{"id":72806,"date":"2023-02-27T08:17:54","date_gmt":"2023-02-27T00:17:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gallagher-photo.com\/?p=72806"},"modified":"2023-02-27T08:20:09","modified_gmt":"2023-02-27T00:20:09","slug":"become-a-photographer-national-geographic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gallagher-photo.com\/become-a-photographer-national-geographic\/","title":{"rendered":"What Do I Need To Learn To Become a Photographer at National Geographic?"},"content":{"rendered":"

I received this question this week via someone in my private WeChat\/WhatsApp groups that Patreon members gain access to. It’s a question I have been asked a number of times before, so thought I would share my answers that I gave here with all of you.<\/p>\n

Taking images for National Geographic<\/strong> is a goal for many and is seen as one of the pinnacles of the profession. When I was starting out, it was a dream for me too. I adored the work of photographers like Steve McCurry, Alex Webb, Jodi Cobb and Michael Yamashita.<\/p>\n

In my career to date, I have been lucky enough to collaborate with National Geographic on many different occasions. I was represented by their in-house photo-agency from 2011 to 2019 and have had a number of features online, such as, “Young Collectors, Traders Help Fuel a Boom in Ultra-Exotic Pets<\/a>” and “Pictures Reveal Hardship in the World\u2019s Fastest Sinking City<\/a>”<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

So, here are my 5 (quick) tips to help you…<\/p>\n

– First you need to develop your skills as a photographer. Being able to make technically good and visually powerful individual images is the basic first step.<\/p>\n

– Then you need to go deeper. Do your images tell a story e.g. about a place, a person an issue? Can you make a photo-essay or series about the issue you’re interested in and then make 15-20 powerful individual images, that when you put them together, they tell a story?<\/p>\n

