Photo
Certified Photo Instructor
“Shoot the light.”
It’s a simple tip. Dispensed from National Geographic photographer Ralph Lee Hopkins, who’s also the director of the expedition photography program for Lindblad Expeditions. But in this case it had two guests standing at the deck rail of National Geographic Sea Lion in Alaska ignoring some bears playing along the shore and shooting photos of the sun setting behind the Fairweather Mountain Range. The golden hour had painted the sea, forest, and snow-capped mountains in an unearthly hue of purple and blue. And just then, a humpback whale breached right in front of them, and they got the shot of a lifetime.
Light, focus, and composition. The three elements of photography are such simple concepts, but can take a lifetime to master. Lindblad Expeditions was founded by a photographer, and photography is at the core of everything they do. Sven Lindblad spent his formative years as a wildlife photographer in Africa, guiding guests across the plains and helping them get shots of their safaris. He has published several large format photography books with Rizzoli.
As part of the Expedition Photography program, every Lindblad-National Geographic expedition sails with a certified photo instructor. This is naturalist who is specially trained to offer assistance with camera settings, the basics of composition. Their goal is to help guests become better, more confident photographers—and to help them go home with some epic shots that tell the story of their journey.
Because these photographers are all trained naturalists, they have a big advantage over an instructor who is merely trained in camera use. They understand the habits of the wildlife guests are trying to photograph, so they can coach them in preparing for the shot of a bear fishing for salmon, an albatross surfing the air currents behind the ship, or a pod of killer whales hunting.
And sometimes, a simple tip like “shoot the light” combined with being in the right place at the right time nets you an epic, magazine-worthy shot.
“Shoot the light.” ...
Read more
Meet our Photo Instructors
Naturalist/Certified Photo Instructor
Jeff Litton
Jeff is an environmental filmmaker and adventure cinematographer. His passion for adventure has led him through rural Kenyan villages, atop erupting Guatemalan volcanoes and to the enchanted Galápagos Islands to film Hammerhead Sharks. Being an expedition filmmaker enables Jeff to combine his love for capturing beauty with his drive to protect the environment. In the words of Jacques Cousteau, “people protect what they love.” Inspired, Jeff created UGENA.org, the United Global Environmental News Agency, an online resource to inspire people to care about the environment. Born and raised in California, he has worked for the Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary filming sharks and unique fish. His current work leads him around the world on a campaign to save sharks from extinction by prohibiting the consumption and sale of Shark Fin Soup. His film projects can also be found on Google Earth. In 2008 he graduated magna cum laude from the Brooks Institute of Photography where he specialized in underwater cinematography and adventure travel filmmaking. He received his Photo Instructor certification in a multi-day training workshop. Developed and taught by National Geographic and Lindblad Expeditions photographers, the workshop helped him develop additional insight and skills necessary to help you better understand your camera and the basics of composition — to better capture the moments at the heart of your expedition.
Naturalist/Certified Photo Instructor
Mike Rigney
Mike's love for the water comes from growing up on the great lakes where his dad worked as a commercial ship captain. After going to university for mechanical engineering he worked in the automotive, plastics, and aerospace defense industries before quitting his desk job to explore the ocean. Mike has since sailed over 60,000 miles on 6 of the 7 seas, visited all 7 continents, and 53 countries. Mike's love for wildlife and conservation became fully realized while working for an ocean-based wildlife conservation non-profit performing anti-poaching interdiction to protect the world's most endangered marine mammal - the vaquita marina in Baja, Mexico. He has also worked with activists and First Nations peoples to remove invasive fish farms from the waters of British Columbia, volunteered in anti-poaching efforts in South Africa, and as a conservation diver in Thailand to build and maintain artificial reefs. Photography began as a hobby and has grown into a full-blown obsession along the way. Although he dabbles in all forms of photography, he is most excited about wildlife (mainly birds), ultra-macro, underwater, and astro. When not exploring with Lindblad as a Certified Photo Instructor, he works as Chief Engineer aboard the National Geographic Venture, and (rarely) lives on his sailboat in Southern California.
