you might think you want to cover a war
you might think you want to shoot
crocodiles in the Amazon but you know do
you really want to live for like two
months in the swamps of the Amazon do
you really want to be under fire in a
conflict zone Oh what does it take to be
a photojournalist especially the kinds
of photographers that work with national
geographic but what it takes is desire a
hunger to learn to see and to capture
things the ability to take rejection
because we fail almost every day you
know it’s interesting while we live in a
world where it’s easy to say that people
don’t care anymore
and there’s ample evidence of that has
been proven to me time and again that
people do care
I’ve seen people change the way they
think donate money get involved in
activities because of the pictures I’ve
taken it’s always for me more about the
issue of the impact that level of
engagement I think of what are the
geopolitical stories in the moment that
need to be told that I feel I can tell
the hardest thing of living this life of
being a photojournalist in my case where
I’m gone six to eight months out of the
year is is trying to also have a family
there isn’t really separation between my
life and my work you get so absorbed in
your subjects and the issues and the
stories and it can be so difficult to
then change gears and come back into my
life you know I cried with people I
photographed people in intimate
situations and now I’m suddenly home and
I’m with my family at the dinner table
and everything is normal everything’s
great and there’s a part of me that’s
there and there’s a part of me that’s
bursting to share what I’ve experienced
and so one of the things though over the
years both as a journalist and as a
human being that has become important to
me in this work is is to figure out how
can it be a bridge of understanding if
you want to be a photographer
particularly a photojournalist you want
to learn about the world and you want to
learn about yourself and you want to
find things that you genuinely care
about because that would be the source
of the greatest work you’ll do
you
you might think you want to shoot
crocodiles in the Amazon but you know do
you really want to live for like two
months in the swamps of the Amazon do
you really want to be under fire in a
conflict zone Oh what does it take to be
a photojournalist especially the kinds
of photographers that work with national
geographic but what it takes is desire a
hunger to learn to see and to capture
things the ability to take rejection
because we fail almost every day you
know it’s interesting while we live in a
world where it’s easy to say that people
don’t care anymore
and there’s ample evidence of that has
been proven to me time and again that
people do care
I’ve seen people change the way they
think donate money get involved in
activities because of the pictures I’ve
taken it’s always for me more about the
issue of the impact that level of
engagement I think of what are the
geopolitical stories in the moment that
need to be told that I feel I can tell
the hardest thing of living this life of
being a photojournalist in my case where
I’m gone six to eight months out of the
year is is trying to also have a family
there isn’t really separation between my
life and my work you get so absorbed in
your subjects and the issues and the
stories and it can be so difficult to
then change gears and come back into my
life you know I cried with people I
photographed people in intimate
situations and now I’m suddenly home and
I’m with my family at the dinner table
and everything is normal everything’s
great and there’s a part of me that’s
there and there’s a part of me that’s
bursting to share what I’ve experienced
and so one of the things though over the
years both as a journalist and as a
human being that has become important to
me in this work is is to figure out how
can it be a bridge of understanding if
you want to be a photographer
particularly a photojournalist you want
to learn about the world and you want to
learn about yourself and you want to
find things that you genuinely care
about because that would be the source
of the greatest work you’ll do
you
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