Artist
Amish Chhagan is a Zambia-raised wildlife and conservation photographer. His photographs have been published by National Geographic, Smithsonian Magazine, WWF's World Wildlife magazine, GEO and Lens Magazine, and he writes for PetaPixel and Earth.Org; shortlisted twice at the Sony World Photography Awards (2021 and 2022); winner of the conservation category, Conserving Africa's Wilderness, in the Wilderness Safaris photographic competition 2021; a Wildlife finalist in the Smithsonian Magazine Photo Contest and The Nature Photography Contest; Highly Commended by Africa Geographic Photographer of the Year 2024 and Nature TTL Photographer of the Year 2023; Gold at the Budapest International Foto Awards 2022; and awarded by the Wild Photo Awards, WildArt Photographer of the Year, Picture Award and SUGI x NAVA. Forty-five of his photographs are in the Samsung Art Store for The Frame TV, and he is a Nikon MEA Creator.
Samsung Art Store · The Frame
Forty-five of Amish's photographs are in the Samsung Art Store, the curated collection Samsung's The Frame TV shows in Art Mode, alongside collections from MoMA, Tate, The Met and Magnum Photos. Turn the television off, and the wall becomes a gallery.
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The Art Store is Samsung's subscription service for The Frame.
Borrowed Vessel · Kalimantan, Borneo
Fall 2026 issue
World Wildlife magazine (WWF) · Fall 2026
Words and photograph by Amish. A mother orangutan untied a ranger's longboat and paddled after our speedboat; a remarkable moment, and an unsettling one about what shrinking forests ask of wild animals.
White rhinos · Solio, Kenya
Smithsonian Magazine · online, 2026
Two photographs in Smithsonian's travel galleries: the white rhinos of Solio Game Reserve in These 15 Wonderful Photographs of Kenya's World-Class Wildlife Will Have You Booking a Flight to the Savanna (25 September 2026), and a lion stalking a buffalo herd in Lions, Lions and Lions, Oh My! (14 August 2026).
Peace · Masai Mara, Kenya
December 2024 issue
National Geographic · US edition, December 2024
Published in the Pictures of the Year issue, in the In Focus pages: an oxpecker attempting to land on a Masai giraffe's neck shortly after a tropical storm.
From Endangered Experiences · Rwanda
PetaPixel · author and featured photographer, 2024–2026
Profiled in a Novachips partner feature by Jeremy Gray (28 August 2026); featured in 18 Hilarious Unseen Photos From the Nikon Comedy Wildlife Awards with Peek-a-Boo (12 March 2025). Written and photographed by Amish: Collateral Damage, on Namibia's plans to cull wildlife for drought relief (opinion, 10 September 2024), and Endangered Experiences: Photographing the Mountain Gorilla in Rwanda (feature, 29 August 2024).
From the gallery · Masai Mara, Kenya
Winter 2024 issue
World Wildlife magazine (WWF) · Winter 2024
A six-page portfolio: giraffe, mountain gorilla, the lion pride and rhino, with Amish's notes on each.
Earth.Org's first photo story
Earth.Org · EO Photographer and author, 2023–2024
Written and photographed by Amish: Collateral Damage, on Namibia's drought cull (September 2024); The Life of a Wildlife Veterinarian, an interview with Zambia's Mwamba Sichande (August 2024); Documenting Rwanda's Remaining Mountain Gorillas (April 2024); and Close Encounters of White Rhinos (May 2023, Earth.Org's first-ever photo story).
Rhino Chronicles · Kenya
Edition 42 cover, August 2024
PAW Trails · PT Explorers
Cover story and interview, Into the Wild with Chags Photography (edition 42, August 2024), and the Close Encounters rhino essay (edition 38, April 2023).
Opening spread · The Curious One
Issue 115 · on the cover line
Lens Magazine · issue 115, April 2024
An eighteen-page portfolio and essay in the Nature & Wildlife issue, pages 120 to 137: gorillas, the Mara prides, cheetahs, the Solio rhinos and the migration, with Amish's account of growing up in Zambia.
Close Encounters · Solio, Kenya
Nkwazi cover
Nkwazi · Proflight Zambia's in-flight magazine · four issues, 2021–2024
Written and photographed by Amish for Zambia's in-flight magazine: Collateral Damage, on wildlife culling for drought relief (issue 72, November/December 2024); Close Encounters, on the white rhinos of Solio (issue 63, May/June 2023); The Zambian Way, the success story of wild dogs in the Luangwa Valley (issue 60, November/December 2022); and Chags Photography, a portfolio feature on his work (issue 53, September/October 2021).
Samson · Sand River pride, Masai Mara
March 2021 issue
GEO · print edition, March 2021
The lion portrait Samson, published in GEO's print edition.
Every photograph on this page is available as a signed, limited-edition print.
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Power and Presence · Kenya
2025 · Smithsonian Magazine Photo Contest, 23rd annual
One of 60 finalists across all categories, announced in March 2026.
Power and Presence · Kenya
2025 · The Nature Photography Contest
A Wildlife finalist in the 2025 edition of the international nature photography award.
Catch Me If You Can · Solio, Kenya
2024 · Africa Geographic Photographer of the Year
Two southern white rhinos, one chasing the other under a dramatic sky, in the year's Highly Commended selection.
Peace · Masai Mara, Kenya
November 2023 · Wild Photo Awards, Wild Life
Winner of the monthly Wild Life award, November 2023.
