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Christopher Michel shared thisCreation. M43 sits just off Orion, a small glowing pocket where stars are still coming together. Hydrogen lit from within, stirred by young stars nearby. Nothing finished yet. Just gas, gravity, and time, working slowly. You’re watching something begin. Happy Easter!
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Christopher Michel shared thisOne of the greats, Ed KashiChristopher Michel shared thisArtist Andy Warhol in San Francisco, CA in 1981. Andy Warhol, Steve Jobs, Bill Gates — by 1983, I had built a career photographing the most prominent celebrities, artists, and entrepreneurs of the time. Five years later, I chose to step away from that success to explore my true passion: photojournalism and documentary work. From borrowing $75 to rent a Ricoh camera as a college freshman, to producing projects that are now in the Library of Congress and have been published globally, it's been a long and fulfilling journey working as a photojournalist for over 45-years. In a recent interview with INSIDE Photojournalism, I talked about how I got to where I am today and gave some advice for those working in today's difficult media landscape. I hope you'll give it a listen: https://lnkd.in/eSNV6mQE
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Christopher Michel shared thisFinish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could. Some blunders and absurdities no doubt crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day. — Ralph Waldo Emerson
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Christopher Michel shared thisThere’s a moment on the northern California coast when the light shifts and everything changes. The same trees shaped by years of wind suddenly glow from within, revealing texture, age, and resilience that isn’t obvious at first glance. It’s a reminder that environment shapes us more than we admit, and that strength often looks like adaptation rather than resistance. Hasselblad X2D II.
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Christopher Michel reposted thisThe National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine
The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine
Christopher Michel reposted thisIn a new interview, outgoing National Academy of Sciences president Marcia McNutt reflects on her presidency, offers advice to young women in science, and outlines emerging opportunities and challenges in science. Read: https://ow.ly/noCi50YCQTq -
Christopher Michel shared thisNorthern California coast. Moments like this recalibrate perspective. The vastness, the rhythm, the quiet repetition of waves against rock. It is a reminder that clarity often comes not from pushing harder, but from stepping back and letting things settle.
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Christopher Michel shared thisThis is the Orion Nebula, one of the nearest stellar nurseries to Earth. What looks like a soft glow is a region where stars are actively forming, carving through clouds of gas and dust. A nursery of stars, still forming, still burning through its own dust. Fifteen hundred light years away, seen from a quiet stretch of coastline. Time folded into a single frame. It’s hard not to feel perspective here. The light we’re seeing began its journey long before modern civilization, yet it arrives quietly, without announcement. A reminder that scale, time, and creation are far larger than the news cycle.
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Christopher Michel reposted thisChristopher Michel reposted thisMeet Amanda Staudt, our new executive director🌟! From presenting her first research at an AMS Annual Meeting as an undergraduate to leading at the intersection of science, policy, and society, Staudt’s journey reflects a deep commitment to advancing atmospheric science for the public good. “The work of our community has never been more important.” Read more on AMS Headlines🗞️: https://bit.ly/4thIokc
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Christopher Michel reposted thisDeepest respect and thanks for the talented Christopher Michel in creating this portrait and profile. At DOER marine we do our best to lead by example, adaptively reusing historic hangar 41 at Alameda Point, embracing circular manufacturing, bringing along next generation doers via internships and community education/action. DOER largely works under the radar, solving problems and providing solutions for ocean exploration and harsh environments. So appreciate this spotlight.
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Christopher Michel liked thisChristopher Michel liked thisReflecting on a fantastic end to the Antarctic season with Swan Hellenic Limited in my role as marine biologist 🐋🐬. These final voyages have been filled with unforgettable moments, many of them true career highlights!! A few that stand out in particular: - Landing on Point Wild, Elephant Island📍. It was an incredible privilege to stand where Shackleton and his men once endured such adversity. Seeing our zodiac waiting by the shoreline felt especially poignant, reminiscent of the James Caird all those years ago 🚤 - Crossing the glacial river at St Andrew’s Bay, South Georgia, and reaching the viewpoint over the vast king penguin colony. The valley was full to the brim with fluffy brown kiwi fruit chicks and the incredible chorus of sound made for an unforgettable morning… not to mention the beautiful 6am sunrise! 🥝🐧🌅 - Encountering a superpod of 450+ southern right whale dolphins in the middle of the South Atlantic… an extraordinary sight, to which I did in fact, lose my mind 🤯😂 A species I have wanted to see for the longest time since starting these adventures nearly 6 years ago! 🐬 - Landing on Tristan da Cunha, the world’s most remote inhabited island ⛰️ Exploring volcanic lava flows and even hitchhiking in the back of a truck with new friends met along the way - the perfect ending to our season’s operations ✅ I always feel incredibly fortunate to visit such remarkable places and to share these environments with some of nature’s most extraordinary wildlife. Along the way I’ve forged wonderful new friendships and continued developing my skills as a guide and marine biologist. Let’s see what the future brings! 🌍🐧🐋
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Christopher Michel liked thisChristopher Michel liked thisI met Blanca Rosa at her church, Iglesia Cristiana Josué, in Cantón Colima, El Salvador. She is thirty-five years old. Three months ago, she lost her son. His name was César Omar Flores Fuentes and he died from chronic kidney disease of non-traditional causes (CKDnT) at only 20-years old. She told us about him in the way that mothers do when grief is still raw and the words are both necessary and insufficient—carefully, with long pauses, her hands folded in her lap, convulsive tears flowing down her cheeks. César is not a statistic, though he will become one in a database somewhere, another data point confirming what researchers have spent more than a decade trying to prove. He was a young man who went to work in a sugarcane field and came home, eventually, too sick to survive.
