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