What will you create with top photographers to guide and instruct you?
The logic is simple—bring people who love making images to the planet’s most spectacular places and most thrilling subjects. Expedition Photography takes it to the next level by adding to the mix some of the world’s top visual storytellers who travel at your side and at your service. Not only are they deeply knowledgeable professionals versed in the technical aspects of photography and storytelling methods, they are also experts on wildlife—and sharing their knowledge sets you up to get some of the best images of your life.
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Go ‘on assignment’ with National Geographic Photography Experts
Every expedition aboard National Geographic Endurance, National Geographic Resolution, National Geographic Explorer, and National Geographic Orion sails with a National Geographic Photography Expert as part of the expedition team. Sharing in the journey, they will offer tips at the deck rail, share engaging stories during presentations in the lounge, and with a little prodding over dinner or drinks in the lounge likely share amusing anecdotes of their time in the field. They are full participants in the expedition and engaging travel companions.
Learn from National Geographic-Lindblad Expeditions certified photo instructors
National Geographic-Lindblad Expeditions Certified Photo Instructors (CPIs) have each been specially trained to assist you with your camera model and settings; the basic elements of framing, composition and light; and to provide shooting tips in the field to ensure that you return home with fantastic photos.
Unlike a photography class or workshop, an expedition is a highly dynamic environment, where an incredible sighting can occur at any moment. So, the fact that your photo instructor is also a skilled naturalist is invaluable. He or she can help you better understand the wildlife, so you can be at the right place at the right time to capture amazing behavior—whether you’re shooting from the ship’s deck, a Zodiac or on a walk. Take an expedition with us, and you’ll not only have the experience of a lifetime, you’ll have the incredible shots to prove it.
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Photo Expeditions
On designated departures, a combination of CPIs and a National Geographic Photography Expert come together to provide a program that includes multiple photo presentations and editing sessions and is designed to maximize the best photographic conditions. They work closely with the Captain and the expedition leader to take advantage of sunrise and sunset opportunities (whether by foot, Zodiac, or ship) and unique wildlife viewing. Whether you’re a smartphone user, advanced hobbyist, or serious photographer, photo expeditions are select departures in remarkable geographies, designed by photographers, for photographers. Since these voyages also offer so many active options, you can invite a spouse, companion, or friend along, certain that they’ll have a wonderful time doing their thing, too.
Upcoming Photo Expeditions
Photo Program Exclusives
Thanks to our partnership with camera manufacturer OM System (formerly Olympus), guests have the opportunity to field test top-of-the-line gear during their expeditions. Eager to try a powerful new lens? Researching a new camera purchase? Take advantage of the onboard OM System Photo Gear Locker with our compliments. The Locker is available on all National Geographic-flagged ships (except Galápagos). View a pre-voyage photo webinar and enjoy exclusive gear discounts as well! Ask an Expedition Specialist.
B&H Photo Video
Since 2014, Lindblad has partnered with B&H Photo Video to produce the popular photography event, OPTIC. Past speakers and presentations can be found here.
Why Patagonia Is a Photographer’s Paradise
National Geographic Photography Expert Krista Rossow shares advice on photographing in Patagonia, one of her favorite destinations in the world.
Alison Wright: In Memoriam
We lost beloved photographer and humanitarian Alison Wright in 2022. This video serves as a tribute to her spirit.
Photography in Antarctica
Certified photo instructor Michael S. Nolan shared his favorite Antarctica images and his best photo tips for polar landscapes in a Facebook Live event. Watch the video here, or click "read more" below for more tips from Michael.
10 Photo Tips with National Geographic Photographer Ralph Lee Hopkins
The founder and director of our exclusive Expedition Photography program and a widely published National Geographic photographer, Ralph Lee Hopkins has circled the globe for nearly 30 years on Lindblad's ships. Here, he shares some of his top travel photography tips to help you capture all the incredible moments at the heart of your expedition.
Iceland Photography Tips: Capturing the Land of Fire & Ice
Naturalist and certified photo instructor Andrew Peacock shares some of his top tips (along with his stunning photos) for shooting in the land of fire and ice.
Capturing Galápagos: 7 Expert Photography Tips to Try
Everywhere you look in Galápagos there are incredible photo ops. Find out how to get your best photos with these expert tips from biologist, naturalist, and certified photo instructor Socrates Tomala.
