There are lots of famous photographers out there, but there’s something really special about nature photography; the world around us is constantly changing and nature photography reminds us that there is beauty everywhere. And in a time when we rely on technology for so much, it’s good to immerse ourselves in nature and feel a bit more connected.
Nature photography also documents the world around us at a time of significant environmental change. The 2024 Living Planet Index showed an average decline in wildlife populations of 73% since 1970. Nature photography can highlight changing habitats and behaviour patterns, as well as helping to raise awareness.
We’re going to look at 10 of the best nature photographers, some of whom have taken some of the most iconic nature photographs of all time.
ANSEL ADAMS
Photo: The Ansel Adams Gallery
One of the best-known nature photographers, Ansel Adams is famous for his black and white photos of rural America. Adams was very passionate about America’s national parks and felt that they should be properly maintained. Like many nature photographers, he had a keen interest in the environment and was committed to the conservation of what he thought of as the spirituality of nature.
One of his most well-known photographs is ‘Clearing Winter Storm’ taken in 1973 in Yosemite National Park. It’s a great example of how much a great photograph relies on the photographer being in the right place at the right time – he just happened to be there when a rainstorm that had turned into a snowstorm was clearing away. A mural-sized print sold for $722,800 at Sotheby’s in New York in 2010.
ELIOT PORTER
Photo: The Art Institute of Chicago
Eliot Porter is known for his pioneering colour photographs that combined his love of nature with his passion for photography. Originally producing black and white prints, he tried colour photography when some of his images were rejected by a publisher because it was harder to differentiate between the different species of birds without colour.
He used his background in chemical engineering to experiment with colour film, producing vibrant prints using a three-colour process known as dye imbibition and he pushed for colour photography to be recognised as art. In 1979 his photographs were exhibited in Intimate Landscapes, the first one-person exhibition of colour photography at the Metropolitan Museum of Modern Art in New York. His most famous work is ‘Aspens, Twining, New Mexico’.
ANDREAS GURSKY
Photo: Andreas Gursky
German photographer, Andreas Gursky, is best known for seeing the connection between the natural world and the human world and his large photographs feature a mix of natural, urban and domestic landscapes – his first published photograph was of a gas cooker. He often shoots from an aerial perspective, using the distance to let the viewer form their own ideas of what he’s trying to say and while he’s not making any statements with his photography, there is a theme of globalisation and consumerism throughout his work and its effect on society; for example, his ‘Amazon’ photograph shows an Amazon warehouse in Phoenix, Arizona.
CRISTINA MITTERMEIER
Photo: Alpha Universe
Cristina Mittermeier started out as a marine biologist and conservationist. A founder of the International League of Conservation Photographers, she’s a huge advocate of using photography to highlight conservation and environmental issues around the world. She also co-founded SeaLegacy, and organisation that utilises art, science and conservation to conserve and re-wild the sea.
She uses a lot of underwater photography in her work, but one of her most well-known photos is one of Chichen Itza in the Yucatan Peninsula, which was featured in National Geographic’s ‘100 Best Photos: Iconic Images from this Century’. She’s won many awards including Time magazine’s Top 10 Photographs of the Year in 2017, and Nature’s Best Conservation Photographers of the Year award.
ART WOLFE
Photo: University of Washington Magazine
American photographer, Art Wolfe, has been described by the President of the Wildlife Conservation Society as a ‘prolific and sensitive recorder of a rapidly vanishing natural world’. He filmed a documentary series ‘Travels to the Edge with Art Wolfe’ which tied in nature, diversity, geography and digital photography around the world.
He particularly likes working during sunrise and sunset when the light is lower, and he believes that that photographs connect people in an emotional way that the written word doesn’t, so is a much more powerful tool when used to educate people about different cultures/environments etc. His most recent book ‘Photographs from the Edge’ is a visual record of his journey as a photographer. One of his best-known photos is ‘Spiritual Journey, Ganges River, Varanasi, India’.
