Staffan Widstrand (born 1959) is a Swedish photographer and author based in

Stockholm, Sweden Stockholm (; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, most populous city of Sweden, as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in the Nordic countries. Approximately ...

Career

Widstrand was born in

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

in 1959. Prior to becoming a professional photographer in the mid-1980s, Widstrand worked in the metal industry as well as worked as a nature tour guide. Later, he also served as a reserved officer in the Swedish Armoured Troops Corps. In 1984, he founded his photography company ''Staffan Widstrand Photography'' in Järfälla, Stockholm. Between 1984 and 1990, Widstrand worked as a picture editor at

Natur & Kultur Natur & Kultur is a Swedish publishing foundation with its head office in Stockholm. It is known for an extensive series of teaching materials, and its logotype is an apple tree. Overview The publishing house was founded in 1922 by Johan H ...

. He specializes in storytelling about the natural world and nature conservation issues, using writing and

wildlife photography Wildlife photography is a genre of photography concerned with documenting various forms of wildlife in their natural habitat. As well as requiring photography skills, wildlife photographers may need field craft skills. For example, some anim ...

. Widstrand's work underlines the sheer joy of our planet's

natural heritage Natural heritage refers to the sum total of the elements of biodiversity, includes flora and fauna, ecosystems and geological structures. It forms part of our natural resources. Definition Definitions: * Natural heritage refers to natural feat ...

as to inspire wide audiences to protect and take better care of it. He is a ''

National Geographic ''National Geographic'' (formerly ''The National Geographic Magazine'', sometimes branded as ''Nat Geo'') is an American monthly magazine published by National Geographic Partners. The magazine was founded in 1888 as a scholarly journal, nine ...

Explorer'' since 2008 and a ''Sony Imaging Brand Ambassador'' since 2020. Between 1997 and 2020, Widstrand served as a brand ambassador for

Nikon (, ; ) is a Japanese optics and photographic equipment manufacturer. Nikon's products include cameras, camera lenses, binoculars, microscopes, ophthalmic lenses, measurement instruments, rifle scopes, spotting scopes, and equipment related to S ...

. He is also a member of , the Swedish nature photographers association. In 1993, Widstrand co-authored his first book ''Safari till världens finaste viltområden - Ecotouring: the Ultimate Guide'' with Magnus Elander. The book was awarded with the (WWF Pandabook of the Year) in the year 1994 by the WWF. Widstrand has authored 20 books in 10 languages and has been awarded with the ''Årets Pandabok -WWF Sweden'' prize five times. In 1996, Widstrand was awarded his first Wildlife Photographer of the Year award, staged by the

Natural History Museum, London The Natural History Museum in London is a museum that exhibits a vast range of specimens from various segments of natural history. It is one of three major museums on Exhibition Road in South Kensington, the others being the Science Museum (Lo ...

. Since then, he has received Wildlife Photographer of the Year awards 11 times. In 2001, Widstrand was bestowed with the ''Årets Naturfotograf i Sverige'' (Swedish Nature Photographer of the Year) title. He has also had five awarded images in the ''European Nature Photographer of the Year (GDT)'' awards, since 2003. '' Outdoor Photographer'' in 2010 called Widstrand one of the ''World's 40 Most influential nature photographers''. Widstrand is a Founding Fellow of the International League of Conservation Photographers (ILCP) since 2005, and the first Swede to be elected into it. Apart from that, he has initiated and co-founded several long-term nature conservation communication and media projects, such as the Wild Wonders of Europe, Wild Wonders of China,

Rewilding Europe Rewilding Europe is a non-profit organization based in Nijmegen, the Netherlands, dedicated to creating rewilded landscapes throughout Europe. The group's efforts have contributed to increasing the stock of previously endangered species such as t ...

, the Swedish Ecotourism Association, Scandinavian Big Five Predators project and ''Deforestationsweden.org''. He is the managing director and co-owner of Wild Wonders International AB, and co-owner of the nature photography travel agency Wild Nature Photo Adventures. Widstrand has served as a judge in several international photo competitions including

World Press Photo World Press Photo Foundation is an independent, non-profit organization based in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Founded in 1955, the organization holds the annual World Press Photo Contest for press photography. Since 2011, World Press Photo has orga ...

, Wildlife Photographer of the Year, Golden Turtle (Russia), European Nature Photographer of the Year-GDT (Germany), Xishuangbanna Biennal (China) and Humanity Photo Awards (China). He has also had his work exhibited worldwide.

Bibliography

*Source: - Published books
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Prizes and awards

*Source: - List of awards
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References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Widstrand, Staffan Living people Swedish nature photographers 1959 births 20th-century Swedish photographers Swedish-language writers 21st-century Swedish male writers 20th-century Swedish male writers 21st-century Swedish photographers