holland, BBC World, Practical Photography USA, Muy Interesante, Popular Photography, among others... And he has been awarded numerous times, with my most notable achievements being: winner of the Bird Photographer of the Year 2023, winner of AsisaPhoto 2020, winner of the V International Photography Contest 'Fotonoja,' winner of the Smithsonian contest 2014, finalist in the Sony World Photo 2013, and awarded in Pixall Natura, MontPhoto, Siena Awards, IPA, GDT, among others. His works have been exhibited in prestigious locations such as New York, Moscow, Fineart Spain, the Natural History Museum in London, St. Petersburg, and the Natural Science Museum in Barcelona.

Joan de la Malla

Bats and rice in Madagascar

Joan de la Malla is a freelance photographer focused in nature, local communities and the environment as well as a biologist, specialised in organisms and systems. At present he is devoting his efforts to conservation topics by working with national and international entities helping to raise awareness of the vital work being undertaken to safeguard the future of endangered species and their habitats. Currently he helps to spread the work of various organisations working on conservation, such as International Animal Rescue, Global Change and Conservation, Jakarta Animal Aid Network or Africa Conservation Centre among others. During the lasts years, Joan has been selected by UNESCO’s Man and the Biosphere programme to document many UNESCOS’s Biosphere Reserves around the world with his images. He also collaborates frequently with the scientific communication agency Incognita Agency in the realisation of his audiovisual projects.
Joan’s images have been published several times in prestigious international media such as National Geographic, Geo, Mongabay, Conservation Letters or Lonely Planet amongst many others and his photographs illustrate a vast number of books. His work has also been exposed worldwide in diverse individual and collective exhibitions. His photographs have been awarded several times in prestigious international contests including, for instance, winner images in the NHM Wildlife Photographer of the Year (2023, 2018), in the GDT European Wildlife Photographer of the Year (2018), or in Montphoto (2015, 2021) and he has received dozens of honorific mentions in the same competitions and in many others.
Joan is a fellow of the International League of Conservation Photographers, an elite group of the world’s top wildlife, nature and culture photographers who, in addition to displaying remarkable photographic skills, have each demonstrated a deep commitment to conservation efforts around the globe).

Adrià López-Baucells

Bats from Catalonia

Adrià López-Baucells completed his PhD at the University of Lisbon in 2018. During his doctorate he studied the effects of Amazonian rainforest fragmentation on tropical bats using autonomous ultrasound detectors. He has lately been focused on the ‘soundscape’ exploration (the landscape of sounds that exist in nature) in order to promote sustainable land use. Nonetheless, his main area of interest has always been bat ecology and conservation worldwide, particularly with the most severely threatened species and habitats.
He started working with bats at the Natural Science Museum of Granollers (Catalonia) in 2005, where he met his first mentors, who rapidly introduced him to the intimate secrets of the bat world. Since then, he has collaborated on numerous international bat conservation projects shaping his scientific knowledge and background. As a bat researcher, he has always been determined to find applied, clear solutions to the current threats that bats are seriously facing all over the world. After 5 years of bat research in Europe, in 2010, he concluded his BSc with a final project on bats in Colombia, his first contact with Neotropical species. Afterwards, he jumped to Sydney (Australia) to carry out his MSc thesis studying competitive behavior between flying foxes. And more recently, he has also joined quite a few bat-related expeditions in North Africa, Kenya and Madagascar, where he has finally become a National Geographic Explorer.
As a National Geographic Explorer he is establishing a new project based in Madagascar, one of the poorest countries in the world, totally dependent of subsistence rice agriculture, with big problems of harvest loss, and heavily threatened endemic bat populations due to the vast deforestation. Because bats are known to be excellent pest controllers Adrià will work to assess the effectiveness of bats as pest suppressors in rural areas using bat boxes and field experiments while promoting bat conservation amongst local villagers and farmers.
He is now leading a young research group in the Natural Science Museum of Granollers focused on bat research and conservation, the study of habitat connectivity, loss and fragmentation, all under the umbrella of applied ecology, with special emphasis on the use of technology for conservation.