Jonathan Irish

During his eight years on the National Geographic staff, travel and conservation photographer Jonathan Irish launched and directed the National Geographic Adventures program, bringing travelers and photographers around the world on active adventures. 

As a freelance photographer, he specializes in documenting adventure lifestyles, landscapes, and cultures at home and abroad with a keen eye on highlighting important conservation issues. Jonathan has photographed on all seven continents, and has traveled and photographed in over 80 countries. He is a seasoned photography expert on National Geographic Expeditions trips teaching photography around the world–from the Galápagos Islands, Patagonia, and Peru to Alaska, Antarctica, the Arctic, and many others.

Jonathan’s work has appeared in hundreds of publications in print and online including National Geographic and The New York Times, on BBC, CNN, Condé Nast Traveler, Smithsonian Magazine, Travel + Leisure, The Telegraph, and elsewhere. For the 2016 centennial of the U.S. National Park Service, Jonathan 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, Jonathan published a 240-page book of all the U.S. national parks, 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 and Google. Jonathan’s photography is represented by National Geographic Creative and National Geographic Fine Art Galleries, and has appeared in many National Geographic coffee-table books. 

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. Jonathan looks forward to sharing his passion for photography and wild places on this expedition.