Joel Santos was born in 1978 in Lisbon, Portugal. He holds an honors degree in Economics and a master‘s degree in Economics and Management of Science and Technology. Despite his academic background, he has dedicated the last nine years to his greatest passion: photography.

His photographs and writings are frequently published by photography, travel and corporate magazines all over the world, having featured more than thirty covers and hundreds of articles. His work has also been shown in several individual and collective exhibitions, namely in Portugal, Poland and East Timor.

He is the author of the best-seller “Fotografia: Luz, Exposição, Composição, Equipamento e Dicas para Fotografar em Portugal” (Photography: Light, Exposure, Composition, Equipment and Tips for Taking Photographs in Portugal), of the book “Fotografia Digital com Adobe Photoshop Lightroom” (Digital Photography with Adobe Photoshop Lightroom) and of the book “India - The Color of Contrast”.

From 2007 until 2010 he was the Editor in Chief of “O Mundo da Fotografia Digital”, the portuguese best-selling photo magazine.

He has won several national and international photography awards for his work, including the First Prize (2006) and Honorable Mention (2007) in the Nature of Prémio Fotojornalismo Visão/BES (World Press Photo standards and jury), and Wild Places (Nature/Color, 2007), FIAP Silver Medal (Nature/Color, 2009) and Best Portuguese (Nature/Color, 2009) in the Algarve Photo Salon (sponsored by The International Federation of photographic Art – FIAP – and the Photographic Society of America – PSA).

With the travel agency Papa-Léguas, he currently leads trips and photography workshops in Portugal and all over the world, combining his vast experience as a traveller with his love of communicating and teaching.

As a professional photographer, he is represented by AURORA PHOTOS and some of his work is also distributed by CORBIS and GETTY IMAGES.