Naturalist/Certified Photo Instructor
Kelly Coursey Gray
I like to remind people that there are very few big surprises left in life, but if you are out in nature, with an open mind and a lot of time, you never know what you will find. Born and educated in Western Pennsylvania, Kelly always loved the outdoors and all the creatures that roam the beautiful Allegheny Mountains. Always curious and creative, her interests ranged from science to art. Kelly majored in Art History at Allegheny College where she took photography and developed a passion that combined her love of nature, exploring and composition. After college, photography became a focal part of Kelly's life driving her to search for larger mountains and new horizons. While living in Colorado, she journeyed throughout the west, developing her enthusiasm for North American wildlife and the ecosystems that support it. Kelly has served as a Naturalist at sea in Alaska, the Pacific Northwest, Australia, and New Zealand for many years. Using her images and observations of wildlife Kelly crafts engaging presentations to share her knowledge and passion for the creatures she encounters during her travels.
Naturalist/Certified Photo Instructor
Anna Mazurek
South Carolina native Anna Mazurek fell in love with traveling and photography while studying abroad in England during college. Since then, she’s been to 53 countries and lived in five. She is a freelance travel photographer and writer currently based in Austin, Texas. Her previous clients include the Wall Street Journal , Facebook, Rolling Stone, AFAR magazine and Google. She has a Master’s degree in photojournalism from the University of Missouri and a Bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of South Carolina. She also teaches part-time at School of Journalism and Mass Communications at Texas State University. She managed student photo trips in Asia for five years and currently runs summer photo trips for National Geographic Student Expeditions. She doesn’t like to sit still and spends her time exploring the remote corners of the world including Mongolia and Easter Island. Some of her travel highlights including climbing Kilimanjaro and photographing the Dalai Lama at his temple in McLeod Ganj, India.
Naturalist/Certified Photo Instructor
Bernardo Jacome
Bernardo, known by his friends and family as Bernie, was born In the Andean city of Quito, located in the highlands of Ecuador. His grandfather, however, moved to the Galapagos Islands in the mid-70s, and worked as one of the first Naturalist Guides, living in the town of Puerto Ayora, Santa Cruz Island, to this day. Bernie did his schooling in Quito but would spend every holiday in the islands since the age of 5, when he learnt to swim and fell in love with the nature of this magical archipelago. By experiencing the contrast between life in a big city and in the small town of Puerto Ayora, he realized that his heart lay with the simplicity and beauty of a life surrounded by nature, and the ocean in particular, which led him to move to Galapagos permanently as soon as he could. As he grew older, he learned to sail, snorkel and eventually became certified as a PADI free diver, allowing him to explore further and deeper. In 2017, Bernie jumped at the opportunity to take the rigorous exam to get into a highly coveted Galapagos Naturalist Guide course run by the Galapagos National Park Service and is now overjoyed to be living his dream and following in his grandfather’s footsteps. When not in Galapagos, he also works with his father in Lita, a little village located in the north of mainland Ecuador where his family owns approximately 200 acres of protected rainforest, promoting the growing, harvesting and use of bamboo as a sustainable material for construction. Bernie is a huge fan of martial arts, music production, photography and surfing, and is always up for any marvelous adventure that comes his way, such as leading visitors through his beloved islands. His biggest wish is to raise awareness so that one day the human race will finally learn the importance of cohabiting in harmony with the other species that inhabit our planet.
Naturalist/Certified Photo Instructor
Jim Pfitzer
An autodidact, Jim has spent a lifetime studying and exploring what he refers to as “the intersection of human progress and wildness.” Stumbling on the writings of Aldo Leopold in his early twenties—namely Leopold’s essay Thinking Like a Mountain —launched Jim on a journey that has crisscrossed the country in pursuit of wildness. Jim began his guiding work in the early 1990's, living in an old Volkswagen bus and paddling rafts on the Snake River in Wyoming in the summer, and working as an educator with live birds of prey in Arizona in winter. Since then, he has been as a naturalist, guide, and host, on rivers, in the back country, in national parks, and aquariums, from Redwood National Park to the Tennessee River Gorge, and now the rainforest of Southeast Alaska. Jim will tell you that he would rather paddle a canoe than drive a car and prefers watching birds to watching television, and that he agrees with author Bernd Heinrich when he wrote “There is no greater pleasure than eating roasted moose, while resting under a spruce, and contemplating ravens.” He believes, like Leopold, that every one of us must have an ethical relationship with the land that is based on love, respect and admiration, and has a passion for helping others find their own Land Ethic.
