Chris Rainier is considered one of the leading
documentary photographers working today. His life's mission is to put on
film both the remaining natural wilderness and indigenous cultures
around the globe and to use images to create social change.
Rainier
co-directs the National Geographic Society's Cultural Ethnosphere
Program as well as the All Roads Photography Program. He is a
contributing editor for National Geographic Traveler magazine, specializing in culture; a contributing photographer for National Geographic Adventure magazine; and a correspondent on photography for NPR's Day to Day
radio show. Rainier is the photographer for the National Geographic's
Enduring Voices, a multi-year project that strives to research and
revitalize the world’s most endangered languages.
Rainier has
traveled to all seven continents, making extensive expeditions
throughout Africa, Antarctica, and New Guinea. His photography has been
seen in Time, Life, Smithsonian, the New York Times, Outside
and publications of the National Geographic Society. In addition,
Rainier has photographed global culture and conflict, famine, and war in
such places as Somalia, Sarajevo/Bosnia, Sudan, Ethiopia, Cambodia, and
Iraq.
He has won awards for his photography, including the
prestigious Lowell Thomas Award given by the Explorers Club for
adventure stories. Rainier's photography has been shown and collected by
museums around the world, including the Australian Museum in Sydney,
the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris, the International Center of
Photography in New York, the George Eastman House International Museum
in Rochester, New York, and the United Nations.