Bio

Armando Vega is a documentary photographer and National Geographic Explorer. He was born in northern Mexico and studied civil engineering but in 2012 he gave up everything to dedicate his life to photography. Passionate about culture and the environment, he is currently working on a project related to climate change in the Andes of Peru.
In 2017 he photographed one of the largest Andean pilgrimages which led him to obtain in 2018 the National Geographic Early Career Grant. He has photographed remote communities in the Sierra Tarahumara of Mexico even in paleontological expeditions in search of dinosaurs in the Patagonia of Chile and Argentina. He has been published in National Geographic, Foreign Policy, The Nation, Gatopardo, among others.
He has won national photographic competitions and participated in two books published in Mexico: in one of them as co-editor and iconographic researcher of the earthquake on September 19, 2017 in Mexico City published by the Senate of the Republic. Additionally, he has exhibited his work in Australia, Colombia, Germany, Guatemala, Italy and Mexico. He was selected to photograph the total solar eclipse in Chile from the National Geographic plane in July 2019.
2004 Civil Engineering Graduate. Instituto Tecnológico de Chilpancingo. Mexico
EXHIBITIONS - PUBLICATIONS
2012 Exposición colectiva Facultad de Arquitectura de la UAG. Chilpancingo, Mexico. 
2012 Exposición colectiva. Facultad de Filosofía y letras de la UAG. Chilpancingo, Mexico. 
2012 Exposición colectiva “Tlaloc” Pinacoteca de la UAG. Chilpancingo, Mexico. 
2012 Exposición colectiva, Rojo Siena, Instituto Guerrerense de la Cultura, Acapulco, México.
2013 Weaving Light. Stirr Up Gallery/ Ocean Gallery. Sidney, Australia.
2014 Sydney Latin American Film Festival. Pachamama Photographic Exhibition. Sidney, Australia.
2016 Mas de 43. Centro de Memoria, Paz y Reconciliación. Talk. Bogotá, Colombia.
2015 Libro: Guerrero lo mejor. Acapulco, Mexico. 
2017 Colective exhibition “About courage: Peace initiatives around the world” Eine Welt Netzwerk Thüringen. Jena, Alemania
2018 Talk at National Geographic Sciencetelling Bootcamp. Buenos Aires, Argentina.
2018 Day of death. National Geographic 
2018 Day of death II. National Geographic 
2018 Festival de arte emergente centro americano. Ciudad de Guatemala, Guatemala.
2019 Eclipse. Revista enfoque, Santiago, Chile.  
2019 El eclipse solar desde un avión. Infobae. Latino América
2019 Ecipse. Entrevista para Metro. Santiago, Chile. 
2019 National Geographic Flight Gives Passengers Solar Eclipse View Over Chile
2019 National Geographic logra un registro impactante del eclipse solar desde un avión
2019 Confira as imagens do eclipse solar total. National Geographic. Brasil
2019 Las mejores imágenes del Eclipse Solar. National Geographic. Santiago, Chile. 
2020 Argentina: Descubren restos de un dinosaurio hervíboro. National Geographic
2020 Italia: Exhibición en el Museo de fotografía de Montaña LUMEN.
2020 Germany: Bilder des Tages 103 / 179 - Süddeutshe Zeitung
2020 Foreing Policy - The Coronavirus Is Now Another Risk of U.S. Migration.
2020 The Nation - Women in Mexico Reckon With the High Cost of Migration
2021 https://www.fastcompany.com/90630498/what-this-weather-station-on-top-of-a-volcano-in-chile-will-teach-us-about-climate-change
2021 https://larepublica.pe/mundo/2021/04/29/instalan-estacion-meteorologica-cerca-de-cima-del-volcan-tupungato-de-chile/?ref=lre
2021 https://kronos365.com/national-geographic-presenta-expedicion-chile/
2021 https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/article/highest-weather-station-in-andes-will-help-search-for-climate-change-answers-perpetual-planet
2021 https://blog.nationalgeographic.org/2021/04/26/highest-weather-station-in-the-southern-and-western-hemispheres-installed-near-the-summit-of-tupungato-volcano-in-chile/
2021 https://www.nationalgeographicbrasil.com/meio-ambiente/2021/04/estacao-meteorologica-mais-alta-hemisferio-sul-tupungato-chile-clima
2021 https://www.nationalgeographic.fr/environnement/comprendre-les-enjeux-climatiques-grace-a-une-station-meteorologique-de-haute-altitude
2021 https://www.rolex.org/environment/perpetual-planet/rolex-and-national-geographic
2021 https://www.nationalgeographicla.com/historia/2021/04/exploradores-los-glaciares-andinos-se-estan-derritiendo-y-cambian-los-rituales?gallery=59785&image=14-qoyllur-riti-pilgrimage
2021 https://www.nationalgeographic.com/culture/article/andean-glaciers-melting-reshaping-centuries-old-indigenous-rituals
2021 https://www.ntn24.com/programas/click-verde/expedicion-cientifica-instala-estacion-meteorologica-para-medir-el-impacto-de

PRIZES AND MENTIONS
2012 1st prize. Artesanos de las 7 Regiones – Acapulco, Mexico. 
2013 Selected. Taller Viajar para Escribir, Escribir para Viajar. Témoris Grecko. Mexico city, Mexico.
2014 1st prize. Mezclando tradiciones contest. Mexico city, Mexico.
2015 Best photo in contest. Mezclando tradiciones. Mexico city, Mexico.
2016 1sr Prize - Mas de 43 - MasterPeace México – Mexico city, Mexico. 
2017 Selected. Festival Errante & National Geographic Portfolio Review. Montevideo, Uruguay. 
2018 3rd prize. “Fiestas Patronales”. Acapulco, Mexico.
2018 Grant recipient, National Geographic Society

EDITORIAL
2012 Fundador de la Revista Espelho y director de fotografía. Chilpancingo, Mexico. 
2015 Fotógrafo en el Libro colectivo: Guerrero lo mejor. Secretaria de Cultura de Guerrero. Acapulco, Mexico. 
2018 Libro  Investigador inconográfico y coeditor. “La Grandeza Mexicana, el espíritu contra la adversidad". Senado de la República. Mexico.
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