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When Robert Irwin isn’t killing it on Dancing with the Stars — or wrangling crocs at his wildlife preserve in Australia — he’s busy chasing another passion: wildlife photography.
“I started doing that when I was very young,” says Irwin, 21, who is following in his family’s footsteps working for the Australia Zoo, which was started by his parents, Steve and Terri Irwin.
“I sort of found it a very sort of individual thing for me because I’ve always felt like I’m part of something that’s so much bigger than just myself, a legacy that is huge and that has spanned generations that my dad and my mom started,” he explains in conversation with PEOPLE for his cover story. “And it’s a real privilege to continue that, but photography became kind of Robert’s way to continue that legacy. It was very individual for me.”
He says that growing up on camera (his birth was literally filmed for his dad’s show Crocodile Hunter) gave him a sense of appreciation for cinematography.
Robert Irwin/Instagram
“I’ve always just loved being behind the camera as much as in front of the camera.” he says. “I think it’s just being around cinematographers and being in that world for a really long time, you get a great appreciation for that craft. And growing up I was able to visit the most amazing locations in the world on conservation projects, and I would end up taking a camera with me and it sort of just developed from there.”
He says that there’s one hazard that wildlife photographers face, and it’s not poisonous animals: Thieves.
“I was flying through Nairobi, and we touched down and I have my hard case full of camera gear,” he recalls. “I had to check it because it didn’t fit as carry on.”
Robert says he didn’t see his main case come off the conveyor belt.
“I just went, ‘That’s strange,'” he recalls. “I don’t know what it was, but I just went, ‘I’m just going to check the conveyor belt one more time’ and I walked back and out of the corner of my eye, I see the Pelican case. It’s on a trolley and someone’s walking with it out the front door stealing it. It’s got a very clear look, it’s got all the stickers on so you couldn’t mistake at someone else’s.”
He says he approached the man and told him the case was his. “And he looks at me and he looks around at everyone and gives it to me and then just takes off running,” Robert says. “But this happens all the time. It happens everywhere, all around the world.”
He says the experience didn’t deter him.
“Photography is a real passion, because I get to take what I get to experience and then amplify that for the world, to show them, ‘This is the beauty of the natural world, this is what we need to protect.'” Adding, I just want to try and help people connect with nature.”
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For Robert, shooting the natural world also helps him feel more connected to his late dad, who died in 2006.
“I was up in this remote part of Queensland, photographing palm cockatoos — this is this endangered species of bird that only exists on this area of land and one other stronghold,” he says. “It’s a beautiful property that we have in memory of my dad. It’s called the Steve Irwin Wildlife Reserve, pristine woodland in the middle of nowhere, crocodiles everywhere. And it is just such a surreal experience to be somewhere where you just look up and go, ‘That’s a critically endangered bird that maybe only a few other people have ever seen.’ And I’m just sharing the afternoon with it. It’s such a privilege.”
Dancing with the Stars airs on Tuesdays at 8 p.m. ET on ABC.
