I’m Nathalie Bertrams — a documentary photographer, investigative journalist and National Geographic Explorer. I tell stories about environmental conflict and social justice, with a focus on Africa. My reporting and photography have taken me to the heart of mining zones, climate frontlines and communities resisting exploitation. My work has been featured in The Guardian, Süddeutsche Zeitung, De Groene Amsterdammer, Al Jazeera, El País, Mongabay, BBC News, and The Washington Post Magazine. I also direct TV documentaries for Arte/ ZDF.
I hold a Master’s in Fine Arts from the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf and exhibit my work internationally. My storytelling has been supported by grants from the Pulitzer Center, Journalismfund Europe, the IWMF, and more. I’m proud to be part of the International Press Institute, Women Photograph, Frontline Freelance Register and the Red Line collective.
Studies
1994 – 2002 Kunstakademie Düsseldorf, Germany – MFA
2001 Nagoya Zokei University of Art & Design, Japan – Artist residency
1998 Cité Internationale des Arts, Paris, France – Artist residency
1997 – 1998 San Francisco Art Institute, USA – Postgraduate Studies
1988 – 1993 Akademie Beeldende Kunsten Maastricht, Netherlands – BA
Media
Al Jazeera, Arte/ZDF, BBC News, Brand eins, China Dialogue, Chrismon, Christian Science Monitor, Courrier international, Daily Maverick, Dagbladet Information, Deutsche Welle, De Groene Amsterdammer, Der Standard, Die Welt, Die Zeit, El País, Financial Times, Granta, Hinterlands, Internazionale, Irish Times, La Corriere della Sera, Lettre International, Mail & Guardian, MO*, Mongabay, New Internationalist, New Lines Magazine, NRC, PRI/The World, Reportagen, Süddeutsche Zeitung, Sunday Times, Tages-Anzeiger, The Guardian, The Telegraph, Wall Street Journal, Voice of America, Vreme, Washington Post Magazine
NGOs & Clients
Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Bloomberg, BMZ, GiZ, Goethe Institute, Greenpeace, Fairtrade International, Heinrich Böll Foundation, Max Havelaar, Overseas Development Institute (ODI), Oxfam, Rabobank, SVN Netherlands Development Organisation, UNOPS, Volkswagen, Welthungerhilfe, World Future Council
Grants & Awards
2025 Lagois Fotowettbewerb – Shortlist
Earth Photo 2025 – Finalist
Gomma Grant – Shortlist
Boutographies – Shortlist
Journalismfund Europe – Earth Investigations Grant
2024 Marilyn Stafford Foto Reportage Award – Shortlist
True Story Awards – Honorable Mention
Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting – Research grant, Norway, South Korea, Chile
2023 Stiftung Kulturwerk/ VG Bildkunst – Photography grant, South Africa
Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting – Research grant, Japan
Fonds Bijzondere Journalistieke Projecten – Reporting grant, Mauritania
Journalismfund Europe – Earth Investigations Grant, Latvia+Estonia
Kolga Tbilisi Photo Awards, Georgia – Shortlist
Journalismfund Europe – Earth Investigations Grant, Cameroon
Dejan Anastasijević Award for Investigative Journalism, Serbia – Winner
2022 Superscrieri Award, Romania – Winner local news + jury prize
Dejan Anastasijevic award, Serbia – Nomination
Journalismfund Europe – Earth Investigations Grant, Guinea
IWMF – Howard G. Buffett Fund for Women Journalists, Ireland
Journalismfund Europe – European Cross-Border Grant, Serbia
Free Press Unlimited – Reporting grant, Ireland
Fonds Bijzondere Journalistieke Projecten – Reporting grant, Suriname & the Netherlands
2021 National Geographic Explorer – Storytelling grant, Romania+Ukraine
Fonds Bijzondere Journalistieke Projecten – Reporting grant, Georgia
Fetisov Journalism Awards – Shortlist for Outstanding Investigative Reporting
2020 N-Ost/Renovabis – Research Prize Eastern Europe, Georgia
IJ4EU – Investigative Reporting Grant, Romania
2019 Kolga Tbilisi Photo Awards – Shortlist
Robert Bosch Foundation – Reporters in the Field fellowship, Indonesia + Singapore
