Assignment: Inspiration Winner | National Geographic

[Applause] After three uplifting photographic quests, our assignment inspiration finalists pitched us their photos, hoping to be the ones chosen to go on assignment with National Geographic Travel. We judges had an incredibly tough decision to make. Each finalist has different strengths, and now our photographers are looking forward to their feedback. I hope that they can learn something from me, but I know that from other experiences like this, I end up learning as much and being inspired as much by them as they are by me.

[Music] It's just the culmination of that idea that you don't have to be just one thing. You don't have to be just a doctor or just a woman or just a mom. You can wear many hats, and you can explore all of these different things about yourself that you didn't know could be just more than a hobby.

I wanted to start by saying that you have, and your work has, a very big, generous heart, and it comes through in all of the pictures. But when we separated and marked our scores, your score was not the highest. For you to go forward as a photographer, you do have more to learn. But you had easily the highest score in the uplifted quest. These intimate, amazing moments, you know, really, really powerful—thank you. And that's because of who you are. What you have is the most important part. In time, as you master your craft, that's going to open doors to telling other kinds of stories. But never walk away from your heart—you have a gift.

Thank you. I'm sorry, I'm not actually sad I didn't win. It wasn't—I was not expecting to win. But like, what is news to me is just what you said and that's really—it really means a lot to me. So thank you. But obviously, I'm gonna have to keep my day job so that I can support my photography habits. I'm just really grateful for this entire experience. This has been fantastic even though I didn't win the competition.

You can't worry about the past; all you can do is think about the present and the future, and let's go from there. I always have a camera in my hand, and I'm gonna keep having a camera in my hand. Hi, if I were to win, I would call my family first and tell them because they're all kind of waiting to hear and they're all so excited for me. If I don't win, I'll probably text my family.

We felt that you were such an imaginative, playful, creative photographer and that that was really important to you, and that you really understood that that was your voice. The way that you explore composition, that came through in all of the work that you did.

Oh wow, thank you. The other photographers—I've seen their work online, and I really have a lot of respect for what they've done. And then the stakes of winning or losing is pretty high. Hey, how you doing? Good, good. I obviously really want to win, so that's another layer of nerves.

We were all unanimously impressed with the thoughtful way and deliberate way that you not only described each of the quests, but how that comes through in all of your photography. You have already the beginning of a mastery over your camera, and I think these are some of your greatest strengths. One of your strengths is how you use color, and it kind of reflects the vibrancy of how you're seeing the world. And at the same time, you lean on that strength. At some point, you need to step back a little bit. If it's an editorial space, maybe those colors are a little bit too vibrant.

Sure, yeah, we got to talk about some weaknesses too, of course. With your work, it sometimes feels a bit confined. What we'd love to see you do is take some risks to sort of open up, show us something that only you could have seen. You have a long road ahead, and you have so much potential.

It was a really difficult decision for us—very little light between each of you. We were very careful about how we made our marks and our scores. That said, we added up the scores and [Music] [Applause].

You were the winner. Because of this, we'd like to send you on an assignment with National Geographic Travel.

I don't know what to say. I'm shaking, so yeah, that means a lot. We're really excited to see what you do. Yeah, thank you so much. And we tallied all the scores, and you were a very, very close second among the three.

Family, yeah. But what we're really excited about is to see where you go. This isn't the end. More importantly, your story is going to be told.

Yeah, I hope it opens lots of new doors, and I'm just really grateful for the whole experience, so thank you. I like meeting all of you, actually. One thing—we do want to continue working with you. Mazda does. Okay, we were just really moved by your pictures, so we want to partner with you and really harness your creativity. So I appreciate it. Thank you.

Thank you, Beth. Well, I definitely feel like a winner. Just this whole experience has been so incredible. Getting out of bed each morning and going on these quests really made me feel like I was validated, like a legitimate photographer. This is just the beginning.

So, Sam, it's been quite the journey, but your journey's just beginning, and we want you to continue that journey in a Mazda CX-30.

Oh, phenomenal! Thank you, guys. Yeah, I don't think I could—it's too much. Just come on.

[Music] Thank you so much! I don't think it's like fully sunk in because it's like, ah, it's a lot of different emotions for sure. It's really validating, I guess, you know, some of the choices I've made in the past of like leaving and going away for a year and pursuing photography instead of something else. My parents, they'll be the first people to know. When they bought me a camera, I don't think they knew what I was getting into or what they were getting into when they first bought that little point-and-shoot.

Yeah, I'm just so, so thankful for this. I really think I'm going to try and take what I've gotten from this experience and apply it going forward in my photography and the work that I do. I love being on shoots. This whole energy that goes into it, and being on assignment is going to be pretty amazing. I just loved every bit of it.