What is it like to be a National Geographic Photographer? Salary?

Question

Hi, I'm 13 and all my life I've dreamed about a job full of adventure and travel and a national geographic photographer is that dream job for me. But I wanted to know more about the job like what would you make in a year. I mean, I really like the job and I want it not for the money but I still dont want to live in poverty for the job! Also, is there a way you can like specialize in wildlife photography? Thats what I'd want to do.

Thanks

Answer 1

Nat Geo does not hire staf photographers. Their photographers are all freelancers and are paid per assignment.





For assignments, Nat Geo has a day rate of about $500 per day plus expenses. They also pay separately for each image they publish. A small image inside the magazine might fetch $250 while a cover shot will fetch several thousand.



Nat Geo usually only has 3-4 assignments per issue. The rest of the images in the magazine are filled with stock images. That means that there are only 36-48 assignments per year and there are tens of thousands of photographers looking for those assignments.







If you are interested in adventure travel photography you might want to learn about Dan and Janine Patitucci. They dropped out of college and lived out of a van for several years while travelling the country shooting adventure sports. They created some brilliant work and now have one of the most successful adventure photo businesses in the world. They no longer live in a van and have homes and offices in both California and Switzerland.



patitucciphoto.com

Answer 2

Most of the pictures if not all that you see in National Geographic are made by freelance photographers.

Magazines do not employ photographers full time anymore, if National Geographic does, there might be just few and the chances you get this job is pretty much none.

If you are talented and hardworking nothing is impossible but this is how it works.

Most of the work in the magazine are done by photographers that travel to remote places on their own, a lot of photographers work for government agencies , or universities research, or some other institution and this is how they make money , if there are very good photographers they can submit photos to National Geographic or any other magazine and maybe, maybe will be published.

So no one can tell you how much will you make.

You will never live in poverty if you live in USA, Australi, Europe and are hardworking person and if you graduate from the University , you will not live in poverty unless you start taking drugs , gamble or start drinking.

Actually most of the pictures in National Geographic are taken in places where poverty is very high so chances are that you will live among people and in places that are poor before you can take those great photographs. How will you deal with this? If you do not like poor places that I advice you to become a fashion photographer or commercial or hollywood. This are the kinds of photography that makes the most money and you will have the fancy things.

Great part of photographing for National Geographic is traveling to remote places and spend long time in very basic living conditions if you do not like it , that might be one reason this is not for you.

You have to learn languages.

You have to be a traveler.



I am sure everything is possible and if you feel really feel you would like to do it no matter what they you can give it a go and maybe some day will have a photo published in NAtional Geographic just understand that this is a magazine that receives probably 1000 or moreI would guess 5000 images to review on a monthly bases so your competition is very high.



Again I do not want to sound discouraging. Just do it, start photographing, go to school, read, practice, submit your work to National Geographic photo competitions.



Good luck.

Answer 3

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Answer 4

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RE:

What is it like to be a National Geographic Photographer? Salary?

Hi, I'm 13 and all my life I've dreamed about a job full of adventure and travel and a national geographic photographer is that dream job for me. But I wanted to know more about the job like what would you make in a year. I mean, I really like the job and I want it not for the money but I...

Answer 5

The number of photographers in the NGM (National Geographic Magazine) ranges between 50 and 60 and sometimes a little more.

All staff there are freelance. Do not think you earn too much. Let's say you can live a decent life.

Actually NGM currently pays $ 425 per day for a project that are on average twelve days, let's say $ 5,100 dollars for twelve days.

The NGM also pays travel expenses separately, including transportation, lodging, food, etc..

Answer 6

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The vast majority of Nat Geo photography is done by freelancers who either submit or are commissioned. To get noticed you need to be excellent at the type of photography they like and you need to submit images to the picture editor. 99.9% of submissions get rejected. Set your sites lower and work towards that.

Answer 9

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