Ismail Ferdous - New York - National Geographic

<p>The Feel Good Episode of the Year! Bangladeshi photographer Ismail Ferdous (IG: <a href='https://www.instagram.com/ismailferdous/'>ismailferdous</a>) went from borrowing money to pay for a camera to his first paid project being published in the New Yorker. He lays out his philosophy of seeking the work that speaks to him and working on personal projects without thinking of where it will be published. Now a freelancer in New York City, he’s been published in a slew of big name publications and regularly works for National Geographic. We also discuss his experience with catching COVID-19.</p> <p>Countries featured: Bangladesh, Syria, Turkey, United States</p> <p>Publications featured: National Geographic, New Yorker, AP, New York Times, Instagram</p> <p>Ismail discusses photographing the George Floyd BLM protests (4:34), his experience falling sick with COVID-19 (8:25), growing up in Bangladesh and discovering photography (16:16), his family’s eventual acceptance of his job as a photographer (26:04), his work on the deadly collapse of the Rana Plaza sweatshop (31:26), stories that never came together on HIV patients in Bangladesh and Syrian refugees (48:07), the rigorous process that is doing a story for NatGeo (54:10) and the lightning round (1:05:35).</p> <p> </p> <p>Here are links to some of the things we talked about:</p> <p>Ismail’s work on climate change for New Yorker - <a href='https://bit.ly/2WY7ZSx'>https://bit.ly/2WY7ZSx</a></p> <p>Ismail’s documentary The Deadly Cost of Fashion in New York Times - <a href='https://nyti.ms/2CONlxd'>https://nyti.ms/2CONlxd</a></p> <p>After Rana Plaza on Instagram - <a href='https://bit.ly/2WX4UCf'>https://bit.ly/2WX4UCf</a></p> <p>After Rana Plaza website - <a href='https://bit.ly/39uMQ7K'>https://bit.ly/39uMQ7K</a></p> <p>His NatGeo story on South Asian Americans - <a href='https://on.natgeo.com/3hALfjj'>https://on.natgeo.com/3hALfjj</a></p> <p>NPR podcast Rough Translation - <a href='https://n.pr/2ZXvzRo'>https://n.pr/2ZXvzRo</a></p> <p>John B