photo editing

Now In Bookstores: Always Ireland

I have to admit that it has been a while since I’ve shared here. The pandemic disrupted my life in many ways but also opened possibilities with other aspirations, like starting a flower farm (more on that later).

But over the last few years, in between learning how tough flower farming can be, I’ve been working on some book projects for National Geographic, one of which was published last month. Being that today is St. Patrick’s Day, I thought I would share with you Always Ireland by Jack Kavanagh.

Full disclosure, I have never been to Ireland in person, but after going through thousands of images of the Emerald isle, I now feel that I have had a complete virtual tour and history! I’ve never worked on a book project that didn’t have its share of challenges. Sometimes it is constantly shifting deadlines, other times it is trying to find photos of rectangular-shaped fish and marine mammals that work visually in a square-shaped book. This project was no different, but in the end, I’m quite pleased with the photographic results.

Ireland has been boosted to the top of my travel list from photo editing for this project, not only because of the gorgeous landscape but because every single Irish person I called or emailed was absolutely lovely…and I’m a sucker for the accent!

Whether you’ve already been won over by this beautiful little country, or if you’re Ireland-curious, pick up a copy of Always Ireland to get travel tips, lessons in history and lore, and even recipes. Happy St. Patrick’s Day to you!

And a big thank you to the team I worked with at National Geographic Books, and especially to author Jack Kavanagh for his wonderful insights into his country and for supporting me to show Ireland’s many facets with photography.

Krista Rossow Receives NATJA Gold Award

I’m happy to announce that I’m part of the photographic team behind the Morocco story for National Geographic Traveler magazine that won an Arts & Culture Gold Award in the 28th Annual Travel Media Awards Competition put on by NATJA (North American Travel Journalists Association). The article ran in the August/September 2019 issue of the magazine.

I wanted to also congratulate my friend and colleague Carrie Miller for the Bronze Award in Travel Books for her 100 Dives of a Lifetime: The World’s Ultimate Underwater Destinations book (which I was lucky enough to photo edit!).

And kudos to National Geographic Traveler for winning the Gold Award for the best print travel magazine! Despite the last issue having rolled off the press earlier this year, I feel golden for having been part of National Geographic Traveler’s print family over the years. Cheers to many more years in our virtual form.

See all the winners here: http://bit.ly/NATJAwin.

A man stokes the fire at a hammam inside of the Medina of Marrakech, Morocco.

In Bookstores: 100 Hikes of a Lifetime

A few weeks ago I received a package in the mail from National Geographic. I hadn’t been expecting anything, but then it hit me…its the book!

Finally, my very own copy of the 100 Hikes of a Lifetime book, which I photo edited over the course of a year’s time, had arrived. The task of photo editing a book for mass publication is such a long process that by the time my role had ended in August of last year, I clearly had plenty of time to forget about all of the hard work and deadlines. Then the physical book arrived like a long lost surprise; a PDF magically turned into a real-life book!

Working on 100 Hikes of a Lifetime took me virtually around the world to beautiful mountaintops and arid deserts, ironically while I was often yoyo-ing back and forth from home to my next far-flung assignment. There was an intricate dance of multi-tasking going on at many points to keep all of my deadlines and obligations met.

I wanted to thank the author of the book, Kate Siber, for being efficient and endlessly helpful. I didn’t envy her the nearly impossible task of selecting only 100 hikes! Also, thank you to the team at National Geographic Books: Moira Haney, Allyson Johnson, Nicole Miller, Meredith Wilcox, Susan Blair, and Jill Foley.

A side-effect of photo editing travel publications is that I have a never-ending wish list of travel experiences. After virtually experiencing 100 hikes, I can say that at the top of my list are California’s Sierra High Route, Nepal’s Great Himalaya Trail, Egypt’s Sinai Trail, and Italy’s Alta Via Delle Dolomiti 1. Clearly, I’m up for a challenge! And inspired by my work on a previous book in this series, 100 Dives of a Lifetime, I’m finally getting my scuba certification this year and going diving in French Polynesia.

If you’re in need of an adventure or simply want to ogle the beauty of this wild world we live in, pick up a copy of 100 Hikes of a Lifetime here.

Hikes of a Lifetime cover

In Bookstores: 100 Dives of a Lifetime

For all of you lovers of the underwater world, I’m pleased to share that a book I photo edited for National Geographic on the world’s best scuba diving locations is now in bookstores! 100 Dives of a Lifetime is written by Carrie Miller, a friend and colleague I last collaborated with on a project for Tourism New Zealand.

While photo editing over the course of a year on this title, my eyes feasted on imagery from 100 locations around the world, both above and below the surface. At times finding images from these remote destinations was elusive, like digging for underwater treasure. Luckily, with the contributions from the libraries of many talented underwater photographers, the treasures are now on display in the pages of this beautiful book.

