Jason Houston specializes in stories related to environmental conservation, exploring the issues from the perspective of human communities and culture. Water, fisheries, fire, forests, food security, indigenous rights, cultural heritage, and impacts related to climate instablity—and how local communities deal with all these issues. He has experience organizing and executing editorial assignments and NGO commissions in North, Central, and South America, the Caribbean, Asia, South Pacific, and Africa, collaborating creatively to combine long-term projects and specialty focus with the timely and immediate needs of clients.
Editorial & Assignment photography // 1992–pres
Print and online editorial and NGO credits include: Smithsonian, Nature Conservancy, Orion, National Geographic News, The New York Times & The New York Times Magazine, BBC, Boston Globe Sunday Magazine, GEO, Playboy, Time, Daylight, The Wall Street Journal, Science Magazine, Discover, Men’s Journal, The Financial Times, Scholastic Books, Harper-Collins, Chronicle Books, Boston Magazine, CNN, CBS, ABC, OutsideTV, Newsweek, Business Week, The Sierra Club, Photo District News, Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting, Orvis Conservation, Rare, EcoTrust, UNESCO, UN Convention on Biological Diversity, University of California Santa Barbara, The Nature Conservancy, Audubon, Conservation International, Slow Food, American Farmland Trust, Farm Aid, National Wildlife Federation, Wildlife Conservation Society, Environmental Defense Fund, US Fish & Wildlife Service, NASA, Rainforest Alliance, Community Fisheries Network, Cornell University, and Williams College.
Senior Fellow // International League of Conservation Photographers // 2013-pres
Senior Fellow // Center for Energy, Environment, & Sustainability, Wake Forest University // 2016-pres
Consultant (Dir of Education), LensCulture.com // 2015–pres
Manage global team of approximately 150 reviewers performing online portfolio reviews.
Board Member & Advisory Board Member, Blue Earth // 2008–pres
Organizational leadership including co-organizer for the 2013 and 2014 Collaborations for Cause conferences and editor of Blue Earth One.
Photo Editor, Orion magazine // 2004–12
Led assignments, story development, art direction, and research for photo essays, portfolios, features, and departments for an award-winning bi-monthly periodical focused on people and nature.
Selected Exhibitions & Portfolios
2016 “FARMER” & “FISHERMAN”, SxSW Eco (experiential documentary video installation)
2016 “Caringo Island, Philippines”, Rare (solo exhibition & video installation)
2016 Instagram takeovers: @blinkdotla, @maptia, @ilcp_photographers, @lensculture
2015 “Mosaic of Change”, UNESCO (interactive group exhibition)
2015 Instagram takeovers: @rainforestalliance, @causebeautiful, @visura.co, @communityfish, @ecotrust, @ilcp_photographers, @rare_org
2013–14 “Conservation Journal”, Adventure Film Festival; Fovea Gallery; Telluride Photo Festival
2014 “Fisheries”, FSTOP Magazine, #63 Documentary Issue (published portfolio)
2014 “Food Makers”, Honghe Photo Week, Yunnan, China
2014 “Conservation Journal”, PDN Photo of the Day (published portfolio)
2010–13 “People of the Forest”, Mountainfilm; Wild & Scenic Film Festival; Durham Art Guild; Harvard
2013 “Selects #3”, PhotoShelter (published portfolio)
2012 “One Earth”, Fovea Gallery (group)
2011 “Picture the Leviathan”, PDN Photo of the Day (published portfolio)
2011 “Changing the Way We Eat”, TEDx, New York, NY
2010 “Dying Beautifully”, Fraction magazine; Obit Magazine (published portfolios)
2010 “Markets”, Ferrin Gallery
2010 “Family of Mine”, Ferrin Gallery (group)
2006–09 “Farmer”, Mountainfilm; Stone Barns Center; Ferrin Gallery; Spike Gallery; Yale
2009 “Project 350: Photographers for Earth Initiative”, Producers Guild of America, Los Angeles, CA (group)
2009 “Family of Mine”, Rayko Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2009 “Last Polar Bear”, PDN Photo of the Day (published portfolio)
2008 “Jason Houston: Farmer”, Daylight Magazine, Issue #7 (published portfolio)
2008 “Fire: Hedgehog Kiln”, Ferrin Gallery
2007 “Jason Houston: The American Farm”, Gastronomica (published portfolio)
2006 “Earth”, Spike Gallery, New York, NY (group)
2004 “Robert & Shana ParkeHarrison: Process”, DeCordova Museum
Selected Presentations & Workshops
2016 “An Evening with Conservation Photographer Jason Houston”, Wake Forest University (keynote)
2016 “Photography for a Cause”, Boulder Valley Schools Annual Art Symposium (keynote)
2015 “Conservation Practices: Conservation Photography”, University of Colorado Boulder (guest lecture)
2015 “Conservation Communication”, Duke University (keynote)
2015 “Mexico’s Mesoamerican Reef”, WildSpeak, Washington D.C.
