National Geographic Photography Expert icon National Geographic Photography Expert

Erika Larsen

For more than a decade, Erika Larsen has used photography to learn intimately about and document cultures that maintain strong connections with nature. She has been working with National Geographic magazine since 2011, and is currently a National Geographic Society Fellow and Explorer. Among her assignments, she followed Sami reindeer herders in the Scandinavian arctic and explored the significance of the horse in Native American culture. Erika was part of the multi-photographer team that produced the magazine’s 2016 single topic Yellowstone Issue, and she contributed to Yellowstone: A Journey Through America’s Wild Heart, published by National Geographic Books. She is also one of the featured photographers in Women of Vision: National Geographic Photographers on Assignment, which profiles the lives and work of important photojournalists and goes behind the lens of their individual assignments.

Larsen is the recipient of a Fulbright Fellowship, which sponsored her study of the North Sami language, and she published her first book of photographs in 2013 (Sámi, Walking with Reindeer). Erika’s work has been shown in the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C., the Fotografiska Museum in Sweden, and the Reggio Calabria National Archaeological Museum in Italy, as well as at Visa pour l'Image in Perpignan, France. Her images are represented by Nat Geo Creative. Erika looks forward to sharing her insights about creating images and expressing a personal vision with travelers on expeditions.