Capturing Guanacaste: A Photographer's Top 12 Shots
Art director and staff photographer David Vargas recently returned from Guanacaste, Costa Rica. Check out a few of David’s favorite images from his trip and the story behind them.
Capturing Greenland: A Photographer's Paradise
Emmett Clarkin, a marine ecologist based in the North West of Ireland and a naturalist and expedition diver with Lindblad, shares some of his top moments from the wild shores of Greenland—and shows you how the region’s incredible facets keep this place etched on his memory.
National Geographic Photography Experts
National Geographic Photography Expert
Todd Gipstein
Todd Gipstein has been a photographer, writer, producer and lecturer for more than 50 years. A graduate of Harvard University, he has worked with National Geographic since 1987 and has served as the Society’s Director of Multi-Image and Executive Producer for Multimedia. His award-winning documentaries have dealt with a diverse range of topics, including photography, the environment, history, and travel. Known worldwide for his evocative visual storytelling, Todd has journeyed across the globe—from Cuba and the Galápagos to the South Pacific, the Artic and more—in his pursuit of inspiring images. His photos have been exhibited internationally, displayed frequently in European media festivals and have appeared in countless publications, including National Geographic magazine. An enthusiastic teacher and lecturer, he has presented his documentaries and led photography workshops around the world on behalf of National Geographic. When he is not traveling on his many assignments, Todd enjoys a wide range of activities: he has published 4 historical fiction novels, performed magic and spent a decade restoring a lighthouse near his home in Groton, Connecticut together with his wife, Marcia.
National Geographic Photography Expert
Jason Edwards
Jason Edwards has been at the forefront of natural history photography for three decades. A passion for animals and the environment defines his extensive career. Since embarking on that career at the Royal Melbourne Zoo, Jason has been recognized globally for his contributions to science, the environment, and the arts. Among other accolades, he is a two-time winner of the Eureka Prize for Science Photography, three-time winner of Communication Arts Photography Annual, two-time winner of the ProMax Golden Muse, and winner of the Australian Geographic Society's Pursuit of Excellence Award. Through his commissioned work and as the face of the National Geographic Channel’s Pure Photography, Jason has taken his storytelling to dozens of countries and to every continent. He is an associate fellow of the International League of Conservation Photographers and uses his lens to narrate and highlight issues affecting wildlife, the environment, and indigenous communities. His work has been featured in hundreds of publications including National Geographic magazine, BBC Wildlife, Australian Geographic, Sports Illustrated, Condé Nast Traveler, and The New Yorker. Jason is also an author of science education books, and his imagery has appeared in everything from environmental campaigns to Hollywood blockbusters.
National Geographic Photography Expert
Macduff Everton
Photographer Macduff Everton has shot multiple stories for National Geographic Traveler, and covered diverse regions on projects from Patagonia to Japan to the Scottish Highlands. His other editorial clients include Life, LA Times Magazine, NY Times Magazine, Outside, and Smithsonian. Macduff’s photography focuses on sense of place, whether portraits of individuals or portraits of a landscape. His books include Patagonia La Última Esperanza (University of Texas Press), The Western Horizon (Abrams), The Modern Maya Incidents of Travel and Friendship in Yucatán (University of Texas Press) and Los Mayas Contemporáneos Incidencias de Viaje y Amistad in Yucatán (Universidad Intercultural Maya de Quintana Roo), the latter two he wrote and photographed over a period of decades. His work is in the collections of many public and private institutions, such as the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris, the British Museum in London, the International Center of Photography in New York, the Museo de Arte Moderno in Mexico City, and the Museum of Modern Art in New York. Macduff has also taught workshops nationally as well as in Mexico and Tuscany.
National Geographic Photography Expert
Mike Libecki
Mike Libecki was named a 2013 National Geographic Adventurer of the Year for his commitment to exploring the world’s most remote places. He has completed more than 90 major expeditions in over 100 countries—from Afghanistan to Antarctica, Greenland to Guyana, Siberia to Socotra Island and everywhere in between. His adventures support science, conservation and humanitarian projects, as well as shed light on powerful, emotional stories that inspire us all to take care of our world. Libecki is a producer, director, videographer, photographer, conservationist, humanitarian with his own nonprofit and a leader of cutting-edge science teams. He is also a math and tech nerd at heart, using the latest technologies—virtual reality, 3D imagery and artificial intelligence among others—on his expeditions to share stories of the planet’s magic, power and beauty. Mike has also received numerous grants and awards. He has appeared on PBS, the National Geographic Channel, the History Channel, the Discovery Channel, the Travel Channel and more.
