In the fall of last year, I had a massive portfolio review in New York City with 6 different professionals in different parts of the photo business (magazine editors, artist representatives, photo agencies, stock companies).  They all had different opinions about my work and business but my biggest takeaways were to photograph and show the subjects and genres that I want to photograph and to make sure that every photo tells a story.

In wedding photography - the genre that I studied in photography school and started my career in - is all about storytelling: It is the story of the wedding day of the bride and groom.  Having recently been married at the time, I was excited about this genre and excelled at it.

Over time, as I gained more photographic experience in other genres (travel, wildlife, and landscapes), my interests changed but I realized after hearing the advice from my portfolio reviews that I had become fixated on capturing beautiful scenes instead of relating stories about them.  In order to improve this area of my photography, I decided to observe the work of the the storytelling experts at National Geographic: I joined their social media platform called "Your Shot".  Photographers both professional and amateur upload photos, all of which are seen by at least one editor, and the whole community can comment and discuss the imagery.  The editors also create open assignments which are rigorous explorations on a range of topics, and publish stories with a small edit of photos of the tens of thousands submitted.  When I joined, I quickly set my sights on getting published in one of these online stories.

Finally, it has happened.  My photo, entitled "Puddles of Sunset" of pools of water on the partially-flooded salt flat in Bolivia was just published in the story, "After the Rain", and I couldn't be more thrilled.  Now onto the next goal - a paper publication.  I won't hold my breath!