Joel Sartore Joel Sartore

National Geographic Photographer and Speaker

Keyword: national

Photo: The living room of a native American family in the Pacific Northwest shows images of past and present realities of this salmon-centered culture.

Photo

ESA001-00163

The living room of a native American family in the Pacific Northwest shows images of past and present realities of this salmon-centered culture.

These are steelhead salmon smolts (Oncorhynchus mykiss) being raised at a hatchery. They will soon be transported to release streams in the hope that some of them will survive their migration to the sea; but the heavily dammed Columbia river and its tributaries have become an obstacle course for several imperiled species. In addition the Native Americans, to whom the salmon runs are crucial, find fishing very poor. (US: Threatened)

Photo

ESA001-00164

These are steelhead salmon smolts (Oncorhynchus mykiss) being raised at a hatchery. They will soon be transported to release streams in the hope that some of them will survive their migration to the sea; but the heavily dammed Columbia river and its tributaries have become an obstacle course for several imperiled species. In addition the Native Americans, to whom the salmon runs are crucial, find fishing very poor. (US: Threatened)

Unplanned product of a foster-parent program for endangered whooping cranes (Grus americana), a "whoopill" was sired out of a whooper out of a great Sandhill crane (Grus canadensis canadensis). Having failed to produce a single breeding female, biologists have abandoned their efforts to create a viable flock of whooping cranes, whose numbers in the wild have crept from 51 in 1973 to about 165 today. Many think that, rather than struggling to restore a creature so near extinction, efforts should be concentrated on species in the early stages of danger.

Photo

ESA001-00165

Unplanned product of a foster-parent program for endangered whooping cranes (Grus americana), a “whoopill” was sired out of a whooper out of a great Sandhill crane (Grus canadensis canadensis). Having failed to produce a single breeding female, biologists have abandoned their efforts to create a viable flock of whooping cranes, whose numbers in the wild have crept from 51 in 1973 to about 165 today. Many think that, rather than struggling to restore a creature so near extinction, efforts should be concentrated on species in the early stages of danger.

Photo: This tiny snail darter (Percina tanasi) stalled the construction of Tellico dam on the Little Tennessee river.

Photo

ESA001-00160

This tiny snail darter (Percina tanasi) stalled the construction of Tellico dam on the Little Tennessee river. Though the dam was built, the Endangered Species Act was henceforth seen in many quarters as an enemy of progress.

Photo: This bird earned questionable notoriety as a job buster.

Photo

ESA001-00161

This bird earned questionable notoriety as a job buster. It is the northern spotted owl (Strix occidentalis occidentalis), listed as threatened in 1990; it w as expected to cause thousands of job losses by disrupting logging in the forests of the Pacific Northwest. The actual cost of protection to the regional economy is not yet known.

Photo: Fragmentation of fragile habitat has added to the woes of the once-hardy desert tortoise (Gopherus agassizi). They are collected from soon-to-be-developed lands and sent to a center where they are adopted, euthanized (if ill), or used for research.

Photo

ESA001-00156

Fragmentation of fragile habitat has added to the woes of the once-hardy desert tortoise (Gopherus agassizi). They are collected from soon-to-be-developed lands and sent to a center where they are adopted, euthanized (if ill), or used for research.

Photo: South of Los Angeles the implacable sprawl of single-family homes like these has reached critical mass.

Photo

ESA001-00157

South of Los Angeles the implacable sprawl of single-family homes like these has reached critical mass. Or so think local environmentalists, who are challenging new developments to safeguard dwindling parcels of coastal sage scrub, habitat of the California gnatcatcher. Increasingly, developers compromise by setting aside land for imperiled species.

Photo: Hit-and-run victims on Florida's busy waterways, injured manatees maintain vital buoyancy only with the aid of inflatable wet suits at Orlando's Sea World.

Photo

ESA001-00158

Hit-and-run victims on Florida’s busy waterways, injured manatees maintain vital buoyancy only with the aid of inflatable wet suits at Orlando’s Sea World.

Photo: A prodigy of adaptation, the endangered least tern (Sterna albifrons) survived the test of evolution by nesting on barren sandbars, protected from predators by the swift flow of surrounding rivers.

Photo

ESA001-00159

A prodigy of adaptation, the endangered least tern (Sterna albifrons) survived the test of evolution by nesting on barren sandbars, protected from predators by the swift flow of surrounding rivers. These moated habitats are created by naturally occurring spring floods, which humans now spend millions to prevent.

Photo: Portrait of a cattleman through a windshield standing with his horse on Hot Spings ranch north of Salmon, Idaho.

Photo

PEO003-00406

Portrait of a cattleman through a windshield standing with his horse on Hot Spings ranch north of Salmon, Idaho.

Photo: A rancher's dog expresses displeasure by snarling at photographer, Joel Sartore, on a ranch in Idaho.

Photo

PEO003-00400

A rancher’s dog expresses displeasure by snarling at photographer, Joel Sartore, on a ranch in Idaho.

Photo: A lamb leaps up after being relieved of his tail for better sanitation purposes by Bureau of Land Management workers on federal grazing lands in southern Wyoming.

Photo

PEO003-00401

A lamb leaps up after being relieved of his tail for better sanitation purposes by Bureau of Land Management workers on federal grazing lands in southern Wyoming.

Photo: A grandfather poses with his granddaughters at his cattle ranch at the edge of the Mojave desert near Goffs, California.

Photo

PEO003-00402

A grandfather poses with his granddaughters at his cattle ranch at the edge of the Mojave desert near Goffs, California.

