During his time at Appalachian State University, Juan Diego fell in love with the outdoors and found his passion for rock climbing. After graduating, he spent half a decade traveling around the world on climbing expeditions from northern Myanmar to the snow capped peaks of the Cordillera Blanca in the Peruvian Andes. During his travels he picked up a camera and began to document the people, cultures, and places where his explorations led him. After a six-month solo trip by land from Colombia to Chile in 2014, he decided to pursue a career as an adventure and documentary photographer. He is currently based between Asheville, North Carolina, and Colombia working as a freelance photographer while contributing to publications including The New York Times Magazine, The Atlantic, WIRED, Vogue, NPR, The Wall Street Journal, and others. He is fluent in Spanish. This fall, Juan Diego will continue to work on a multimedia project in the Colombian Amazon documenting two indigenous communities fighting to protect their territory and ancestral traditions. He has led programs with National Geographic Student Travel in Ecuador and the Galápagos, as well as a service program in Hawaii.