David Liittschwager is a freelance photographer who grew up in Eugene, Oregon. Between 1983 and 1986, he worked as an assistant to Richard Avedon in New York City. After working in advertising, he turned his skills to portraiture with an emphasis on natural history subjects.
Now a contributing photographer to National Geographic and other magazines, Liittschwager is also a successful book author. In 2002 he produced the books Skulls and X-Ray Ichthyology: The Structure of Fishes for the California Academy of Sciences. Liittschwager’s books in collaboration with Susan Middleton include Archipelago, Remains of a Rainbow, Witness, and Here Today.
Recipient of an Endangered Species Coalition Champion Award for Education and Outreach and a Bay & Paul Foundation Biodiversity Leadership Award, Liittschwager lectures and shows his work in both fine art and natural history contexts. His photographs have been exhibited at many museums, including the American Museum of Natural History in New York City; the National Academy of Sciences in Washington, D.C.; the Honolulu Academy of Art in Hawaii; and currently at the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco.
Liittschwager was honored with a 2008 World Press Photo Award for his article on marine microfauna, which appeared in the November 2007 issue of National Geographic magazine. He lives in San Francisco.