WHO IS DAN WESTERGREN?

Dan Westergren has spent the past three decades producing award-winning images as a National Geographic Society photographer, photo editor, and social media strategist. As Director of Photography at National Geographic Travel, Dan developed a photographic aesthetic that defined the magazine’s visual impact in print, digital, and social media.

He served as chief creative director for integrated sponsored content packages, meeting with clients to help close deals from $500,000-1.5 million with advertisers including the tourism boards of Montana, Florida, Switzerland, South Australia, Brand USA and others. As the central point of contact between the magazine, advertising, and digital teams Dan helped pioneer a method for communication between photographers in the field that enabled efficient and impactful travel reporting on Instagram, Facebook, and the popular “On Assignment” blog. The result of using social media to share photos in real time drew readers to the site and led to high advertising client satisfaction.

Helped launch the popular and profitable National Geographic Traveler Photography Seminar series and contributed to the program as it grew from four events the first year to more than 38 scheduled events in 2015. Presenting ten seminars each year and served as a key point of contact for thousands of NatGeo Travel readers. Dan Westergren has lead numerous photography workshops as a National Geographic expert, sharing his love of photography with travelers in all corners of the globe.

As a photographer, Dan has shot stories on all seven continents, including expeditions up Mt. Kilimanjaro, Mont Blanc, and the Matterhorn. His defining moment at the National Geographic Society came when he stood at the North Pole, after skiing the last degree of latitude, to produce photographs for a Traveler story. Though exhausted, Dan reflected on the organization’s history of visual excellence and proudly claimed his place in the National Geographic Family.