Q:    How can I shoot for National Geographic Magazine?

A:    This is never an easy question, but I’ll give it my best shot. National Geographic has about 80 photographers they call on and about 40 they call on regularly. We’re all freelance photographers, there is no “Staff” photographer at National Geographic any more, like an employee on staff. So you can see that it won’t be easy to join that select group of photographers but if that’s your dream then have at it.

So, National Geographic looks for photographers who can shoot picture stories on important, interesting subjects, producing profound pictures, compelling visual narratives, and who bring an area of expertise to bear on the job. So first you have to learn to take great pictures, of course, but that’s not enough. You’ll need to learn the skills of shooting picture stories. Then you’ll need to elevate your pictures stories to level of interest that they garner the attention of the picture editors and photo curators who keep an out for this kind of thing.

It will help immensely if you have an area of expertise, such as being trained in some field of interest that National Geographic regularly covers. Such as... being a trained biologist if you want to do nature photography, studying archeology if you want to cover the ancient world, political science and language if you want to cover world events, or anthropology if you want to cover cultures. For instance, speaking Arabic and having extensive Middle East experience is essential for anyone who hopes to get an assignment in that region of the world.

Basically you’ll have to produce a body of work about a subject before you’ll have sufficient experience, talents, and credentials to get and assignment from National Geographic.

Q:    Does National Geographic EVER hire new photographers

A:    Actually, yes. The ranks of photographers have changed dramatically since I started there 25 years ago. Little by little people retire and new photographer wedge their way in. Not every day, of course, but over time it happens.

Q:    Will a great portfolio get me an assignment at National Geographic

A:    Probably not. A portfolio is only the opening gambit of a years-long campaign to build a career. And there are lots of great photographers out there with great portfolios. But a great portfolio full of great pictures is no guarantee that a photographer can take on a new assignment for National Geographic and get the job done. A track record is a much better predictor of success.

Q:    I have a lot of great pictures. Will National Geographic publish them?

A:    Not likely. National Geographic magazine is built around stories. The story, that is the subject, is the most important part. Build a great set of pictures around an interesting, timely, important subject and you might have a chance. But just a bunch of beautiful pictures won’t do it. There are too many wonderful pictures out there in this digital age.

By the way, the word “great” is overused, mostly by photographers who do not have any “great” pictures. Any time a photographer tells me they shot a lot of “great” pictures on their trip/vacation/cruise I can be almost certain that they are, in fact, very mediocre pictures, if not downright awful! From four decades of experience I can say that I can write off immediately almost any photographer who uses the word “great.” Instead, I keep an eye out for the hard working sort who modestly says they might have some images I would like to see. They might have something.

Q:    How can I take great pictures if I can’t get an assignment?

A:    Be inventive! It never ceases to amaze the what determined photographers will do to build their body of work and further their career. Their stories are profound and encouraging. A friend who has built a stellar career in the last two decades told me once that he was digging out window wells in a housing project to fund further photography trips when he got a phone call for his first assignment. And he had already self-produced a book on refugees in war zones around the world by that time, entirely on his own dime! (So don’t complain to me that nobody will give you a chance to get started.)

Q:    How did you get started with National Geographic Magazine?

A:    Editors saw some photographs I did as the special assignment photographer for The Denver Post in 1983 on the flooding of the Great Salt Lake. They already knew my work from my self-assigned documentary work in rural Kansas, as well as from my freelance work for magazines ranging from Time to LIFE to Sport Illustrated.  When they asked me to do a coverage on the Great Salt Lake flooding for National Geographic in 1984, I was able to complete the work by taking vacation days and leaves of absence.  The resulting story, my first for National Geographic, was published in June 1985. 

Q:    How long did it take to get your first National Geographic assignment?

A:    Fifteen years. But that counts all the time I worked for newspapers, honing my craft. And for most of that time I never thought I wanted to work for National Geographic. I was having fun shooting for newspapers. It was a great life.

Q:    How did you get started in photography?

A:    I loved cameras as a kid growing up on my dad and mom's wheat and dairy farm.  My dad was a trucker, and he occasionally found equipment for me in pawn shops while he was on the road.  I developed my own film and made my own prints in our family kitchen.  During college, I got a job taking photographs for student publications -- mostly because I didn't know where to head if I finished my psychology degree.  My senior year in college, I got a photo internship at The Topeka (KS) Capital-Journal.  At that time, the Capital-Journal photo staff -- headed by the legendary Rich Clarkson -- was the place to be if you were a young photographer looking to grow.  

Q:    About how many stories do you do for the magazine every year?

A:    One, maybe two.  That's about as much work as any photographer for National Geographic can get done in a year.  Over the past 25 years, I have done about 25 stories for National Geographic Magazine and more than 15 for National Geographic TRAVELER, where I am a contributing editor.

Q:    Do you hire interns?