Fonds Bijzondere Journalistieke Projecten – Reporting grant
Free Press Unlimited – Reporting grant, Kenya
2018 Earth Journalism Network – Reporting grant, Indonesia
National Geographic Explorer – Storytelling grant, South Africa
Hostwriter Story Prize – Winner
European Journalism Center – Global Health Journalism grant, DR Congo
2017 Free Press Unlimited – Reporting Grant, Madagascar
Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting – Reporting grant, Malawi
Stiftung Kunstfonds – Photography grant, Israel
2016 Hostwriter Story Prize – Winner
Martin Lagois Photo Prize – Finalist
Kuala Lumpur International Photoawards – Finalist
2015 Kolga Tbilisi Photo Awards– Shortlist
European Commission – Lorenzo Natali Media Prize, Mozambique
Felix Schoeller Photo Awards – Shortlist & Finalist
Articles (selection)
2025
Vreme – Wenn unser Lachs nur rosa wäre
Newstapa – The Impact of International Politics on Antarctic Krill
Daily Maverick – The krill catastrophe
De Groene Amsterdammer – Industriële superroofdieren
Süddeutsche Zeitung – Wer zuerst kommt, fischt zuerst
2024
Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting – A Year in Photos
Amfora, Tigers and lions, the trend of Albanian crime bosses is infecting the Balkans
NRC, Illegale wildhandel in Albanië: ‘Als gangster moet je een leeuw hebben’
New Lines Magazine, In Albania, Keeping Big Cats Is the Latest Fad for Organized Crime
Christian Science Monitor, Overfishing of Mauritania’s octopus threatens a big industry – and a smart species
Novastan, Garden of Geometry
Reportagen, Hunderttausend Euro für einen Papagei
De Groene Amsterdammer, Gegrild, gekookt, als sashimi of salade
Süddeutsche Zeitung, Abgegraben. Wie für Pflanzenerde die Natur zerstört wird
El País, El hambre de pulpo amenaza a la mayor potencia de pesca de cefalópodos del mundo
2023
Süddeutsche Zeitung, Darf man Oktopusse noch essen?
Daily Maverick, Caught in Mauritania and eaten in Japan, the octopus is being fished out
Vreme, Dugački pipci jednog biznisa
Eesti Päevahlet, Turba All
De Groene Amsterdammer, Bossen voor Banden
Daily Maverick, Chinese rubber giant ‘destroys’ rainforests, indigenous lives in Cameroon
Süddeutsche Zeitung, Europas Gier nach Gummi
Africa Eco News, How Europe’s greed for rubber destroys Cameroon’s rainforest
Al Jazeera, South Africa’s gold mining legacy
Süddeutsche Zeitung, Das traurigste Statussymbol der Welt
Courrier International, Les oiseaux exotiques, une manne aussi rentable que la cocaïne
Trouw, Van Guinee via Serbie naar Nederland: Gevleugeld smokkelwaar is goud waard
Daily Maverick, Trafficked from Serbia: How birds from Guinea end up in European pet shops
Vreme, Papagaji vredni kao kokain
2022
NRC, Zeewierkoorts: grote plantages kunnen het ecosysteem van de Noordzee verstoren
Süddeutsche Zeitung, Neue grüne Welle
Mongabay, Europe considers large-scale seaweed farming; environmental effects unknown
BBC News, The plans for giant seaweed farms in European waters
De Groene Amsterdammer, De schimmige wereld van de handel in zangvogels
De Groene Amsterdammer, In Ierland woedt een turfoorlog
Deutsche Welle, Lithium, Geld, Politik: Ein Dorf in Serbien kämpft gegen ein Bergwerk
De Groene Amsterdammer, Servië staat niet te koop
Vreme, Da li je Rio Tinto zaista otišao
Vreme, Pritajena kompanija, skrivena država
Süddeutsche Zeitung, Wo unsere Schneeglöckchen herkommen
2021
Deutsche Welle, Living and working on Georgia’s largest garbage dump
Arte, Re: Schneeglöckchen aus Georgien (Fernsehreportage)
De Groene Amsterdammer, Witte Bloemen van de Zwarte Zee
Süddeutsche Zeitung, EU-Gelder für das rumänische Donaudelta eingefroren
Süddeutsche Zeitung, Im Sumpf
De Groene Amsterdammer, De Georgische oppositie kampeert voor het parlement
NRC Handelsblad, 1,1 miljard aan EU-geld niet besteed aan Donaudelta
NRC Handelsblad, EU-investering moest de Roemeense natuur beschermen, maar …
Info Sud-Est, Where did the EU’s billion euros for the Danube Delta actually go?