National Geographic Photography Expert
Drew Rush
Drew Rush is a wildlife and natural history photographer with a passion for following wildlife in national parks around the world. Before embarking on a career in photography, Drew spent ten years guiding on the Snake River and taking people into the heart of Yellowstone National Park in the winter. Since he transitioned into a professional photographer, his work has appeared in numerous international publications and books, such as National Parks magazine and National Geographic: Complete Photography . Drew has a long history of working in and teaching about the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem and Grand Tetons region on several long-term photographic projects for National Geographic magazine. He has also worked on collaborative projects studying long distance lynx migration through Alaska with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, as well as monitoring wolf populations with the U.S. National Park Service. Drew’s images have been displayed at the National Museum of Wildlife Art in Jackson, Wyoming, and he is represented by the National Geographic Image Collection.
National Geographic Photography Expert
Tommy Heinrich
Photographer and adventurer Tommy Heinrich has traveled the world—from the summit of Mount Everest to the North Pole and even Antarctica—combining his passions for photography, climbing, and nature. Born in Buenos Aires, Tommy first learned to scale mountains at an early age in Patagonia and the Andes. In 1995, he became the first person from Argentina to reach the summit of Mount Everest. In 1998, he reached the summit of Lhotse, the world’s fourth-highest mountain, and has continued since with many more ascents in the Himalayas and Karakorum, documenting the thrill of the expeditions and life in the world’s greatest mountains. In 2016, Tommy reached the North Pole, while documenting the first Argentine expedition. On assignment for National Geographic magazine, Heinrich photographed a winter ascent of Nanga Parbat, located in the Pakistan’s Northern areas, and an ascent of K2, the second highest mountain in the world. He has also filmed expeditions to Mount Everest, Dhaulagiri, Aconcagua, and other expeditions for CBS, Dish Network, Discovery, and CNN, among other networks. He has joined National Geographic Expeditions to Antarctica, Iceland, Norway, and the Arctic. Two presidents of Argentina have bestowed upon him the honorary title “Comendador,” with the “Orden a los Servicios Distinguidos” and the “Condor Dorado Honoris Causa.”
National Geographic Photography Expert
Jonathan Irish
Travel and conservation photographer Jonathan Irish specializes in documenting adventure lifestyles, landscapes, and cultures with a keen eye on highlighting important conservation issues. He spent eight years on the National Geographic staff, where he launched and directed the National Geographic Adventures program, bringing travelers and photographers around the world on active adventure trips. As a freelance photographer, Jonathan’s work has appeared in publications in print and online, including National Geographic and National Geographic Traveler, The New York Times, Condé Nast Traveler, Smithsonian Magazine, Travel + Leisure, The Telegraph, BBC, and CNN. For the 2016 centennial of the U.S. National Park Service, Irish went on assignment for National Geographic Traveler on a year-long road trip visiting and photographing all 59 of America’s national parks. From this project, he published a U.S. National Parks book, and was featured on Good Morning America. Jonathan is also a skilled Virtual Reality shooter, having shot assignments with 360-degree cameras on six different continents for Discovery Communications and Google. Through his photographic work, Jonathan seeks to share the beauty of the natural world while highlighting important conservation stories and the need for continued and increased protection, so that future generations may enjoy the same beautiful natural world in which we live today. He also enjoys traveling with National Geographic Expeditions teaching photography around the world–from Antarctica to the Arctic and Africa to the Amazon. Jonathan’s images are represented by National Geographic Creative and National Geographic Fine Art Galleries and have appeared in National Geographic books.
