My first serious project was photographing badgers - very, very difficult as they are shy and nocturnal.

Photography started as a means of getting reference material for my paintings of nature subjects.

For sure, all over Poland, kids had my picture of a lemur on their bedroom wall - but the chances are they may never get to see a real lemur in Madagascar. I thought this was great and it really meant a lot to me.

I also like flyfishing - maybe I would have figured a way to make a living out of that?

I hope to goodness I would not still be working in the corporate world - the money is OK but it is no life at all.

A large wildlife book, start to finish, could take one to two years, but then I would expect to get several good (nature) magazine features off the back of this, plus of course a lot of stock.

In The States I would have no edge, no advantage at all.