Frans Lanting

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 United States to study environmental planning. Soon after, he began photographing the natural world–and never turned back.

Lanting’s work is commissioned frequently by National Geographic, where he served as a Photographer-in-Residence. He did pioneering work in Madagascar and Botswana’s Okavango Delta, and his images from a year-long odyssey to assess global biodiversity at the turn of the millennium filled an issue of the magazine. Lanting’s recent work for the Geographic includes coverage of groundbreaking research with chimpanzees in Senegal and a story about Namibia’s new super park, which featured an image, “Ghost Trees, Namibia,” that became an internet sensation when it was published.

Lanting has received many awards for his work, including top honors from World Press Photo, the title of BBC Wildlife Photographer of the Year, and Sweden’s Lennart Nilsson Award. In 2001, H.R.H. Prince Bernhard inducted him as a Knight in the Royal Order of the Golden Ark, the Netherlands’ highest conservation honor.

Sarah Leen 

Sarah Leen was the first female Director of Photography for National Geographic Partners Photography and Visual Media leaving in 2019 to launch The Visual Thinking Collective for independent women photo editors, curators and teachers.

For nearly 20 years she worked as a freelance photographer for the National Geographic magazine until 2004 when she joined the staff as a Senior Photo Editor. She became Director of Photography in 2013. As a photographer Leen published sixteen stories and produced six covers for the National Geographic magazine.

In 1979 Leen was the first woman to receive the College Photographer of the Year award while a student at the University of Missouri School of Journalism in Columbia, Missouri. The award was an internship at the Nat Geo magazine where she produced her first published story, “Return to Uganda.”

Leen has also won numerous awards for both her photography and photo editing from the Pictures of the Year competition and the World Press Photo Awards.

She has juried numerous contests and portfolio reviews including Pictures of the Year International, Lens Culture, Critical Mass, Photo Lucida, The FotoEvidence Book Award, the Carmignac Award, The W. Eugene Smith Grants and the Getty Images Editorial Grants, the New York Times Portfolio Reviews and the World Press Joop Swarts Masterclass.

Kathy Moran

Kathy Moran is National Geographic magazine’s Deputy Director of Photography. As the magazine’s first senior editor for natural history projects, Moran has been producing projects about terrestrial and underwater ecosystems for the magazine since 1990. At last count she has edited over 350 stories for the magazine. Recent highlights include editing the May 2016 issue on Yellowstone as well as Brent Stirton’s award-winning coverages of Virunga and Rhino Trade. She was the project manager for the National Geographic Society/Wildlife Conservation Society’s collaboration of photographer Nick Nichols and Dr. Michael Fay’s trek across Central Africa. The resulting stories were the impetus for the creation of Gabon’s national park system.

Moran has edited several books for the Society, including Women Photographers at the National Geographic, The Africa Diaries – An Illustrated Life in the Bush, Cat Shots and most recently, Tigers Forever. She was the photo editor for two anthems of wildlife photography, “100 Best Wildlife Pictures” and “Wildlife, The Best Photos.” She recently curated an exhibition for the Society’s museum “50 Best Wildlife Photographs.” She was named “Picture Editor of the Year” for her winning portfolios in the 2017 and 2006 POYi competition and the 2011 Best of Photo competition.

She is a founding member of iLCP and has served on the Board of Directors. She has edited numerous books for ILCP photographers published with the University of Chicago Press. She served on the Executive Committee of Wildscreen USA. She has been on the jury for numerous photo competitions including Por el Planeta, Big Picture Natural World Competition, POYi, Wildlife Photographer of the Year and European Wildlife Photographer of the Year.