Adrián Madrigal

Photographs of wildlife and wild places, films about the people who protect them, and days in the field with the travellers who come to see both.

Photography

Birds first, then everything that lives near them: seabirds, penguins, ice and weather. From Costa Rica’s cloud forest to the Beagle Channel.

Film

Director at Zipper Media. Documentaries and short films for conservation and science organisations.

In the field

Bird photography guide in Costa Rica, and photo tours with To The Wonder. Finding the subject is half of the photograph.

Wildlife.

Penguins, seabirds and raptors, photographed without changing what they were doing.

Ice & light.

Flat light, hard light, no light. The ice still has to read as ice.

Monochrome.

When colour stops helping, shape does the work.

Ten degrees north.

Costa Rica, home ground: cloud forest, lowland rain, and the birds that teach patience.

Fiery-throated hummingbird · Cerro de la Muerte

Cloud studiesEvening light

Further north36° N · Colorado Plateau

Film.

Short pieces made for social media and documentaries made to last, about conservation, science and the people doing the work.

VerticalMade for social media

A story on social media is only useful while it is still happening. Fast turnaround, the same finish as the long form.

1:14¿Quién poliniza el cacao?A one-minute natural history explainer for Elemental Cacao’s social channels: the Forcipomyia midges that turn a cacao flower into a pod. Made to teach, and it travelled well on Instagram.Watch on Vimeo

4:39Revelando el cacao · Randy SilesAn episode of the mini-series Revelando el Cacao. Chef Randy Siles on agromarine cooking, local produce and knowing where a dish comes from, cut vertical for social media.Watch on Vimeo

3:18El Arca VerdeA walk through a garden of useful plants in Heredia with its manager, Gloriana. Science outreach made for Arca Verde’s social media.Watch on Vimeo

0:33Semblanza de un Corteza AmarilloThe once-a-year bloom of Tabebuia ochracea in Malpaís, filmed from the roadside and posted days later.Watch on Vimeo

2:18Balance IntuitivoA short film shot for vertical screens with two balance performers in Monteverde. Movement as a way to talk about a relationship.Watch on Vimeo

2:54Un día en Casa y MásAn anniversary piece in the mockumentary manner of The Office: the showroom, the staff and the everyday chaos behind a furniture brand. Made for its social channels.Watch on Vimeo

0:23Casa y Más: muebles y paisajeEuropean furniture carried out to a dry, cactus-studded landscape few would place in Costa Rica. The more editorial reel among many made for the brand.Watch on Vimeo

0:50Praslin Atelier 2Social media reel for a Costa Rican fashion label and its summer 2022 collection.Watch on Vimeo

Documentary & commissionsZipper Media

11:53The Great Green MacawDocumentary on an endangered macaw and the biological corridors that keep its populations connected.Watch on Vimeo

6:56The Toad That Went Extinct for 14 YearsAtelopus varius, and the Tropical Science Center team working to bring it back.Watch on Vimeo

4:52The Agroforestry Institute 2026Close to two weeks of fieldwork with students from several countries, from the Monteverde highlands to the Gulf of Nicoya, Veragua and Parismina. Agroforestry learned on the ground.Watch on Vimeo

1:03La Familia de Los CusingosScript and narration by Adrián Madrigal, for the former home of ornithologist Alexander Skutch.Watch on Vimeo

4:25Tommy Thomas: Building The Green ArkPortrait of the founder of a botanical sanctuary holding more than 1,600 plant species. Part of the Wonder People series for The Wonderland Project.Watch on Vimeo

14:08AfroTruthDr. Umar Johnson’s visit to Costa Rica and the conversations it opened on Afro-Costa Rican identity, land and heritage. Filmed, edited and taken to a third cut in under a week. Portfolio cut, not an official release.Watch on Vimeo

3:05El Caribe costarricense en LondresMade for the Costa Rican Film Commission’s screens at Focus London 2025. Mostly aerial footage, the Caribbean coast shown at an unhurried pace.Watch on Vimeo

1:17Liam and Logan · Blue Wellness, UvitaTwo new residents of Uvita describe the welcome they found, for a community project built around wellness and local scholarships.Watch on Vimeo

All films on Vimeo

With guests.

Visit To The Wonder

To The Wonder is a photography school and tour operator working across Costa Rica and Latin America. The work there covered the tours themselves, the audiovisual content that came out of each trip, and support in teaching.

Tours and tourism projects teach what a camera does not: reading a group, explaining the same setting for the tenth time as carefully as the first, and keeping the day on schedule when the weather has other plans.

Organisations, clients and recognition

Index.

Every photograph on this page, and others from the same trips.

San José, Costa Rica