Penny De Los Santos is an award-winning documentary photographer who has spent the past several years documenting food culture around the world.  She is a senior contributing photographer for Saveur Magazine, a contributing photographer for National Geographic and Martha Stewart Living and has photographed for numerous publishing companies and cookbooks including the nationally acclaimed book “Asian Dumplings”  by Andrea Nguyen.

Her work has been featured in magazines including National Geographic, Martha Stewart Living, Time, Sports Illustrated, Mother Jones, Latina, Texas Monthly, U.S. News & World Report and Paris Match. She has been a contract photographer for the books “America 24-7,” “Game Face” and “A Day in the Life of the American Woman.”

De Los Santos completed a Masters degree from Ohio University’s School of Visual Communication. Her career launched when she was selected for the National Geographic  Photography internship. She was named College Photographer of the Year by the National Press Photographer’s Association in 1998 and chosen to be a featured speaker on their Flying Short Course across the country. She was one of twelve up and coming photographers chosen from around the world to participate in the World Press Joop Stewart Masterclass in the Netherlands in 2000.

De Los Santos has been awarded numerous photography grants from National Geographic Photographic Division, Eastman Kodak, Canon USA, the Eddie Adams Workshop, California New Media, The Ohio University School of Visual Communications and the Parson School of Design’s Marty Forsher Fellowship.

She has been a featured lecturer at many universities and industry conferences throughout the country.

After working as a staff photographer for the San Jose Mercury News for 4 years, De Los Santos returned to her native Texas in 2003. She is based in Austin, Texas. Visit her website here.

curriculum vitae:

1991 Bachelor of Science, Texas A&M University

1998 Master of Arts, School of Visual Communications,

Ohio University.

1998 National Press Photographer Pictures of the Year College Photographer of the Year

1997 Invited to participate in the Eddie Adams Workshop

1998 Recipient of the National Geographic Photographic Internship

1998 Numerous awards in National Press Photographers Association Pictures of The Year Competition

1998 Award in Atlanta Photojournalism Competition

1999 Recipient of the World Press Joop Stewart Masterclass in Amsterdam, Holland

1999 Numerous awards in National Press Photographers Association Pictures of The Year Competition

2000 Numerous Awards in California Press Photographers Association, Portfolio finalist

2001 Finalists for the International Center of Photography Infinity Award for a Young Photographer

2003 Numerous awards in National Press Photographers Association Pictures of The Year Competition, Magazine Division .

Photographic Grants for Documentary Photography Projects:

2002-2005 National Geographic Photographic Division Photography Development Grant for a documentary project on Latino culture in the South Texas Border region. (the project is now a proposed story for National Geographic Magazine) De Los Santos has received 3 rounds of funding from this grant.

2000 Recipient of the California New Media Award and Grant

Marty Forsher Fellowship for Documentary Photography from the Parson’s School of Design, NYC, 2000

Kodak Professional Grant in conjunction with the World Press Masterclass, 1999,

Cannon, USA Grant, in conjunction with the World Press Masterclass, 1999

The School of Visual Communications at Ohio University Documentary Grant, 1998

Recipient of the Kodak Documentary Grant, 1998, given at the Eddie Adams Workshop

Distinguished Honors

National Speaker, National Press Photographers Association’s Flying Short Course, 1998

Featured Speaker, National Geographic Society Photographic Seminar, 1999

Featured Speaker, San Jose State University, 2000

Featured Speaker, San Francisco State University, 2000

Featured Speaker, Women in Photojournalism National Conference, 2001

Featured Speaker, Texas A&M International University, 2002

Featured Speaker, Rochester Institute of Technology, New York, 2002

Featured Speaker, Illinoise Press Photographers Association Seminar, 2003

Judge, Illinoise Press Photographers Association Photography Competition, 2003

Distinguished Speaker, University of Texas, Distinguished Lecture Series 2003

Judge, 2003 College Photographer of the Year Photojournalism Competition,

Missouri School of Journalism

Featured Speaker at the University of Texas at Austin, 2003

Featured Speaker at the annual “A Photo A Day” Workshop

Featured Speaker at the National Geographic  Masters in Photography Series Fall 2006,  Lecture title “Tejanos”

Featured Speaker 2006 Race, Ethnicity and Place National Conference, Texas State University.

Featured Speaker 2006 South Carolina News Photographer Association

Featured Speaker 2006 National Geographic “Live” event in Washington, D.C.