A National Geographic Live Lecture:
Wielding his camera in the battle to conserve natural spaces and the habitats they support, Joel Sartore has contributed to over 30 stories in more than 20 years on assignment for National Geographic. These assignments have taken him to some of the world’s most beautiful and challenging environments, from the Arctic to the Antarctic, documenting endangered species and landscapes in order to show a world worth saving.

Witnessing Change: A Call to Action
From the decline of tropical amphibians to the melting of polar ice, Sartore has seen and photographed the effects of climate changefirsthand. See how even a slightly warmer Earth is already bringing about surprising change.

Background:

Wielding his camera in the battle to conserve natural spaces and the habitats they support, Joel Sartore has contributed to over 30 stories in more than 20 years on assignment for National Geographic. These assignments have taken him to some of the world’s most beautiful and challenging environments, from the Arctic to the Antarctic, and he has photographed everything from the remote Amazon to beer-drinking, mountain-racing firefighters in the United Kingdom.

His focus is documenting endangered species and landscapes in order to show a world worth saving. His interest in nature started in childhood, when he learned about the very last passenger pigeon from one of his mother’s Time-Life picture books.

His first National Geographic assignments introduced him to nature photography, and also allowed him to see human impact on the environment firsthand.

In his words, “It is folly to think that we can destroy one species and ecosystem after another and not affect humanity. When we save species, we’re actually saving ourselves.” Sartore plans to spend much of the rest of his career documenting the world’s biodiversity in studio-style portraits for a project he calls The Photo Ark. Showing support for this work, he was recently named a National Geographic Fellow.

Sartore is the author of numerous books including RARE: Portraits of America’s Endangered Species, Photographing Your Family, Nebraska: Under a Big Red Sky, and most recently, Let’s Be Reasonable.
In addition to the work he has done for National Geographic, Sartore has contributed to Audubon Magazine, Time, Life, Newsweek, and Sports Illustrated. His work has been the subject of several national broadcasts including National Geographic’s Explorer, the NBC Nightly News, NPR’s Weekend Edition, and an hour-long PBS documentary, At Close Range. He is also a regular contributor on the CBS Sunday Morning Show With Charles Osgood.

Budding photographers can learn from Sartore through a 24-lecture series on photography just published by The Teaching Company/The Great Courses available on DVD and for download.
Sartore is a co-founder of The Grassland Foundation, and is currently on the national board of Defenders of Wildlife.

A favorite among National Geographic presenters, Sartore’s hallmarks are his sense of humor and midwestern work ethic.