| Mattias Klum | |
|---|---|
Photo: Samuel Svensäter. |
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | Arne Kristian Mattias Klum |
| Born | 10 February 1968 |
| Origin | Sweden |
| Genres | Photographer |
| Website | Official website |
Mattias Klum (born 10 February 1968 in Uppsala) is a Swedish freelance photographer and film producer in natural history and cultural subjects.[1] He is the son of Swedish academic educator Arne Klum and Ingegärd Klum, née Stefanson. Klum 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 has had several wildlife documentaries shown on Swedish national TV and has also had his work featured in Wildlife Conservation, Audubon, Geo, National Geographic, Terre Sauvage, Stern, Der Spiegel and the New York Times among others.
In 1997 National Geographic Magazine published Mattias Klum’s photographs for the first time, which made him the first Swede to have his work on the cover, then and still as one of National Geographic’s youngest contributors. Since 1997, he has produced a number of articles and eight cover stories for the magazine, including “Malaysia’s Secret Realm” (August 1997), “Asia’s Last Lions” (June 2001), "Meerkats Stand Tall" (September 2002) and "What Darwin Didn't Know" (February 2009). Klum's photographs have been exhibited in one-man shows at reputable museums and art galleries in the USA, Sweden, Malaysia, India, Japan, Great Britain, Estonia, Denmark, Botswana, Spain, China and Singapore among other countries. Klum has published ten books, four of them available in English: Exploring the Rainforest, Borneo Rainforest, Horse People and Being There.
In 2007 Klum contributed to the starting of a publishing company, Tierra Grande Publishing, the fundraising Terra Magna Foundation and EXPEDITIONSVERIGE.SE (Expedition Sweden), a five-year long environment and inspiration project about Sweden and the Baltic Sea Media Project together with producer Folke Rydén. He has also coached and collaborated with Sweden's Prince Carl Philip.
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He 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) and Indonesia, Malaysia (2007 and 2008), Brazil, Ecuador, Argentina, Chile and Australia (2008), Italy, Germany and Kenya (2009), Malaysia, Rwanda, Congo DRC, Mozambique, Botswana, South Africa and Raja Ampat New Guinea (2010), People's Republic of China, Vietnam, Cameroon, Republic of the Congo, Fiji, Italy and Svalbard (2011).
Klum has produced documentary films including Borneo’s Rainforest and The Brittle Thread (Asia’s Last Lions) with his wife and colleague Monika Klum and The Linnaeus Expedition with producer Folke Rydén. Klum and his team have collaborated on the music video project Funk for Life, with renowned musician Nils Landgren. This project supports Médecins Sans Frontières and their work in Kibera, Kenya.
Over the years, Mattias Klum has received numerous awards and grants for his work. Uppsala City Council bestowed him with its gold medal for outstanding work from an Uppsala base. The Uppsala County Administration granted him the title of Citizen of the Year in Uppland 2007. In 2008 he was nominated as a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum. The King of Sweden has granted Klum his medal of the 8th grade with a blue ribbon for his important contributions as a wildlife 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. Klum has held a position as a Guest Lecturer at Uppsala University.