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D E N I S E N I C O L A U

@dkn_photos

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Mozambican 🇲🇿
Stories of Nature, People & Places

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A Moment of Pride 🏆

Yesterday, I had the honour of receiving the Greenstorm Photography Prize for Africa region, a moment I will carry with me for a very long time 🌍

Photography has always been much more than a passion for me. It is how I tell stories, celebrate nature, create awareness, and capture the fragile moments of coexistence between people, wildlife and our landscapes.

This prize also means something bigger to me: creating space for women to see themselves in photography, conservation and storytelling and to believe that their passion belongs on the global stage too. I hope my journey can inspire more women to pick up their cameras, tell their stories and take their space.

Thank you to everyone who believed in me, supported my work, encouraged my photography and trusted me with this incredible recognition. This moment belongs to all of us.

From Mozambique to a global stage, with a camera, a purpose, and so much heart 🇲🇿🌍📸

#mozambique #greenstorm #cop17mongolia #womeninphotography by @dkn_photos

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2 months ago

“Living proof of how conservation and ecotourism can restore ecosystems...” 🌿✨

Meet Denise Nicolau (Mozambique 🇲🇿), our Greenstorm Photo Festival Regional Winner for Africa! 🏆

Captured at Mlilwane Wildlife Sanctuary in Eswatini, her winning shot captures a peaceful moment in nature - a blesbok resting beneath beautifully restored highlands. Through her lens as an ecologist, she reminds us to slow down, appreciate the quiet beauty of the wild, and celebrate the power of land restoration. 🌍💚

👉 Watch the reel to meet the artist and explore her award-winning masterpiece alongside her other stunning work! 📸🌾

#GreenstormFestival #UNCCDCOP17 #G20GLI #LandRestoration by @dkn_photos

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2 months ago

By Denise Nicolau | Mozambique

This photograph is among the Top 44 finalists of the 17th Greenstorm Global Photography Festival.

Take a look at this incredible image and explore the rest of the finalist collection, featuring some of the world’s most beautiful rangelands and grasslands, captured by photographers from around the world.

🌍 Visit www.greenstorm.green/exhibition

The exhibition is open until 31 July. Browse the finalists, discover your favourites, and leave a ❤️ on the photographs you love.

#greenstorm #rangelands #grasslands #nature #photography by @dkn_photos

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3 months ago

Bióloga moçambicana Denise Nicolau conquista prémio africano nos Greenstorm Photography Awards, na Mongólia

A bióloga e fotógrafa moçambicana Denise Nicolau foi distinguida com o Greenstorm Photography Prize para a região de África, durante os Greenstorm Photography Awards, numa conquista que leva mais uma vez o talento moçambicano a um palco internacional.

A distinção foi recebida pela própria Denise Nicolau na Mongólia, país onde decorreu a premiação. Nas redes sociais, a bióloga partilhou a emoção pelo reconhecimento, destacando a importância que a fotografia ocupa no seu percurso pessoal e profissional.

Para Denise, fotografar vai além de uma paixão. É também uma forma de contar histórias, celebrar a natureza, criar consciência e registar a delicada relação de coexistência entre as pessoas, a vida selvagem e as paisagens.

A moçambicana considera ainda que a conquista representa uma oportunidade para inspirar mais mulheres a ocuparem espaços na fotografia, conservação e produção de narrativas visuais.

Através do seu trabalho, Denise Nicolau espera encorajar outras mulheres a acreditarem que as suas histórias e paixões também têm espaço nos grandes palcos internacionais.

“De Moçambique para um palco global, com uma câmara, um propósito e muito coração”, escreveu a bióloga e fotógrafa ao celebrar a conquista. by @dkn_photos

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2 months ago

Frames of Land | Greenstorm at COP17, Mongolia 📸🌍

At UNCCD COP17 in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, the winners of the 17th Greenstorm Photography Festival came together for “Frames of Land”, a panel discussion exploring how photography can help us see and understand the world around us.