Catch Me If You Can · black and white
2023 · Nature TTL Photographer of the Year
Highly Commended in the 2023 competition.
Peace · Masai Mara, Kenya
2023 · SUGI x NAVA Photography Contest
First prize in the Wildlife category.
Gallery of the winners · 1st, Animals
July–August 2023 · Picture Award, Animals
First place in the Animals category.
The Flick · Masai Mara, Kenya
2022 · WildArt Photographer of the Year, Monochrome
Bronze award in the Monochrome round, going forward to the year's grand final.
Close Encounters · Solio, Kenya
Q3 2022 · Wild Photo Awards, Animal Portraits
Winner of the quarterly Animal Portraits award.
Close Encounters · Solio, Kenya
2022 · Budapest International Foto Awards
Gold award in the Nature / Wildlife category for two southern white rhinos photographed from the ground in Solio, one of the world's oldest private rhino sanctuaries.
Blurred Vision
2022 · Sony World Photography Awards
Shortlisted in the Open competition, Natural World & Wildlife: one of 14 finalists worldwide in the category.
Mau Forest, Kenya
2021 · Wilderness Safaris Photographic Competition
Winner of the conservation category, Conserving Africa's Wilderness, in Wilderness Safaris' annual photographic competition, Africa in Focus, with a ranger holding a coil of snare wire removed from the Mau Forest in Kenya. The competition's proceeds supported Children in the Wilderness, which runs environmental Eco-Clubs in rural schools.
Droolin Over Me · Maasai Mara, Kenya
2021 · Sony World Photography Awards
Shortlisted in the Open competition, Natural World & Wildlife: one of 12 finalists worldwide in the category. Picked by La Vanguardia among its favourites of the year.
Samson · Masai Mara, Kenya
World Photography Organisation
Samson, chosen by the World Photography Organisation's editors. The same frame was featured among Sony's early 2021 entries by RTÉ and Daily Maverick.
Lioness at golden hour · Masai Mara
Also recognised
See it through his lens, on a private, photographer-led safari.
Travel with me
Big Photo Hunt with Ken Deckinger · YouTube · 2026
Big Photo Hunt with Ken Deckinger · YouTube · 13k views
CNBC Africa · 2023 · Amish on Akagera, from 17:20
A Wild Vision, live · 26 November 2022
Paws Trails live webinar, in association with Nikon · October 2022
Big Photo Hunt: A Photography Podcast · 5 November 2024 · 27 min
Boots on the Ground podcast · Spotify · 5 September 2023 · 53 min
Podcast or interview request? media@chagsphotography.com
WWF · 2026
His World Wildlife story, credited to Chags Photography by Amish Chhagan
Wilderness · 28 February 2024
Words and photographs by Amish, Wilderness Bisate
Interview · 11 October 2022
ShoutoutSoCal, Local Stories
La Vanguardia · 1 June 2021
Drooling Over Me, finalist, Natural World & Wildlife
Daily Maverick · 19 September 2020
Samson among Sony's early entries
Yes. Amish Chhagan's photograph Peace, a Masai giraffe with an oxpecker in the Masai Mara, was published in National Geographic's US edition in December 2024, in the In Focus pages of the Pictures of the Year issue.
National Geographic (December 2024), Smithsonian Magazine (two online photo galleries, 2026), WWF's World Wildlife magazine (Winter 2024 gallery and a Fall 2026 feature he wrote and photographed), GEO (March 2021), Lens Magazine (issue 115, April 2024, an eighteen-page portfolio), Nkwazi and PAW Trails, and online at PetaPixel (a feature on Rwanda's mountain gorillas, an opinion piece on Namibia's wildlife cull, the Nikon Comedy Wildlife Awards and a 2026 profile) and Earth.Org (Close Encounters of White Rhinos, Rwanda's mountain gorillas, an interview with wildlife vet Mwamba Sichande, and Collateral Damage).
Gold, Nature/Wildlife, Budapest International Foto Awards 2022 (Close Encounters); winner, Wild Photo Awards Wild Life, November 2023 (Peace); winner, Wild Photo Awards Animal Portraits, Q3 2022 (Close Encounters); first place, Picture Award Animals, July–August 2023 (Catch Me If You Can); Wildlife category winner, SUGI x NAVA Photography Contest 2023 (Peace); Bronze award, WildArt Photographer of the Year Monochrome 2022 (The Flick); Highly Commended, Africa Geographic Photographer of the Year 2024 and Nature TTL Photographer of the Year 2023 (Catch Me If You Can).
Yes, twice, in the Open competition's Natural World & Wildlife category: in 2021 with Droolin Over Me (one of 12 finalists) and in 2022 with Blurred Vision. The World Photography Organisation also selected his lion portrait Samson as a Pick of the Pics.
Yes. His black-and-white rhino photograph Power and Presence was a Wildlife finalist in the 23rd annual Smithsonian Magazine Photo Contest, one of 60 finalists announced in March 2026. In 2026 Smithsonian also ran his work in two travel photo galleries: a lion stalking a buffalo herd in Kenya, and the white rhinos of Solio Game Reserve.
Yes. Forty-five of his wildlife photographs, including Power and Presence, Catch Me If You Can and Peace, are in the Samsung Art Store, the collection The Frame TV shows in Art Mode. Search "Chhagan" in the Art Store. For a signed, limited-edition print of any of them, send a print enquiry.
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