Jad Davenport

National Geographic photographer, writer and filmmaker Jad Davenport has spent the last three decades exploring the world’s most remote islands. An avid underwater photographer and rescue diver, Jad’s assignments have taken him by sailboat, freighter, expedition ship and even submarine throughout the planet’s oceans.

Prior to joining National Geographic in 2004, Jad spent eight years as a war photographer and documentary filmmaker. He covered more than a dozen conflicts in the Middle East, Asia, Africa, Latin America and the Balkans where his photography and film work contributed to war crimes investigations. He continues to volunteer as a forensic investigator with the nonprofit NecroSearch International.

Jad’s passion for the natural world led him to join the US Forest Service in Wyoming as a biological technician before heading north to become a licensed grizzly and polar bear guide in Canada. Over the past eight years Jad has led numerous summer and winter Arctic expeditions to study polar bears. A member of the Explorers Club and a former Ted Scripps Fellow in Environmental Journalism, Jad recently launched a multi-year wolf study on the Hudson Bay where he now spends part of each year.