Frans Lanting Bio

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Frans Lanting Bio

Frans Lanting has been hailed as one of the great nature photographers of our time. His influential work appears in books, magazines, and exhibitions around the world. For more than two decades he has documented wildlife and our relationship with nature in environments from the Amazon to Antarctica. He portrays wild creatures as ambassadors for the preservation of complete ecosystems, and his many publications have increased worldwide awareness of endangered ecological treasures in far corners of the earth.

Lanting’s work has been commissioned frequently by National Geographic, where he has been a Photographer-in-Residence. His assignments have ranged from a search for the fabled bonobos of central Africa to a unique circumnavigation by sailboat of South Georgia Island in the subantarctic. Images from his year-long odyssey to assess global biodiversity at the turn of the millennium filled the February 1999 issue of National Geographic. Lanting’s recent work includes profiles of global ecological hot spots, stories on Hawaii’s volcanoes and Zambia’s Luangwa Valley, and a series of photo essays on American landscapes.

Lanting’s books have received awards and acclaim: “No one turns animals into art more completely than Frans Lanting,” writes The New Yorker. His books include Jungles (2000), Penguin (1999), Living Planet (1999), Eye to Eye (1997), Bonobo, The Forgotten Ape (1997), Okavango: Africa's Last Eden (1993), Forgotten Edens (1993), and Madagascar, A World Out of Time (1990). For the past several years Lanting has been working on location around the world, with scientists ranging from paleobiologists to astrophysicists, to produce work for a new book, Life, A Journey Through Time, a personal photographic interpretation of the evolution of life on earth.

Lanting has received numerous prestigious awards. 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. He has received top honors from World Press Photo, the title of BBC Wildlife Photographer of the Year, and the Sierra Club's Ansel Adams Award. In 1999 he was honored as a Fellow of the Royal Photographic Society in London.

Lanting is a Trustee of the Foundation Board of the University of California Santa Cruz. He serves on the National Council of the World Wildlife Fund and is a columnist for Outdoor Photographer.

Frans Lanting makes his home in Santa Cruz, California, with his wife, Christine Eckstrom, an editor, producer, and former staff writer at National Geographic with whom he collaborates on fieldwork and publishing projects.


Frans Lanting Bio
Frans Lanting has been hailed as one of the great nature photographers of our time. His influential work appears in books, magazines, and exhibitions around the world. For more than two decades he has documented wildlife and our relationship with nature in environments from the Amazon to Antarctica. He portrays wild creatures as ambassadors for the preservation of complete ecosystems, and his many publications have increased worldwide awareness of endangered ecological treasures in far corners of the earth. Lanting’s work has been commissioned frequently by National Geographic, where he has been a Photographer-in-Residence. His assignments have ranged from a search for the fabled bonobos of central Africa to a unique circumnavigation by sailboat of South Georgia Island in the subantarctic. Images from his year-long odyssey to assess global biodiversity at the turn of the millennium filled the February 1999 issue of National Geographic. Lanting’s recent work includes profiles of global ecological hot spots, stories on Hawaii’s volcanoes and Zambia’s Luangwa Valley, and a series of photo essays on American landscapes. Lanting’s books have received awards and acclaim: “No one turns animals into art more completely than Frans Lanting,” writes The New Yorker. His books include Jungles (2000), Penguin (1999), Living Planet (1999), Eye to Eye (1997), Bonobo, The Forgotten Ape (1997), Okavango: Africa's Last Eden (1993), Forgotten Edens (1993), and Madagascar, A World Out of Time (1990). For the past several years Lanting has been working on location around the world, with scientists ranging from paleobiologists to astrophysicists, to produce work for a new book, Life, A Journey Through Time, a personal photographic interpretation of the evolution of life on earth. Lanting has received numerous prestigious awards. 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. He has received top honors from World Press Photo, the title of BBC Wildlife Photographer of the Year, and the Sierra Club's Ansel Adams Award. In 1999 he was honored as a Fellow of the Royal Photographic Society in London. Lanting is a Trustee of the Foundation Board of the University of California Santa Cruz. He serves on the National Council of the World Wildlife Fund and is a columnist for Outdoor Photographer. Frans Lanting makes his home in Santa Cruz, California, with his wife, Christine Eckstrom, an editor, producer, and former staff writer at National Geographic with whom he collaborates on fieldwork and publishing projects.