I am often asked “how do you pick the photos that get published?” My answer is: “never easily.”

A photographer on a typical assignment for the Geographic may shoot around 20,000 images. From these, we may publish around a dozen. Skilled Photo Editors work closely with each photographer to sift through this eye-numbing variety of images shot for each story.

When selecting photographs, the image’s technical quality and the composition are major factors, but equally important is how well each image works together to tell a coherent story. The most successful photgraphs find a balance between art and journalism, with each image uniquely weighted one way or another, but never entirely devoid of either.