GEORGE STEINMETZ
education
1980 B.S. Geophysics, Stanford University.
work experience
1982-present: Free-lance photographer for general interest magazines: National Geographic, GEO, Stern, and Smithsonian. Since 1996 George's work has focused on photographing remote areas of the world's driest regions with a small motorized paraglider which he pilots while taking photos.
1981-82 Geophysical Service Inc. on a geophysical exploration field crew in Northern Mexico.
1979 Exploration Geophysicist (trainee) for Texaco's Alaska Division studying permafrost in North Slope/Beaufort Sea
books
"Empty Quarter" Aerial and ground photographs of the world's largest sand sea, in Saudi Arabia, Oman, Yemen, and the U.A.E.. Published in 2009 by Abrams, with editions in French, German, Italian, Spanish, and Dutch.
"African Air" a compilation of aerial photographs from Africa published by Abrams in 2008, with editions in French, German, Italian, and Dutch.
solo exhibits
Songs of the Sonoran Desert at the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum, Tucson, AZ July-Sept. 2007. Photographs of the landscape, wildlife, and ecology of the most biologically diverse desert in the world.
awards
2008 Pictures of the Year, Award of Excellence for Natural History Photography,
"Altiplano" (National Geographic Magazine)
1997 World Press Foundation: First place, Science: "Robot Revolution" (National Geographic Magazine)
1995 World Press Foundation: First place, Science: "Genetically altered mice" (GEO Magazine)
1993 Overseas Press Club Citation of Excellence: "Alcohol: The Legal Drug" (National Geographic Magazine
1993 Pictures of the Year Competition: First place; issue illustration: "Fetal Alcohol Syndrome: The Preventable Tragedy." (National Geographic Magazine)
television documentaries
2001 — "Unknown Gobi" produced by National Geographic Explorer. Broadcast on TNN.
1999 — "Survive The Sahara" produced by National Geographic Explorer. Broadcast on TNN.