Naturalist/Certified Photo Instructor
Jamie Coleman
Jamie is from England. He grew up in Oxford, about as far from the sea as you can get in the UK, yet somehow decided he would work in marine biology and conservation. Ever since he reached his teens, he has dedicated time to this passion, working and volunteering in various roles on nature reserves and in aquariums. It was no surprise that in 2007, he left home to study marine biology at the University of Newcastle. As much as he loves working with people, he has a habit of ending up in isolated inhospitable havens, far from civilization. Ever since he spent two years on the Farne Islands, UK – an archipelago home to 150,000 seabirds and 5,000 grey seals he has developed an obsession for seabirds and seals. Most recently, he has completed his second stint (total 2 years) living amongst the seals and penguins of South Georgia working for the British Antarctic Survey. His work there mainly focused on long term population and diet monitoring of penguins, albatross and Antarctic fur seals, but he also worked on various tagging projects. He has also lived on an uninhabited island on The Galapagos tagging and monitoring Sea lions. He has successfully used his love for the environment to travel the world and avoid returning to the UK, most noticeably running a jaguar camera trapping project in the Pantanal, Brazil. Other roles include diving and coastal research in the Bahamas and Mexico, where he was researching marine protected areas and sustainable development. Keen to spend as much time at sea as possible, his work has always been interspersed with periods on board vessels in seabird and marine mammal observation roles.
Naturalist/Certified Photo Instructor
Mike Greenfelder
Mike learned early on that the best way to escape Ohio was to become a marine biologist. During college at Wittenberg University he attended a semester at Duke University's Marine Lab — that time only confirmed his love for all things oceanic and maritime. After graduation, Mike promptly moved to Catalina Island in California where he taught marine biology to school kids. Since 1999, Mike has been working and traveling chasing his three loves: marine critters, photography, and birds. Before joining Lindblad Expeditions-National Geographic, Mike spent one and a half years as the resident biologist at the Jean-Michel Cousteau Fiji Islands Resort, a renowned vacation destination in the South Pacific. His days were filled with a great combination of guest education, research, environmental projects, and local school children education. Mike has also worked in the Amazon of Peru and Ecuador, the Pribilof Islands of Alaska, the cloud forest of Costa Rica, and the kelp forests of Victoria, Australia. When not working, Mike enjoys underwater photography, searching for endemic birds, and sunset chasing. He received his Photo Instructor certification in a multi-day training workshop. Developed and taught by National Geographic and Lindblad Expeditions photographers, the workshop helped him develop additional insight and skills necessary to help you better understand your camera and the basics of composition—to better capture the moments at the heart of your expedition.
Naturalist/Certified Photo Instructor
Nathan Kelley
Nathan Kelley developed his love for nature as a kid at his family’s cabin in Northern Wisconsin. Family fishing trips, camping, hiking and a trip to his first National Park in the Everglades, all vigorously shaped his passion for the natural world. After graduating with a degree in Cinema and Photography from Southern Illinois University in the heart of the Shawnee National Forest, he moved to Southern California to work as a camera operator and photographer in a wide range of projects including work for the National Geographic Society. Now living in Juneau, Alaska he has found the place his heart always belonged. His photography has also been exhibited in galleries and in publications. A strong desire for adventure led him to travel around the world learning new cultures and photographing the beauty in the diverse natural world we live in. Living and working in Southeast Alaska has allowed him to fine tune his creative eye, while educating his guests on photography tips and the ecology of the place he calls home. Nathan hopes his photography, knowledge and passion will inspire others to explore and stand up for the planet.
