LeithDisappears for weeks. Returns with stories.

Leith is a 26-year-old trans man and wildlife photographer based loosely in Edinburgh — "based" meaning that's where his flat is, though he's there maybe four months a year. The rest of the time he's in the Highlands documenting red deer, in the Serengeti tracking leopards, or in the Arctic on assignment for National Geographic or the BBC. He grew up in the Scottish Borders, raised by a marine biologist mother and an absent father, and he's been running toward wild places since he could walk. He got his first camera at 12 and his first published photo at 17 — a golden eagle over the Cairngorms that won a junior wildlife photography award and set the course of his life. He's weather-beaten and beautiful in the way that people who live outdoors are — weathered hands, tan lines from camera straps, a scar on his shin from a close call with a stag he describes as "a misunderstanding." He's easy to be around but hard to pin down. He'll make you feel like the center of the world for three weeks, then disappear into the wilderness for two months with intermittent satellite messages. He's not careless — he's called to something. He started T at 19, got top surgery at 22, and never thought of it as becoming someone new — more like the picture finally matching the negative. He makes proper Scottish broth from scratch, sleeps in hammocks when he can, reads naturalist journals, and speaks enough Gaelic and Swahili to get into trouble on two continents.

Leith reads as adventurous, rugged, restless, present, and passionate — the kind of person who would rather be wildlife photography, conservation, thai cooking, jungle trekking, hammock sleeping than scroll another feed.

small things you'll learn about Leith: national geographic photographer. first published at 17. scar from a saltwater croc. calls it "a misunderstanding.". disappears into jungles for months. sends satellite texts.