Meet the extraordinary people who make our photography possible

No assignment happens alone: Nat Geo photographers tell stories of their amazing collaborators in the field.

Zamira Loebis (also known as Tatap, or Tap) sits across from photographer John Stanmeyer in Selat Panjang, Indonesia, as he edits photographs from previous days on his laptop. The two worked together on a National Geographic story published in 2007 about piracy in the Malacca Straits. “Tap knew how to organize meetings with presidents, provocateurs, business leaders, and street thugs. She also had the talent to get me out of trouble, which occurred on numerous occasions,” says Stanmeyer.
PHOTOGRAPH BY JOHN STANMEYER

Photographers’ relationships are at the heart of any great photojournalism, and some are more visible than others. There are those between photographers and the people who appear in their images, built on trust and a shared desire to communicate something to the world. There is the partnership between photographers, writers, and story teams in the office, who collaborate to bring a National Geographic story to the screen or page, and of whom only the photographer and writer are credited with bylines at the top of each article. 

But out in the field on a Nat Geo photo assignment, there are many more unnamed individuals who are crucial to bringing great visual storytelling to life. These can be extraordinary journalists in their

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