Oliver Hellowell is a young British photographer who has published his first photography book, Oliver’s Birds. Aged just 22, Oliver is a wonderful nature photographer who just happens to have Down Syndrome.

His love of nature and wildlife was nourished by his mother and family from an early age, but his ‘eye’ for photography is all his own. His book is the first book of photography ever to be published by a person with Down Syndrome, and saw Oliver win the National Diversity Award for UK Positive Role Model for Disability.

As well as his beautiful book, Oliver was commissioned to photograph the Smoky Mountains by the Tennessee Board of Tourism and Pigeon Forge Department for Tourism in 2017. Working alongside renowned local photographer Ken Jenkins, the trip resulted in a joint exhibition between Tennessee Tourism and T5 Gallery at Heathrow in 2018, where a selection of their images were displayed.

Oliver has also had a short film made about him by BBC’s The One Show.

Oliver’s new book is published by ACC Art Books, with the hope that this will just be the first in a series of books. Oliver very kindly answered some questions for us via email, so let’s find out more about him in his own words.

Hi Oliver and thanks for talking to us! How did you become interested in photography and taking photographs?

I started when I was about 9 or 11. My Dad takes pictures and I wanted his camera.

What is it you most enjoy about taking photographs?

I like it. I’ve got ‘the eye’. My pictures are good and my fans really like them. I like my camera and I like being outside.

What kit do you use?

I’ve got a Canon 5D Mark III. I’ve got 2 lenses: a Canon 100-400 that’s my long lens and a Canon 17-40 and that’s my wide-angle lens really.

What is your favourite thing to photograph?

I like birds best. I really like getting their eyes, and I really like birds. I like landscape too. I like just wandering around and getting the grass and the trees and the landscape.

Your book is lovely! What is it about birds that you particularly like?

I love birds! I like mixes, having different species. I like sitting up close – I don’t get nervous even sitting in with the swans. My favourite bird is the osprey and I would really like to get a hornbill. I’m going to a special hide soon and I’m hoping to get a kingfisher. If the bird is small like a nuthatch I want to get the whole bird in, but big birds like birds of prey, I like to get in close and get the eye.

Where would you like to go next to take photographs?

I really want to go to Iceland, the Canadian Rockies, New Zealand, and Madagascar. Or a safari in Africa.

What would be your dream photography project?

I want to do a series about Wales with Iolo Williams (Welsh TV wildlife presenter and conservationist). He is my good mate and we both really like birds. We could make programmes together. That’s what I want to do! Oh and I want to do a road trip across America with my Mum and Dad. All the landscapes are all different and there’s lots of different birds and animals and everything. I want to go for weeks!

Finally, we asked Oliver’s Mum if there was anything she wanted to add

Hi I’m Wendy the lady fortunate enough to be mum to Oliver.

I think I would only add how hugely valuable photography has been and continues to be for Oliver. He has been able to utilise photography not only as a tool to enable him to capture the world and show it as he sees it, but also as something which brings him confidence, self-esteem and a sense of importance.

Having Down Syndrome can seem a real disadvantage if you feel that everyone else seems to be cleverer than you are, or that everyone else seems to be able to go off and do things you can’t. (Especially when it seems a ‘grown up’ wants to shadow you wherever you go!) But Photography has given Oliver a real sense of his own value, ability, and talent and he is very proud of his pictures and all that he has achieved.

It gives him a strong sense of purpose too – there are always places he wants to go to take pictures, there are always subjects he wants to capture, both around our home in the Blackdown Hills on the Somerset/Devon border and further afield on day trips and holidays etc. He is out taking pictures at least 3 days every week, often 4 or 5.

He can find himself overwhelmed by certain situations and busy environments. He found both Heathrow and Dulles (Washington DC) airports a real challenge/struggle when he was commissioned to capture the Smoky Mountains of Tennessee.

Whereas photography is something he can do at his own speed and in his own way whenever it suits him. He can also filter out extra and bombarding information and input around him, by just concentrating on what he sees through his lens. He is so often requested to give presentations or come and photograph events and he just really doesn’t like any of that! Far too stressful! Oliver is at his happiest and most content when outside in nature doing his own thing with his camera; constantly checking the image just captured on the back of his camera and chattering away to himself telling himself what a great shot that is!

He loves that he has over 65,000 followers across the globe on Facebook and that he receives orders to his website every week. He loves to read all the addresses as we pack up the orders for books, cards, calendars, prints etc. whether it’s somewhere in Leicestershire or somewhere in Australia or Alaska!

Oliver’s story carries with it a message which is two-fold.

Firstly just look at what photography has enabled this amazing young man to achieve and enjoy and secondly, if he can do all this just imagine what you could do.

You can buy a signed copy of Oliver’s book and see more of his amazing images at his website. And make sure to follow Oliver on Facebook. Oliver’s book is also available on Amazon.