DC Trip: Day 4

Today we went to the Corcoran Gallery of Art, the McClatchy Tribune, National Geographic, and ended the day with an alumni party. 

At the Corcoran we saw their current exhibit on War Photography. The exhibit was great. The photographs were broken down into small sections, such as civilians in wartime, so that the exhibit was more than just hundreds of the most iconic war photographs ever made. The exhibit had pretty much every iconic war photograph ever made, be it Eddie Adam's execution of a vietcong or photos from Tim Hetherington's Restrepo. This exhibit is well worth a trip to see it.

Next we went to McClatchy Tribune. McClatchy is the second largest wire service in the US. It is made up of a network of about 55 different newspapers around the country that help to fund it. At McClatchy we met with senior photo editor, Linda Epstein. After explaining McClatchy to us, Linda gave us some pointers for our future. Just like everyone else we have talked to, Linda stressed the need to network and really keep in touch with the people that you have met. Another tip that she gave us was to always be looking at other peoples work. Draw inspiration from it and see what they're doing and how they're doing it. To really keep up with photography you have to be looking at what everyone around you is doing and be able to do that and more. 

After McClatchy we went over to National Geographic. At National Geographic we met with director of photography Sarah Leen, photo editor Bill Douthitt, and deputy director of photography Ken Geiger. The three of them started by telling us about where they see the National Geographic going. They explained that it is no longer just a magazine, but now it is a blog, a website, multimedia work, the magazine still, etc. After discussing the changing nature of the current industry, Ken and Bill discussed the importance of photo stories. Photo stories are how photographers change the world. They then went into discussing how important the research aspect of a story is. The stories that National Geographic tells require months to years of research before they can be photographed. The photographer needs to know every possible aspect of the story so that they can successfully pitch the story and then follow that up with some stellar photographs. Without solid research, a story will never be successfully told. 

After National Geographic we went to an alumni party and met with tons of alumni and friends of the program. Many of the people we have met throughout the week were at the party along with a ton of other photographers, editors, and other people in the industry. The party was an opportunity to talk with all of the knowledgeable people there in a less formal setting, ask plenty more questions, have work looked at, and most importantly practice the main theme of the week, networking. 

After another successful day the themes remain the same, network, write good captions, and always be working on a story.