The Masterclasses online: what we learned on the third day
On 21 April, National Geographic Traveller (UK) hosted two final Masterclasses, bringing the three-day online event to a close.
Is there a science to pitching stories? During the first session of the evening, commissioning editor Connor McGovern asked travel writers Ben Lerwill, Emma Thomson and Travis Levius, plus editor Pat Riddell, to share their advice on the topic. The final photography class, meanwhile, had National Geographic Traveller鈥檚 senior designers, Lauren Gamp and Kelly McKenna, discuss the secrets of taking winning nature shots with photographers Andy Parkinson, Greg Funnell and Slawek Kozdras.
If you missed it, here are some of the evening鈥檚 top takeaways:
How to pitch and get published
Keep your finger on the pulse of destinations
How do you come up with a good pitch? 鈥淵ou have to have your fingers in many pies,鈥� said Emma. She recommended keeping track of anything from new flight routes opening up and bringing new areas to light, to new UNESCO World Heritage Site announcements, the news and anniversaries.
Get in the ear of PRs
Getting publicists to email you ideas is a great way to stay in touch with what鈥檚 going on, said Travis 鈥斅爀specially if you specialise in a particular niche. 鈥淚 cover hotels, so it鈥檚 very important for me to know what鈥檚 going on, what the new openings are. It鈥檚 hard for me to keep track if I鈥檓 just doing that by myself,鈥� he said.
Get to know publications
鈥淚t鈥檚 vital that you actually know the publication and understand the kind of content it has,鈥� said Ben. Ensure you鈥檝e read at least a couple of recent issues to familiarise yourself with regular formats and sections and understand the tone. If it鈥檚 a magazine you already know and enjoy, it’ll make the pitch easier to put together.
News hooks are good, but not essential
鈥淭he hint of something topical in you pitch helps give editors a reason to publish,鈥� said Pat, 鈥渂ut then, what鈥檚 truly important is the angle of the story.鈥� If you’re just starting out as a travel writer or you鈥檙e pitching to a publication for the first time, you鈥檝e got to have one or two good, focused ideas in your pitch on what the angle is in that destination.
Dos and don鈥檛s of wildlife, nature and landscape photography
Focus on the experience of photographing
When you鈥檙e taking nature photographs, said Slawek, you rely and depend on external factors 鈥� on coming across an animal, on beautiful light, on the weather being right. 鈥淵ou can鈥檛 be certain, with this kind of photography, that you will actually get what you set out to do,鈥� he continued, 鈥渁nd that鈥檚 why you shouldn鈥檛 forget to focus on the experience itself.鈥�
Don鈥檛 take the image you鈥檝e seen before
Finding something that鈥檚 not a cliche is essential. 鈥淵ou have to try to find a way that stops people in their tracks,鈥� said Greg. 鈥淧hotos shouldn鈥檛 have all of the answers 鈥斅燼 photo should probably, actually, pose more questions. What you want is for someone to look at the image and pause, and to do that you have to have a little bit of mystery.鈥�
Give your wildlife images context
鈥淥ne of my primary objectives with wildlife photography is to contextualise the animal within the environment that I鈥檓 photographing,鈥� said Andy. You鈥檙e looking to reveal the relationship between the subject and the environment, and don鈥檛 be afraid to explore unusual angles to do so. And remember: the animals’ wellbeing is the number-one priority.
Landscapes should transport viewers to the destination
What do designers look for when choosing landscape photos for a feature? 鈥淏ig, breathtaking, in-the-moment landscapes,鈥� said Kelly. 鈥淚 wouldn鈥檛 be drawn to anything that I can find on stock or Google. We tend to get a lot of drawn-back landscape images, and I quite like the ones on the ground level, so we can really transport our readers there, in the story with us.鈥