Look inside the real-life career of Wildlife Photographer Natalie

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SAMPLE CAREER BIOGRAPHY cThe thing that stru ck me most was that she opened u p to me simply because I w as a photog- rapher. I was hooked. Ho w cool to be able to walk into some one 9s life, see how they li ve, what they e xperience, and come awa y with pictures that tell the story! d She left sc hool, returning home to liv e with her parents.

She worked two part-time job s while rethinking her fu ture. She also began ha nging out with news photo graphers at the De s Moines R egister . In January 1977, Nata lie entered Ohio Uni- ver sity 9s photojournalism pr ogram.

Soon, she approach ed the photo editor at th e Cincinnat i Enquirer with her portfo lio. He offered her a summer internship. After she earned her b achelor 9s degree, the E nquirer h ired her as a perma nent staff photographer .

Within a year, she was nam ed Ohio photographer o f the year. But, when a media chain took over t he daily, she quit and took a position with the Seatt le Times . Her e, she chased fewer dead - ... more. less.

lines and p roduced more in-depth features. When her father came to visit her, she took him to a r iver to show him a Pacific Northwest phe- nomenon: salmon returning upriver to spawn and die. Quietly, the y watched the fish determ inedly leaping, falling, and l eaping again as they swam a gainst the current. cAwe. Sadness. I felt a jumble of emo tions. The salmon 9s life c ycle is an amaz- ing mystery . It returns to its natal wa ters, spawns once, and dies. E ven in death, it continues to give back. As it decays, it g ives the nutrients into the w ater that the progeny need to get strong. d Over- whelme d, Natalie glanced at her father and saw tears in his e yes, too. Grant Spawns Stu dy Back at work, she told her editors she wanted to work on sto ries about salmon and fis hing. They agreed. Intent on the task, she began study ing the salmon 9s life c ycle. She learned to identi fy vari- ous species. She inte rviewed fisheries biologis ts. Needing extra income to f und her work, she sent a query letter to Natio nal Geographic . Und eterred by its reject ion letter, she applied for a grant, got $25,000, and took a 14-month leave from th e Times to work full time on the salmon story. Traveling through Was hington, Alaska, and Japan, Natali e caught on film the ancie nt, intri- Natalie Fobes Owner N atalie Fobes Ph otography Seattle, Wash. FOR THE RECORD EDUCATION Roosevelt High School, Des M oines, Iowa. Grad uated 1973. Favo rite subjects 4art, history, math, rea ding, English. M ember of swim an d golf teams; part icipated in drama, cheerleading, ball et; served as secre tary on school 9s student council; sa ng in church chor us. Iowa State University, Am es. Studied archite cture 1973-19 76. Ohio University, At hens, Ohio. Bache lor 9s degree in j ournalism 1978. c One of my chief c riticisms of school is that they don 9t t each you the busin ess aspects of photography. I lea rned the hard way that you can 9t build a business on one client. I rea lized I had to show my portfolio to t ry to get a balance d base of clients. d W ORK HISTORY Worked as a waitres s, a deli manager, and a lifeguard d uring college to ea rn money for tuiti on, room, board, books, and camera s. Photo intern, then permanent staff p hotographer, Cin- cinnati Enquirer , Cincinnati, Oh io, 1977-1981. cOn my internship, I was able to do po rtraits, environme n- tal shots, sport s, spot news, every thing. They threw me in with the big guys and expecte d me to perform. d Photographer, weekend photo editor, Seattle Times , Seattle, W ash., 1981-1987. Visiting professor, Ohio U niversity, Athens , 1995. Taugh t graduate students in photography fo r one schoo l quarter. JOB BENEFITS None. Self-employed. cI am free to be my own boss. d CLOSE-UP cThe number one goal f or a photo student should be to ge t published in as m any different place s as possi- ble, t o build up a portfo lio, and to learn h ow to photo- grap h for a publicatio n. There 9s a lot of difference in doi ng fine arts photog raphy and shootin g with limited tim e and still making pictures that have a point to the m. [Newspapers] g ive you a great op portunity to ho ne your skills, to g et really fast at wh at you do. d cSome days, I can g o out and not get any good shots, even though I work hard struggling t o get some. But other days I get a lot of unexpected p hotos. d cBeing knowledgeable about your subject makes it ea s- ier for you to ge t a picture that no body else could ge t. d Wildlife Photographer D - 6 - 4 a relationshi ee o u s d the environm ent In November 987 t he Seattl im es ra specia inser cSag of Salmon I on hi ra n n ted fo ulitze rize en co o N ional eo raphic and it offered er a six-w eek on rac o o si lar s ory When she egan l in t evelo t eo ra hi i n t th ime offer d c oic Wor there ful tim e or no a all. cThe r w wa w oi t o ng a National Geo raphi stor sh recalls In act sh we n on o cover both omm ercial fish rin l in A fo ational eo rap hic Slip e Sub ec s or t ta o w ureaucrats cor orate s okes er ons clean u worker s Alaska atives and oth er journalists. d n he i h c il- coated sea otters and birds Whe h f t i es h w f that if ad nough ood stor deas c uld e ired at ny agazine B ut was ver aive c ra hi o nl ma i e or roposals ro hoto raphers. d e d u 9 1, agaz