Barrett Hedges is a multi award-winning National Geographic photographer living in the Rockies with his wife. He was born in Tennessee in 1986, but it didn’t take long for him to realize he wanted to be out west.  His family took summer vacations to different National Parks all over the United States growing up, and he loved taking pictures on his parent’s 35mm film camera. On those trips he realized he had an eye for photography, and particularly loved the challenge of finding and photographing wildlife. Barrett went to college and got a BFA in Photography, before hitting the road to pursue his career.

After college, Barrett set out to follow his dream and become a full-time professional wildlife photographer. He had no idea the path he would take to get there, but he knew he at least wanted to try and see if he could make a career out of wildlife photography. For many years after college he worked seasonal jobs in different national parks and locations to get experience and build up his portfolio. Any time off he had, he was out hiking and backpacking with his camera gear. In between jobs he would travel for months at a time, living out of his car, to get to some of the wildest places in the U.S.

Spending those thousands of hours in the field helped Barrett develop a keen eye for composition, and connect with those animals in a way that comes through in his photography. To this day, any chance he gets he is out in nature tracking and photographing wildlife. While photographing he concentrates on two perspectives: up-close and personal, and vast scenic views with wildlife blending into nature.  His goal is for each picture to be able to tell a story in its entirety.

Barrett has won multiple awards and has been published in numerous publications over his career. He won the grand prize of a National Geographic photo contest, and is a National Geographic photographer. He has been featured in numerous gallery exhibits and has galleries in Skagway, Alaska and Banff National Park, Alberta. Barrett’s favorite place to photograph is in Alaska, and bears are his favorite animals to photograph. Even though all types of bears are his favorite, he also enjoys photographing moose, elk, lynx, bobcats, and wolves among other animals. He has traveled to 4 continents, and driven over 300,000 miles all over North America in pursuit of his next great image. When he is not photographing, he enjoys playing and watching sports and doing just about anything outdoors.