Daniel Beltrá (born 1964) is a Spanish photographer and artist who makes work about

human impact on the environment Human impact on the environment (or anthropogenic impact) refers to changes to biophysical environments and to ecosystems, biodiversity, and natural resources caused directly or indirectly by humans. Modifying the environment to fit the need ...

. The focus of Beltrá's recent work has been fine art

aerial photography Aerial photography (or airborne imagery) is the taking of photographs from an aircraft or other airborne platforms. When taking motion pictures, it is also known as aerial videography. Platforms for aerial photography include fixed-wing airc ...

of landscapes and

environmental issues Environmental issues are effects of human activity on the biophysical environment, most often of which are harmful effects that cause environmental degradation. Environmental protection is the practice of protecting the natural environment on t ...

. His best known project is a series of photographs of the

Deepwater Horizon oil spill The ''Deepwater Horizon'' oil spill (also referred to as the "BP oil spill") was an industrial disaster that began on 20 April 2010 off of the coast of the United States in the Gulf of Mexico on the BP-operated Macondo Prospect, considere ...

, titled ''Spill'', which have been exhibited in galleries and museums across Europe and North America. Other topics he has photographed are

tropical The tropics are the regions of Earth surrounding the Equator. They are defined in latitude by the Tropic of Cancer in the Northern Hemisphere at N and the Tropic of Capricorn in the Southern Hemisphere at S. The tropics are also referred to ...

deforestation in Brazil Brazil once had the highest deforestation rate in the world and in 2005 still had the largest area of forest removed annually. Since 1970, over of the Amazon rainforest have been destroyed. In 2001, the Amazon was approximately , which is only ...

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...

, and the

Democratic Republic of the Congo The Democratic Republic of the Congo (french: République démocratique du Congo (RDC), colloquially "La RDC" ), informally Congo-Kinshasa, DR Congo, the DRC, the DROC, or the Congo, and formerly and also colloquially Zaire, is a country in ...

and global warming in the Arctic,

Patagonia Patagonia () refers to a geographical region that encompasses the southern end of South America, governed by Argentina and Chile. The region comprises the southern section of the Andes Mountains with lakes, fjords, temperate rainforests, and g ...

and the

Southern Ocean The Southern Ocean, also known as the Antarctic Ocean, comprises the southernmost waters of the World Ocean, generally taken to be south of 60° S latitude and encircling Antarctica. With a size of , it is regarded as the second-small ...

. In September 2012, he documented the record-lowest summer sea ice level in the Arctic, which were later included in his "Ice" exhibition.

Life and work

Beltrá started his career with photos of bombings by the

Basque Basque may refer to: * Basques, an ethnic group of Spain and France * Basque language, their language Places * Basque Country (greater region), the homeland of the Basque people with parts in both Spain and France * Basque Country (autonomous co ...

separatist organization

Euskadi Ta Askatasuna ETA, an acronym for Euskadi Ta Askatasuna ("Basque Homeland and Liberty"ETA BASQUE ORGANIZA ...

(ETA) while he was a student at the

Complutense University of Madrid The Complutense University of Madrid ( es, Universidad Complutense de Madrid; UCM, links=no, ''Universidad de Madrid'', ''Universidad Central de Madrid''; la, Universitas Complutensis Matritensis, links=no) is a public research university loc ...

. He went on to work at

EFE Agencia EFE, S.A. () is a Spanish international news agency, the major multimedia news agency in Spanish language and the world's fourth largest wire service after the Associated Press, Reuters, and Agence France-Presse. EFE was created in 1939 ...

and the Gamma photo agency while also photographing assignments for Greenpeace. He is a board member of the International League of Conservation Photographers. He moved to

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...

in 2001. Beltrá has presented his work in slideshows and lectures at galleries and conferences across North America, including the 9th World Wilderness Congress, the

Annenberg Space for Photography Annenberg may refer to: * Annenberg (surname) * The Annenberg Foundation, formerly Annenberg/CPB, known for funding educational television and the Annenberg Channel * The USC Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Southern Calif ...

, the

Aquarium of the Pacific The Aquarium of the Pacific (formerly the Long Beach Aquarium of the Pacific) is a public aquarium on a site on Rainbow Harbor in Long Beach, California, United States. It is situated across the water from the Long Beach Convention Center, Shor ...

