In my practise, I am interested and engaged by the spectrum of the photographic field (documentary, archival, commercial etc), so thought it apt to try and get in contact with someone in a field I had never considered or really thought about. Julia is the national geographic photo editor and archivist. We conducted the interview over email and I would like to thank Julia again for her kind and helpful words.
B: Thank you very much for offering up your time to answer some of my questions as I find your job extremely intriguing and would love to find out more about your practise. I have written a few questions that you could hopefully answer but no worries if you don’t want to respond to them all.
B: What does your job entail (the specifics)?
J: My current job: I’m a photo editor at National Geographic. I do NOT edit the magazine. I provide images for a wide range of NG projects such as books, stills for our documentaries, exhibits. And I provide images for external clients such as publishers, news agencies, commercial manufacturers (think: tropical waterfall pic on a bottle of shampoo… really jazzy stuff), film production companies. I used to run the fine art program for National Geographic for 8 years– that was definitely a highlight of my life! I drew upon Nat Geo’s amazing astounding vintage collection ( 11.5 million vintage works) to curate exhibits for galleries and museums. It was f’ing wonderful. But, alas, I don’t do that anymore. I still have a great time, however.
B: What are some of the most rewarding parts of your job?
J: Most rewarding part of my job: I get paid to play with pictures every day. How lucky is that? In the course of my work, archivists and old time editors have shared memories and stories about the photos and the people who made them, as well as the history of the assignments. For example, WHY did NG think that x was an important story at the time? Conversely, why did NG never do a story on (fill in the blank). I have the honor of working in one of the world’s most significant photo collections. It spans 150 years and documents everyday life in almost every culture around the world– human, animal, terrestial and extraterrestial. The photos in this collection tell the story of a changing world. That’s what makes it so cool to work with these pictures. There’s a bias to the photos, sure enough, but even that tells an interesting story about the world.
B: -What brought you to National Geographic and the profession of an editor/archivist?
J: I first came to NG after graduate school– I earned a MA in English, loved writing and always loved photography. I worked whenever I could shooting whatever I could. My first job after college was interning at a large morning newspaper. I was the only woman on the photo staff, and boy was I reminded of that every day. I felt too shy to push into the very male world of intense news photography–something I’d never ever indulge in now. I would say now, fuck the men, I can shoot better than most of them anyways, and I’d push into a story. But back then, I felt intimidated by the technology and the literally big burly dudes in the field. I came to NG because it was place where I could write and be around photos. Stayed here for about 6 years, made great headway writing, then left for an 18-year-career writing children”s science for leading publishers in the states.
I feel I have learnt about the different elements of the job and the sheer capacity of imagery that Julia has sifted through. The career sounds like something enjoyable and a way to explore photography without creating work. Her attitude towards the male dominated world of the creative arts was something I admired and felt encouraged by.
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