Day four and Ariana started out like we do every morning, self-timer photos and city bikes! We started out visiting AARP with Micahel Wichita. It was a surprising visit mostly because I don't necessarily think about AARP as a publisher of news. It was the viewership and the number of stories that the organization pushes out that really perked up my ears. In terms of people seeing your work, AARP seemed to be the place to go. As someone who is interested in print publications, AARP seems to be a great place to be. They are certainly an organization I will keep my eye on. I felt a lot of support from Michael and the organization and it's rare to have that gut feeling. I wish we had some more time to maybe look into the process of creating the magazine but I have a feeling reaching out to Michael won't be an issue.
Our next visit was to National Geographic. I've probably dreamt of going to a Nat Geo office my entire life, so to say it was a surreal experience is an understatement. I was excited to see Whitney Johnson since I had met her last year and I certainly had plans to catch up with her, I was pleased to know that Ally recognized me from Alexia as well. I'd be curious to chat with her more as well. Whitney did not end up speaking with us which I was a little disappointed about, but I hope I can see her again. We first walked into a layout room and met Kurt Muchler and saw the most recent magazine spread on the walls. The best part of the visit was the presentation from Nat Geo's staff photographers Becky Hale and Mark Thiessen. Their process was really interesting to me and I know I'd like to speak to them again about long-term projects they might work on. After their presentation, we met with Veda Shastri and Cosima Amelang.It was really interesting seeing the new ideas their team has to bring to Nat Geo. I'm curious how the organization will continue to progress in the digital world. I liked how forward thinking the organization has become. Again, I wished I could have had more time to ask questions and/or they really thought about the questions I was trying to ask, some answers were just not what I was trying to ask. I will be reaching out to a bunch of them in the future for sure. I don't believe Nat Geo is the end all be all, however, it doesn't hurt to tug at that dream.
Our last stop was Bloomberg. Andrew Harrer greeted us after some much-needed snacks in the lobby. He gave a short presentation showing us how he receives pitches from freelancers, and how he can look for their work online. It was cool to see behind the scenes how they receive work. Although Bloomberg is not on my top list of places to look at for work, they certainly have opportunities for stories I might be interested in.
