Mattias Klum CV

Mattias Klum was born in Uppsala, Sweden in 1968 and started taking pictures in his teens. He has worked full-time as a freelance photographer since 1986, and as a cinematographer and director on numerous film and television projects since 1994. In an artistic way that is entirely his own, Klum describes and portrays animals, plants, and natural and cultural settings in the form of articles, books, films, lectures and exhibitions.

Klum’s film credits include: Borneo’s Rainforest and The Brittle Thread, a documentary about Asia’s last lions, produced with his wife and colleague Monika Klum; Searching for the Giant Sea Eagle, a Wild Chronicles segment for National Geographic Channel; and The Linnaeus Expedition and the political documentary For Cod’s Sake, both co-produced with Folke Rydén. He released two new films in 2011: The Testament of Tebaran, a Penan elder’s plea to end deforestation in Borneo, and The Coral Eden, a film about biodiversity from one of the Earth’s last untouched coral reef havens.

Klum has undertaken major expeditions to Malaysian Borneo and Brunei (1988); Nigeria (1990); Brazil and Costa Rica (1991); Malaysian Borneo (1995-1996); India (1999); Guyana (1999); India (2000); Malaysia, Thailand, India and South Africa (2001); Ecuador, Panama and Mongolia (2002); Malaysia (2003 and 2004); Peru and Antarctica (2005); The Linnaeus Expedition to seven continents (2006 and 2007); Iceland (2007); Indonesia and Malaysia (2007 and 2008); Brazil, Ecuador, Argentina, Chile and Australia (2008); Italy, Germany and Kenya (2009); and Malaysia, Rwanda, Congo DRC, Mozambique, Botswana, South Africa and Raja Ampat in New Guinea (2010); People’s Republic of China, Vietnam, Cameroon, Republic of the Congo, Fiji, Italy and Svalbard (2011).

Klum’s work has been featured in many international publications, such as National Geographic, Wildlife Conservation, Audubon, Geo, Terre Sauvage, Stern, Der Spiegel and The New York Times. In 1997 National Geographic Magazine published Mattias Klum’s photographs for the first time. That story made him the first Swede to have his work on the cover. He then was and still is one of National Geographic’s youngest contributors. Since 1997, he has produced a number of articles and eight cover stories for the reputable magazine.
 
Klum has presented over 2500 lectures worldwide, and has been represented by the National Geographic Speakers Bureau since 2003. His past clients include: Tällberg Foundation, Clinton Global Initiative, The Royal Palace of Sweden, Apple, IBM, IKEA, National Geographic Society, WWF, Ermenegildo Zegna Group, Chautauqua Institution, Audi, American Express and Sweco, among others. Today, his company Tierra Grande partners with National Geographic Live to offer more than 50 explorers, photographers, scientists, filmmakers and journalists for international speaking opportunities.

In 2007 Klum contributed to establishing Tierra Grande Publishing; the non-profit organization Terra Magna Foundation; Expedition Sweden, a five-year environmental and inspirational project for young adults in Sweden; and the Baltic Sea Media Project, which will culminate in a feature-length documentary film in 2017. International media continually report on Mattias Klum and his work. His photographs are represented by the National Geographic Image Collection, and have been shown in one-man exhibitions at renowned museums and art galleries in the United States, Scandinavia, Malaysia, India, Japan, Great Britain, Estonia, Denmark, Botswana, Spain, China and Singapore among other countries, and at major worldwide events as Shanghai World EXPO 2010 and COP15 UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen.

Mattias Klum has published 10 books to date: Moments (Ögonblick 1990), When the Mist Rises (När Dimman Lättar 1992; Panda Book of the Year in 1993), A Journey Through Sweden (I Svenska Marker 1995), Exploring the Rainforest, (På Upptäcksfärd i Regnskogen 1995), Borneo Rainforest, (Skogens Öga 1997; Panda Book of the Year in 1998), Inside Borneo (I Borneos Regnskog 1999), The Brittle Thread (Den Sköra Tråden 2000), Horse People (Hästfolk 2003), Being There (Viljans Väg  2007) and The Secret of Africa (Afrikas Hemlighet 2010).
 
Over the years, Klum has received numerous awards and grants for his work. Uppsala City Council bestowed him with its gold medal for his outstanding work from an Uppsala base. The Uppsala County Administration granted him with the title Citizen of the Year in Uppland 2007. In 2008 Mattias Klum was nominated as a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum. His Majesty the King of Sweden granted him with a medal of the 8th grade with blue ribbon for his important contributions as a nature photographer. Today, Klum is also a member of the Board of Trustees of WWF Sweden, a Senior Fellow at Stockholm Resilience Centre, an IUCN Goodwill Ambassador, and a fellow of National Geographic Society and The Linnean Society of London.