G4Media, Unde a ajuns miliardul de euro de la UE pentru Delta Dunării
2020
Ozy, Crime, Corona, Copper and Trouble in Zambia
Mongabay, With a drastic decline in tropical fruit, Gabon’s mega-gardeners go hungry
Sunday Times, The gangsters who made a president
The Guardian – Wildlife forensics: how a giant pangolin named Ghost could save…
Washington Post Magazine – Through the Eyes of Women
Mail & Guardian – The story of SA’s biggest power plant, and its little town
Coal Town – The quest for South Africa’s first post-Apartheid city
Süddeutsche Zeitung – Phantom in Not
Tagesanzeiger – Das geheime Leben des Pangolin
Mongabay – They survived centuries of elephant onslaught. Now climate change…
BBC – ‘After the coral ban, I lost everything’
Tages-Anzeiger, Das Leiden der Zierfische
De Groene Amsterdammer – Vissen op Nemo’s
MO*, Hoe aquaria wereldwijd het koraalrif bedreigen
Süddeutsche Zeitung – Ausverkauf am Riff
2019
De Groene Amsterdammer – De nasmaak van de dood
Al Jazeera – On the streets of DR Congo’s Goma, rap gives youth a voice
Tages-Anzeiger – Händewaschen und Fiebermessen
Süddeutsche Zeitung – Das Virus und der Krieg
De Groene Amsterdammer – Oorlog en Ebola vormen in Noord-Kivu een dodelijke mix
2018
Al Jazeera – ‘They believed I was cursed with blindness because God was angry’
Internazionale – Il gusto amaro della vaniglia
Courrier international – Enquête. Plongée dans le trafic de vanille à Madagascar
De Groene Amsterdammer – Vanillekoorts
The Guardian – Madagascan gold: meet the vanilla hustlers
Mail & Guardian – Fear sours the sweet scent of Madagascar’s success
New Internationalist – Revealing Malawi’s untold health and environmental crisis
2017
The Guardian – Illegal logging in Malawi: can clean cooking stoves save its forests?
Süddeutsche Zeitung – Offenes Feuer, zerstörte Gesundheit
Süddeutsche Zeitung – In der Giftküche von Malawi
MO* – Mondiaal Nieuws – Vrouwen roken zich dood, in de keuken
Mail & Guardian – Moz digs garimpeiros out of trouble
Books
2024 Women Photograph: A Year in Pictures
2018 Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting: Toxic Planet
2017 Bertrams/Gazit: Outcast – Refugees in Israel
2016 International Journal of Media and Information Policy (MIPJ): Indigenous Edition
2015 World Future Council: Kinderrechte
2013 Bertrams: Madagascar. Travel photography
2012 Bertrams/Neuberger: Forests for People – Insights into Rwanda’s Forest Policy
Bertrams: Crossing Borders – Vom Atlas zur Goldküste
Bertrams: Crossing Borders – Vom Kap bis Kairo
Hefat training
2022 Cosain Consultancy & Acos Alliance, Birmingham, UK
Affiliations
Reporters Without Borders, International Press Institute, Frontline Freelance Register, Women Photograph