He’s braved Arctic storms, fought for endangered species, and risked everything to bring the world closer to nature. But can powerful storytelling truly save wildlife before it’s too late?

Step into Martin Gregus’ world and decide for yourself. 

Beginning with a camera stolen from his dad, Gregus has come a long way from his teenage years shooting planes around Vancouver. Over the last two decades as a wildlife photographer and cinematographer, he has built a career that spans mediums and industries, with several hundred thousand followers on social media, a client base that includes names like National Geographic, and accolades like Wildlife Photographer of the Year in 2010.

From capturing intimate moments with polar bears in Churchill, Canada, to fighting for brown bears in Slovakia, Gregus is on a mission — use stories to inspire conservation action before time runs out.

The following interview has been edited for length and clarity. 

If someone were to ask you what’s the most important story that you’ve been able to tell so far through your lens, what would you say?

I don’t think there is one that I’ve done yet. But I think the ones I’ve done have taught me a lot about what I want to do. Bears and flowers, for instance, taught me that the more impactful conservation stories aren’t necessarily the ones that hit people over the head with the idea of conservation. It’s the ones that allow viewers to build a relationship with the animals, with the environment, so that when they see those animals or that environment being destroyed, they have a real reaction. The people who followed what I was doing with bears and flowers, if I showed them tomorrow a trophy hunter who shot a bear in a field of flowers, they would be ready to start a mob. I think that’s how we have to tell really powerful conservation stories.

The story I am working on in Europe is about the eradication of brown bears in Slovakia. Last year, a new government got voted in, intent on getting rid of the bears. Thus far, they’ve already shot 150. So we’re trying to tell a story that helps people build a relationship with the bears. We follow a mom who just gave birth in her den, we follow her out of the den with her two cubs for a period of two years, building the viewer’s emotional connection with them by following them through all the cubs’ developmental steps. Eventually, the cubs get separated from their mom, and while one of the cubs finds his mom again, the other gets lost, ends up in the city, and is killed. It’s the real-life version of the Disney story we want to believe. Politics changes all the time, but until you can change how people feel and see the world, you aren’t really making a difference; that’s why this advocacy conservation work is so crucial.

Do you have a specific process when you’re preparing for a shoot or an assignment and if so, what does that look like?

I think I am a bit different in my work because when I do a shoot, I pay for it myself. And it’s only after I start paying for it that I will try to find a way to sell it. And if I can get that funding, great, but if not, I still do the project. So it’s a big risk. I don’t gamble in a casino, but I definitely gamble a lot with my own money on projects. And sometimes you see a return, sometimes you don’t. But for me, it’s not a matter of making money. It’s a matter of telling a story that I really want to tell and also just doing what I love.

For example, now, while I’m preparing the logistics of these two projects in South Georgia and Europe, I create a pitch. And I try to sell that pitch to producers, production companies, National Geographic, Netflix, Disney, whoever. See if we can find some money for it. But while I do that, I’m already spending my own money filming it. Nature doesn’t have the luxury of time, especially now. You know, we’ve spent hundreds of years logging, fishing, hunting, and now we come to the last drop of wildlife in these places. Also, I love proving people wrong. So, when someone tells me this isn’t going to work, people won’t connect with this, it’s not worth it, I’m like, I’ll show you that it is!

Do you have fears around the way things are moving technologically? Are there things that give you hope?

When I started, we were all strangers when it came to digital photography. But then social media came out, and I think there was this huge fear that everyone would suddenly be a photographer, so how can real photographers compete with people doing things for free for experience? And it definitely made it harder to make a living. A lot of things are done in-house now. But at the end of the day, that wave lasted about 10, maybe 15 years. People who never liked it stopped doing it, and a lot of those same people now are using AI.

I think there will always be a demand for high-quality photography. And a demand for real video amidst all the unprofessional and straight up fake content you see out there now. You see it with people reverting back to film photography, and outlets elevating their standards for meaningful storytelling. I think it will be the same with AI. Right now, it’s all a craze. People love trendy things. People love things that are free and will save them time. But I think eventually, like with social media, people will just get flooded with so much fake content that it will heighten the demand for real content and for the people who are dedicated enough to go get it done.  

How do you deal with burnout, especially when you’re working with subjects you care so deeply about?

It’s tough because my hobby is my job. My greatest passion is something I do for work. When I was in relationships my partners always used to tell me that I should put the camera down and enjoy the moment, and I’ve gotten better about finding moments to put the camera down. I’ve learned what pictures people relate to and what they don’t, so I’m able to apply that to my environment in the moment and take the photos I know will matter, but savor the moment otherwise. But I also still unplug by working because I love it. I missed out on my very own surgery just to do my job. It’s just what I do. If someone told me tomorrow, I could go somewhere, anywhere, to tell this meaningful story, I’d put off my health, I’d put off family. I put off everything just to be able to be out there as much as I can. That’s what it is to love something this much.

If you could say one thing to young storytellers who are passionate, and know it won’t be easy but want to tell stories that impact positive change, what would you say?

Don’t take no for an answer. I’ve gotten so many “no’s.” 99.9% of my work has been rejected. You need to be persistent, you need to stick through it and you need to find the stories that make you passionate. I think we’re kind of stuck on this idea that every story has been told and there’s nothing left to be discovered. And that’s not true. There’s still so much out there. It takes time, you know, and it takes so much dedication and so much work to get where you want. But as long as you refuse to give up, you will get there.