Remembering Jim Brandenburg as a renowned Minnesota photographer
Minnesota photographer Jim Brandenburg passed away on Friday, April 4, in his home in Medina, Minn. He was 79.
His family announced his passing in an April 5 Facebook post, saying he passed away peacefully and was surrounded by family.
Brandenburg’s photography career and influence extended far beyond Minnesota. He worked for over two decades as a photographer for National Geographic and traveled the world, capturing the beauty of the wildlife and landscapes he visited.
Throughout his career, he won numerous national and international awards, including Magazine Photographer of the Year by the National Press Photographer’s Association.
“It is my opinion Jim was the most gifted of any wildlife photographer,” said photographer and close friend Layne Kennedy. “He possessed a sixth sense, like Gretzky held in hockey, to make things happen that to most, was unimaginable.”
Below is an archived WTIP conversation from May 14, 2010, with Jim Brandenburg.
Buck Benson and Dave Seaton spoke with world-renowned photographer Jim Brandenburg about the International League of Conservation Photographers’ inclusion of four of his photos in the top 40 nature photographs of all time.
The four photos by Jim Brandenburg are below:
Bison on Frozen Landscape Blue Mounds State Park, Luverne, Minnesota
Artic Wolf Ellesmere Island Canada
Gray Wolf near BWCAW Ely, Minnesota
Oryx on Namib Desert, Namibia, southwest Africa
Kalli Hawkins April 7, 2025
