A photographer I was inspired
by this semester was Jim Richardson. He is a landscape photographer who works
for National Geographic and is one of the contributing editors of National
Geographic TRAVELER. He has been a photographer for over 30 years. Richardson
began liking photography at a young age, teaching himself how to develop film
and make prints in his family’s kitchen in rural Kansas. In college he got a
job talking photographs for the school’s newspaper, which led to a photo
internship with The Topeka Capital-Journal. From working with this newspaper he
was able to get some special assignments and work for other newspapers like The
Denver Post. This work is what eventually led him to be discovered by the
editors of National Geographic. Richardson did his first assignment in 1984-15
years after he first began pursuing photography. He has been working for
National Geographic ever since then, now completing about 30 different
assignments for the main magazine and 15 for National Geographic’s sister magazine,
TRAVELER.
I was inspired by Jim Richardson because my
absolute dream is to be able to work for National Geographic. I really enjoy
studying environmental science and I also love taking photos so I’m hoping that
one day I can combine the two-travelling the world to study the environment,
writing and publishing articles, and documenting it by a lot of photos.
Richardson specializes in solving the problem of hunger, so by working with
National Geographic he is able to study what he loves-world issues-and do what
he loves-taking photos. That is one of the reasons I’ve been inspired by him.
After I saw one of his photos that I really liked in my NatGeo magazine I
looked him up to see more of his work and found his biography. So aside from
taking really great photos, I’m just encouraged by his job and the work
he put in to get there.
Richardson’s photos are pretty breathtaking.
He shoots a wide range-landscapes, documentary, portraits-but they’re all
amazing. Sometimes in photography you have to infer what is going on in the
picture and what the story behind the photograph is, but his photos really tell
those stories for you. Colorful and diverse, his photos are not only
interesting but just taken with such care, something that only comes from years
of dedication, practice, and natural talent.
