Pledge About

Paul Hilton

Photographer

Paul is a Hong Kong-based photojournalist, who focuses on global environmental and conservation issues. Presently, he is working on the palm oil issue; documenting deforestation, land clearing, and the wildlife trade in Sumatra, Indonesia.

Paul previously followed the manta ray trade across the world and set up the Manta Ray of Hope project to document the plight of the great rays and investigating and the use of gill rakers in traditional Chinese medicine in Hong Kong, Macau, and Southern China in partnership with WildAid and Manta Trust. He also spent years in fishing markets and on the high seas following the long-lining fleets from Taiwan, China, Philippines, and Indonesia, documenting the shark fin trade.

Paul’s endeavors to bring about urgent change in the way we treat our surroundings, have taken him to all parts of the globe. In early 2009, he traveled to Sri Lanka to document a newly discovered blue-whale migration, from the Bay of Bengal to the horn of Africa in the Arabian Sea. Six years ago, he started working for Greenpeace International, focusing on a variety of marine issues, from bluefin tuna to satellite tagging of humpback whales in the Pacific. Late in 2008, he was sent to the Maldives and Indonesia to document one of the only true sustainable pole-and-line tuna fisheries in the world.

Paul has received numerous awards for his conservation photography, including awards in the Asian Geographic Best of the Decade series, for conservation photography and photojournalism. He also won the Ark Trust Award for exposing bear bile farming in China, for Animals Asia Foundation. His photos were published in the book, Black Market, which deals with the wildlife trade in Asia, and included investigative photojournalism in the wild-animal markets and theme parks of China.

In 2009, Paul became a member of the prestigious International League of Conservation Photographers, and in 2010 launched his first book, highlighting the global Shark-Finning industry, Man & Shark. In 2012 he won a World Press Photo award for his body of work on the Shark Fin issue and his image, 'End of Sharks', was awarded Wildlife photographer of the year.

See Paul’s work at www.paulhiltonphotography.com.

Photographer