A:    I do not take on interns because I am on the road about half of any given year.  I am not around enough to supervise their work.    However, many colleagues in editorial photography business do hire interns or studio assistants.  Usually the most competitive candidates already know a lot about cameras and equipment, lighting techniques and photo management software.   

Q:    Do you take assistants with you while you're on the road?

A:    Over the past 25 years of working for National Geographic, I have usually worked in the field without help -- unless I need a translator or a driver/local guide.  These are usually people with very specific skills and backgrounds that I hire in the countries in which I am traveling.  

Q:    When you travel on assignment abroad, what equipment do you typically take?

A:    Not as much as I once took.  I'll have one camera bag that I carry on the plane, and it would have enough Nikon equipment in it so that I could get the job done in case nothing else that I shipped or checked shows up.  I would stuff a tripod in my checked luggage. If I took a case of equipment, inside the case I'd have have extra camera bodies, specialty lenses -- whatever might help me get the job done in special situations. And I’ve got a lighting kit full of Nikon SB-800s, stands, umbrellas, radio remotes (Pocket Wizards and Radio Poppers), as well as the usual filters and clamps. By the way, I got started with small strobe kits over thirty years ago.

Q:    How do you generate story ideas?

A:    An intense, geeky curiosity keeps me going.  Over the years, I have established several areas of expertise -- among them, the Celtic culture and nations, food production, water and soil conservation, grasslands.  I like to push the boundaries of my understanding in those particular areas. I enjoy the research.  However, I also propose story ideas just because I think the stories would be useful to National Geographic readers -- and fun to do.

Q:    You must have the best job in the world.  I want your job! 

A:    I don't know whether being a freelance photographer is the best job in the world.  I appreciate the relationship with National Geographic.  However, the work is only for those who want to stay flexible and keep reinventing themselves and their ideas about pictures that tell stories.  It is unwise to expect further work from National Geographic just because you've done work for the magazine before.  Like every other photographer with a history with NGS, I'm only as good as my last story and my next idea.  And whether I can sell it to editors.  I must offer a plan for photography that tells a story -- sometimes about complex issues or scientific questions -- and it must come in on time and under budget.  And, oh, by the way, the pictures must knock the socks off editors who have seen almost every picture in the world. Simple.

Q:    Does National Geographic allow you to change images using software?

A:    In a word: No! No taking out telephone poles and no adding in pretty clouds. National Geographic is in the non-fiction business.  There are very real limits on what photographers can and cannot do photographically.  These limits extend to how we work situations in real time, as well as what we can do in post processing. We can do the usual levels and curves sorts of stuff that pretty much corresponds to old darkroom techniques, but we can't do HDR.  Who knows what will be considered acceptable in the future?  That will depend, in part, on readers' understanding of the images and how they were produced.  Just recently we have been able to stitch multiple images as a panoramic, but the magazine identifies them as such in the caption. The bottom line is that the reader has to be able to trust what they are seeing.

Q:    You came to National Geographic with years of newspaper experience and freelance credentials.  Do most photographers have newspaper backgrounds?

A:    The stories of how other photographers have come to do stories for National Geographic are widely varied.  Some have newspaper and other magazine experience, but just as many have other backgrounds.  Some are biologists who use photography in their research.   Others are underwater specialists or archaeologists with skills in photography.   

Q:    What prepares someone to work as a photographer for National Geographic?

A:    I recommend establishing a track record of having your work published in magazines and newspapers.  With the vast changes in print publications, the publishing might be through a non-governmental non-profit or an educational or scientific organization.  Or it might be online, too.  I also recommend a specialty in some area of expertise -- a particular part of the world or a particular broad subject area, for example. Paul Nicklin, for example, is a trained biologist so his coverage of the Arctic has really great depth. Gerd Ludwig really knows Eastern Europe. And I have specialized in the Celtic World, as well has devoted much of my career to rural issues. Besides that I’m focusing on issues of food, soil, and feeding he world.  Just taking great pictures is not enough anymore.

Q:    How do you get assignments?

A:    I write story proposals.  If you are a freelance photographer waiting for the phone to ring, you are, at best, an underemployed photographer.  (And mostly, the phone never rings.) The art of the story proposal is based on knowledge of what the magazine has published before, as well as an understanding of how to frame a story that meets the magazine's current needs.  It also is helpful to be known by editors if you have a specialty area of photography. Making yourself know for a body of work is tough, but essential.

Q:    How do you know what to shoot once you have an assignment?  Do editors give you a list of places to go and people to see?

A:    I spend hours, days, weeks behind a desk reading, talking with people and researching before I ever pick up a camera.  I receive no recipe for my photographic coverages; rather, I aim to understand what can be photographed well ahead of actual shooting.  I build databases, search the internet, find and interview experts.  Only then can I hope to create photographs that are compelling and unusual.