Springing into life with your wildlife photography

Vigo, 1975

I am a photographer from Vigo and I have been passionate about birds for more than thirty years. I have dedicated my time to be a scientific bander, to collaborate in ornithology courses for the University of Vigo, I have carried out several scientific works on the ecology of species such as the Lesser sandpiper or the Red-backed shrike and all this together with my brother José Arcas, doctor in biology and artist of Nature.

My photographs have appeared in several books and publications such as El Río de la Vida, Fotografiando Aves, Ptaki Otop, Visión Salvaje, Guía de las Especies Marinas de Canarias, etc.

I am currently a collaborating photographer for the prestigious nature documentary production company IntoTheWildProductions, and I give wildlife photography workshops for the travel and nature tourism agencies Somiedo Experience and GoThombi. For some years now I have had a very special relationship with FUJIFILM SPAIN where I give talks, write articles or test new equipment before it is released on the market. Some of my talks have been at the Delta Birding Festival, Urdaibai Bird Center or Feria Internacional de Turismo Ornitológico de Extremadura among others.

As well as being an ambassador for Fujifilm, I am also lucky enough to represent the prestigious Dutch brand of photographic hides for wildlife ButeoPhotoGear and clothing for photographers StealthGear.

In the years that I have been a photographer some of my photographs have been awarded in prestigious national and international competitions:

• Montbarbat 2003 and 2005. finalist and fourth prize respectively.


• Ateneo Ferrolán 2008 First prize.


• Cíes Islands National Park 2009 First prize.


• BBC Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2010. Finalist.


• Montphoto 2011 Second prize.


• Glanzlichter 2011 Honourable mention.


• Narava 2012 Finalist.


• Festival de l'Oiseau et de la Nature 2015 Finalist.


• Festival de lÓiseaux et de la Nature 2020 Finalist


• FIO 2020 Finalist


• Bird Photographer of the Year 2020 2nd Prize in the Man and Nature category.

I am currently involved with my friend and X-Photographer of Nature, Javier Ramos, in the Boreal Wings project with Fujifilm Spain. We are documenting bird life in the Norwegian Arctic as well as testing Fujifilm equipment under harsh weather conditions.

Since I started working with Fujifilm equipment three years ago, until today, I have had a lot of different equipment in my hands, starting with the X-T2, a camera that I fell in love with for its aesthetics and functionality, to my current equipment consisting of the X-T4 as first body, X-S10 and X-H1. I will always highlight the factors that are fundamental for me in Fujifilm equipment; colour, sharpness of the lenses, weight and finally camera-optics balance.

As for the Fujinon lenses that I use the most in my field work, they are, first of all, the new Fujinon XF200mm F2 LM OIR WR that together with the 1.4x teleconverter make it an indispensable tool for me. In addition to this telephoto lens, in my backpack I can't miss the versatile Fujinon XF100-400mm 4.5-5.6 R LM OIR WR .

As for wide angle lenses I use the Fujinon 16mm 1.4, the Fujinon 10-24mm 2.8-4 and of course the Fujinon 80mm F2.8 Macro.