ine 9s new edito cleaned ous nd dis- issed or contri butors, including Natalie Jus lik th at had to beco bu siness- , d says T r r ersel nd e w ork, he ead oks a ou egotiat ing nd rketing. She j oined th merican Socie y of Me di Photographers Y ran l n ent fro editors Ti -L if Publicatio s, ew York imes a gazine , Newsweek , and U.S. ews Wo rld Repor . She has since ubli shed thre books , and ha nor u ibrar o ho o ra h v - tises in stoc k-photo books which dit ors scan to ind specific illus rations. Her art-time ass istan atalo s - a sil find wha client want fe cor orat ac oun s p a well or her work o l lustrate their r i es e ccoun a u ho o o wo rk is art o an exhibi tha tours eums. h also has ad mad and sells p ostcards T rts d o w ho Yes erday, N a alie awoke at a.m. ea ger to go a a ounci had co tr c hoto ra h b agl es nd salmon there. Sinc e eagles feed on sal n in the orning, she wan ed o arrive arl . u -w d c ead acked with three c a eras one in water r o ase for underwater sho s ; lenses ncluding e h ot ho o a il a tri od; and dr sui to kee war n the iver 9s rigi d wa er Near th Skagit she uld uid nd is r e e n kin treams. The hec ked ou ou le Neit e ad an salmon bu ne ha d better light so Natalie iv in uit od mask snorke lov d erin the water downs trea o th fish woul be les ikel o detec her sce n and vemen she r wled s ng her bulk 0- ound ca era in front o her The sa l on er unu uall coo erative and o 0 minut es Na ali was able o ge grea u - - on. Bu sh then ha t le v t w t ha ng film and when she r eturned the fish wa r h a hi e o o p - cWhen iv wo rkshops o oing pho ories, tell eople you 9ve go to e d ow nd t you r around o r sub ct, or yo 9 e n d sa From childhood vacations, Natalie Fobes re- members her father, an amateur photographer, stopping the car often to jump out and photograph wildflowers. cI thought that was boring , d she says. Today, she thinks nothing of sitting silently in a blind for hours, hoping to photograph some wild creature 4and often coming up with nothing. A professional award-winning photographer based in Seattle, Wash., Natalie has seen her work published in National Geographic , Smith- sonian , GEO , and Newsweek . She has endured 110-knot winds and swells as high as houses in the Bering Sea; been knocked unconscious when her vehicle hit a hole on a rough road; and braved Series D Vol. 6 No. 4 D - 6 - 4 Wildlife Photographer O*NET:34023A D.O.T.:143.062-034 CF S.O.C.:3261 HC:AEC Fine Arts and Humanities Natalie Stalks Her Su bjects Captures Candids of Animals In the Wild BRIEFLY: They can 9t just ask a deer to rub its antlers over bark. So they watch for hours, days, even weeks, waiting until it does so ins tinctively. They can 9t lure trout from streams or ducks from marshes, so they go into the water with them 4and wait. The y are wildlife photographers, like Natalie Fobes. They are as pa- tient, cunning, and daring as their subjects. Wildlife Photographer Wildlife Photographer D - 6 - 4 freezing temperatures in Siberia to photograph native reindeer herders. Photographing her subjects in their natural en- vironments and engaged in their natural activi- ties is her forte. cYou shouldn 9t change the be- havior of animals you 9re shooting, d she asserts. cI refuse to spook birds to make them fly just so I can get a shot of them in flight. I would never bait a bear to get a better shot. I rely on a lot of patience and some luck to get my shot. d She learned self-discipline early. At age 12, she was invited to go swimming. A 6-year-old at the pool challenged her to a race 4and won. That upset Natalie but motivated her to practice. Next, she joined club and school teams and began swimming competitively. By the time she graduated, she held a school swimming record. cThat taught me about dis- cipline, about setting goals, and about being rewarded for the discipline by getting better. d Interested in art and math, she entered Iowa State University, majoring in architecture. Two photography courses in her junior year shifted her focus, however. The introductory course taught her skills. The other course opened her eyes to the profession 9s possibilities. Looking for a subject to fulfill an assignment, she saw an elderly woman raking leaves, stopped, and asked to take her picture. The woman not only agreed but invited Natalie in for lemonade; then began pouring out her life story. She had come to Iowa in a covered wagon, married a farmer, lost two children at childbirth and raised a clutch of others, and helped her family survive locusts, hailstorms, and tornadoes. Natalie advertises over 60,000 photographs, cataloged and cross-referen ced, in stock-photo books. Vocational Biographies Wildlife Photographer O*NET:34023A D.O.T.:143.062-034 CF S.O.C.:3261 HC:AEC doubted they would be very good. She reloaded again and returned to the stream, hoping to cap- ture the elaborate male and female spawning ritu- al. cThey actually do a flirtation dance, d she ex- plains. cThe male will go over to the female and rub against her. She 9ll quiver. It 9s fascinating. d She left the water at 1:15. After removing her drysuit, she and the guide drove to a farmhouse to ask the landowner 9s permission to scout out a spot on which to build a blind for photographing eagles that feed on the salmon. Natalie then drove Bob to his car and stopped to eat her brownbag lunch. Afterward, she slow- ly drove up and down the road looking for