My friend and talented photographer Nick Cobbing photographed a winter sea ice expedition for the January 2016 issue of National Geographic Magazine. He also brought back some beautiful video from the journey. This is the video I produced with Nick’s amazing footage.
Category: Uncategorized
Haitians photographing Haiti
I fell in love with Haiti years ago when I made my first trip to the country for Special Olympics, so I knew I wanted to back and work on this story as soon as I heard about it. National Geographic partnered with an organization called FotoKonbit to shoot a story for the December 2015 issue.
FotoKonbit holds workshops and makes longterm commitments to young people in Haiti, teaching and encouraging them to photograph their own country. It’s really a powerful thing to see these young people working to change the image of a country that’s been so widely covered by the foreign press. It was an honor to go back to a country that I love so much and make this video.
Exposure: Vultures
The Exposure series is a project I started with Spencer Millsap about a year ago. It revolves around an interview with the photographer and photo editor and photos/video from the assignment–sort of giving a behind the scenes look at what it’s like to be on assignment for National Geographic.
Here’s the latest from the Exposure series, featuring photographer Charlie Hamilton James and his vultures story from the January 2016 issue of National Geographic Magazine.
2014 Roundup
Having not blogged for oh, about a year, I thought it would be nice to share some of my favorite work from the end of 2013 and 2014.
I’ll start with the 125 Anniversary “Photographers on Photography” piece published at the end of 2013. I worked on this project with an amazing team and it was very special to get to celebrate the 125th anniversary of National Geographic by hearing from the photographers who contribute stories each month.
In February 2014, I published the video “A Voyage into the Brain” along with our cover story on brain research and imaging. This was really a break from the stories I’m used to working on and enjoyed getting push myself while shooting and editing this story.
I published two stories in August 2014 for our feature on Hunger in America. These stories were really emotional for me and I was amazed how people were willing to open up to me about their personal experiences with hunger. Adding to the attachment I had to this project was the story I produced in Arkansas, my home state. It was a great feeling for me to be able to go home and connect with some great people in Fort Smith, Arkansas to tell this story.
Feeding the Elderly in Arkansas
Lastly, I worked on a project featuring innovators from all different fields. One story that we worked on that I feel particularly attached to is a story about cell phone activism in rural India. It was so much fun to shoot and I’m very glad we got to share the CGNet Swara story.
More to come!
PROOF: Walter Boggs
I started a story more than a year ago about Walter Boggs, an engineer who works in the basement of National Geographic. Walter is eccentric and quirky and a genius in his own way. He builds the photography gear that can’t be bought. Photographers come to Walt with requests before they go out on assignment and he finds a way to make it happen.
This was a fun story to shoot–being able to grab my gear and head down to the basement for a few hours here or half an hour there was always a nice break in my day. I’m glad the video found a place to live on National Geographic’s new blog, PROOF. Walter’s work is always behind the scenes and often goes unnoticed. I know that he isn’t looking for recognition but his work has been such an important part of so many National Geographic stories over the past thirty years. I’m so happy to get to share his story. See the video and full post here.
IG: shannon_sanders
The Biggest Storm
I started a project for National Geographic at the end of July about storm chaser Tim Samaras and the El Reno, Oklahoma tornado. Tim, his son Paul Samaras, and teammate Carl Young were killed in the 2.6-mile wide tornado last May. Tim had worked closely with National Geographic on many projects through the years and my story was to be both tribute to the three men and a closer look at the record-breaking tornado.
This was probably the most difficult story I’ve ever worked on for a few reasons. The time we had to work on this story was much, much less than we typically take to produce a story of this size. More importantly, I felt a responsibility to tell the most honest story of Tim, Paul and Carl that I possibly could. I traveled to Germany and across the United States with one of my teammates collecting interviews about the men and learning more about what happened during the El Reno tornado. Here are the final products–a huge group effort from the talented people I work with. You can see the rest of the story in the November issue of National Geographic Magazine.
IG: shannon_sanders
Three Years Later: NPR’s look at Haiti
NPR posted a collection of David Gilkey’s “then and now” photos from Haiti on the Picture Show blog a few weeks ago. The “then” images are from some of the earliest days after the earthquake showing a country turned upside down. Unfortunately, some of the “now” photos don’t look that much different. There has certainly been some progress since the earthquake struck Haiti, but has there been three years worth of progress? Even one year?
The photographs are hauntingly beautiful and give an honest insight into the reality of many Haitians. Click here to see the full post from NPR.
National Geographic Photo Seminar
What an amazing week! National Geographic has a photo seminar each year–a gathering of photographers and artists and a time to share projects and works in progress. I had such a great time! We are working on a project that revolves around photographer interviews and we shot many of them this week while everyone was in town. What an amazing group of people with GREAT stories to tell!
There were also some wonderful presentations at seminar. The wonderful Sebastiao Salgado came to present his beautiful project, Genesis, artist JR shared a projection of his work and Aaron Huey told the touching story of the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota.
An incredibly inspiring week! Can’t wait to see what happens next.
IG: shannon_sanders
51º South
I recently stumbled upon a really beautiful, wonderfully produced project called 51º South. It’s a collection of short video stories exploring the Falkland Islands and really gives life and character to the place and the people who live there. So inspired by this project! This storytelling format really allows for a nice overview, highlighting many themes and characters without feeling disjointed. Here’s the prologue to the series–you should check it out!
The Art of the Grant Application
A friend and fellow journalist, Josh Meltzer, recently shared this link. The article makes a lot of sense and just so happens to be very applicable to this stage of my life. Click here to read “Anatomy of a Successful Grant Application.”