One message stood out: patience is everything. It helps us look beyond the frame and understand the deeper relationship between land, people, and the different elements of our universe. Knowing the history of a place also plays an important role in understanding what we see and how we tell its story.

The session concluded with the winning photographers getting behind the cameras with the audience, sharing practical tips on perspective, composition, and shooting from different angles to create more meaningful photographs.

Look patiently. See differently. Tell the story of the land. 📷🌿

#greenstorm #G20GLI #naturephotography #photography #COP17 by @dkn_photos

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2 months ago

What kind of proof moves decision-makers where you live: monitoring data, maps, or community stories? Tell us below.

Science turns care into action. Filipe DeAndrade speaks with marine ecologist Denise Nicolau from the @greatbluewall_ about mangrove resilience—and how evidence can guide leaders to protect coasts.

#ODISEA #Mangroves #ScienceForPolicy #CoastalResilience taken in Seychelles by @dkn_photos

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a year ago

Outubro, 2026

Campo 1º de Maio, Cidade de Maputo

“Tia… tia… tira foto, tia.”
“Agora tira foto eu sério, tia.”
Agora tira eu a deslizar (escorregar pelo muro abaixo). Anda tia, anda.

Entre a bola, a poeira, os risos e a brincadeira, aqueles meninos pediram-me para os fotografar.

Eu parei e nada mais importava naquele instante.

E continuei, vi o William e a janela, autêntica perfeição. Vi os rapazes dividirem a atenção entre a bola e as intermitentes novidades do telemóvel.

E é para estes momentos que vivo e fotografo.
Para estes sorrisos, estes olhares, estes lugares e estas pessoas que me marcam.

Para guardar a luz, os risos, a infância e aquilo que naquele instante parecia tão simples, mas que um dia será memória.

Os meninos vão crescer.
O tempo vai passar.
Mas aquele momento ficará.

O momento capturado.
A memória que permanece.

Tchaoôhhhhh - o adeus à tipica moda moçambicana.

#blackandwhite #madewithlightroom #kids #peoplephotography #africa by @dkn_photos

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12 days ago

A story of opportunity. A story of hope. A story of solutions.

This publication, Pathways for Marine OECMs in the Western Indian Ocean led by the WIO-C OECM Group, means a little more to me than simply another report with my photos.

Through the photographs I contributed to this collaboration, I wanted to tell a story, not only of places, but of people, possibilities and the many ways conservation can happen across our ocean.

Other Effective Area-based Conservation Measures (OECMs) open an important pathway for the Western Indian Ocean: recognising conservation outcomes beyond formally designated protected areas, while strengthening the role of communities and local stewardship. The report brings together the progress, challenges and opportunities across 10 WIO countries and provides practical pathways to move from dialogue to action.

I feel deeply honoured to have contributed to this process as part of the technical team through @greatbluewall_ and the @reseaprojectesaro , alongside colleagues, friends and partners across our region.

But beyond the professional achievement, this feels personal.

Because these photographs are about what is possible when we look at conservation not only as boundaries on a map, but as people, livelihoods, knowledge, culture, nature and hope coming together.

For me, this publication is a reflection of the incredible work happening across the Western Indian Ocean, and of a region with enormous potential to find its own pathways to protect what sustains us.

Proud to see our region’s stories, people and solutions contributing to this important conversation. 🌍🌊

Our ocean already holds many of the solutions. Sometimes, our role is to recognise them, support them and give them space to grow.

Read the report here: https://wwfafrica.awsassets.panda.org/downloads/pathways-for-marine-oecms-in-the-western-indian-ocean—wio-c-report.pdf

#oecm #wio #greatbluewall #resea #peoplephotography by @dkn_photos

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22 days ago

Nosy be, September 2026

Fifty Fifty shades of blue 🩵

The same place, different moments of the day. The blue sky paints the rocky mountains in shades of blue, melting them into the blue waters, pure art by nature. Then, the same ocean catches the last golden light of the day. WOW!

