I was honored to speak to National Geographic’s Through the Lens blog about my work and the power of photography to connect people.  I wanted to convey the truth about places beyond the dramatic headlines and spend my life working to highlight our commonalities rather than our differences. The power of photography is that you [ … ]

After my National Geographic cover story appeared in August, many were fascinated by the scented panda suits! I talked with a number of media personnel, such as The Creators Project (part of Vice), NPR’s How To Do Everything podcast, Business Insider, and My Modern Met, about what it takes to get candid shots of these [ … ]

I am excited to share our panda story, now on newsstands in the August issue of National Geographic Magazine. Tremendous gratitude to the incredible team in China working to protect these magical bears and to my colleagues at National Geographic for giving me the opportunity to share this incredible story. This journey turned out to be [ … ]

I spoke recently to The Weekly Wrap, the audio home of National Geographic’s Your Shot blog, about my panda story, which will be published in National Geographic Magazine in August. I talked about the origins of this story in 2013, how I pitched it to National Geographic, what the shooting process was like, and what I found in China that surprised me.

Check out the latest Better Photography. “Photography is not about the camera. It’s not even about the beautiful images we create. It is about telling powerful stories. Photography is a tool for creating awareness and understanding across cultures, communities, and countries; a tool to make sense of our commonalities in the world we share. And I believe the way to find common ground [ … ]

I am excited to continue my tour as one of the featured National Geographic photographers at the National Geographic Live series in Kansas City May 10, 2016. My talk, titled “Rhinos, Rickshaws & Revolutions,” is about my exploration of the world from temples to war zones and rhinos to pandas. Tickets and information are available online. [ … ]

If you are passing through the Amsterdam Schiphol Airport, check out my World Press Photo rhino  image on a billboard there. The image features the conservation work of Lewa Wildlife Conservancy. Please follow their work on social media and consider a visit to Kenya to see them in action. Your support goes directly toward preserving wildlife and the communities protecting [ … ]

Skillshare came with me to Venice Beach, California, where I share tools and practices of documentary photography for an online class. There are instructions for an exercise you can do at home and I can view your work being posted to Skillshare. If you use the link here to sign up, you can receive three months of Skillshare [ … ]

Kilifi is an 18-month-old rhino that Kamara is currently hand-raising along with three other baby rhinos at Lewa Wildlife Conservancy in Kenya. Kamara spends 12 hours every day, sometimes in pouring rain, watching over the vulnerable baby rhinos. He calls them his children. He is part of the reason Kenya’s black rhinos, whose population had [ … ]

This week, I will be taking over The Nature Conservancy’s Instagram account (@nature_africa) with photos of Loisaba Conservancy (@loisaba_conservancy) in Laikipia, Northern Kenya. Loisaba is an important elephant corridor, with more than 800 elephants spending significant time there, and it plays a critical role in maintaining ecological connectivity between Laikipia and Samburu. I am excited [ … ]

In April, I was in China for National Geographic Magazine working on my dream project about the rewilding of giant pandas. As conservation icons go, nothing quite beats the giant panda. Instantly recognizable worldwide, adored by billions, a virtual brand whose resemblance to anything wild is as tenuous as it is rare. Ever since President [ … ]

Photo by 2014 Alexia Foundation Professional Grantee Sebastian Liste The Alexia Foundation has announced that it is now accepting applications for its 2015 Professional and Student Grants. The grants and scholarships were created to enable photojournalists to create work that gives voice to those who go unheard, fosters cultural understanding and exposes social injustice. The Professional [ … ]

  The Nikon D750 has won the coveted award of Popular Photographers Camera of the Year 2014 and I’m not a bit surprised. I was impressed by the power they packed into this well designed body. I bet there is more technology in the full frame D750 then they sent up in the space ship [ … ]

I recently had the opportunity to travel to Haiti and witness the inspiring work of St. Luke Foundation for Haiti, NPH Haiti and the Kenneth Cole Foundation. The St. Luke Foundation team, a Haitian run organization, is one of the only organizations able to work in the “forbidden” areas, like Cité Soleil, an impoverished and [ … ]

I had the extraordinary opportunity to explore Eastern Montana for National Geographic where the Oil boom from the Bakken region is impacting tightly-knit farming communities. While the discovery of oil has created newly minted millionaires and enormous opportunities, it has also brought complex problems and forced locals to ask important questions about the destiny of their [ … ]

The Alexia Foundation has announced that the recipient of the 2014 Women’s Initiative Grant is Mary F. Calvert, an independent photojournalist based in the United States. Calvert will utilize the $25,000 grant for her project “Missing in Action: Homeless Female Veterans.” “Female veterans are the fastest growing segment of the homeless population in the United [ … ]

Five years ago, I heard about a plan to airlift four of the last Northern White Rhinos from a zoo in the Czech Republic back to Africa. It sounded like a storyline for a Disney film but in reality, it was a desperate, last ditch effort to save an entire species. There are only seven [ … ]

I wrote up some advice for National Geographic Readers on how to shoot around a campfire. Let me know if it’s helpful. Sitting around a campfire and telling stories with my friends is one of my favorite things to do on summer nights in Montana. I believe that storytelling is at the heart of what [ … ]

