James Edward Brandenburg

1945 - 2025

Brandenburg, James Edward

Minnesota lost a legend. One of the world's most celebrated nature photographers James (Jim) Edward Brandenburg passed away peacefully at his Medina MN home on April 4, 2025, at the age of 79. He was surrounded by his wife Judy, daughter Heidi and granddaughter Olivia. He had been privately battling Anaplastic Thyroid cancer for 7 months with further complications from pneumonia in 2025. Jim was born in Luverne, MN on November 23, 1945, to Edward and Olga (Aanenson) Brandenburg.
Jim was an environmentalist, philanthropist, photographer, author and filmmaker. He graduated from high school in Luverne, MN in 1963, attended Worthington Community College and the University of Minnesota, Duluth where he studied Art & Art History. In 2006, he received an honorary Doctorate of Human Letters degree from the University of Minnesota.
He started his photographic career at the Daily Globe in Worthington, MN. For the next 30 years he worked as a contract photographer for the National Geographic Society, traveling worldwide primarily for the National Geographic Magazine. He was twice named the prestigious "Magazine Photographer of the Year" from National Press Photographers Association. In 1988, he began publishing 10 of his best seller books, including White Wolf, Brother Wolf and Chased by the Light. In 1991, for his work with Wolf Ridge Environmental Learning Center in Finland, MN, his creation of the nonprofit Concerts for the Environment, and his work with The Nature Conservancy, he received the United Nation's 500 Environmental World Achievement Award, which was presented to him by the King of Sweden. Jim Brandenburg's well-known image of the leaping Arctic wolf was named one of 100 most important photos in Canadian history and was included in the book "100 Photos that Changed Canada". His work appeared in a collection of the 40 most important nature photographs of all time, that included the work of Ansel Adams, Edward Weston, and Eliot Porter. The collection, selected by members of the International League of Conservation Photographers, included four of Brandenburg's images, the most of any other photographer. In 2023, he was awarded the National Geographic Lifetime Achievement Award from his fellow National Geographic photographers.
The award-winning Secrets from a Forest, his first full dome movie production for the Bell Museum of Natural History in St. Paul premiered in 2023. Worldwide, Jim has long been considered one of the most influential nature photographers of his time with awards too numerous to mention; but for all the accolades and recognition, he remained a humble, quiet and kind man, drawn to the hushed beauty of the world. He was an inspiration to many.
Jim and his wife Judy founded the Brandenburg Prairie Foundation and have helped preserve over 1200 acres of prairie in southwest Minnesota, at Touch the Sky Northern Tallgrass Prairie – a unit of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service prairie refuges. They also worked with the Minnesota Land Trust to put a Conservation Easement on their beloved Judd Lake in northern Minnesota.
Jim Brandenburg is survived by his loving wife Judy (Frederiksen) Brandenburg, his daughter Heidi Brandenburg and her husband Nels Pierson of Ely, MN, grandchildren Olivia Ross, Liam Ross, and Lindsey Brandenburg, and his sister Judy (Bill) Stanton of Sioux Falls, SD, and many other loyal friends and family that loved him. Jim's son Anthony Brandenburg preceded him in death on Feb. 24, 2025.
Jim made his home in Ely and Medina MN; his Brandenburg Gallery locations are in Ely and Luverne MN.
A Celebration of Jim's Life will be held this summer. In lieu of flowers, the family wishes memorials would be made to an organization of your choice that works to protect our natural environment.
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