Photographer Justin Guariglia Biography -- National Geographic

Picture of a mangrove forest extending into the ocean, Peninsular Malaysia

Photograph by Justin Guariglia

Photograph courtesy Justin Guariglia

Justin Guariglia is a photographer and a contributing editor to National Geographic Traveler magazine, having worked with the magazine since 1999. Guariglia specializes in landscape photography, aerials, and portraits, often working in large formats. He has shot five cover stories for Traveler, including features on Bali, Kyoto, Shanghai, and Mexico.

Guariglia moved to Asia at age 21 to learn Mandarin Chinese in Beijing, where he eventually taught himself photography while exploring the city. Returning to the United States briefly, he landed an internship at Magnum Photos in New York, where he was first exposed to documentary photography. He returned to Asia in 1998, settled in Hong Kong, and began working on freelance commissions for National Geographic Traveler, Smithsonian, and Newsweek.

Named one of the "Top 30 Young Photographers Under 30" by Photo District News, Guariglia was also nominated for the Young Photographer of the Year award by the International Center of Photography in New York. In 2003 his reportage work won two Pictures of the Year awards and an Ozzie gold award.

His first book, entitled Shaolin: Temple of Zen, was published by the Aperture Foundation and accompanied by a 99-piece, internationally traveling exhibition. The book and exhibition feature the notoriously guarded Shaolin Temple, the birthplace of Zen Buddhism and martial arts. In the 1500-year history of the temple, Guariglia was the first foreign photographer allowed to document the real monks of Shaolin.

His second book, entitled Planet Shanghai and published in the spring of 2008 by Chronicle Books, looks at daily life in and around the old—and quickly disappearing—back-alley communal living quarters, or long tang, of Shanghai. The book was selected by American Photo magazine as one of the best photography books of 2008 and transcended traditional photography books with reviews in the New Yorker and the New York Times Magazine.

His most recent book, Johor: Asia Latitude One, won a prestigious Communication Arts award for best photography of 2011, as well being named best book of the year by PDN and American Photo magazines.

Guariglia has photographed in more than 50 countries worldwide, focusing mainly on Asia and Europe. He has lived in Venice, Beijing, Hong Kong, Singapore, Tokyo, New York, and Shanghai, and currently resides in Taipei, Taiwan.

www.guariglia.com

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