Women in Wildlife Photography: A Brave Conversation

Suzi Eszterhas is an award-winning wildlife photographer best known for her work documenting newborn animals and family life in the wild. She has photographed over 100 cover and feature stories for publications such as TIME, Smithsonian, BBC Wildlife, The New York Times, Ranger Rick, and National Geographic Kids. As an author, Suzi has 21 books in print with another three in progress.

Suzi is a dedicated conservationist and helps raise funds and awareness for environmental organizations around the globe. She also recently founded Girls Who Click, a non-profit dedicated to encouraging young women to enter this male- dominated profession. For more info, please visit www.suzieszterhas.com.

Morgan Heim — (MA) Journalism, (BS) Zoology — is a conservation photographer and filmmaker focused on stories of wildlife and human coexistence. She is the founder of Neon Raven Story Labs, a storytelling and strategy platform for conservation, and in 2020 co-launched the Her Wild Vision Initiative with Jaymi Heimbuch, aimed at raising the voices of diverse women in the craft of conservation storytelling. Morgan is a Senior Fellow with the International League of Conservation Photographers, and her work appears in outlets such as Smithsonian, Audubon, and National Geographic. Throughout her career she’s had the distinction of being pooped on by endangered Chinese crested terns, has ventured in the tunnels of Chicago’s sewer system, and has traipsed across mountains following the path of “Deer 139,” all of which reminds her of how wonderfully small she is in this great big world.

Jaymi Heimbuch is the founder of Wild Idea Lab and Conservation Photography Courses, and is the host of "Impact: The Conservation Photography Podcast." Her current photography project, Watershed Sentinels, focuses on the health of watersheds along Oregon's coastline. Her photography and writing appears in outlets such as Audubon, National Wildlife Magazine, BBC Wildlife, bioGraphic, and National Geographic. Jaymi is a National Geographic grantee, partner photographer with Girls Who Click (GWC), and former board member of North American Nature Photography Association (NANPA).

Susan T. McElhinney is Photography Director for Children’s Publications of The National Wildlife Federation since 2001 and photo editor of Ranger Rick magazine. She began editing while shooting children's books for National Geographic and, prior to the NWF, was photo editor with National Geographic World (now Kids). Previous to that she was a staff photographer for seven years at "Newsweek Magazine" covering national and international events, and spent 24 years as a freelance editorial photographer for magazines ranging from "Discover" to "Women’s World," and the IBM Annual Report to "Parenting."