Rubén Salgado Escudero was born in Madrid, Spain. He lived in the United States throughout his teenage years, graduating from the Savannah College of Art and Design and later lived 10 years in Berlin, Germany working in 3D animation. In 2013 while based in Myanmar he began his on-going project Solar Portraits , which has been published by National Geographic Magazine, Time, GEO, El Pais, and Spiegel amongst others. It is supported by the United Nations and in 2019 the project earned a National Geographic Society Explorer’s Grant. In 2021 it was inducted into the official National Geographic Traveling Exhibitions catalog.  

Rubén's works have been exhibited in over 20 cities worldwide  including New York, London, Tokyo and at the Les Rencontres d'Arles photo festival in France. He is a member of The Photo Society, a community of National Geographic Magazine photographers.

As an experienced lecturer, Rubén has given a TedX Talk in Beijing, and continues giving talks worldwide for National Geographic Learning and other institutions such as Museo Soumaya in México City and the Sony Gallery in New York City.

His projects have been published in most major international publications, and has won various international awards including the Sony World Photography Award two years in a row and third place in POY Latam (Picture of the Year) two years.

Editorial Clientele National Geographic Magazine TIME The New York Times The Wall Street Journal GEO Vogue México Al Jazeera-America Die Zeit Spiegel The Guardian El Pais Semanal Internazionale Leica LFI Vrij Nederland We Demain Causette Neuer Züricher Zeitung (NZZ) Capital Business Punk Magazine Pagina66 Suomen Kuvalehti Arena Homme+ Gup Toronto Star The Independent Sveriges Natur British Journal of Photography Dummy Magazin View Magazine World Energy Magazine

Humanitarian Clientele European Union UNHCR UN Habitat UNESCO Islamic Relief Oxfam Spana Pact Myanmar Illumexico Solar Sisters Good Planet Foundation