Contributing Photographers
S. Clayton
Michael Lorentz
Born with a naturalist’s heart and curiosity, Michael has devoted close to 40 years to guiding safaris across the African continent and beyond. In that time, he has journeyed to landscapes as disparate and remote as the teeming floodplains of Chad and the windswept dunes of the Namib Desert.
His bush career started in 1985 in South Africa’s Timbavati Game Reserve, followed by 15 years guiding and running lodges in the Okavango Delta. In early 2000 he moved back to South Africa and shifted his focus to planning, organizing, and leading pan-African safaris through the many companies that he has founded and managed.
Whilst Michael is a pan-African specialist, he works closely with expert guides worldwide and arranges trips beyond Africa’s shores that could be ticked off on many a bucket list, including Antarctica and the Galapagos. Bringing the same guiding principles of respect, empathy, intuition, and understanding to his other passion, photography, Michael has been able to bring others closer to the natural world, and in so doing uses his lens to showcase critical conservation initiatives. His work has been featured in several publications, as well as in the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History in Washington DC.
Michael works closely with numerous Conservation organizations, including African Parks, the Ellen Fund, the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund, the Big Life Foundation, and Natural Capital, to raise awareness and direct funding to some of the most effective conservation projects on the continent.
Marine Drouilly Pryce-Fitchen
Driven by her passion for wildlife, expansive landscapes, and adventure, Marine has traveled and worked across all continents, as a guide and on various conservation and wildlife research projects. While Alaskan grizzlies were her first love, she has since devoted herself to conserving wild cat species and their habitats. In 2020, she joined PANTHERA, an international NGO devoted to protecting the world’s 40 wild cat species and their vital roles in ecosystems. Marine now serves as the Regional Carnivore Monitoring Coordinator for West and Central Africa, overseeing the West Africa Leopard & African Golden Cat Conservation Planning Project. Additionally, she leads a Eurasian lynx conservation project in France for a local NGO and frequently collaborates with the IUCN SSC Cat Specialist Group.
Though Marine enjoys wildlife photography, her busy schedule limits her practice, so she partners with skilled photographers and journalists to share conservation stories, celebrate nature's beauty, and highlight the importance of its preservation. During her PhD, she worked with Lenses for Conservation to document the relationship between small-livestock farmers and predators in the South African Karoo.
Originally from France, Marine now lives in Cape Town with her South African husband and spends significant time in West and Central Africa studying leopards and African golden cats.
Marine has contributed to over 30 articles, book chapters, IUCN Red List assessments, and numerous popular publications on carnivore ecology, conservation, and wildlife. She loves sharing her wildlife photography and stories with magazines and NGOs to raise awareness about conservation.
Chien Lee
With a background in ecology and environmental education, award-winning wildlife photographer Chien C. Lee has been based on the island of Borneo since 1996. His primary focus for the past two decades has been documenting the rich diversity of tropical rainforests through photography, with the aim of inspiring a sense of wonder about these remarkable ecosystems and the importance of their conservation. His work has carried him through many remote and poorly explored regions of Southeast Asia, and in the process he has succeeded in capturing the first ever images of many rare and endangered animals and plants as well as documenting undescribed species. Chien is currently an Honorary Research Fellow at the Institute of Biodiversity and Environmental Conservation at Universiti Malaysia Sarawak.
Website: www.chienclee.com , Facebook: chienleephotography, Instagram: @chienleephotography
Sandra Clayton
I was raised on a sugar farm in South Africa, where my love of nature and wildlife was instilled in me by my parents. This interest stayed with me despite living in London for 20 years, pursuing my career in Banking. I re-located to South Africa in 2013 and renewed my passion for wildlife, photography and conservation, spending as much time as possible in the African bush, and travelling abroad to experience wildlife on other continents. It is a personal and enriching journey and I hope to inspire others to fight for the preservation of our natural world by creating an awareness with my images.
