Adrián Madrigal

Adrián Madrigal

Documentary filmmaker and wildlife photographer. Films for conservation and science organisations, from the cloud forest of Costa Rica to the Beagle Channel.

Showing · El Caribe costarricense en Londres · Costa Rica Film Commission

Films about the people who protect wild places, photographs of the places themselves, and days in the field with the travellers who come to see both.

Film

Director at Zipper Media. Documentaries and short films for conservation bodies, field science programmes and biological corridors — several produced with the Centro Científico Tropical.

Photography

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

In the field

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

Film.

Documentaries and short films for conservation and science organisations, and commissioned work for the people building something in the same places.

Conservation, science and territoryDocumentary

Made with the organisations doing the work: reserves, field science, biological corridors, and the people who keep them running. Several were produced with the Centro Científico Tropical.

17:372026Centro Científico Tropical · Almendro 2.0El Almendro: la semilla que sostiene un bosqueThe mountain almond (Dipteryx panamensis) is the tree the great green macaw nests in, and its fruit feeds dozens of species from the canopy down. The film travels the Almond Tree Route between Maquenque and Barra del Colorado with the people who live alongside it, and with the science of harvesting the nut without losing the forest. Produced with the Centro Científico Tropical under the first Costa Rica–US debt-for-nature swap. Filmed, directed and narrated.1:032026Los Cusingos · Centro Científico TropicalLa Familia de Los CusingosLos Cusingos was Alexander Skutch’s house and is now a bird reserve in Pérez Zeledón. The piece is built around the idea of a family: the shy birds that watch from the forest, Skutch himself, and the archaeological traces of the people who were there long before him.4:522026Agroforestry Institute · MonteverdeThe Agroforestry Institute 2026Close to two weeks of field shooting across the country for the programme designed by Fabricio Camacho, PhD — from the Monteverde highlands down to the Gulf of Nicoya, Veragua Rainforest and the Pacific lowlands.6:562023Centro Científico Tropical · Corredores VivosMeet The Toad That Went Extinct For 14 Years, Until Now - Corredores VivosAtelopus varius was considered gone for fourteen years. The film follows the Tropical Science Center’s work on the harlequin toad’s return, and what a biological corridor has to do with an animal coming back from the dead.10:132022Agroforestry EngineeringTalamanca The Tribe of Food: Agroforestry Engineering.Bribrí and Cabécar farmers explain conservation agriculture in their own terms — their cosmovision and their practice, on their own land.11:532023Centro Científico Tropical · Corredores VivosThe Great Green Macaw - Corredores VivosTwelve minutes with Ulises Alemán, who has given his working life to the great green macaw. The threats are real and so are the methods. Part of the Corredores Vivos series on the Biological Corridors Programme.2:342024Centro Científico Tropical · Macaw Recovery Network · HuaweiAudiomoths: Sintonizando la Conservación de la Lapa VerdeBiologists hang recorders — audiomoths — in the canopy of the northern lowlands and let the forest report on itself. The devices listen where nobody can stay.1:402024Centro Científico Tropical · Costa Rica–US debt swapVive lo Auténtico: Corredor Biológico Alexander SkutchA campaign film for the Alexander Skutch Biological Corridor, positioning it as a working model of regenerative agro-ecotourism. The video anchored a wider strategy of website, social media and distribution.2:502026Personal projectGalería Dendrológica Virtual de Costa RicaCosta Rica has more tree species than almost anyone could name, and we still look at them as scenery rather than as beings with a history. The film for a virtual dendrological gallery built species by species, with real research behind every entry and no sponsor behind any of it.6:232023Ph.D Valerie PetersStingless Bees in Costa Rica With Ph.D Valerie PetersCosta Rica is 0.03% of the planet’s surface and holds roughly 5% of its species. Valerie Peters’ work on stingless bees is the way into what that abundance actually rests on.6:152023Centro Científico Tropical · Instituto Nacional de Energía¿Cómo genera Costa Rica el 99% de su energía de fuentes renovables?How a country of five million came to run on 99% renewable energy: the technologies behind it, and why the rest of the world keeps asking how it was done.7:202022Estación Biológica El ZotaPlaneta Zota - Redescubriendo el bosque, juntos.In a Costa Rican forest the cleverest animal wins — venom through the skin, perfect camouflage, the strongest silk in the woods. The opening episode of a web series on the country’s natural world.4:252024Monteverde Cloud Forest ReserveHarriet & George Powell - Monteverde ReserveThe Harriet & George Powell visitor centre, told by the people who run the reserve: how two names became a community that now leads on ecotourism and biodiversity education.4:252025The Green Ark FoundationTommy Thomas: Building The Green Ark of Costa RicaA private garden that grew into a botanical sanctuary of more than 1,600 species from around the world, and the man who spent a lifetime on it.3:102025The Wonderland Project · Wonder PeopleBrian Erickson: Shaping Sustainability Through BambooA bamboo artisan turning a grass into architecture, with the techniques and the patience that takes. Part of the Wonder People documentary series.5:402022Environmental educationCosta Rica From The Mountains To The SeaFollowing water from the mountains to the sea as a way of teaching ecosystem services — what links a watershed to a reef, and why anyone downstream should care.7:032026Toucan Rescue RanchSloth Ironman Games 2025 - The One Meter DashFive episodes for the Toucan Rescue Ranch’s annual fundraiser. The target was $10,000 and the audience went past it. This one is the One Meter Dash.1:162023Fundación Costa Rica AzulCosta Rica Azul - Talentos del CaribeTen years of a foundation backing social, cultural and — here — sporting projects on the Caribbean coast, and the young players it gave a reason to aim higher.3:242026Theo Amo CacaoRevelando el cacao - Theo Amo CacaoCacao never belonged only to chocolate. First episode of a series in which it meets meat, and contemporary cooking argues with ancestral memory.3:052026Costa Rica Film Commission · Focus London 2025El Caribe costarricense en Londres - Focus 2025Made to represent the Costa Rican Caribbean on the Film Commission’s screens at Focus London. Built mostly from aerials and deliberately unhurried: the landscape, the light and the identity of the coast, as an argument for filming there.14:082026Independent documentaryAfroTruth Documentary - Dr. Umar Johnson in Costa RicaDr. Umar Johnson’s visit to Costa Rica and the conversations it opened about Afro-Costa Rican identity, land and territory. Shot, cut and assembled to a third version in under a week.0:582026Rainforest ExpeditionsLimon Like Never Before - Rainforest ExpeditionsMoín, Limón: a territory recovering ground and opening up. Less a postcard than an invitation to a Caribbean that is active, healthy and worth returning to.1:172025Blue Wellness, UvitaLiam and Logan - Blue Wellness, UvitaTwo new residents on what Uvita and its people actually feel like, for a community project still being built.
Brand, tourism and commissionsZipper Media
1:162026Rise CaribeMaramar Caribe: Step Beyond the Ordinary - Rise CaribeTourism and residential development on the Caribbean coast, cut to move.1:162024RiseMaramar by RiseBrand piece for the Maramar development.1:252024TerraltaTerralta - Proyecto inmobiliarioResidential project film, shot and finished in-house.1:232025Aranjuez 23Aranjuez 23Architecture and place for a residential project in San José.1:372024Clínica Rivera · Establishment LabsClinica Rivera & Establishments LabsMedical brand film for a clinic and its device partner.5:022022Condovac · Reina IntercontinentalCondovac x Reina Intercontinental (Resumen 2021)Five-minute recap of a pageant week on the Guanacaste coast.0:572022Dr. Christian RiveraChristian Rivera: Los buenos somos másA short piece on why the good ones outnumber the rest.1:062022Dr. Christian RiveraLa piedra de la transformación - Dr. Christian RiveraThe stone of transformation — a short, single-idea brand film.
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.

