Bio

Justin Black is a photographer, writer, and explorer from Washington, DC. A leader in his field, his photographs of the world’s diverse landscapes and their inhabitants have been published widely and featured in numerous exhibitions around the U.S. from Los Angeles to the United States Capitol, and abroad from Japan to Germany. Several exhibitions of his work have been hosted at Mountain Light Gallery in California, founded by world-renowned adventure photographer Galen Rowell. He is unique among his peers in having taught photography alongside a who’s-who of luminary photographers, including Rowell, Jack Dykinga, Frans Lanting, Charles Cramer, Paul Caponigro, David Muench, Robert Glenn Ketchum, Art Wolfe, Tom Mangelsen, Nevada Weir, John Shaw, Pat O’Hara, Jeff Foott, Michael Melford, G. Brad Lewis, Carr Clifton, and Macduff Everton (the list goes on). As a Fellow of the International League of Conservation Writers (ILCW), and as Executive Director of the International League of Conservation Photographers (ILCP), Black has contributed photography and writing in support of conservation campaigns to protect threatened landscapes and ecosystems from British Columbia to Brazil and South Georgia Island, and from California’s Sierra Nevada to the Chesapeake Bay watershed, in collaboration with conservation organizations such as the World Wildlife Fund, The Nature Conservancy, Panthera, the Sierra Club, Conservation International, National Parks Conservation Association, the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, and the Wild Foundation. His images are featured prominently in books supporting conservation initiatives, such as Freshwater: the essence of life (iLCP), and Our National Parks: America’s Natural Heritage (Earth in Focus Editions). Among his editorial clients are the National Geographic Society, Sierra, Sunset, American Photo, Rock & Ice, Nature Conservancy, Hörzu, Huffington Post, and major newspapers in the USA and Europe. He is a regular contributor of feature articles to Outdoor Photographer magazine, whose editors have referred to him as a “photo safari expert.” On behalf of Christie’s auction house, Conservation International, and ILCP, he curated selection of the Top 40 Nature Photographs of all time in 2010. In 2021, he was selected by Fujifilm for a highly coveted spot on their Global X-Photographer team. He is also an IAATO-certified Antarctica guide. Black’s limited-edition prints are in private collections around the world, and are available directly from the artist. His photo workshops and travel company, Visionary Wild, has achieved a superlative reputation for delivering world-class photographic experiences for passionate photographers, led by Justin and leading professional peers. After living in the United Kingdom and California for much of his career, Justin now lives two blocks from his childhood home in the Adams-Morgan neighborhood of Washington, DC, along with his beloved wife and partner Lena Black, and their children Philippe and Alexandra.