"I gave up on the idea of objectivity. I don't mean I gave up on the idea of truth. I gave up on this idea that you can be intimately involved with a place and not rely on your emotions and all the complex of things you know to help you understand the place."

Jim Richardson is a photographer for National Geographic Magazine and a contributing editor for its sister publication, TRAVELER Magazine.  Richardson has photographed more than 30 stories for National Geographic.

Richardson's work takes him around the world, from the tops of volcanic peaks to below the surface of swamps and wetlands.  In addition to his color photography, Richardson has built a distinguished body of black-and-white documentary work about rural Kansas life.  His 1979 study of adolescence, “High School USA,” is now considered a photo essay classic and is used in college classrooms. He was named Kansan of the Year in 2007 by the Native Sons and Daughters of Kansas.

Richardson speaks nationally and internationally.  He lives in Lindsborg, Kansas, where his work is featured at his gallery, Small World, on Lindsborg’s Main Street.