2:542026Casa y MásUn Día en Casa y Más (Versión Mockumentary)An anniversary piece in the mockumentary register of The Office: the facilities, the people and the daily chaos that makes a company what it is.4:392026Revelando el Cacao · Chef Randy SilesRevelando el cacao con el chef Randy SilesChef Randy Siles on agromarine cooking and knowing where a dish comes from, cut vertical.1:142026Elemental Cacao¿Quién poliniza el cacao? - Elemental CacaoA one-minute natural history explainer: the Forcipomyia midges that turn a cacao flower into a pod.3:182026El Arca VerdeEl Arca Verde - Costa RicaA walk through a garden of useful plants in Heredia with the manager who keeps it.1:442026Elemental CacaoElemental CacaoThe brand film, cut for a vertical screen.0:332024PersonalSemblanza de un Corteza AmarilloThe once-a-year bloom of Tabebuia ochracea in Malpaís, filmed from the roadside and posted days later.2:182023Short filmBalance Intuitivo - Cortometraje VerticalTwo balance performers in Monteverde. Movement as a way to talk about a relationship.0:232026Casa y MásCasa y Más: muebles y paisajeFurniture and landscape in twenty-three seconds.0:232026Casa y MásExperience the Finest Furniture in Casa y MásA slow pass over a dining set: detail, texture and the design that separates the pieces.1:002026Design Desk · Playa GrandeDesign Desk - Playa Grande, TamarindoInterior design on the Pacific coast, for social.0:222024Persianas GraberPersianas GraberProduct piece for a blinds manufacturer.0:502022Praslin AtelierPraslin Atelier 2Social reel for a Costa Rican fashion label and its summer collection.
All films on Vimeo

Worked with.

Conservation bodies, science programmes, tour operators and the odd award jury.

