QT Luong, born to Vietnamese parents in Paris, France, picked up a camera in response to mountaineering in the Alps. When he came for a short stay to the U.S. to conduct A.I. research, he chose U.C. Berkeley because of its proximity to Yosemite. There, he fell in love with the national parks, where his solo wilderness travels included an ascent of Denali. To continue visiting them, he settled in the San Francisco Bay Area and committed to photography full-time. In 2002, he became the first to have photographed each of the (then) fifty-eight U.S. National Parks with a 5x7-inch large-format camera.

His photographs have been widely exhibited in solo shows, including at the USA Pavilion during a World Expo, and have garnered critical acclaim in major media such as The New York Times (“No one has captured the vast beauty of America’s landscape as comprehensively”), appearing in hundreds of publications worldwide. His best-selling book, Treasured Lands, now in its ninth printing, has earned twelve national and international awards. The only living artist featured in Ken Burns and Dayton Duncan’s The National Parks: America’s Best Idea (2009), he has received the Ansel Adams Award for Photography from the Sierra Club and the Robin W. Winks Award for Enhancing Public Understanding of National Parks from the National Parks Conservation Association.

Luong’s work goes beyond celebrating nature and advocating for conservation, delving into themes of perception, representation, and the evolving relationship between people and the land. His recent projects examine the dynamic interplay between wilderness and human presence, from national parks to the landscapes near his home in San Jose, CA. Together, these works offer dual reflections on how we shape and are shaped by our environments: while culture and imagery influence our experience of iconic natural scenes, wildness endures in urban settings, revealing beauty and meaning in the most unexpected places.

2024 CV

Phone: +1 408-706-0894