National Geographic Photography Expert
Ken Garrett
In a career spanning over 40 years, Ken Garrett has photographed more than 60 feature stories for National Geographic and National Geographic Traveler magazines, and has been involved with multiple National Geographic books and museum exhibits. Ken grew up in a world of photographers and spent his childhood traveling in Canada, Mexico, and around Alaska and the continental United States. He knew from an early age that he wanted to be a photographer, and he was offered his first National Geographic assignment in 1976 for the American Bicentennial. Ken sailed as a training cadet on the Polish tall ship, Dar Pomorza , to capture the story of the voyage from Poland to New York City to cap off with celebrations of the American Bicentennial. Building a career in magazine journalism, Ken worked for a variety of publications, including Time , Fortune , Forbes , Smithsonian , Audubon , Natural History , Science 80 , German GEO , Air and Spac e, as well as clients such as Marriott, IBM, Starbucks, UNC Aviation, and The Aluminum Association. With an academic background in anthropology and investigative inquiry, Ken’s work gradually focused on his passion for the Origin of Civilization. He has documented ancient cultures, archaeological sites, and dramatic landscapes worldwide. The subject of his work has ranged from Meso American civilizations and Egyptian history to human evolution stories and more. Ken has photographed on all seven continents, and he looks forward to sharing his photographic and storytelling insights with travelers.
National Geographic Photography Expert
Phil Schermeister
During the past 25 years, Phil Schermeister has completed more than 40 major assignments for National Geographic Books, National Geographic magazine and other National Geographic publications. He has photographed in dozens of countries on four continents—from Antarctica to Iceland and Greenland, and from the Canadian Maritimes to the Pacific Northwest. His coverage of Alaska has taken him up the Inside Passage to Haida Guia and along the glacier-carved coast to the remote Aleutian Islands. Phil also has documented more than 40 national parks around the United States and has published six single-photographer books with National Geographic, including “Range of Light”, “Our National Parks” and “America’s Western Edge”. In his search for “decisive moments” in nature, Phil seeks to find drama in the changing light and seasons as the forces of nature continue to sculpt an unfinished natural landscape. Some of his other assignments have included coverage of Quechua Indians in the Andes of Peru, Tarahumara Indians in Mexico’s Copper Canyon and Native Americans across the Western United States.
National Geographic Photography Expert
Andrew Coleman
Photographer Andrew Coleman has traveled around the globe in search of amazing wildlife and landscapes. His images and travel stories have appeared online for National Geographic Travel and the @natgeotravel Instagram account, and he is represented by the National Geographic Image Collection. Andrew has an insatiable appetite to be in the wild and, through his images, attempts to capture the extraordinary beauty of the natural world. Over the course of his career, he has traveled, camera in hand, to some of the world’s most remarkable places, including Alaska, Antarctica, Iceland, Easter Island, Kenya, Patagonia, Peru, South Africa, Bhutan, and Uganda. Having been to all seven continents, he has joined National Geographic Expeditions from Yellowstone National Park to the Galápagos, and from Borneo to Antarctica and beyond.
National Geographic Photography Expert
Jasper Doest
Dutch photographer Jasper Doest specializes in conservation issues and wildlife photography, emphasizing the beauty and fragility of our planet. After his studies as an ecology major specializing in Arctic ecosystems, Jasper decided to become a photographer in order to bridge the gap between the human and the natural world. As a Senior Fellow of the International League of Conservation Photographers, his photographs have received multiple awards and appeared in numerous publications, including National Geographic, GEO, and Smithsonian. Jasper's photographs of Japanese macaques, popularly known as "snow monkeys," received recognition in the prestigious Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition and appeared in the October 2016 issue of National Geographic. Over the past several years, Doest has also spent time on the Dutch island of Curaçao in the Caribbean, where he has family ties and has been focused on a long-term project about conservation issues surrounding local flamingos and island wildlife. His work highlighting a rescued flamingo earned two 2019 World Press Photo awards and was published by National Geographic. Jasper frequently lectures on photography, conservation, and global sustainability and has presented at venues such as the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Bonn and The Royal Geographical Society in London.
National Geographic Photography Expert
Jen Hayes
Underwater photographers David Doubilet and Jennifer Hayes are married partners who work together as a team to produce National Geographic stories from equatorial coral reefs to beneath the polar ice. David estimates he has spent nearly half his life in the sea since taking his first underwater photograph at the age of 12 with a Brownie Hawkeye camera sealed in a bag. Between them, Jennifer and David have photographed and explored the ocean depths in such places as New Zealand, Canada, Japan, Tasmania, Scotland, and Antarctica. David has photographed stingrays, sponges, and sleeping sharks in the Caribbean, as well as shipwrecks in the South Pacific, the Atlantic, and at Pearl Harbor. He has produced more than 70 stories for National Geographic magazine and several books, and has received the Explorers Club’s prestigious Lowell Thomas Award and the Lennart Nilsson Award in Photography.
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