Josie Iselin is a photographer, author, and designer of many books, with her last few focusing on the world of seaweeds and kelp. Her most recent book, The Curious World of Seaweed (Heyday Books, 2019) is the basis for a traveling exhibition of prints by the same name. A new book based on the website The Mysterious World of Bull Kelp will be released by Heyday Books in March 2026.

Josie is the co-director with Marianna Leuschel of Above/Below, a campaign working to bring the recognition afforded the forests on land to the kelp forests below the ocean’s surface. Above/Below’s signature effort is a web-based book titled The Mysterious World of Bull Kelp, released in November 2023. It has been accessed by over 39,000 (as of 01/06/26) kelp-curious learners. Josie is the chief content creator, writing the text, and working closely with illustrator Ellen Litwiller. Above/Below is creating a similar webstory about the native Olympia oyster, due for release March 1, 2026

Josie holds a BA in Visual and Environmental Studies from Harvard and an MFA from San Francisco State University. She currently teaches in the School of Design at SFSU. For over twenty years Josie has used her flatbed scanner and computer exclusively for generating imagery. Synthesizing the scientific stories of our coast is her overriding passion, bringing thoughtfulness and stewardship to this extraordinary place of discovery. Josie’s pronouns are she/her.

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