Daisy Gilardini is originally from Lugano, Ticino, the sunshine state of Switzerland. She started taking photography seriously during her first trip to India in 1989 and since then has visited more than 65 countries with camera in hand. After falling in love with Antarctica during her first trip there in 1997, she has spent most of her time photographing the Polar Regions. In more than a decade of polar explorations she joined eighteen expeditions to Antarctica and twenty-four to the Arctic, most of them on research vessels and icebreakers, one on a sailing boat, some overland and in 2006 she joined a Russian expedition to the North Pole on skies.

Daisy’s images have been published internationally by leading magazines and organizations, such as National Geographic, Smithsonian, BBC Wildlife, Nature’s Best, Audubon, The Telegraph, Outdoor Photography, Greenpeace, World Wildlife Fund, among many others. Her work has received awards at the most prestigious international photo contests such as the “IPA International Photography Award”, “BBC Wildlife photographer of the year”, “Photography Master Award”, “Travel Photography of the Year” and “Nature’s Best”. In April 2010 Daisy had the great honor to be part of the jury of the “BBC Wildlife Photographer of the Year” considered as the “Oscars” of nature photography photo contests.

Her passion for the natural world has grown into a lifelong commitment to disseminate conservation messages and inspire others to respect and preserve our fragile planet. She strongly believes in the education of younger generations, impressionable minds that will one day become the decision-makers of the future. In 2008 under the patronage of the International Polar Year and in collaboration with the World Wildlife Fund, her work on Polar Regions and global warming issues was shaped into a solo educational exhibit aimed at young people. The exhibition has been successfully displayed in various indoor and outdoor venues in Switzerland and now Daisy is taking it around Europe and abroad. Among the most prestigious venues – “Polar Wonders: Photographs from the Ends of the Earth” – has been displayed at the National Geographic Gallery in London and Singapore and at the Annenberg Space for Photography in Los Angeles (only talk).

For her dedication to environmental issues, in fall 2009, Daisy was accepted as a member of the Emerging League of iLCP, the International League of Conservation Photographers. In fall 2010 she has been accepted as a fellow at the prestigious “The Explorer Club” – an honor reserved for those who have distinguished themselves by directly contributing to scientific knowledge in the field of geographical exploration or allied sciences.

Since February 2011 Daisy is a member of the Swiss Nikon Ambassador’s team and the SanDisk Extreme Team.

For Daisy, photography means extreme adventure:

” Many times I tried to understand this irresistible attraction to the Poles, which I would define almost as an addiction or obsession. These extreme adventures transport me out of my ordinary worldliness and lead me to discover my own primitive instincts. The Polar Regions, with their harsh and unforgiving environment, have the power to bring back the wild animal that resides deep inside all of us, awaking innate capacities of adaptations and survival in extreme situations. By returning to the foundation of existence, I feel comfortable by simply following the rhythm of nature, which inspires deep respect and awareness for the importance of these delicate wilderness areas.”