Writing a bio is always a bit of a strange thing to do. The bottom line is that I am incredibly grateful to make a living from photography. It’s been a privileged life that has taken me all over the world and I’d like to think it’s given me some perspective on just how lucky I have been. I’ve been able to travel to well over 100 countries and what I have found across all the cultures I have visited is that we have so much more in common than we have issues that divide us. Increasingly, my focus is the well-being of the planet we all find ourselves on and how we can preserve all that we have for our future generations. I’m a new dad and that has only reinforced my conviction. It is my hope that through my photography I might offer a glimpse of our commonality, what unites us as humanity and what we must guard against in order to offer a viable future for our children.
Formal Biography:
Brent Stirton is a South African Photographer with an extensive history in the documentary world. Brent’s work has been published by: National Geographic Magazine, GEO, Le Figaro, Le Monde, Vanity Fair, Newsweek, Time, The New York Times Magazine, The UK Sunday Times Magazine and many other respected international titles.
He has worked for WWF, CNN, the Ford, Clinton and Gates Foundations, the Nike Foundation and the World Economic Forum. Brent also shoots regular reports for Human Rights Watch. He has done numerous commercial assignments including annual reports for Novartis.
Brent was elected a member of the Young Global Leaders, an affiliate program of the World Economic Forum, in 2008 Brent became a Canon Ambassador, at the time one of 12 photographers representing Canon photography. That program has grown to over 100 members today.
Brent has received 12 awards from World Press Photo and 13 awards from The Pictures of the Year International contest. He has received multiple awards from the Overseas Press Club, The Webbys, The Association of International Broadcasters, the HIPA Awards, the Frontline Club, the Deadline Club, Days Japan, China International Photo Awards, the Lead Awards Germany, Graphis, Communication Arts, American Photography, American Photo and the American Society of Publication Designers as well as the London Association of Photographers. Brent has received multiple Lucie Awards including International photographer of the Year.
Brent has been recognized by the United Nations for his work on the Environment and in the field of HIV/AIDS. He has won the Visa D’or at the Visa Pour L’ image Festival in France for Magazine photography. He also won the National Magazine Award for his work in the Democratic Republic of Congo for National Geographic Magazine. In 2016 Brent won the National Geographic Magazine Photographer's Photographer Award. Brent guided a documentary on Virunga National Park in Conflict for National Geographic Television as well as appearing in the show. The documentary won the Emmy for Best Documentary Feature as well as a Bafta Award for Best Documentary. Brent received a Peabody Award for his work with Human Rights Watch for most significant work in an electronic medium. He was named Wildlife Photojournalist of the Year three years in a row by the Natural History Museum of the UK.
Brent’s work has appeared in numerous print shows around the world and his images are in a number of museum collections. Brent currently spends most of his time working on long-term investigative projects for National Geographic Magazine. He is a Senior Correspondent for Getty Images. He remains committed to issues relating to wildlife and conservation, global health, diminishing cultures, sustainability and the environment.
Papua New Guinea is home to one of the largest expanses of rainforest on Earth. Many of the Paupan people rely on their relationship to the natural world in order to survive but environmental exploitation has put their existence at risk.
Photographers Michael Nichols and Brent Stirton explain the significance of the recent gorilla massacres in the Democratic Republic of Congo.