Niki Colemont escaped to Belgium when he was just four, with his 9-year-old sister, before the Rwandan genocide broke out.
An orphan whose mother died 3 months after giving birth and a father who died in the war, Niki said it was hard growing up in a country without knowing the language.
“I had no clue how to make friends and I was always alone and scared to talk to someone because everybody was white,” he told GNN. “I had to go to a special school because I was way behind.”
But his sister helped him to grow up and, eventually, he found his power through nature photography.
He picked up a camera in 2016 with no formal education and learned everything through trial and error. Now 35, he has dedicated the last six years of his life to photographing red squirrels.
He shares his pictures in a recently-released French-language children’s book about how he connects with, and photographs, the fluffy-tailed animals.
“I’m so blessed to have the squirrels in my life and to spend my free time with them,” says Niki, who works in the automotive field. “They gave me a lot of power and motivation to keep going.”
When he first saw a squirrel in someone’s garden, he bought a squirrel feeder for his own yard. He waited for 2 months, then the magic happened, and they learned how to open it and access the treats.
“I was so happy! On my 30th birthday, I bought myself a tele-lens to use on my Nikon D5200 and a wildlife hide tent for observation.”
He spent about 5 hours a day observing his little friends.
“My brain was on fire and I started to get ideas—my goal was to get the squirrels into special poses without using Photoshop, thinking about things nobody else had done before.”
He’s only sold a few prints from his webpage, but in 2019 he achieved a significant career milestone by becoming a National Geographic Photography Contest finalist. A documentary about him on Facebook has tallied over 5 million views.
“Now I do have a lot of support from people who follow and appreciate my work. They also push me to continue with what I’m doing. I hope to inspire others to go out and enjoy nature, as it has so much to offer.”
Watch a video below, and check out more photos on Instagram…
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