Nature photographer Frans Lanting uses vibrant images to take us deep into the animal world. In this short, visual talk he calls for us to reconnect with other earthly creatures, and to shed the metaphorical skins that separate us from each other.

Photographer Lisa Kristine travels the world documenting the unbearably harsh realities of modern-day slavery. She shares hauntingly beautiful images -- miners in the Congo, bricklayers in Nepal -- that illuminate the plight of the 27 million souls enslaved worldwide.

When we witness something amazing, many of us instinctively pull out our phones and snap pictures. Is this obsession with photographing everything impacting our experiences? In a meditative talk, Erin Sullivan reflects on how being more intentional with her lens enhanced her ability to enjoy the moment -- and could help you do the same, too.

Alexa Meade takes an innovative approach to art. Not for her a life of sketching and stretching canvases. Instead, she selects a topic and then paints it--literally. She covers everything in a scene--people, chairs, food, you name it--in a mask of paint that mimics what's below it. In this eye-opening talk Meade shows off photographs of some of ...

Nick Veasey shows outsized X-ray images that reveal the otherworldly inner workings of familiar objects -- from the geometry of a wildflower to the anatomy of a Boeing 747. Producing these photos is dangerous and painstaking, but the reward is a superpower: looking at what the human eye can't see.

Photojournalist Barat Ali Batoor was living in Afghanistan -- until his risky work forced him to leave the country. But for Batoor, a member of a displaced ethnic group called the Hazara, moving home to Pakistan proved dangerous too. And finding a safer place wasn't as simple as buying a plane ticket. Instead, he was forced to pay a human smuggl...

Miru Kim is a fearless explorer of abandoned and underground places. Her photography underscores the vulnerable nature of the human explorer in these no-woman's-lands.

A long time ago in New York City, Steve Addis stood on a corner holding his 1-year-old daughter in his arms; his wife snapped a photo. The image has inspired an annual father-daughter ritual, where Addis and his daughter pose for the same picture, on the same corner, each year. Addis shares 15 treasured photographs from the series, and explores ...

¿Qué le puede suceder a la memoria cuando la evidencia del pasado se pierde o se borra? ¿Cómo podemos reconstruir la historia a través de imágenes, ó de la fotografía? El fotógrafo Alejandro Chaskielberg da una poderosa charla en la que habla sobre su trabajo en la comunidad de Otsuchi, Japón, donde él y sus colaboradores auxiliarion al pueblo a...

In this eye-opening talk, computational imaging researcher Julie Chang discusses how we can customize AI-driven photo applications to improve their ability to perform tasks such as facial recognition.

TED Senior Fellow Camille Seaman photographs big ice and big clouds.

2005 TED Prize winner Edward Burtynsky has made it his life's work to document humanity's impact on the planet. His riveting photographs, as beautiful as they are horrifying, capture views of the Earth altered by mankind.

Why create? Artists and designers share their work, their process and their vision in these deeply personal -- and often hilarious -- talks.

Rick Smolan is the co-founder of the America 24/7 and Day in the Life photography series -- and a natural storyteller in many media. His latest books are America at Home and Blue Planet Run.

We've heard that bees are disappearing. But what is making bee colonies so vulnerable? Photographer Anand Varma raised bees in his backyard — in front of a camera — to get an up close view. This project, for National Geographic, gives a lyrical glimpse into a beehive, and reveals one of the biggest threats to its health, a mite that preys on bab...

Logging countless hours behind an X-ray machine, Nick Veasey illuminates the labyrinthine secrets hidden beneath the exteriors of everyday objects.

Alec Soth makes large-scale projects that are as much about dreams and heartache as they are about charting the landscape of Middle America.

The natural world is one of immense, awe-inspiring and even therapeutic beauty that many of us rarely connect with. Filmmaker Louie Schwartzberg uses bleeding edge nature photography to make a case for the restorative qualities of nature immersion and for technology's potential as our bridge to such experiences.

Monika Bulaj’s stunning, painting-like photographs blur religious and cultural divisions, exploding stereotypes. She is a TED Fellow.

The only thing as powerful as our grief is the love we have for those we've lost, says photographer Caroline Catlin. In this meditation on the intersection of life and death, Catlin shares how her personal journey with loss drove her to capture the elusive moments of grace and beauty that exist even in the hardest moments imaginable.

Barat Ali Batoor, an award-winning photojournalist, is a member of the Hazara people. He is based in Australia.

As a producer, Julie Burstein builds places to talk (brilliantly) about creative work. Her book "Spark: How Creativity Works" shares what she has learned.

Dentist-turned-photographer Phil Borges documents the world's disappearing cultures, capturing portraits of exiled Tibetan monks and many of the world’s embattled tribal and indigenous cultures.

Shirin Neshat has lived much of her life outside her native Iran. Her photographs and films offer a glimpse of the cultural, religious and political realities that shape the identities of Muslim women worldwide.

Photographer, adventurer and storyteller Aaron Huey captures all of his subjects -- from war victims to rock climbers to Sufi dervishes -- with elegance and fearless sensitivity.

By blending up to 100 still photographs into a seamless composite that captures the transition from day to night, Stephen Wilkes reveals the stories hidden in familiar locations.

Alejandro Durán collects the international trash washing up on the Caribbean coast of Mexico, transforming it into aesthetic yet disquieting artworks that wake us up to the threat of plastic pollution.

Giles Duley began his career as a fashion photographer. When it was time for a change he found himself on a journey of war and hardship.

Paul Nicklen photographs the creatures of the Arctic and Antarctic, generating global awareness about wildlife in these isolated and endangered environments.

Taryn Simon captures the essence of vast, generation-spanning stories by photographing the descendants of people at the center of the narrative. In this riveting talk she shows a stream of these stories from all over the world, investigating the nature of genealogy and the way our lives are shaped by the interplay of many different forces.