Nosy Be is a busy tourist destination, but these moments are a little reminder of the extraordinary beauty in busy places, the beauty of Madagascar and our Western Indian Ocean, one of the most biodiverse marine regions on Earth, and one worth valuing and protecting. 🌊

Just wanted to start the day with a splash of blue. 💙

Nosy Be, you are beautiful.
Stay tuned… more to come.

#nosybe #madagascar🇲🇬 #canonafrica #CelebrateAfrica #canonphotos by @dkn_photos

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22 days ago

A milestone close to my heart! 📷🌍🩵

Seeing my photographs featured in the #WIOMSA Annual Report 2025 is a truly humbling moment, both as a marine researcher and as someone deeply passionate about nature and the stories held within it.

I once dreamed of seeing my photographs travel beyond the places where they were taken, helping people see and feel the beauty, diversity and stories of our Western Indian Ocean.

Each image carries an experience, a place and a memory. From the shores of Ilha de Moçambique, a UNESCO World Heritage Site featured on the cover, to the diverse coastal and marine landscapes across our region, these photographs are fragments of places that hold extraordinary natural and human richness.

What a privilege to see them become part of a publication that celebrates our ocean, our people and the work behind the science.

For me, this is the beauty of photography: making science visible, human and felt, and giving our region another way to connect with the world.

Grateful for this opportunity, and for the journey that brought me here, one story, one frame at a time.

Read the full report at WIOMSA page.

#naturephotography #wio #science #ocean by @dkn_photos

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a month ago

Agosto, 2026

Uma manhã fria de agosto, de cacimba, na Costa do Sol. Entre o cinza do céu e o dourado do nascer do sol, deparei-me com um momento que me tocou profundamente, a imersão na água, os cânticos, a oração e uma ligação tão intensa com o mar.

Há qualquer coisa de profundamente bonito na forma como a religião Zione se relaciona com a água, como espaço de purificação, fé, cura e conexão espiritual. Fiquei ali, a observar e a fotografar, sentindo que estava diante de algo muito maior do que uma imagem, uma cultura viva, uma expressão de identidade e espiritualidade.

Saí com mais perguntas do que respostas. E talvez seja isso que mais gosto na fotografia, para mim, ela não termina quando fazemos o clique. Às vezes, é justamente aí que começa a vontade de conhecer, de escutar, de aprender e de ir atrás das histórias que ainda não conhecemos. Esta deixou-me com vontade de saber muito mais 🌊

#zione #religion #ocean #iphonephotography #maputomozambique

Agosto, 2026

Uma manhã fria de agosto, de cacimba, na Costa do Sol. Entre o cinza do céu e o dourado do nascer do sol, deparei-me com um momento que me tocou profundamente, a imersão na água, os cânticos, a oração e uma ligação tão intensa com o mar.

Há qualquer coisa de profundamente bonito na forma como a religião Zione se relaciona com a água, como espaço de purificação, fé, cura e conexão espiritual. Fiquei ali, a observar e a fotografar, sentindo que estava diante de algo muito maior do que uma imagem, uma cultura viva, uma expressão de identidade e espiritualidade.

Saí com mais perguntas do que respostas. E talvez seja isso que mais gosto na fotografia, para mim, ela não termina quando fazemos o clique. Às vezes, é justamente aí que começa a vontade de conhecer, de escutar, de aprender e de ir atrás das histórias que ainda não conhecemos. Esta deixou-me com vontade de saber muito mais 🌊

@dkn_photos
#zione #religion #ocean #iphonephotography #maputomozambique

A imersão 🧡 by @dkn_photos

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2 months ago

Agosto, 2026

Nascer do dia na linda costa do sol, Cidade de Maputo.

#sunrise #ocean #iphonephotography #maputomozambique🇲🇿 by @dkn_photos

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2 months ago