Joel Sartore

Joel Sartore is a photographer, speaker, author, teacher, conservationist, and a regular contributor to National Geographic magazine. Sartore specializes in documenting endangered species and landscapes in order to show a world worth saving. For his efforts, Sartore was honored as the Rolex National Geographic Explorer of the Year in 2018. He is the founder of The Photo Ark, a multi-year documentary project to save species and habitat. 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 has written several books including "RARE: Portraits of America’s Endangered Species," "Photographing Your Family," "Nebraska: Under a Big Red Sky," "Let’s Be Reasonable," and "The Photo Ark."

In addition to the work he has done for National Geographic, Sartore has contributed to Audubon Magazine, TIME, Life, Newsweek, Sports Illustrated and numerous book projects. Sartore and his work have been the subjects of several national broadcasts including National Geographic’s Explorer, the NBC Nightly News, NPR’s Weekend Edition, and the CBS Sunday Morning Show. Sartore and the Photo Ark were the focus of "RARE: Creatures of the Photo Ark", a 2017 PBS series, and Sartore was featured in an hour-long PBS documentary, "At Close Range." Sartore is always happy to return to home base from his travels around the world. He lives in Lincoln, Nebraska with his wife Kathy and their three children.