Photo: A child is helped ride a sheep during the "mutton busting" event at the annual rodeo in Leadore, Idaho.

Photo

PEO003-00403

A child is helped ride a sheep during the “mutton busting” event at the annual rodeo in Leadore, Idaho.

Photo: A sun-enhanced shower falls on Lemhi county residents who came to the town of Salmon for the annual Salmon River Days festival.

Photo

PEO003-00404

A sun-enhanced shower falls on Lemhi county residents who came to the town of Salmon for the annual Salmon River Days festival.

Photo: A rancher drives cattle fattened on public land to his employer's ranch in Lemhi County, Idaho.

Photo

PEO003-00405

A rancher drives cattle fattened on public land to his employer’s ranch in Lemhi County, Idaho.

Photo: Hot breath of active volcanoes rises from roiling thermal pool fields in Chile's Atacama desert.

Photo

SCE030-00044

Hot breath of active volcanoes rises from roiling thermal pool fields in Chile’s Atacama desert.

Photo: Two tourist are transfixed by the otherworldly terrain of the Valley of the Moon in Chile's Atacama desert.

Photo

SCE030-00045

Two tourist are transfixed by the otherworldly terrain of the Valley of the Moon in Chile’s Atacama desert.

Photo: The desert dwarfs the one road from Calama to San Pedro de Atacama.

Photo

SCE030-00046

The desert dwarfs the one road from Calama to San Pedro de Atacama.

Photo: Aymara woman with her llama herd on the desolate landscape of the high Chilean Atacama desert.

Photo

PEO001-00146

Aymara woman with her llama herd on the desolate landscape of the high Chilean Atacama desert.

Photo: Miners masked against sun and cold carve up the land in search of borax in Chile's Atacama desert.

Photo

PEO001-00147

Miners masked against sun and cold carve up the land in search of borax in Chile’s Atacama desert.

Photo: Police, seen through the windshield of a truck, stop visitors speeding in Chile's Atacama desert.

Photo

PEO001-00145

Police, seen through the windshield of a truck, stop visitors speeding in Chile’s Atacama desert.

Photo: A street in San Pedro de Atacama as the day comes to an end.

Photo

PEO001-00144

A street in San Pedro de Atacama as the day comes to an end.

Photo: A reverend prays with residents of Roxbury before escorting a mayorial candidate through the area in Boston, Massachusets.

Photo

PEO026-00012

A reverend prays with residents of Roxbury before escorting a mayorial candidate through the area in Boston, Massachusets.

Photo: Edward Hatch Memorial Shell concert of the Boston Pops orchestra on the Charles river in Boston, Massachusets.

Photo

PEO026-00013

Edward Hatch Memorial Shell concert of the Boston Pops orchestra on the Charles river in Boston, Massachusets.

Photo: Coffee vendor walking with commuter cars in line outside the Sumner tunnel in Boston, Massachusetts.

Photo

PEO026-00014

Coffee vendor walking with commuter cars in line outside the Sumner tunnel in Boston, Massachusetts.

Photo: An aerial of the 97th annual Boston Marathon entrants in Massachusetts.

Photo

PEO026-00015

An aerial of the 97th annual Boston Marathon entrants in Massachusetts.

Photo: Two pet dogs mouth the same ball in Boston Common, the oldest public park in American history, in Massachusetts.

Photo

PEO026-00016

Two pet dogs mouth the same ball in Boston Common, the oldest public park in American history, in Massachusetts.

Photo: A tourist films a replica of the desk in the Oval office in Boston, Massachusetts.

Photo

PEO026-00007

A tourist films a replica of the desk in the Oval office in Boston, Massachusetts.

Photo: Two young boys pose behind colonial cutouts at the Boston Tea Party ship in Boston harbor, Massachusetts.

Photo

PEO026-00008

Two young boys pose behind colonial cutouts at the Boston Tea Party ship in Boston harbor, Massachusetts.

Photo: Beacon street town house condominiums and residents in Boston, Massachusets.

Photo

PEO026-00009

Beacon street town house condominiums and residents in Boston, Massachusets.

Photo: Children at a birthday party at Charlestown's Bunker Hill housing project in Boston, Massachusetts.

Photo

PEO026-00010

Children at a birthday party at Charlestown’s Bunker Hill housing project in Boston, Massachusetts.

Photo: North End Italians parade with the Madonna del Soccorso at the annual benefit for their fishermen's club in Boston, Massachusetts.

Photo

PEO026-00011

North End Italians parade with the Madonna del Soccorso at the annual benefit for their fishermen’s club in Boston, Massachusetts.

Photo: An aerial of Boston, Massachusetts at night with time exposure car lights, the Custom House tower is seen.

Photo

PEO026-00001

An aerial of Boston, Massachusetts at night with time exposure car lights, the Custom House tower is seen.

Photo: A group of Harvard graduates celebrate on campus in Boston, Massachusetts.

Photo

PEO026-00002

A group of Harvard graduates celebrate on campus in Boston, Massachusetts.

Photo: Julie Jensen Director of Marketing | WVC O: 866.800.7326 | D: 702.443.9249 | E: j.jensen@wvc.org

Speaking Engagements

Joel is a popular keynote speaker with conservation, corporate, and civic groups.

Hire him to entertain and inspire your audience.

Book Joel To Speak

The Photo Ark

Joel is the founder of the Photo Ark, a groundbreaking effort to document every species in captivity before it’s too late.

Explore the Photo Ark

Visit Our Store

Every purchase goes directly to support our mission: getting the public to care and helping to save species from extinction.

Help Us Build the Ark