Naturalist/Certified Photo Instructor
Chelsea Mayer
Chelsea is a naturalist, photographer, and videographer whose love of animals is the through line in her life. She grew up on the southern California coast in Huntington Beach, and throughout her teenage years she volunteered at an animal shelter and a wildlife rehabilitation center. In 2011 she graduated from UCLA’s School of Theater, Film and Television with a Bachelor of Arts in Film Production. After a few years of working on films, Chelsea turned her sights seaward, leaving Los Angeles in favor of a career on the open ocean. Nearly every day for three years, Chelsea had the privilege of observing the marine mammals of southern California, working as a naturalist, photographer and deckhand aboard various whale watching boats in Orange County. More recently, Chelsea moved to San Diego, and trained to be a scuba diving professional. She works as a divemaster on a liveaboard vessel that does scuba diving trips to the Channel Islands, and great white shark cage diving at Guadalupe Island. She loves working on boats because she gets to meet interesting people from all over the world and share her enthusiasm for nature and conservation. Chelsea is a US Coast Guard-licensed 100-ton Captain, PADI Divemaster, American Cetacean Society Naturalist, and Girls Who Click Ambassador.
Naturalist/Certified Photo Instructor
Patricio Maldonado
Patricio, better known as Pato amongst his friends, was born in the Galápagos Island. His family moved to the islands from the mainland and settled on the island of Santa Cruz over thirty-five years ago. Pato had an enchanted childhood in the islands, where his keen interest in the wildlife of the Galápagos was born initially through catching lizards and observing how they lost their tails. His experiences in the islands have led him to teach visitors about the need to protect this rare and unique environment. Pato underwent all his primary and secondary studies in local schools on Santa Cruz, and after graduation he moved to Quito to attend college, where he studied hotel management. This was an adventure that lasted for only two years, since city life was too hectic for Pato, who missed his idyllic islands. He learned that the Galápagos National Park was opening a guide course and looking for new, fresh-minded applicants. He passed the entrance requirements and the intensive three-month course, and now finds himself in his dream job of leading visitors along the trails of the islands. He has taken such joy in this line of work that he is continuously striving to improve his understanding of the Galápagos Archipelago, to better share it with others. He is now continuing his studies, taking a new direction – a distance learning course in ecology. Pato loves music, especially Andean music, and the first time he set foot aboard a Lindblad Expeditions-National Geographic vessel it was actually as a musician with a local band! He received his Photo Instructor certification in a multi-day training workshop. Developed and taught by National Geographic and Lindblad Expeditions photographers, the workshop helped him develop additional insight and skills necessary to help you better understand your camera and the basics of composition — to better capture the moments at the heart of your expedition.
Naturalist/Certified Photo Instructor
Brooke Jackson
At 6-years-old, Brooke knew she wanted to be an Expedition Photographer. So much so, she insisted her mother sign her up for drawing classes - just in case her camera broke in-the-field. Ever since, her love for storytelling has inspired her to pursue a life of adventure. Raised in Washington state, Brooke has since called many places “home.” After graduating from Northern Arizona University, Brooke moved to Thailand which led her to journeying solo through Bali and then backpacking alone for 16-days in Nepal, traveling by foot from Jiri to Gokyo Ri. Upon returning stateside, Brooke began leading cross country road trips for TrekAmerica. In 2016, she moved to Portland, OR where she guided for a local kayaking company, as well as REI as an Outdoor School Instructor. Here, Brooke became immersed in human-powered objectives. As she dove deeper into the adventure sports cultures - her photography portfolio began to expand. Now, Brooke is an internationally published Photojournalist and Filmmaker based in Seattle, WA. Her work has been featured by Rock & Ice, Climbing Magazine, and BBC. Outside of her creative endeavors, Brooke utilizes her technical outdoor skills by volunteering with Olympic Mountain Rescue. She looks forward to visiting some of the world’s most incredible destinations with her fellow teammates and guests of Lindblad Expeditions, and she’s keen to share her photography passion and experience to help make your journey even more memorable.
Showing 12 of 36