Organisations, clients and recognition

IUCNCentro Científico TropicalAsociación Costa Rica por SiempreTo The WonderLatinClimaCosta Rica AzulIDRC · CRDIMonteverde Cloud ForestRise CaribeThe Toucan Rescue RanchGrupo SaxumVeragua FoundationAgroforestry EngineeringPantheraNapolitan Victory Awards 2019, winner

PhotographsA log from 38° N to 55° S

93° of latitude
37°N

Bryce Canyon · Utah

Start at the top of the log.

Hoodoos under late snow, the northern end of the line.

Poás · Costa Rica

Light first, subject second.

Last sun over the highlands, and two people who stopped walking to watch it.

Costa Rica

Stay long enough and they stop minding.

Spider monkeys at eye level, the young one still holding on.

Costa Rica

Close, and still calm.

Summer tanager, the whole frame given to one colour.

Costa Rica

Weather is a subject.

Storm cloud with the sun behind it.

Costa Rica

Common birds, properly looked at.

Yellow-headed caracara, low in the grass.

Costa Rica

Behaviour, not portraits.

Sunbittern feeding its chick — a few seconds that only happen once.

Pérez Zeledón · Costa Rica

Patience, first.

Hummingbird at a powderpuff flower; the wings are the only thing moving.

Patagonia · Argentina

South, and the light changes.

Chilean flamingos crossing in formation.

El Chaltén · Argentina

Weather is part of the picture.

A braided valley under a breaking storm.

Beagle Channel · Tierra del Fuego

Not everything down there is wild.

A fishing boat left in a field of flowers, horses grazing past it.

Tierra del Fuego · Argentina

The last range.

The sierra above the town, one horse in the last of the grass.

Les Éclaireurs · 54°52′ S

The southern end of the log.

The lighthouse on its islet, last frame of the line.

Hoodoos under late snow, the northern end of the line Last sun over the highlands, and two people who stopped walking to watch it Spider monkeys at eye level, the young one still holding on Summer tanager, the whole frame given to one colour Storm cloud with the sun behind it Yellow-headed caracara, low in the grass Sunbittern feeding its chick — a few seconds that only happen once Hummingbird at a powderpuff flower; the wings are the only thing moving Chilean flamingos crossing in formation A braided valley under a breaking storm A fishing boat left in a field of flowers, horses grazing past it The sierra above the town, one horse in the last of the grass The lighthouse on its islet, last frame of the line USA2
1 / 13
Iceberg, detail

Wildlife.

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

Magellanic penguin
Gentoo penguins · Beagle Channel
Gentoo penguins
Caracara below Fitz Roy
Kelp gull over open water
Imperial shag
Kelp gull, soaring
Magellanic penguins in the surf
Kelp gull, portrait
White-throated caracara
South American sea lions
Chilean flamingos
Glacier, flow bands

Ice & light.

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

Glacier front
Iceberg arch
Bergy bit, late light
Blue ice
Storm light
Valley under a breaking storm · El Chaltén
Fitz Roy massif
Fishing boat in the flowers · Tierra del Fuego
The sierra above the town · Tierra del Fuego
Les Éclaireurs · 54°52′ S

Monochrome.

When colour stops helping, shape does the work.

Ice against rock
Seracs
Glacier wall
Snow line
Peak in cloud
Glacier front
Ice and glitter
Seracs against forest
Evening cloud

Ten degrees north.

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

Last light · Poás, Costa Rica
Shield bug nymphs
Red-headed barbet
Gartered trogon
Fiery-billed aracari
Hummingbird at a powderpuff flower · Pérez Zeledón
Sunbittern feeding its chick
Yellow-headed caracara
Green basilisk · Parismina
Glass frog
Snake after dark
Jumping spider · Los Cusingos
Yellow-throated toucan in the rain
Fiery-throated hummingbird · Cerro de la Muerte
Potoo
Spider monkeys
Paper wasp, wings raised
White-faced capuchin
Summer tanager
Sunset · Cabo Blanco
Cloud studiesEvening light
Storm cloud, sun behind it
Cloud study
Cloud study, lit from within
Airliner against the cloud wall
Lenticular cloud at dusk
Gold rim
Further north36° N · Colorado Plateau
California condor, wing tag 8Y
Grand Canyon, last light
Painted badlands
Hoodoos under snow
Rim and snow
Snow peaks under a storm sky
Grand Canyon, shadow line
California condors
Steller’s jay
Ship under squall light · Beagle Channel

Staff picks.

Four verticals, chosen for themselves and not for the series they came from.

Weevil on an orchid
Spider monkey on a fruiting palm
Speckled tanager, head on
Red-eyed tree frog on a torch ginger

Index.

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

Adrián Madrigal

San José, Costa Rica

Adrián Madrigal

Email
adrimadri11@gmail.com
Trees
galeriadendrologica.comGalería Dendrológica Virtual de Costa Rica · personal project
Languages
Spanish · English