Website: https://www.sandramclaytonphoto.com/
Ben Cranke
Ben Cranke is a Namibian born South African and holds a degree in Veterinary Science which strengthened his affiliation with the natural world and his desire to photograph them in their natural environment. His passion for photography began as a young boy when his father gave him a second hand camera. Ben’s penchant for the natural world, combined with an insatiable wanderlust, has seen him travel to all seven continents to photograph their wild inhabitants. In addition to leading specialist photo tours, recent years have seen his photographic interests concentrated photographing the world's wild cat species in many remote destinations. Ben’s images have been placed in many photographic awards such as BBC Wildlife Photographer of the year, Nature's Best Photography, Big Picture and GDT European Wildlife Photographer of the year.
Instagram: ben.cranke
Alexander Sliwa
Dr. Alexander Sliwa, born 15.01.1965, is a German zoologist, curator at Cologne Zoo since 2007 and from 1999-2007 general curator of Wuppertal Zoo. Between 1992 and 1998 he conducted the first field study on black-footed cat (Felis nigripes) in South Africa and is continuing as project leader of the Black-footed Cat Working Group since 2005 until present. He has done fieldwork on Arabian wildcats (Felis l. lybica “gordoni”) in and is International Studbook keeper for the species. Likewise he conducted field research on African sand cats (Felis m. margarita) between 2015-2019 in the Sahara. He has co-chaired the European Association of Zoos and Aquaria (EAZA) Felid TAG since 2002 and is chair since 2004. He is international advisor to the Ex-situ Breeding Programmes for Iberian lynx (Lynx pardinus), Eurasian lynx (L. lynx) in the Linkin-Lynx Network, Saving Wildcats (Scottish wildcats), and Arabian leopards (P.p.nimr).
Instagram: blackfootedcat.life , sliwaalexander
Facebook: sliwaalexander , black footed cat
Guilherme Gallo Ortiz
Guilherme Gallo Ortiz Guilherme is a Brazilian biologist specializing in bird behavior and environmental management. He has extensive experience in wildlife and photography, with his work published in national and international magazines and awarded in local and national photography contests. Since 2010, he has been involved in animal behavior research and wildlife management. Today, he works in wildlife photography tourism, focusing on Brazil’s rich biodiversity. As a professional guide, he combines his expertise in natural history and photography to provide his guests with unique and enriching experiences. He has also participated in photographic projects in remote and pristine areas of the Atlantic Rainforest, capturing the unparalleled beauty of this biome.
Instagram: gallo_naturephotography
Website: www.pantanalphototours.com
Additional Acknowledgements to:
Dave Zimmerman: Canada Lynx images
Xiong Jiji: Chinese Mountain Cat
Patrick Meier
An IT and technology entrepreneur by trade, Patrick Meier has been fascinated by natural history since the days of his youth. At some point the passion for wilderness and wildlife conservation (cats in particular) was combined with that for photography. Today, Patrick regularly embarks on special expeditions to find and photograph wildlife in all corners of the planet.
www.mywilderness.net
www.intellitraps.com
Instagram: patrick.o.meier
Malini Pittet
Website design and content management
Growing up in southern India I have always been fascinated by wildlife, and felids in particular. After completing my degrees in Biodiversity Conservation and Management at Durrell Institute of Conservation and Ecology (DICE) at the University of Kent, I was actively involved in conservation projects for Arabian leopards, Indian tigers and leopards, jaguars, pumas and ocelots in South America, the Persian leopard, as well as the recovery of wolf and lynx in the European Alps. For some years now I have focused on conservation photography and photojournalism. Through field guide training in southern Africa, and an advanced open water diving certification I further extended my range of activity in conservation journalism for print and online publications.
Instagram: malini_pittet
Stuart Chapman
Since the age of 5, Stuart wanted to be a naturalist. A lifelong conservationist and vocal advocate for nature, he has lived in Asia for more than 20 years and worked for WWF for over three decades. Starting his international career as a ranger trainer in Wolong Panda Reserve in China in 1991, he started working for WWF in 1993 at Bach Ma National Park, Vietnam. Since then, he has been posted to Laos, Indonesia, and Nepal and is now based in Malaysia and is WWF’s Tigers Alive Initiative lead. His hobby and personal quest is to see all 40 species of wild cat, and he has currently seen 33 species in the wild.
