Artist Biography

Peter Essick is a photographer, teacher, and editor with 30 years of experience working with National Geographic Magazine. He specializes in nature and environmental themes. Named one of the forty most influential nature photographers in the world by Outdoor Photography Magazine UK, Essick has been influenced by many noted American landscape photographers from Carleton Watkins to Robert Adams. His goal is to make photographs that move beyond documentation to reveal in careful compositions the human impact of development as well as the enduring power of the land. 

"I find it hard to explain my deeper motives for photographing construction sites. On a personal level, I enjoy the unique challenge of capturing an ever-changing landscape. Construction sites change by the day, and the light and exposure are never the same, so there is always a sense of joy in capturing the perfect moment. Soil, wood, steel, and concrete relate to each other in infinite varieties of order and disorder. Surface reflections can create altering moods and various meanings. I enjoy capturing it all."

- Peter Essick, from the essay Learning to Fly