Ben Horton — National Geographic Photographer
National Geographic — Over 20 Years in the Field

A Modern-Day Explorer
with a Camera

Crossed the Arctic by dogsled. Survived on uninhabited islands. Explored never-before-seen caves. For over 20 years, Ben Horton has brought back photographs from places most people will never go.

The Story

It started with a camera, a remote island, and a story no one had told yet. Ben Horton's first National Geographic work exposed illegal shark poaching operations between Costa Rica and China — work that earned him National Geographic's first-ever Young Explorer Grant and led directly to expanded ocean protections in Costa Rica. What followed was twenty years of assignments across nine countries, three consecutive years as one of National Geographic's top-selling photographers, a television series on the Nat Geo International Channel, and work exhibited at Christie's Auction House and the Denver Museum of Modern Art.

20+
Years on
Assignment
3×
Top-Selling
Photographer
9
Countries
Documented
1st
Young Explorer
Grant Recipient

National Geographic Projects

Shark Poachers — Cocos Island, Costa Rica
Origin Story
Shark Poachers
Cocos Island
Shark Poachers
Cocos Island, Costa Rica
The assignment that started it all. Ben traced illegal shark finning operations from Costa Rica to China, earning National Geographic's first-ever Young Explorer Grant and helping expand Costa Rica's national park protections.
View Project
 Arctic Expedition with Will Steger
60 Days on Ice
Arctic Expedition
with Will Steger
Arctic Expedition
Ellesmere Island
A 1,400-mile dogsled traverse of the Canadian Arctic with Explorer-in-Residence Will Steger and five young explorers, documenting the effects of climate change from ground level across 60 days on the ice.
View Project
 Extreme China — National Geographic TV Series
TV Series
Extreme China
Extreme China
Ben starred in and photographed this National Geographic International Channel television series, documenting some of China's most unforgiving and remote landscapes across multiple episodes.
View Project
 Mongolia — In Search of Genghis Khan
Christie's Auction
Mongolia — In Search
of Genghis Khan
Mongolia
In Search of Genghis Khan
Joining Dr. Albert Lin on a remote expedition across the Mongolian steppe, Ben's photographs were published across National Geographic media and his motion assets used in a Nat Geo Channel documentary. The work later sold at Christie's.
View Project
 Haiti after the Earthquake
Photojournalism
Haiti after
the Earthquake
Haiti after
the Earthquake
Sent to Haiti for the National Geographic Assignment Blog, Ben pioneered a first-of-its-kind approach pairing ground-level photography with crowd-sourced satellite imagery — a technique later cited as one of the first of its kind in photojournalism.
View Project
 Manatee — Three Sisters Springs, Florida
Conservation
Manatee
Three Sisters Springs
Manatee
Three Sisters Springs, FL
An ongoing underwater conservation project documenting Florida's manatee population — animals bearing the visible scars of boat strikes and tourist pressure. Published on National Geographic Stock, the work is part of a longer effort Ben plans to extend to dugong in Asia.
View Project
Joshua Tree National Geographic
Endangered Trees
Joshua Tree
Joshua Tree
Part of Ben's ongoing National Geographic work documenting threatened environments, this project turns a lens on the fragile ecology of one of America's most visually iconic and increasingly endangered desert landscapes.
View Project
 Nepal — Maternal Mortality
Photojournalism
Nepal
Nepal
Traveling with writer Jesse Seiver and a team of American doctors to Ilam, Ben documented maternal mortality rates in one of Nepal's most remote regions. Published on the National Geographic Assignment Blog.
View Project