Justin Gilligan

Justin Gilligan is a conservation photographer and photojournalist based in Australia specialising in underwater, aerial, landscape and environmental portraiture photography.

He has established working relationships with a range of international nature and travel magazines and been published widely. He has been commissioned to contribute copy and photographs for 22 feature articles for Australian Geographic, with this resulting work also contributing to 8 book publications, including 2 book covers and a diary cover. He has also been featured as a guest on 'Talking Australia' the Australian Geographic podcast.

Justin has worked as an assistant to National Geographic magazine photographer Thomas Peschak in the Kei Islands in Indonesia and in Cape York in Australia. He continues to be mentored by Thomas, who he met when awarded as recipient of the Save Our Seas Marine Conservation Photography Grant. To further refine his skills in developing a photo essay around a central narrative Justin participated in the Missouri Photo Workshop in 2020. 

Several of Justin's images have received awards in prestigious international photography competitions. He has been awarded in the Natural History Museum's Wildlife Photographer of the Year on five occasions, including two category wins, and has been the overall winner of the Australian Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year.

Through his work, Justin strives to create images that draw the viewer's attention to the beauty and fragility of the natural world to educate and inspire change.