–> READ THE FULL ARTICLE AND GET THE 4 OTHER TIPS HERE<\/a> <--\n<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I received this question this week via someone in my private WeChat\/WhatsApp groups that Patreon members gain access to. It’s a question I have been asked a number of times before, so thought I would share my answers that I gave here with all of you. Taking images for National Geographic is a goal for many and is seen as one of the pinnacles of the profession. When I was starting out, it was a dream for me too. I […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":72807,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[139],"tags":[42,67,39],"yoast_head":"\nWhat Do I Need To Learn To Become a Photographer at National Geographic? - Sean Gallagher - Photographer & Filmmaker - Beijing, China<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Photographer Sean Gallagher shares his top 6 tips on how you too can become a photographer with National Geographic.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/gallagher-photo.com\/become-a-photographer-national-geographic\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"What Do I Need To Learn To Become a Photographer at National Geographic? - Sean Gallagher - Photographer & Filmmaker - Beijing, China\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Photographer Sean Gallagher shares his top 6 tips on how you too can become a photographer with National Geographic.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/gallagher-photo.com\/become-a-photographer-national-geographic\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Sean Gallagher - Photographer & Filmmaker - Beijing, China\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sean.gallagher.photographer.filmmaker\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sean.gallagher.photographer.filmmaker\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-02-27T00:17:54+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-02-27T00:20:09+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/gallagher-photo.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/sean-gallagher-national-geographic-photographer.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1674\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"975\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Sean Gallagher\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@https:\/\/twitter.com\/gallagher_photo\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@gallagher_photo\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Sean Gallagher\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/gallagher-photo.com\/become-a-photographer-national-geographic\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/gallagher-photo.com\/become-a-photographer-national-geographic\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Sean Gallagher\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/gallagher-photo.com\/#\/schema\/person\/8f69b665ff262228e111ec7db20355bc\"},\"headline\":\"What Do I Need To Learn To Become a Photographer at National Geographic?\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-02-27T00:17:54+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-02-27T00:20:09+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/gallagher-photo.com\/become-a-photographer-national-geographic\/\"},\"wordCount\":269,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/gallagher-photo.com\/#\/schema\/person\/8f69b665ff262228e111ec7db20355bc\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/gallagher-photo.com\/become-a-photographer-national-geographic\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/gallagher-photo.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/sean-gallagher-national-geographic-photographer.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"education\",\"National Geographic\",\"photography\"],\"articleSection\":[\"national geographic\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/gallagher-photo.com\/become-a-photographer-national-geographic\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/gallagher-photo.com\/become-a-photographer-national-geographic\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/gallagher-photo.com\/become-a-photographer-national-geographic\/\",\"name\":\"What Do I Need To Learn To Become a Photographer at National Geographic? - Sean Gallagher - Photographer & Filmmaker - Beijing, China\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/gallagher-photo.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/gallagher-photo.com\/become-a-photographer-national-geographic\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/gallagher-photo.com\/become-a-photographer-national-geographic\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/gallagher-photo.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/sean-gallagher-national-geographic-photographer.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-02-27T00:17:54+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-02-27T00:20:09+00:00\",\"description\":\"Photographer Sean Gallagher shares his top 6 tips on how you too can become a photographer with National Geographic.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/gallagher-photo.com\/become-a-photographer-national-geographic\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/gallagher-photo.com\/become-a-photographer-national-geographic\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/gallagher-photo.com\/become-a-photographer-national-geographic\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/gallagher-photo.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/sean-gallagher-national-geographic-photographer.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/gallagher-photo.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/sean-gallagher-national-geographic-photographer.jpg\",\"width\":1674,\"height\":975},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/gallagher-photo.com\/become-a-photographer-national-geographic\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/gallagher-photo.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"What Do I Need To Learn To Become a Photographer at National Geographic?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/gallagher-photo.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/gallagher-photo.com\/\",\"name\":\"Sean Gallagher Photographer\",\"description\":\"Photographer & Filmmaker - Beijing, China\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/gallagher-photo.com\/#\/schema\/person\/8f69b665ff262228e111ec7db20355bc\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/gallagher-photo.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":[\"Person\",\"Organization\"],\"@id\":\"https:\/\/gallagher-photo.com\/#\/schema\/person\/8f69b665ff262228e111ec7db20355bc\",\"name\":\"Sean Gallagher\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/gallagher-photo.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/gallagher-photo.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/sean-gallagher-900x500-1.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/gallagher-photo.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/sean-gallagher-900x500-1.jpg\",\"width\":900,\"height\":500,\"caption\":\"Sean Gallagher\"},\"logo\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/gallagher-photo.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sean.gallagher.photographer.filmmaker\/\",\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/sean_gallagher_photo\/\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/https:\/\/twitter.com\/gallagher_photo\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/gallagher-photo.com\/author\/sgallagher\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"What Do I Need To Learn To Become a Photographer at National Geographic? - Sean Gallagher - Photographer & Filmmaker - Beijing, China","description":"Photographer Sean Gallagher shares his top 6 tips on how you too can become a photographer with National Geographic.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/gallagher-photo.com\/become-a-photographer-national-geographic\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"What Do I Need To Learn To Become a Photographer at National Geographic? - Sean Gallagher - Photographer & Filmmaker - Beijing, China","og_description":"Photographer Sean Gallagher shares his top 6 tips on how you too can become a photographer with National Geographic.","og_url":"https:\/\/gallagher-photo.com\/become-a-photographer-national-geographic\/","og_site_name":"Sean Gallagher - Photographer & Filmmaker - Beijing, China","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sean.gallagher.photographer.filmmaker\/","article_author":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sean.gallagher.photographer.filmmaker\/","article_published_time":"2023-02-27T00:17:54+00:00","article_modified_time":"2023-02-27T00:20:09+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1674,"height":975,"url":"https:\/\/gallagher-photo.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/sean-gallagher-national-geographic-photographer.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Sean Gallagher","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@https:\/\/twitter.com\/gallagher_photo","twitter_site":"@gallagher_photo","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Sean Gallagher","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/gallagher-photo.com\/become-a-photographer-national-geographic\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/gallagher-photo.com\/become-a-photographer-national-geographic\/"},"author":{"name":"Sean Gallagher","@id":"https:\/\/gallagher-photo.com\/#\/schema\/person\/8f69b665ff262228e111ec7db20355bc"},"headline":"What Do I Need To Learn To Become a Photographer at National Geographic?","datePublished":"2023-02-27T00:17:54+00:00","dateModified":"2023-02-27T00:20:09+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/gallagher-photo.com\/become-a-photographer-national-geographic\/"},"wordCount":269,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/gallagher-photo.com\/#\/schema\/person\/8f69b665ff262228e111ec7db20355bc"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/gallagher-photo.com\/become-a-photographer-national-geographic\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/gallagher-photo.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/sean-gallagher-national-geographic-photographer.jpg","keywords":["education","National Geographic","photography"],"articleSection":["national geographic"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/gallagher-photo.com\/become-a-photographer-national-geographic\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/gallagher-photo.com\/become-a-photographer-national-geographic\/","url":"https:\/\/gallagher-photo.com\/become-a-photographer-national-geographic\/","name":"What Do I Need To Learn To Become a Photographer at National Geographic? - Sean Gallagher - Photographer & Filmmaker - Beijing, China","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/gallagher-photo.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/gallagher-photo.com\/become-a-photographer-national-geographic\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/gallagher-photo.com\/become-a-photographer-national-geographic\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/gallagher-photo.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/sean-gallagher-national-geographic-photographer.jpg","datePublished":"2023-02-27T00:17:54+00:00","dateModified":"2023-02-27T00:20:09+00:00","description":"Photographer Sean Gallagher shares his top 6 tips on how you too can become a photographer with National Geographic.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/gallagher-photo.com\/become-a-photographer-national-geographic\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/gallagher-photo.com\/become-a-photographer-national-geographic\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/gallagher-photo.com\/become-a-photographer-national-geographic\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/gallagher-photo.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/sean-gallagher-national-geographic-photographer.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/gallagher-photo.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/sean-gallagher-national-geographic-photographer.jpg","width":1674,"height":975},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/gallagher-photo.com\/become-a-photographer-national-geographic\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/gallagher-photo.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"What Do I Need To Learn To Become a Photographer at National Geographic?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/gallagher-photo.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/gallagher-photo.com\/","name":"Sean Gallagher Photographer","description":"Photographer & Filmmaker - Beijing, China","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/gallagher-photo.com\/#\/schema\/person\/8f69b665ff262228e111ec7db20355bc"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/gallagher-photo.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":["Person","Organization"],"@id":"https:\/\/gallagher-photo.com\/#\/schema\/person\/8f69b665ff262228e111ec7db20355bc","name":"Sean Gallagher","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/gallagher-photo.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/gallagher-photo.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/sean-gallagher-900x500-1.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/gallagher-photo.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/sean-gallagher-900x500-1.jpg","width":900,"height":500,"caption":"Sean Gallagher"},"logo":{"@id":"https:\/\/gallagher-photo.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sean.gallagher.photographer.filmmaker\/","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/sean_gallagher_photo\/","https:\/\/x.com\/https:\/\/twitter.com\/gallagher_photo"],"url":"https:\/\/gallagher-photo.com\/author\/sgallagher\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gallagher-photo.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72806"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gallagher-photo.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gallagher-photo.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gallagher-photo.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gallagher-photo.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=72806"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/gallagher-photo.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72806\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":72812,"href":"https:\/\/gallagher-photo.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72806\/revisions\/72812"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gallagher-photo.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/72807"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gallagher-photo.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=72806"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gallagher-photo.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=72806"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gallagher-photo.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=72806"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}