Working on a book is a long process that involves extensive collaboration with editorial and design teams and a huge amount of organization. Thank you to author Carrie Miller (who is currently working on another travel book relating to scuba diving!) and Moira Haney, Allyson Johnson, and Sanaa Akkach at National Geographic Books.

After working on this project, I took away an urgency to get myself scuba-certified, a deep appreciation for the art of underwater photography, and an obsession with nudibranchs.

Pick up a copy of 100 Dives of a Lifetime here. And stay tuned for another book that I’m about to wrap up in National Geographic’s “Of a Lifetime” series, one which won’t require dive fins!

 

krista-rossow-book-photo-editing

In Bookstores: The World’s Most Romantic Destinations

Last April I holed up in a house in Seattle and took a trip around the world.

Well, not literally, but through pictures. While photo editing my first book project for National Geographic, I re-visited favorite destinations like Cape Town and the Burgundy region of France, but then also fell for places that hadn’t quite caught my eye before like the Azores Islands of Portugal, Mozambique’s Quirimbas Archipelago, and San Sebastián in Spain.

20170306-NatGeoBook-KRossow-1441

I enjoyed switching gears from photo editing for magazines and delving into the book publishing world. I’m looking forward to working on the sister book to this title later this year. Special thanks for making the photo editing process easy and enjoyable goes to National Geographic’s Moira Haney, Elisa Gibson, and Allyson Dickman.

I’m proud to say that the results are now in hard copy and, if I do say so myself, they look gorgeous. Pick up National Geographic’s The World’s Most Romantic Destinations in bookstores or online and start adding to your travel bucket list. I can promise you these tempting places aren’t only for lovers.

On Newsstands: 100 Places That Will Change Your Life

If you were in a book or grocery store lately, you may have seen the cover of this magazine inviting you to change your life. Indeed, this”book-a-zine” (bigger than a magazine, 600px 100 Placessmaller than a book), changed my life for quite a while last summer as I photo edited images for all of the amazing destinations held within its pages.

It had only been a couple of years since leaving my staff job at National Geographic Traveler as a photo editor and it felt great to work on 100 Places That Will Change Your Life. And, as always happens when working on these projects, my list of travel destinations has grown with priority now being given to a culinary trip to Oaxaca, a trail-restoring trek to Torres del Paine, and a trip to see turquoise waters in Croatia.

If you need a little travel inspiration and you missed this publication, you can order a copy via National Geographic here.

Krista Rossow Speaking at OPTIC 2016 in NYC

optic2016

I’m pleased to announce that I’ll be speaking in New York City as part of OPTIC 2016, a photography event from June 5th-8th put on by the legendary B&H Photo Video and National Geographic/Lindblad Expeditions. This “Outdoor Photo/Video Travel Imaging Conference” can be attended for free in person or via livestreaming. Simply visit the website to register for either option.

On Sunday, June 5th, I’ll be speaking for Fujifilm discussing my recent experience using the X Series mirrorless system while traveling in Asia this past winter. For those curious about making the switch from DSLRs to mirrorless, I’ll be discussing my experience while sharing the resulting photographs and teaching why bigger isn’t necessarily better when it comes to cameras. If you can’t make it in person, read a recap on B&H’s Explora blog here or watch the archived footage here.

Also on Sunday, I’ll be on the main stage speaking about how to “Think Like an Editor.” I will discuss how I believe that for travel photography, photo editing begins even before taking a picture. Today’s photographers are their own photo editors, and not in the sense of using Instagram filters or Photoshop, but in the sense of selecting the best imagery to share with an audience, whether that is in a family album or professional portfolio. I will give tips on how to “improve your photographic odds” by preparing to take travel photographs through research and planning. I will discuss considerations for capturing the best images while in the field and give insight on the process of curating the best images once the images have been made. From my experience as a both a photographer on assignment and as a photo editor needing to convey an effective story, I will give practical insight into improving your photography and telling your own story. Register here to livestream this talk.

Sign up to also hear talks by my National Geographic colleagues Erika Larsen, Jay Dickman, Flip Nicklen, and Ralph Lee Hopkins and many other industry professionals. If you are in New York City, make sure to visit the trade show and to register for portfolio reviews, a photo walk in Central Park, a photo cruise, and a dinner party sponsored by Nikon. All the information is on the website: www.optic2016.com.

I hope to see you in New York or virtually on the small-screen somewhere in the world!

—

UPDATE: The talks I gave in New York are now archived with B&H. To see my editing talk, click here, and to see the talk about shooting with mirrorless, click here.