Stephen Alvarez

Stephen Alvarez (born 1965) is a photojournalist who produces global stories about exploration, culture, religion, and the aftermath of conflict. He has been a National Geographic photographer since 1995. [ [http://photography.nationalgeographic.com/photography/photographers/photographer-stephen-alvarez.html] National Geographic Photographer Biographies] His pictures have won awards in Pictures of the Year International [http://www.poyi.org/61/17/02.php] Pictures of the Year International] and Communications Arts [http://www.commarts.com/CA/magazine/toc/] Communications Arts] and have been exhibited at Visa Pour L’Image International Photojournalism Festival [http://www.visapourlimage.com/anglais/expos1.php3] Visa Pour L’Image International Photojournalism Festival] in Perpignan, France.

Photography career

Stephen Alvarez’s first magazine assignment came in 1991 from Time Magazine [Time Magazine, November 30, 1992, "Subterranean Secrets"] to photograph new discoveries in Mammoth Cave. He has continued to photograph cave exploration and underground landscapes throughout the world.

His first National Geographic assignment in 1995 took him over 20,000 feet up into the Peruvian Andes to photograph the discovery of a 500-year-old Incan Mummy Juanita, the Ice Maiden. [ [http://www.nationalgeographic.com/inca/inca_culture_1.html] "National Geographic Magazine" 1996/08 “Peru’s Ice Maiden”]

He continued his work for National Geographic with several expedition stories. He travelled to Borneo to document exploration of the caves of Sarawak to aid their conservation. [ [http://www.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/9809/hilights.html#f] "National Geographic Magazine" 1998/09 “Borneo’s White Mountain”]

In Belize, Alvarez covered an excruciating 1999 jungle expedition to map Chiquibul, the longest cave in Central America. [ [http://www.nationalgeographic.com/chiquibul/intro.html] "National Geographic Magazine" 2000/04 “Inside Chiquibul”]

In Mexico he photographed a poisonous hydrogen sulfide cave, Cueva de Villa Luz, where scientists study clues to the origins of life. [ [http://www.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/0105/feature4/] "National Geographic Magazine" 2001/05 “Mexico’s Poisonous Cave”]

He traveled to the Middle East for National Geographic in 2001-2002 to photograph the deserts of the Empty Quarter and the immense caves of Oman on the Selma Plateau including Majlis al Jinn. [ [http://magma.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/0304/feature2/] "National Geographic Magazine" 2003/04 “Oman Caves”]

The Nature Conservancy assigned Alvarez to document ongoing cave conservation and exploration in the American Southeast for a 2004 article. [The Nature Conservancy Magazine, Autumn 2005, "The Last Frontier"]

In 2004 Alvarez won a prestigious Banff Centre Grant to photograph the Cave of the Swallows, a deep vertical pit in Mexico, and presented his work at Banff in 2006. [ [http://www.banffcenter.com/events/calendar/exhibit_detail.aspx?sn=2708] Banff Mountain Centre]

The Maya Underworld story, published in the November 2004 "National Geographic Magazine", took Alvarez to Mexico, Guatemala, Belize and Honduras. [ [http://magma.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/0411/sights_n_sounds/media2.html] "National Geographic Magazine" 2004/11 “Maya Underworld”] The story covers the worldview of today’s Maya peoples through their rituals and religion as well as their archeological past. The Maya Underworld has roots in the Maya sacred book the Popol Vuh. Alvarez was invited to exhibit this work at Visa pour L’Image International Photojournalism Festival in 2005.

On another National Geographic assignment Alvarez photographed the deepest cave in the world, Voronya Cave, located 2000 meters beneath the Caucasus Mountains in the breakaway Russian republic of Abkhasia. [ [http://www7.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/0505/feature4/] "National Geographic Magazine" 2005/05 “World’s Deepest Cave”]

He photographed subterranean Rome in 2005 for National Geographic. [ [http://www7.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/0607/feature3/index.html] "National Geographic Magazine" 2006/07 “Ruins Under Rome” ]

In 2006 National Geographic assigned Alvarez the story Raging Danger, which documents the river caves of Papua New Guinea. [ [http://www7.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/0609/feature3/multimedia.html] "National Geographic Magazine" 2006/09 “Raging Danger”] This story won a Communication Arts award in Editorial Series.

Alvarez has taken personal time from his assignment career to document the ongoing conflict and its aftermath in northern Uganda and southern Sudan. [ [http://www.crimesofwar.org] Crimes of War website] One of his photographs of the cycle of violence on the Uganda/Sudan border won an award in 2004 Pictures of the Year International.

Awards and Exhibits

Communications Arts 48, Editorial Series
The Aftermath Project Auction 2006
Uganda/Sudan Border Project 2006
PDN Photo Annual 2006
National Geographic Lecture Under the Map 2006
Visa Pour L’Image Exhibit 2005
Communications Arts 45
Pictures of the Year International 2004
Banff Mountain Centre Grant and Exhibit 2004

External links

* [http://www.alvarezphotography.com alvarezphotography.com]
* [http://www.digitalrailroad.net/alvarezphotography/Default.aspx alvarez photography archive]
* [http://ugandasudanborder.org Uganda Sudan Border Project]

Sources