, and the ABC Continuity Forum. Beltrá was granted a commission by

Charles, Prince of Wales Charles III (Charles Philip Arthur George; born 14 November 1948) is King of the United Kingdom and the 14 other Commonwealth realms. He was the longest-serving heir apparent and Prince of Wales and, at age 73, became the oldest person to a ...

for the Prince's Rainforests Project (PRP) to document the status of the world's great

tropical rainforest Tropical rainforests are rainforests that occur in areas of tropical rainforest climate in which there is no dry season – all months have an average precipitation of at least 60 mm – and may also be referred to as ''lowland equa ...

s in 2009.

Publications

*''Spill.'' London: Gost, 2013. . With an essay by Barbara Bloemink. Edition of 2500 copies.

Exhibitions

*Benham Gallery, Seattle. Sustainability / Sostenibilidad, May 2009 – July 2009. *City Hall, Paris. Prince's Rainforests Exhibition, October 2009. *Kew Botanical Gardens, London. Prince's Rainforests exhibition, October–December 2009. *212 Gallery, Aspen. ''Spill,'' August–December 2010. *Seattle Aquarium, Seattle. ''Spill,'' May–August 2011. *Aquarium of the Pacific, Long Beach, Calif. ''Spill,'' October 2011 – January 2012. *Roca Gallery, Barcelona. Marea Negra, October 2011 – January 2012. *Catherine Edleman Gallery, Chicago. ''Spill,'' March–June 2012. *"Power",

Prix Pictet The Prix Pictet (Pictet prize) is an international award in photography. It was founded in 2008 by the Geneva-based Pictet Group with the mandate to use the power of photography to communicate messages about sustainability to a global audience. Its ...

touring exhibition, toured the world, including London, Paris, and Istanbul. *Somerset House, London. Landmark, Fields of Photography March–April 2013. *Quintenz Gallery, Aspen. ''Ice,'' December 2012 – February 2013. *Aperture Gallery, New York. Power, November 2013 – February 2014. *Museum of Photographic Arts, San Diego. Power, February–April 2014. *Lentos Kunstmuseum, Linz, Austria. Pure Water, October 2014 – February 2015.

Awards

*2006: 3rd prize,

World Press Photo World Press Photo Foundation is an independent, non-profit organization based in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Founded in 1955, the organization is known for holding an annual press photography contest. Since 2011, World Press Photo has organized a ...

awards, nature series category, for his work on the Amazon Rainforest drought *2006: Golden Award, China Press International Photo (CHIPP) Contest, for his work on the Amazon Rainforest droughtHolden, Sara. (2007). ''Planet Ocean: Photo stories from the 'Defending our Oceans' voyage.'' New Internationalist. *2007: 2nd prize, World Press Photo awards, contemporary issues category, for a photo of tropical deforestation in the Amazon *2009: Global Vision Award,

Pictures of the Year International Pictures of the Year International (POYi) is a professional development program for visual journalists run on a non-profit basis by the Missouri School of Journalism's Donald W. Reynolds Journalism Institute. POYi began as an annual competition f ...

*2011: Winner, Veolia Environment

Wildlife Photographer of the Year Wildlife Photographer of the Year is an annual international wildlife photography competition staged by the Natural History Museum in London, England. There is an exhibition of the winning and commended images each year at the museum, which later ...

and the "Deeper Perspective of the Year" from the International Photography Awards for his photographs from the Gulf Oil spill *2012: Shortlisted, 2012

*2013: Knowledge Dissemination and Communication in Biodiversity Conservation award, BBVA Foundation, Spain *2014: First place, Nature and Environment category, China Press International Photo contest *2018: Nominated,

World Press Photo of the Year The World Press Photo of the Year award is part of the World Press Photo Awards, organized by the Dutch foundation World Press Photo. Considered one of the most prestigious and coveted awards in photojournalism, The World Press Photo of the Ye ...

, World Press Photo, AmsterdamWorld Press Photo Contest 2018 – the nominees in pictures
. ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'', February 15, 2018. Retrieved February 15, 2018.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Beltra, Daniel Spanish photographers American photographers Place of birth missing (living people) Living people 1964 births Complutense University of Madrid alumni