Tommy Trenchard is an award-winning British freelance photographer and writer based in Cape Town, South Africa. For more than fifteen years, he has worked across Africa and beyond, documenting stories ranging from conflict, epidemics and social injustice to conservation, environmental change and communities working towards a better future.
Originally from the UK, Tommy moved to Sierra Leone with a one-way ticket and gradually built a freelance career combining photography and writing. He has since worked in more than forty countries, often immersing himself in stories for the long term and working across both photography and written journalism.
His work has appeared in publications including The New York Times, National Geographic, TIME, The Guardian, The Washington Post, BBC and The Economist, and he has worked with organisations including Médecins Sans Frontières, the International Committee of the Red Cross, Save the Children, Oxfam and Greenpeace.
Tommy's work has received numerous international awards and recognitions, including the 2025 World Press Photo Award for "The Elephant Whisperers of Livingstone", a Highly Commended recognition in the 2024 Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition, the Amnesty International Media Awards, NPPA Best of Photojournalism and Forbes 30 Under 30.
Across his work, Tommy is interested not only in documenting crisis, but in the full spectrum of human experience — from difficult and complex stories to resilience, innovation, conservation and the people finding ways to make a difference.
He is though a terrible Karaoke singer.