Mangrove Photography Awards 2025

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.  

Tanya Houppermans is an underwater photographer/videographer and shark naturalist who left the corporate world behind in 2015 to work full time in underwater imaging and shark conservation. She has won numerous international awards for her photography, including the Grand Prize in the Big Picture Natural World Photography Competition, First Place in the Portrait Category in the Underwater Photographer of the Year Competition, Mangrove Photographer of the Year, and an unprecedented three First Place awards in the World Shootout ‘Sharks’ category. Her images have appeared in publications around the world, including National Geographic. She has also worked with some of the biggest names in broadcast media such as National Geographic, BBC, Discovery, and NBC both in front of and behind the camera. Tanya is at the forefront of shark research collaborating with scientists to increase our knowledge of these misunderstood animals, especially the sand tiger sharks of North Carolina.

Sirachai “Shin” Arunrugstichai is a Thai photojournalist and marine biologist. Although Shin's work covers diverse topics, ranging from disasters, conflicts, to politics, his heart and soul lie in marine conservation stories, where he aims to portray humanity’s complex relationship with the ocean, capturing both its horrors and hopes. He is an Associate Fellow of the International League of Conservation Photographers and a National Geographic Explorer. His photographs have been published in National Geographic, Smithsonian, the Washington Post, the New York Times, and the Guardian, among many others, where Shin covers news primarily for Getty Images and regularly collaborates with conservation organizations. When he is not out in the field somewhere, Shin often collaborates on shark and ray research in Southeast Asia, as Thai Sharks and Rays, a collective of Thai researchers he co-founded.