The Secret of Great Photography: "Getting Access" | Nat Geo Live

While I was living in India, the biggest door of my career opened. I pitched a story to National Geographic, and it was to go and tell the story about the last, hand-pulled rickshaw pullers who were living in Calcutta. Word was that they were going to ban the whole mode of transportation there. So, they accepted my proposal. Off I went.

Get to Calcutta. Great! I've got my first big assignment. Guess what? All the rickshaw pullers said, "No thank you. We don't want our pictures taken." And that's the truth. You know, I think a lot of people think, "Oh, if you work for National Geographic, the doors just come flying open." Nope, not always the case.

So I'm thinking, "What do I do?" I've got to get access, and that is the secret of great photography, is just getting access. So, I found the leader of the rickshaw union. His name was Subir. I told him why I wanted to tell this story. And he started introducing me to people.

And I also would take portraits of these men, and go to a one-hour photo place, get them printed, and run around Calcutta, giving them pictures. And you know, to these men, they've never had—some of them didn't even have shoes. So to have a portrait was really something for them to hang up in these small quarters, was really meaningful to them. And it took time and patience, and slowly, they started opening up and sharing their lives with me.