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Christopher Michel liked thisChristopher Michel liked thisVisual Riff: Shades of Joy With everything happening in the world, it's hard for many people to feel much joy these days – let alone find shared examples of it. To counter your doom scrolling, I wanted to share images I've taken over the years that capture people experiencing moments of happiness. These images reveal joy's spectrum—the collective euphoria of shared moments and the intimate radiance of private ones. Whether celebrating tradition, victory, love, or simply the thrill of being alive, each photograph reveals a universal truth: that joy transcends circumstance. Joy is one of humanity's common languages, spoken in countless beautiful dialects. Captions: Vasily Nikitovich Karezin, 70, and his wife, Olga Semyonovna Karezin, 69, celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary in Sevastopol, Crimea, Ukraine on June 12, 1993. The two met while working together on the railway, and she broke his finger. Kurdish youth at the Dream City amusement park in Dohuk City, Iraq, 2005. The park was built on a former Iraqi military base where many Kurds were tortured and killed under the Saddam Hussein regime. Drum majorettes practice at a high school in KwaMashu, South Africa, 1998. A woman from the local village grins with her full set of gold teeth in Pionerskoye, Crimea, Ukraine on June 1, 1993. A mother and child from Kosovo play together at a Serbian refugee camp in Smederevo, Serbia, 2001. Nabila Boudjellal, 31, celebrates her upcoming wedding with friends by wearing festive costumes on the street near the Old Port in Marseille, France on Sept. 11, 2010.
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Christopher Michel liked thisThis iceberg is not just frozen water but a record of time. Snow that fell tens of thousands of years ago, compressed into dense ice, now released into the ocean. The deep blue and green tones come from the way ancient ice absorbs longer wavelengths of light and scatters shorter blue light back to our eyes. A moment of quiet, but also of change. #Greenland #Polar
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Christopher Michel liked thisChristopher Michel liked thisA scene from Sibi Camel Mela, an annual festival in Balochistan, Pakistan, 1997. There are times when I'm photographing in situations that feel overwhelming — a kind of visual cognitive dissonance, with too much stimuli. When I found myself in a remote part of Balochistan in 1997, that is exactly what I experienced. Back then, Pakistan—and the world—felt different. Perhaps more innocent in some ways, though not necessarily less dangerous, but it feels that way in retrospect. I had traveled overnight with my Pakistani companion to photograph the Sibi Mela, a centuries-old cultural and livestock festival dating back to 1885. Held in February or March, it showcases the finest camels, bhagari bulls, horse racing, tent pegging, traditional dances, and music. I was there on assignment for @NatGeo covering Pakistan. After a long journey, we found a simple hostel to stay in and as we were bunking down, there was a knock on the door. It was a local security man who was clearly surprised to see an American there. After explaining who we were and why we had come, he seemed satisfied and left. It was a reminder of the situation I was in: a foreigner, untrusted, in a very remote place. The festival itself was a raucous, riotous mashup of striking people from across the tribal regions and animals, sound, dust, the hot sun, and a most welcoming and warm sense of camaraderie and vibrancy. Which brings me back to that feeling of overwhelm: trying to make sense of what I was seeing and how to visualize it in a way that was interesting and with integrity. There are two elements that strike me about this image. First, is the vertical framing, which is quite unusual for me but it was the only approach I felt that would work in that composition. Second, the chaos of the image reflects my emotional state at the time.
Experience & Education
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The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine
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Publications
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Photographs
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My photographs have been published widely in international print and digital outlets, including the New York Times, Washington Post, National Geographic, Discovery Channel, BBC, Scientific American, Outside Magazine, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, NBC News, Agence France-Presse, Smithsonian Magazine, Daily Mail, and The Telegraph, among others.
Much of my work comes from extreme and rarely seen environments, including the South Pole, Mount Everest, the Korean DMZ, Papua…My photographs have been published widely in international print and digital outlets, including the New York Times, Washington Post, National Geographic, Discovery Channel, BBC, Scientific American, Outside Magazine, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, NBC News, Agence France-Presse, Smithsonian Magazine, Daily Mail, and The Telegraph, among others.
Much of my work comes from extreme and rarely seen environments, including the South Pole, Mount Everest, the Korean DMZ, Papua New Guinea, and the edge of space aboard a U-2 spy plane. I have also photographed scientists, engineers, astronauts, and global leaders, including His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama.
I have self-published several fine art books, including Monochromatic, Rajasthan, Point 95, and Roof of the World. I am currently working on POLAR, a long-form photography book created in collaboration with Pico Iyer, exploring polar regions through images and essays.
I am also the editor of Explorers.com and a member of the Explorers Club. A broader archive of my work can be found at ChristopherMichel.com. -
The Military Advantage
Simon & Schuster
Projects
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New Heroes
A long-term portrait and storytelling project documenting the scientists, engineers, and medical innovators shaping our understanding of the world.
Christopher Michel created New Heroes to humanize the people behind major advances in science and technology. The project combines large-format portraiture with narrative profiles, offering an intimate view of individuals whose work often remains abstract or unseen.
To date, the project includes 300 of the world’s most inspiring…A long-term portrait and storytelling project documenting the scientists, engineers, and medical innovators shaping our understanding of the world.
Christopher Michel created New Heroes to humanize the people behind major advances in science and technology. The project combines large-format portraiture with narrative profiles, offering an intimate view of individuals whose work often remains abstract or unseen.
To date, the project includes 300 of the world’s most inspiring scientists, from Nobel laureates to pioneering researchers and emerging voices across disciplines, photographed in their own environments with a focus on presence, character, and lived experience.
Photographs and stories from New Heroes have been shared widely across digital and print platforms, reaching millions of viewers.
New Heroes is part of Michel’s ongoing work as Artist-in-Residence at the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine.
Honors & Awards
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Henry Crown Fellow
Aspen Institute
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Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters
Tiffin University
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