Atlanta Photojournalism Seminar, Balance

Tsingy de Bemeraha 2009, Madagascar ©Stephen Alvarez/National Geographic Magazine

The Atlanta Photojournalism Seminar is coming up December 3-5 and I have to get my presentation ready. I think I am going to talk about one of the real arts of a long professional career: Balance

Balance, it is what I struggle with every day. How to balance who I am as a photographer today with who I want to be in the future.

Let's face it, we get hired for what we have done not what we want to do. Early in my career I mostly shot portraits for New York Financial Magazines. I liked doing it but wanted to cover Natural History and Exploration. The solution then, as now, is personal work. I got out of portraits by producing a body of very personal photos about underground exploration. The personal photos led to assignments and eventually my personal work became my profession.

That is the ideal situation, getting hired to shoot what you really want to anyway. But once you get hired you are not exactly free. When I go out the door on a story for NG they want me to explore and come back with the unexpected, but I sure as hell better have the expected in the tray as well. 

So how do you keep that from being a trap? Personal work. I'm always working on something personal that challenges me as a storyteller. It is a way of staying fresh and growing while still being employable.

My personal work these days is about the Uganda-Sudan border. Now I don't think it will ever become my full bore job, but the skills I learn there make me a better photographer.

Kampala, Uganda October 2009 © Stephen Alvarez

-Stephen Alvarez

Comments

[Stephen Alvarez]

@ Julián, Thanks for the kind words about my photography.
What has always interested me are big projects, that is why NG is such a good place to work, I get the time and tools to put together a long story. The most interesting big project I have seen lately has been by the NOOR agency
http://consequencesbynoor.com/
Take a look at the essays there, it is issue reporting done in a very intelligent way.
best,
Stephen

[Julián Urbina]

As a student photographer it is priceless to have the opportunity to know what is actually going on in the mind of those professional photographers whose work I admire and follow, hopping one day mine's would be on a par. I'm a huge fan of NG, of you Mr. Alvarez and of all of your colleagues at NG.
I hope you'll continue to share your experiences and thoughts for all of us who are interested in hear them but can´t be present on one of your seminars.

Greetings from Colombia
Julián Urbina