ea- gles, which are less afraid of humans in cars than of humans on foot. She photographed several. For the remainder of the day, she photographed the Skagit River, the salmon, the orange and ma- genta afterglow on snowy Cascade Mountain peaks after sunset, and, finally, the moonrise flooding the scene with silver light. Checking into a cabin she had reserved, she ate dinner and went to bed early to get up by 5:30 a.m. to con- tinue her hunt for eagles. To relax, Natalie reads, gardens, and works on remodeling a house with her husband Scott Sunde. Her pursuit of story-telling shots will continue, she says. cI can 9t imagine doing any- thing else. d WORK DESCRIPTION Photographs wildlife in their natural habitat 4accepts as- signment from editor or comes up with photo-story idea and pitches it to editors; researches background informa- tion; travels to site; takes photographs; develops nega- tives; prints film; submits negatives and pictures to as- signment editor. May also relicense photos to editors and exhibit pictures in museum shows. May sell related retail products. May write grant applications and seek other sources of funds. May teach photographic workshops. WORKING CONDITIONS In studio. On location. May travel to remote areas for long periods of time. May work in uncomfortable and/or dan- gerous surroundings, risking injury or illness. PLACES OF EMPLOYMENT Self-employment; newspapers; magazines; publishing companies; advertising agencies; government agencies. PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS Good eyesight; true-color vision; stamina; coordination; efficiency; good physical condition; manual dexterity; artistic ability; independence; flexibility; perseverance; pa- tience; concentration; self-discipline; initiative; curiosity; originality; willingness to work outdoors in all weather and ignore unpleasant conditions; business sense. EDUCATION AND TRAINING Photography experience and extensive portfolio mini- mum. Completion of photography courses highly advised. Bachelor 9s degree in photojournalism recommended. JOB OUTLOOK Steady, but keen competition exists for assignments and positions. SALARY RANGE $15,000 to $50,000 or more per year, depending on ex- perience, reputation, employer, and location. RELATED OCCUPATIONS Aerial Photographer Advertising Photographer Photojournalist FOR MORE INFORMATION The subject of this biography is not available to answer personal inquiries. For more information, please write to the following organizations or go to their Web site. Addresses are current as of publication date. American Society of Media Photographers Web Site: http://www.asmp.org National Press Photographers Association Web Site: http://www.sunsite.unc.edu/nppa North American Nature Photography Association Web Site: http://www.nanpa.org Professional Photographers of America Web Site: http://www.ppa-world.org To find information about similar careers, see separate Vocational Biographies booklet index and cluster list- ing, an encyclopedia, or books on careers found in your library, career center, or counseling or placement office. Check the vertical file, card catalog, microfiche, or computer listing. Look up the following words: Advertising, Art, Environment, Journalism, Photograph- er, Photojournalist, Wildlife. Also see the Business and Office, Communications and Media, Fine Arts and Hu- manities, and Marketing and Distribution Careers clus- ters in the Vocational Biographies Career Library Index. WHAT YOU CAN DO NOW Visit a newspaper or magazine office and talk to photogra- phers there about what they do. Get an internship or part- time job as a photography assistant. Serve as a staff pho- tographer on your school newspaper and yearbook. Become a photography stringer for a local newspaper. Learn how to use both traditional and digital camera equipment. Put together a portfolio showcasing the best of your work. Take courses in English, art, photography, composition, business practices, bookkeeping, marketing, and physics. LIFESTYLE IMPLICATIONS Free-lance photographers may have flexible schedules but may also spend much time tracking down assign- ments and marketing their work. They also may spend days away from home and work in remote, potentially dangerous surroundings, putting a strain on families. ©2000, Vocational Biographies Inc., Sauk Centre, MN 56378. 800-255-0752. All rights reserved. Wildlife Photographer D - 6 - 4 Persons are portrayed herein without regard to race, sex, or religious background. Careers discussed are to be considered accep table for either sex. Information is current as of publication date. DATA FILE Education High school background Educational planning Recommended courses Early goals For the Record Education and training Work history Job benefits Personal insights Work Experience Early jobs Goals Motivation Self-identity Decision-making Lifestyle How the job affects leisure time Work-related activities off the job How the person views leisure time Data File How to prepare for this career Possible places of employment Required education and training Related occupations Places to get more information Current Job Workday details Responsibilities Satisfactions Frustrations Challenges A day on the job Working conditions Possibilities for promotion Look inside the real-life career of Wildlife Photographer Natalie Fobes Toll Free 1 800-255-0752

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