Can You Picture That? This Photographer Can and Does

Photographer Mark Thiessen, who’s worked on staff at National Geographic for over 30 years, likens his job to a Swiss army knife—versatile enough to tackle many kinds of assignments. Even when the subject is challenging, he approaches each assignment with a lot of curiosity and creativity, whether it’s shooting smoke jumpers who leap out of planes to fight wildfires or making “rain” in the studio to take a unique portrait of an Explorer. And as a special treat, Thiessen will take us up a flight of stairs from the photo studio to show us one of his favorite hobbies: beekeeping.
For more information on this episode, visit natgeo.com/overheard (nationalgeographic.com/podcasts/overheard).
Want more?
Follow Mark on Instagram at @Thiessenphoto (instagram.com/thiessenphoto/?cmpid=org=ngp::mc…).
See what it takes to put out a wildfire in this Nat Geo article (nationalgeographic.com/adventure/article/15082…), and follow smokejumpers out of a plane in this article (nationalgeographic.com/magazine/article/smokej…).
Hear more of Mark on the Overheard episode “An Accidental Case of the Blues (nationalgeographic.com/podcasts/overheard/arti…),” about the discovery of the first blue pigment since Thomas Jefferson was president.
Also explore:
Did you know that people steal bee hives? Find out why in the Overheard episode “Honeybee Chop Shop (nationalgeographic.com/podcasts/overheard/arti…).”
Want to take better photos at home? Nat Geo staff photographer Becky Hale explains how (nationalgeographic.com/travel/article/want-to-…).

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices