Have you ever wondered how to become a National Geographic Photographer? There is not an easy answer to that question, that's for sure. This is an inquiry that Nat Geo is asked often; so often in fact that a portion of their website is dedicated to answering this particular question = click here. Another good way to answer that question is to look at the photographs taken by photographers who contribute to the magazine. The Photo Society is a group of photographers who do exactly that!
If you click on the "Members" section of The Photo Society's website, you'll be able to see a list of all the photographers. Within each photographer's profile, you'll be able to see examples of their work, a link to their website, e-mail address and Facebook page. A brief biography is provided for each of The Photo Society's photographers and it includes the photographer's current line of work - along side being a freelance photographer. You'll find that many of the photographers have published their own books, worked for other publications and teach at their local colleges. Let's take a peak at Thomas Peschak's profile and a few of his photographs:
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Peschak focuses his career on environmental photojournalism. Listed as one of the top forty most influential nature photographers, Peschak lives a life of solitude and spends 300 days out of the year on the road taking photographs. By looking at his images, you can tell that Peschak encounters some dangerous situations to get the photographs that he needs to spread a message about conservation. Despite the precarious situations that Peschak has encountered, he believes that his photographs can help to create a positive change and to create more awareness about sharks.
Those who belong to The Photo Society are certainly aware of the dangers that come along with their jobs. Unfortunately, some photographers have perished while on assignment, such as underwater photographer Wes Skiles. By clicking on the "Reality Check" tab, you can see a list of the hazards some have found themselves in. If we look at the first row of injuries, we can see that ten of The Photo Society Photographers have reported rope burn, nine have suffered from venomous bites and different set of nine have been groped. One photographer has reported a broken tail bone. A few of the hazards listed below are certainly due to location such as two photographers being lost in the Andes. As you can see below, numerous photographers have been in paraglider crashes. Being a contributing photographer for National Geographic would certainly be a rewarding position but one has to be prepared to sacrifice a lot.
I would encourage you to explore The Photo Society's website further by clicking on the "Events" tab. Within this section of the website, you can stay up to date on any workshops that are offered by one of the photographers. If you click on the "Motion" tab, you can view numerous time-based media pieces created by those within The Photo Society. Visit the "Store" section to check out the smart phone apps that are offered through this organization! My favorite way to stay up to speed on The Photo Society is by following them on Instagram; click here. New images are added to the Instagram feed daily and roughly once a month, The Photo Society also hosts photo competitions - be sure to enter your images in the next one!
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01. "The Photo Society | National Geographic Contributing Photographers." The Photo Society | National Geographic Contributing Photographers. N.p., n.d. Web. 16 Sept. 2013.
02. THOMAS P. PESCHAK. N.p., n.d. Web. 16 Sept. 2013.