Experts by Destination: Polar Regions
Sisse Brimberg and Cotton Coulson
Photographers Sisse Brimberg and Cotton Coulson have collectively photographed more than 50 stories for National Geographic and National Geographic Traveler magazines. They have spent most of their careers working in Europe, shooting stories from the Arctic and Scandinavia to Italy and France... More »
Peter Hillary
When Peter Hillary first climbed Mount Everest in 1990, he and his father, Sir Edmund Hillary—who made the first ascent in 1953—became the first father and son to reach the summit. He reached the summit again in 2002 on a National Geographic-sponsored ascent later featured in the film Surviving Everest... More »
James Balog
James is the founder and director of the Extreme Ice Survey, a monumental and stunning look at the impact of climate change on the world’s glaciers. Shocked by the changes he saw while shooting the June 2007 National Geographic cover story on melting glaciers, Balog, who has a graduate degree in geomorphology, initiated the most wide-ranging glacier study ever conducted, using innovative time-lapse, video, and conventional photography at sites around the globe... More »
Keith Bellows
Born in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Keith Bellows was named Editor in Chief of National Geographic Traveler magazine in 1998 and made a vice president of the National Geographic Society in 2000. Under his stewardship, the magazine has won numerous awards and recognitions, including more than 60 Lowell Thomas Travel Journalism awards, seven Folio Awards, and multiple nominations for the National Magazine Awards... More »
Jay Dickman
Pulitzer Prize–winning photographer Jay Dickman has worked in photojournalism for more than 35 years, covering topics as diverse as the war in El Salvador, the Olympics, national political conventions, six Super Bowl's, and the 40th anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima. Among his over 25 assignments for the National Geographic Society, Jay has lived for three months in a Stone Age village in Papua New Guinea and spent a week under the Arctic ice in a nuclear attack sub... More »
David Doubilet
Acclaimed underwater photographer David Doubilet 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. Exploring the world's waters, David has photographed in the depths of such places as the southwest Pacific, New Zealand, Canada, Japan, Tasmania, Scotland, the northwest Atlantic, and Antarctica... More »
Kim Heacox
Award-winning writer, photographer, and conservationist Kim Heacox has lived in Alaska for 25 years. He has written four books for National Geographic, most recently An American Idea: The Making of the National Parks... More »
Edward J. Larson
Pulitzer Prize-winning author Edward Larson explored Antarctica extensively for his latest book, An Empire of Ice: Scott, Shackleton, and the Heroic Age of Antarctic Science. He has held the Fulbright Program's John Adams Chair in American Studies and participated in the National Science Foundation's Antarctica Artists and Writers Program... More »
Greg Marshall
Greg Marshall is a marine biologist, a filmmaker, and an executive producer for National Geographic Television. Greg invented and continues to lead development of Crittercam, a system of animal-borne cameras that capture video showing the world through animals' eyes... More »
Boyd Matson
As longtime host of the Emmy award-winning National Geographic Explorer TV series and of National Geographic's Wild Chronicles on PBS, Boyd Matson had the envious job of traveling to exotic locations and joining thrilling expeditions. Matson has rappelled into sinkholes, climbed mountains, and been bitten by more snakes than he cares to count... More »
Alfred McLaren
Captain Alfred McLaren, a retired Navy submariner, has explored beneath the Arctic ice on numerous expeditions, the last as commander of his own sub. After retiring from the Navy in 1981, he earned a Ph... More »
Michael Melford
National Geographic photographer Michael Melford has produced 12 feature stories for National Geographic magazine and more than 30 for National Geographic Traveler, including eight covers. Some of Michael’s recent assignments have focused on Russia, Israel, and North America’s national parks... More »
Jim Richardson
Photographer Jim Richardson has produced more than 40 stories for National Geographic magazine and National Geographic Traveler, where he is a contributing editor. Jim’s recent work on environmental issues resulted in two cover stories for National Geographic in 2008—one on light pollution and another on the state of the world’s soil... More »
Kevin Schafer
National Geographic photographer Kevin Schafer is a founding Fellow of the International League of Conservation Photographers, Kevin was named the 2007 Outstanding Nature Photographer of the Year by the North American Nature Photographers Association. His work has appeared in National Geographic, Smithsonian, and Audubon; and his books include Penguin Planet and Living Light... More »
Mark Thiessen
Mark Thiessen began shooting for National Geographic in 1990. His numerous articles for National Geographic magazine include "Monsters of Madagascar" (August 2000), "Russian Smokejumpers" (August 2002), and a recent series on wildfires... More »
Simon Winchester
Best-selling author of Krakatoa, The Professor and the Madman, and The Fracture Zone, Simon Winchester studied geology at Oxford. He has written about the Amur River for National Geographic magazine, the South Pacific for a National Geographic book, and a voyage on a Russian tramp steamer from Antarctica to England for National Geographic Adventure... More »
David Wright
Filmmaker David Wright shot exclusively in Svalbard for more than two years to make the National Geographic film Realm of the Great White Bear, which follows a family of polar bears during a long Arctic odyssey. The project won an Emmy for Achievement in Documentary Filmmaking and an Emmy nomination for Cinematography... More »
