Teenage life was an ordeal, until Caitlyn found her calm with a camera

All day, every day, young photographer Caitlyn McDonald wears her headphones.

It's the only way the 18-year-old can get through the constant noise, chatter and distractions of daily life.

In her early teens, Caitlyn was diagnosed with Autism and Auditory Processing Disorder - a condition that affects how the brain interprets sounds.

High school was an ordeal. She was exhausted, filled with anxiety, and it broke her confidence.

But there is one place she finds her calm and focus. When she's watching wildlife down her camera lens.

"It is a whole new world seeing what wildlife photographers always see," Caitlyn says.

"It's so peaceful you can see all the animals coming slowly, seeing their different behaviour."

Like many people with autism, Caitlyn - from Ardrossan in North Ayrshire - can struggle with busy environments, meeting strangers and coping with changes to routine.

From dancing to boxing to photography – until she picked up a camera, she could never settle on an interest.

Her mum Paula and dad John realised she had a talent after she took a photo on her mobile of the family dogs running on the beach.

It ended up as runner-up in an RSPCA photo competition.

Suspecting Caitlyn's dog photo might be more than a lucky shot, Paula searched online and found wildlife photographer Paul McDougall.

His workshops teach budding photographers to learn and read animal behaviour.

Paula sent him a message and explained Caitlyn's autism and APD.

"When you meet her she doesn't quite fit the norm for an 18-year-old girl," her mum says.

"But the minute she met Paul, he was just so understanding, patient.

"A lot of the time it's the tone of voice that Caitlyn responds to. Paul's is very calming and soft."

Caitlyn joined her first workshop with Paul, photographing swans at Hogganfield Loch in north Glasgow in March last year.

Run in small groups, it was the ideal situation for her.

"I feel a sense of calm, which I wouldn't if there was more people," Caitlyn says.

"I loved the first class and wanted to do it again straight away."

She says there was an an instant bond with Paul, who understood her from the start.

Paul says he didn't want to treat Caitlyn differently from any other student.

He says she has a fantastic eye and a "natural gift for wildlife photography".

"On our very first workshop she only had a very basic camera and she took this picture of a swan with the sun coming up silhouetting it.

"As soon as I saw that I knew she had something. After that she learned very quickly."

Watching Caitlyn grow in her knowledge and confidence has been amazing, Paul says.

He runs beginner shoots at Hogganfield and other lochs in central Scotland, advancing to island tours and even international safaris.

Caitlyn has now photographed an incredible list of species across the country, including ospreys diving for fish, mountain hares in the snow, puffins with bills full of sand eels, red squirrels, beavers and even a lynx.

For Paul, a wildlife photographer for more than 20 years, teaching Caitlyn has been a new experience too.

Originally from Oxfordshire, his travels have taken him to Uganda, Finland, Canada, India, Sri Lanka and Nepal.

He ran photo safaris in Kenya, before meeting his wife and moving to Scotland to set up Touch the Wild photography full time.

Caitlyn was Paul's first time working with someone with the autism.

He says: "No matter who you're teaching photography to, you've got to have patience and everybody learns in different ways.

"We really started to connect when Caitlyn began talking to me more about her autism.

"When she told me about her experience at school, it kind of made me realise the difference coming to the workshops was making and I got quite emotional about it."

Mum Paula says Caitlyn had a "rough time" at school because of her autism and APD.

She says if a child misbehaved or a class got too hectic, it was often her daughter who was told to leave the room because she could not cope in the situation.

Caitlyn couldn't understand why she was the one being excluded

Paula says: "She went into her shell for a wee while, she didn't have any confidence, she really didn't know her direction in life."

Caitlyn now is unrecognisable, her mum says. Wildlife photography has "genuinely changed her" as a person.

The skills Caitlyn picked up with Paul helped her secure a place at Ayrshire College where she is studying for an HNC in photography.

College life is much better for Caitlyn, very different from school.

To manage her autism and anxiety, Caitlyn uses fidget cubes and 'calm tags' - small sensory devices she holds in her fingers to give her focus in stressful scenarios.

She wears her headphones all day, giving her a buffer from the noise around her. She's not looking for silence, but uses music to find her calm.

Caitlyn will be listening to playlists made by her friends or Eminem, which is her dad's influence.

"In college, when it gets hectic or loud, the tutors will know it's too much for me because I'll have both headphones on my ears," she says.

"If it's quieter, I'll have one headphone on and the other ear open.

"If my hood goes up it means anxiety, and you can see my legs wobble up and down if I'm nervous."

With her autism, routine is important for Caitlyn and Paul helps to manage this.

He will email before each trip, breaking down the plan of the workshop day and when she can rest.

Mum Paula says that while people love Caitlyn's photos, they don't realise the effort for her that comes along with it.

"There will have been a lot going on that day. Mixed feelings, she's maybe been happy, sad, excited, nervous.

"They don't see the sensory overload afterwards – the noise, the anxiety, the exhaustion.

"She'll come home and go straight upstairs to her room, to process everything."

But Paula says photography gives her daughter purpose, and because Caitlyn loves it so much she pushes through.

Caitlyn has come a long way since she snapped that picture of her dogs on the beach.

She now volunteers her camera skills at local events and has even been booked as a student photographer for her first wedding shoots next year.

Caitlyn also runs a craft stall selling notebooks, calendars and prints featuring her wildlife images. She hands out business cards explaining her autism and APD.

Her big ambition is to travel to Kenya, to photograph cheetahs in the wild.

She is already preparing for a dream expedition with Paul to Finland next year, where they hope to photograph brown bears and wolves.

It's a massive step, but everyone around her believes she can do it. And importantly, Caitlyn believes in herself.

"Before I started photography I had no confidence," she says. "But I gained trust in Paul and got my confidence back."