Hamza Yassin discusses filming wildlife and inspiring the next generation

What’s the most important skill for a wildlife cameraman?

Knowing your subject. A lot of people say patience, and that’s great because you need to be able to sit around and wait for animals sometimes. But if you don’t know where to wait for that animal, it’ll all have been pointless.

For example, my zoology degree taught me that a pine marten’s most important sense is its nose rather than its eyes. So, there’s no point sitting in a hide when you’re stinking out the area with your aftershave or perfume. It’ll smell you from a mile away!

Instead, I’ll hang out my pyjamas around the forest for a while before I get into the hide so that they’re used to my smell. It’ll be a bit stinkier on the day I’m actually there, but the pine marten will know that it’s been able to feed safely with that smell in the background for months, so it won’t be worried. With the right knowledge and fieldcraft, anyone can be an amazing cameraman.

How has dyslexia shaped your filmmaking and approach to nature?

I’m a very visual person and that’s how I work and see the world. I love being dyslexic, as I think it gives me an almost photographic memory when it comes to remembering what I’ve seen. I thrive on picking up these patterns, and so dyslexia has been part of my success and that of so many others.

World greats, such as Muhammad Ali, Richard Branson and maybe even Sir Isaac Newton, are all dyslexic. It shows that it’s not really a hindrance but a different way of looking at the world and thinking outside the box. I really want to get that message out to kids and celebrate that with them.

Dyslexia is a superpower and once they’ve figured out what they want to do with it, they can achieve anything.

What would you like to see to get more kids passionate about nature?

If I was a president or prime minister, I would make natural history a part of school. Most people can’t remember the last time they used algebra, but we talk about our planet all the time.

At the moment, there’s an idea that it’s us versus Mother Nature, but it should be us and Mother Nature versus climate change and the other challenges we’re facing. The world will keep on turning without us if we don’t tackle these problems, so we need to do something about it by teaching kids about it. If we can educate the next generation, they’ll be our next leaders and politicians making our planet a healthier place.

I know that it can work, because David Attenborough lit a spark in me about the natural world, and now we need to ensure that we can get that message out to all children. I would much rather that children could name me five different trees rather than the five Kardashians, and school is the best place to start that.