National Geographic Photography Expert icon 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.

My upcoming expeditions