Thomas D. Mangelsen also known as Tom Mangelsen is an American legendary photographer who has traveled throughout the world for over 40 years photographing Earth’s natural and wild places. As of 2018, Thomas Mangelsen net worth is estimated to be $10 million.
Thomas was born on Grand Island, Nebraska. He studied business at the University of Nebraska in 1965. He then graduated with a degree in biology from Doane College. He got his postgraduate study in zoology and wildlife biology at the University of Nebraska and Colorado State University.
After completing his study, he moved to Colorado and spent two years living in the Rocky Mountain living without electricity and remaining completely out of the public world. He continued to work on his photography where he met Bert Kempers, who hired him as cinematographer and film editor for his company Westwind Productions which makes educational and nature related documentaries. This experience helped him to land a job at National Geographic as a cinematographer and associate producer. He was nominated for an Emmy Award for his work on television special ‘Flight of the Whooping Crane’.
He has also photographed and produced shows like PBS’s Nature, BBC’s Natural World and Cranes of the Grey Wild documentary. In addition to that, his work has been published on National Geographic, GEO, Le Figaro Magazine, BBC Wildlife, Newsweek, Wildlife Art, CNN, CBS News, ABC News and many more.
Over the course of over 40 years, he has won several awards and accolades: He was named one of the 40 Most Influential Nature Photographers by Outdoor Photography, His picture ‘Polar Dance’ was selected by the international League of Conservation Photographers as one of the 40 Most Important Nature Photographs of All Time. He was also named one of the ‘100 Most Important People in Photography’ by American photo magazine. He also received the British Broadcasting Corporation’s ‘Wildlife Photographer of the Year Award”.
Thomas has also published several books throughout his career. Some of his popular books are Images of Nature: The Photographs of Thomas D. Mangelsen, Polar Dance: Born of the North Wind, A time for playing, The Natural World, Spirit of the Rockies: The Mountain Lions of Jackson Hole and many others.
