About Chad Nathan

I photograph the places that change me

Wildlife photographer, trail runner and storyteller from Cape Town. Every print in this shop started as a day I'll never forget.

Humantay Lake, Peru
Humantay Lake, Peru4,200 m
The story

The Ginger with a GoPro

  • BasedCape Town, South Africa
  • ShootsWildlife, wild places, people
  • RunsMountain ultras
  • Carries[Camera + lens]

I'm Chad Nathan, though plenty of people still know me as the Ginger with a GoPro. I'm a photographer from Cape Town, and for the last [X] years I've been chasing light across [X] countries, from the Andes to the Karakoram to the Kalahari.

I didn't set out to be a photographer. I set out to see as much of the world as I could, and the camera came along to prove I'd been there. Somewhere along the way that flipped. Now I travel to make pictures, and the pictures are how I remember who I was in each place.

Most of what I shoot is wildlife and wild country. The rest is people: the strangers who feed you, dance with you, and wave you down an alley to show you something you'd never have found alone. They're the reason the trips matter.

[Origin moment: the first camera, the first big trip, or the shot that made it click.]

Varanasi, India
Varanasi, IndiaOld city
Why photography

A camera makes you pay attention

When I'm behind the lens I notice things I'd otherwise walk straight past. The wind catching a llama's tassels. The twenty minutes when light drops into a Varanasi lane before noon. I'm not trying to make the world look better than it is. I'm trying to catch it being itself.

Storytelling is the whole point for me. A good photograph holds more than what's in the frame: the 4am start, the train that broke down, the guide who knew the spot, the person who laughed when I got it wrong. I want you to feel a bit of that when it's hanging on your wall.

That's why I don't think of these as pictures of places. Each one is a chapter. Put a few together and you've got the story of how I've spent my life so far.

“I don't take photos of places. I take photos of moments I almost missed.”
Chad Nathan
Field notes

Some of the roads so far

A few of the trips behind the work. Some ended in a print. All of them ended in a story.

Vinicunca
Peru5,036 m

Vinicunca

The rainbow mountain, a borrowed poncho and a llama who wanted my straw more than I did.

Adopted for an afternoon
IndiaVaranasi

Adopted for an afternoon

I taught them the shaka. They taught me everything else.

Drums till midnight
Pakistan[Valley]

Drums till midnight

Someone put a feather in my cap, someone else handed me the floor, and the drums didn't stop.

Editing on the top bunk
IndiaSleeper class

Editing on the top bunk

Hours on an overnight train, sorting photos while dinner came down the aisle in a plastic tub.

Whiteout
IcelandRing Road

Whiteout

A campervan, a blizzard and a road that kept disappearing. One of the best weeks I've had.

Malbec and the Andes
ArgentinaMendoza

Malbec and the Andes

Some adventures are gentler than others. This one came with boots, a beret and a very good red.

Desert miles
Saudi Arabia[Race]

Desert miles

Race vest on, sand in every direction, and a truck that had seen far more of this desert than I ever will.

Above the treeline
[Country][Range]

Above the treeline

Cold hands, a summit in cloud and a laugh I couldn't stop. Mountains do that to me.

The long way round
On foot

The long way round

Trail running and photography come from the same place for me. Both are about going further than feels sensible, then paying attention once you get there. A lot of the places in this shop I reached on my own two feet.

Ultra-Trail Cape Town on my home mountain is the race I keep coming back to. [Distance / result / what it meant.] The finish-line champagne is tradition. So is getting a little emotional.

UTCT finish, Cape Town
UTCT finish, Cape Town[Year]
The prints

Stories you can hang on a wall

I don't sell a photo just because it's pretty. I sell the ones that still take me straight back: the cold, the noise, the people, the moment I nearly missed. If an image can still do that for me years later, I reckon it can do something on your wall too.

Each print is a small piece of a much bigger trip. When you hang one, you're keeping that story going, and helping fund the next adventure that turns into the next print.

Why theseOnly photos with a story

If I can't tell you what happened that day, it doesn't go on sale.

Kept smallNumbered editions

Short runs, so each print stays special on your wall.

Finished by handSealed in Cape Town

Every print gets my CN north-star wax seal before it leaves.

ShippingWorldwide

From Cape Town to wherever your wall is.

Shop the printsBrowse collections