Photographer Cotton Coulson Dies on NatGeo Expedition

On Thursday, May 27, 2015, American photographer Cotton Coulson, a participant in a 17-day National Geographic photography workshop in Norway, died at a hospital in Tromsø. According to his son, Coulon was scuba diving when “something went wrong.” The photographer signaled to a diving partner and then lost consciousness, and his heart stopped beating. Rescue workers were able to re-start Coulson’s heart, but he never regained consciousness.

Coulson began working with National Geographic after graduating from New York University Film School. In 1987 he became associate director of photography at U.S. News & World Report. He eventually became director of photography at the Baltimore Sun. In the mid-1990s Coulson and his wife, photojournalist Sisse Brimberg, opened the media company, Keenpress, producing photography and HD video films about “real people, lifestyle, and contemporary environmental issues.”