How to Become a Nat Geo Photographer - posted by Dan Westergren 14 June 2013
I
read a facebook post by Dan Westergren - National Geographic
photographer - posted on 14 June 2013. I was drawn to the article as
this is the transition that I wish to make. Interesting that he stated
that there are very few salaried jobs available as a photographer -
mostly people work freelance - which is fine. I think I would prefer
to keep some freedom of choice. But what bothers me about his post is
that he states that it is not enough just to take good photos - you have
to have something to say.
Well I'm not sure that I've
got anything to say. I just want to make stunning images. I come from
what many would see as a privileged background. I'm educated, employed,
live in a house, happy, healthy, no social issues and so on. And the
people I'm surrounded by are the same. I don't live in an environment
where people are oppressed or surrounded by misery. I quite literally
don't have anything to say. My only issue is the infernal hamster wheel
of going to work in a glass cage every day to pay my mortgage, but,
this is choice and many would view this as a nice problem to have.
So
how am I going to make it as a photographer? Is it enough to just want
to make beautiful landscapes, funny or twisted street photography, and
cute wildlife? Should I start to seek out matters that need
communication? After all, what Westergren is actually saying, and I
have heard other photographers say this, is that photography is just the
medium through which something important is communicated. Like Peter Cairns and his use of wildlife photography to communicated environmental issues.
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