I took some time to write up a list of tips on travel photography for B&H Photo’s Explora Blog. Let me know what you think. Photography is not about the camera. It’s not even about the beautiful images we create. It is about telling powerful stories. Photography is a tool for creating awareness and understanding [ … ]

My workhorse cameras have been the Nikon D4 and D800 but recently, I picked up Nikon’s compact P7800 Coolpix and it has reignited my passion for photography. Normally I carry big lenses and heavy gear on my adventures but have found its really not that practical in a lot of situations. For example, when I’m [ … ]

Thanks to the generosity and support from an extraordinary community, my IndieVoices crowd funding campaign has been successful and we are on our way to creating a very important project! I am grateful to everyone who contributed and shared this story.  The New York Times and National Geographic Proof also featured it on their websites. Commercial poaching organized by [ … ]

The Aaron Siskind Foundation offers a limited number of Individual Photographer’s Fellowship grants of up to $10,000 each, for artists working in photography and photo-based art.

The Aftermath Project is a non-profit organization committed to telling the other half of the story of conflict — the story of what it takes for individuals to learn to live again, to rebuild destroyed lives and homes, to restore civil societies, to address the lingering wounds of war while struggling to create new avenues [ … ]

The Alexia Foundation provides grants and scholarships to photojournalists, enabling them to create work that gives voice to those who go unheard, fosters cultural understanding and exposes social injustice. It annually provides a $20,000 grant for a professional photographer to produce a substantial story. The Foundation also provides grants and scholarships for six students. Students [ … ]

The Alicia Patterson Fellowships are open only to U.S. citizens who are full-time print journalists, or to non-U.S. citizens who work full-time for U.S. print publications, either in America or abroad. The aim of the award is to improve the quality of U.S. print journalism.

American Illustrator-American Photography are juried showcases for established, emerging and student illustrators and photographers. The award annuals offer high visibility and recognition where it matters most. Winners are published in a large-format, luxurious, hardcover, showcasing  work that’s ahead of its time. The AI-AP books, published annually in November, are the first go-to resourses for art directors, designers, [ … ]

The award is an opportunity for visual storytellers to exhibit their work and demonstrate their commitment to human rights issues. AnthropoGraphia will grant a $3,000 award to one outstanding Visual Storytelling essay. Deadline is in May.

The APA/Lucie Foundation Scholarship awards one grant of $5,000 to a professional photographer beginning a new project idea, or for a work in progress of a specific series.

The Emerging Photographer Grant is designed to support continuation of a photographer’s personal project. One major grant of $10,000 and one Young EPF grant of $5,000 and a camera valued in excess of $1,000 are awarded.

The Canon Female Photojournalist Award is an annual prize for women photojournalists. Women photojournalists worldwide are welcome to enter the competition, for which there is no age limit. The 8,000-euro award enables the winners to finance their projects and have their work exhibited at the festival in Perpignan and later in Paris at the Cosmos [ … ]

In addition to an award of 50,000 euros, the Carmignac Gestion Foundation supports the winner after completion of the project by financing an exhibition and a monograph. The Foundation also commits to buying four photographs from the work produced. In offering this award, the Carmignac Gestion Foundation aims to support photojournalists who find themselves working [ … ]

The CDS Documentary Prize honors the best in documentary writing and photography in alternating years, with a focus on current or recently completed work from a long-term project. The winner of the competition will receive $3,000 and have his or her work featured in Document, a quarterly newsmagazine published by the Center for Documentary Studies, [ … ]

The Project Development Grant offers financial support to fine art, documentary or photojournalist works-in-progress. The grant includes a cash award to help complete a project as well as platforms for feedback and professional development opportunities for the works final stages. This grant is awarded to projects that are still in progress and have not been [ … ]

The Project Launch is presented to an outstanding photographer working in fine art series or documentary project. The grant includes a cash award to help complete or disseminate the works as well as providing a platform for exposure and professional development opportunities.

The Documentary Project Fund is focused on supporting still photographers and improving communities. Each call-for-entries is intended to fund one project and will award up to $5,000. The fund may grant project support to photographers working in conjunction with another nonprofit, provided that group will match funding.  Submissions are accepted twice a year.

The Dorothea Lange–Paul Taylor Prize was created to encourage collaboration between documentary writers and photographers in the tradition of the acclaimed photographer Dorothea Lange and writer and social scientist Paul Taylor. The winner receives $10,000, a solo exhibition at the Center for Documentary Studies, and inclusion in the Archive of Documentary Arts at Rubenstein Library, [ … ]

The annual FotoEvidence Book Award will recognize a documentary photographer whose project demonstrates courage and commitment in addressing a violation of human rights, a significant injustice or an assault on human dignity. The selected project will be published in a book, as part of a series of FotoEvidence books dedicated to the work of photographers [ … ]

The FotoVisura Grant aims to support personal photography projects and encourage the production and development of photography outside of the commercial realm. The Grant recognizes photographers as judged by their images, story, dedication and commitment of the photographer to the story or concept.

The Fulbright – National Geographic Digital Storytelling Fellowship is a new component of the Fulbright U.S. Student Program that provides opportunities for U.S. citizens to participate in an academic year of overseas travel and digital storytelling in up to three countries on a globally significant social or environmental topic. This Fellowship is made possible through [ … ]

Getty Images Creative Grants program recognizes, celebrates and supports emerging and established photographic talent. Eight prizes totaling $40,000 will be offered.