AMI VITALE
Ami has been referred to as one of the most influential photographers of her generation, and has photographed everything from white rhinos, to the after effects of the 2004 tsunami in the Indian Ocean. She’s well-known for her ‘immersive’ approach and believes in ‘living the story’ – she once wore a panda suit while studying how pandas interact, and she’ll often spend months living with or around her subjects so she can fully understand their story.
She’s documented poaching in Africa and taken part in efforts to save the white rhino, and she’s spent a lot of time in warzones – she spent a year covering the conflict in Kosovo. One of her most iconic photographs is of a white rhino called Sudan, the last male northern white rhinoceros, just before he died.
SEBASTIÃO SALGADO
Photo: SFMOMA
Originally training as an economist, Brazilian photographer, Salgado, studied photography in the early 70s and became well-known for his social documentary style photography, as well as being a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador. His aim was to show the relationship between humanity and nature through images of landscapes and wildlife, as well as the human communities who lived within these landscapes and who still adhered to tradition; for example, the people and landscape of the Amazon rainforest in his home country of Brazil. His use of black and white film has become iconic, and his most famous photographs are of a Brazilian goldmine – Serra Pelada. He’s also photographed coffee workers from around the world to raise awareness of the drink’s origins.
FRANS LANTING
Photo: Vagabondish
Frans Lanting is a renowned Dutch photographer who has been a longtime collaborator with National Geographic – he was their photographer in residence for a while. He’s known for his close-up wildlife portraits that aim to really show the personality of the subject. He also uses dramatic lighting to set the mood and atmosphere. As with our other featured photographers, Frans is passionate about conservation and environmental issues, and his images show a mix of passion, concern and wonder.
He has been described as having ‘the mind of a scientist, the heart of a hunter, and the eyes of a poet’. He’s spent weeks living on a platform in the tree canopy of the Amazon Basin to photograph wild macaws, studied bonobos in the Congo, and has photographed wildlife in Madagascar that has never been photographed before. His most famous picture is of some camel thorn trees in the Dead Vlei in Namibia which almost looks like a painting.
ANAND VARMA
Photo: National Geographic
Anand Varma is well-known for his incredibly detailed images that aim to show the complex beauty that we wouldn’t usually see in the natural world around us. Starting out as a scientist with a love for photography, he manages to transfer his curiosity and passion for the natural world to his photography, zooming in on the detail that shows a whole new world of behaviour invisible to the naked eye.
He invests a lot of time in the process; on a collaboration with explorer, David Gruber, on a project about jellyfish, it took Varma four years to get the shot he wanted, and he spent six months working with bees – a project in which he also captured behaviour that scientists had never seen before. His scientific background helps him to understand the nature he’s documenting, and one of his most well-known photographs is that of a hummingbird in flight.
TIM LAMAN
Photo: Under The Banyan
Tim Laman is a field biologist, an ornithologist, a conservationist and a wildlife photographer who uses his background, his passion for earth’s biodiversity and his camera to highlight rare and endangered wildlife. He’s a regular contributor to National Geographic and has won many awards for his work, including ‘Wildlife Photographer of the Year’ in 2016.
He’s well-known for the time, effort and dedication that goes into his projects; for his collaboration with ornithologist, Edwin Scholes, they spent eight years documenting each species of Bird of Paradise, including 18 months of fieldwork in the rainforests of Papua New Guinea, and one of his most famous photographs is that of an orangutan climbing a tree. It was shot from above, so he had to climb the tree with his camera equipment and set up three cameras that he could control by remote control.
It’s clear that the main thing these photographers have in common is a love for the natural world and all its inhabitants, and a need to preserve it. At a time when the world is changing – and not always for the better – it’s good to have a reminder of the beauty that’s around us, and a reminder that there’s hope for humanity. Nature photographs can play a huge role in raising awareness, as well as documenting change, and exposing the negative effects of things such as poaching, and hunting.
It’s also interesting to see how closely art and science are entwined, each one helps direct the other which is why nature photography is such a powerful tool; it can help put things into perspective and help make us feel connected, both to the world around us, and each other. We hope we’ve inspired you to get out there and capture your own little piece of the world.
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