The Photographer
About Maya
Two decades in the wilderness — learning to see.
Biography
A Life Spent
Following the Wild
Maya Chen was born in Vancouver, Canada, to a marine biologist mother and a documentary filmmaker father. Her earliest memories are of tide pools and camera viewfinders — a combination that would shape the next thirty years of her life.
After studying fine art photography at the Royal College of Art in London, Maya moved to East Africa in 2005, initially on a six-month fellowship. She never really left. The Serengeti, the Okavango, the snow-dusted ridges of the Himalayas — every landscape taught her something different about patience, light, and the rare gift of being present.
Today, Maya's work has appeared in National Geographic, BBC Wildlife Magazine, Le Monde, and dozens of conservation publications. She speaks at universities, leads photography expeditions, and donates a portion of every print sale to wildlife corridors across sub-Saharan Africa.
When she's not in the field, Maya splits her time between a studio in Nairobi and a flat in East London she shares with too many books and a rescue greyhound named Dusk.
The camera is not my weapon — it is my passport. Every time I raise it, I am asking the wild for permission to witness.— Maya Chen, interviewed in Aperture Magazine, 2023
Recognition
Awards & Honours
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Mammals Category Winner
Natural History Museum, London
Awarded for "Still Water" — a long-exposure image of a leopard drinking from a Maasai river as lightning illuminates the horizon.
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Photo Contest — 1st Place, Animals
National Geographic Society, Washington D.C.
"The Long Walk" — a polar bear mother and cubs traversing a fractured ice sheet in Svalbard, Norway.
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Professional Wildlife — Shortlist
World Photography Organisation, London
Series "Voices of the Canopy" — seven images documenting the social lives of Borneo orangutans over fourteen months.
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Cover Photograph — September Issue
BBC Studios, Bristol
An aerial image of the annual wildebeest crossing at the Mara River, taken from a hot-air balloon at dawn.
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Amphibians & Reptiles — Winner
Gesellschaft Deutscher Tierfotografen, Germany
"Glass Dweller" — a glass frog photographed in the Costa Rican cloud forest with eggs visible through translucent skin.
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Rising Star Award
Natural History Museum, London
Recognised as one of five emerging wildlife photographers reshaping how conservation stories are told through the lens.
Philosophy & Gear
How I Work
I shoot predominantly with the Nikon Z9 and a battered 500mm f/4 prime that has survived three monsoons and one charging elephant. I travel light, move slow, and stay long — sometimes spending four or five days with a single subject before I ever raise the camera.
Post-processing is minimal. I believe the story is in the moment, not the manipulation — a single luminosity mask and a gentle crop is usually all I allow. Everything else should already be in the frame.
Work With Maya