2015 “Creatively Reinventing Ourselves”, Creative Mornings: Denver (keynote)
2012–15 “Making a Living Making Photographs That Matter”, Adventure Film Festival; San Francisco Art Institute; Focus on the Arts 20th Anniversary
2014 “Doing Conservation Photography”, Telluride Photo Festival (keynote)
2014 “Conservation Photography: Make your photos matter”, Telluride Photo Festival (workshop)
2014 “iLCP Presents: Collaborating with Conservation Photographers”, Telluride Photo Festival (workshop)
2014 “Guest Faculty Lecture”, Anderson Ranch Arts Center
2014 “Visual Storytelling”, Anderson Ranch Arts Center (workshop)
2014 “Fisheries Management”, International League of Conservation Photographers
2014 “Impressions of Fish Forever: Belize”, Rare Conservation
2013 "Concerned Photography Today”, Colorado Photographic Arts Center
2013 Co-organizer: “Filmmaker & Photographer Workshop”, Adventure Film Festival
2013 Co-chair: “Collaborations for Cause”, Blue Earth & Ecotrust
2013 “Conservation Photography”, University of Colorado Boulder (guest lecture)
2013 “Authenticity, Ethics & Aesthetics”, Collaborations for Cause
2011–13 “People of the Forest”, Collaborations for Cause; Duke University
2013 “Effective Storytelling in a Noisy World”, Wild & Scenic Film Fest (workshop)
2012 “Bringing Issues to Light”, Wild & Scenic Film Festival
2011 “Photography & Its Cultural Impact”, New Mexico Museum of Art
2011 “Artful Living: Artist Talk with Jason Houston”, Jennifer Schwartz Gallery
2011 “Aperture Presents: Sanna Kannisto with Jason Houston”, Aperture Gallery
2011 “Art + Advocacy: Discussion with Chris Jordan & Jason Houston”, Orion Live Web Events
2011 “Chinese Photography”, New York Photo festival
2010 “Conservation Inspired Photography”, CES Speaker Series, Williams College; Harvard(keynote)
2010 “Aperture Presents: Eirik Johnson with Jason Houston”, New York Photo Festival
2009 “Art, Editorial, & the Business of Meaningful Work”, PhotoLucida; Mt. San Antonio College
2009 “Nature in Media”, New Britain Museum of Art
2008 “Artists Imagining the Future”, Art+Environment, Nevada Museum of Art
2008 “Global Poverty Initiative: Meet Artist & Activists”, MIT
2006–07 “Art & Activism”, IS183 School of Art; Yale; Darrow School; NOFA Summer Conference (keynote)
2006 “Master’s Tea with Jason Houston”, Yale
2006 “Impressions of Nicaragua”, Rare (keynote)
2005 “South African Informal Settlements & the UN-WSSD”, Alfred University (keynote)
2005 “Photography for Social Change”, LeMoyne College
2004 “Images of South Africa’s Informal Settlements”, University of Vermont
Selected Awards & Accolades
2016 “Jonny Copp Award”, Jonny Copp Foundation
2015 “World’s Top Nature, Wildlife, and Cultural Photographers: Jason Houston”, Origin magazine
2015 “Ancón Peru”, Maptia Editors’ Pick
2015 “Conservation Journal”, Maptia Editors’ Pick
2015 “People of the Forest”, Maptia Editors’ Pick
2015 “Jason Houston”, Maptia Featured Storyteller
2012 “Top Ten Books on the Environment 2012: Reclaiming Our Food”, American Library Association
2011 “Mountainfilm Commitment Grant”, Mountainfilm
Related Professional Experience & Affiliations
2008–Present Juror, curator and portfolio reviewer for Flash Forward, Critical Mass, Center, the Lucie Awards, Fotofest, ICP, Photo Alliance, PhotoLucida, New York Photo Festival, PhotoNOLA, Atlanta Celebrates Photography, Photographic Resources Center, and Telluride Photo Festival.
2006–Present Freelance photo editing for Nature Conservancy magazine, F-Stop Magazine, Watershed Media, Fraction Magazine, and others.