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George Steinmetz (@geosteinmetz) born 1957 is an American photographer. His work has been featured in The New Yorker, Smithsonian, TIME, The New York Times Magazine, and he is a regular contributor to National Geographic magazine.
He is the author of five books- African Air, Empty Quarter, Desert Air, New York Air, and The Human Planet. Since his first assignment for National Geographic in 1987, Steinmetz has completed more than 20 major essays for the magazine, including three covers.
He has received many awards during his multi-decade career in photography, including two first prizes in science and technology from World Press Photo. A recent project on large scale food production won The One Club Gold Cube Award, he has also won awards and citations from Pictures of the Year, including the 74th Annual POYi Environmental Vision Award, Overseas Press Club, and Life magazine’s Alfred Eisenstadt Awards. In 2006 he was awarded a grant by the National Science Foundation to profit from the work of scientists in the Dry Valleys and volcanoes of Antarctica. The LOOK3 Festival hosted Steinmetz as a keynote speaker in 2011 for his presentation titled “Wild Air”.
Much of his work focuses on photographing the world while piloting a motorized paraglider. This experimental aircraft enables him to capture images of the world inaccessible by traditional aircraft and most other modes of transportation. He began using the paraglider in 1997 when a pilot he had hired for a job in Niger quit. He has also begun using a drone for photography.
In 2003 he was the first person to take pictures from a private aircraft in Iran following the revolution.
There is a selection of his work exclusively represented by Anastasia Photo in NYC. His work has also been exhibited in Dubai, the Brookfield Winter Garden in New York, The Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum, The Konica-Minolta Plaza in Tokyo as well as public venues in Houston, Denver, Los Angeles, Toronto, Stuttgart,bExpo 2015 in Milano, the Triennale di Milano, and twice in the Festival Photo La Gacilly in France.
