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I first discovered photography while studying Zoology at the University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne in England in 2002. A course-sponsored trip sent us to the Brazilian rainforests for a summer and I became increasingly frustrated that my point-and-shoot camera couldn’t capture the wonder I felt of being in such visually exciting place. Upon my return to the UK, I bought my first SLR. I was hooked.

Buoyed by having some of my first images selected for the Ian Parry Scholarship for Young Photojournalists exhibition in 2003, I subsequently applied and was selected for a 1-year paid internship at Magnum Photos London in 2004. Upon completion in 2005, I was awarded a travel grant from Magnum to photograph in any country of my choice. I chose China.

China has been my home since 2006, when I moved here to begin working as a freelance photojournalist. My work focuses heavily on environmental issues, fueled by my background in the sciences. Since moving to Asia, my work has appeared in print for publications including The Guardian, The Globe & Mail, The Ecologist, Die Zeit, and online with BBC News, FOTO8, The Asia Society and ChinaDialogue.net.

In 2008 I was the recipient of the first David Alan Harvey Fund for Emerging Photographers, awarded in association with the Magnum Cultural Foundation, for my work on desertification in western China.

In April of 2009, I received a travel grant from the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting to extend my work on China’s Growing Sands, sponsoring me to travel 4000km overland across the breadth of China, to document the various issues surrounding desertification. I am currently working on shaping these images for my first book.

Click here to read all my posts on RESOLVE.

Website: www.gallagher-photo.com