Frans Lanting has been hailed as one of the great photographers of our time. His influential work appears in books, magazines, and exhibitions around the world. Born in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, he earned a master's degree in Economics then moved to the US to study environmental planning. Soon after, he began photographing the natural world—and never looked back.

Lanting’s work has been commissioned frequently by National Geographic, where he served as a contributing photographer-in-residence with assignments ranging from documenting the fabled bonobos of the Congo to a circumnavigation by sailboat of South Georgia Island in the South Atlantic Ocean, near Antarctica.

Lanting’s work includes documenting wildlife and tribal traditions in Madagascar, emperor penguins at the bottom of the world, and the troubled fate of puffins in the North Atlantic.  He has also covered hotspots from India to New Zealand and features on iconic species such as the albatross.  His study of chimps in Senegal is shedding new light on human evolution.

Frans’s goal is to inspire us to action.  To this end, he partnered with music director Philip Glass to co-create a multimedia symphony that paired his images with a full symphony.  The show, LIFE: A Journey Through Time, is Frans’s lyrical interpretation of the history of life on Earth from the Big Bang to today.  The symphony premiered in Santa Cruz, where Frans lives with his wife and co-creator, science writer Christine Eckstrom.  It has been performed more than two dozen times around the world, including famed halls such as New York’s Lincoln Center.

CHRISTINE ECKSTROM, Science Writer

Acclaimed science writer, editor, and videographer Christine Eckstrom has worked for 25 years alongside her husband and business partner Frans Lanting on field assignments from the Amazon to Mongolia. Her stories have appeared in National Geographic, Audubon, International Wildlife, and other international publications. Together they have produced some of the most important Natural History documentary projects of our time.