Meet a MatadorU Success Story: Ben Adkison

Ben has been a part of the MatadorU community since November 2013 and has since established himself as a trusted and talented contributor to Matador Network. He’s been sent on assignment and has produced a lot of articles for the publication which you can view here. He spends a lot of his time working at the McMurdo Station in Antarctica and recent travels have seen him in Australia, Thailand, Nepal, and Alaska for the summer.

You can follow him on Instagram and Facebook (I recommend it!).

MU: What course(s) did you take at MatadorU?

Ben: Travel Photography & Advanced Travel Photography

What accomplishment (inside or outside of the U) since joining MatadorU are you proud of most?

Going on a press trip to Nicaragua and starting to shoot photos with a final story in mind for the trip.

How did MatadorU prepare you for those?

It gave me a good sense of how to put together stories and how to better interact with editors.

What was the most important takeaway from your experience at MatadorU?

The ability to take a set of raw photos and create a story and connection with them.

What did you enjoy most about your MatadorU experience?

Getting the personalized feedback on all my coursework and labs has been beneficial for me.

What was the biggest benefit of joining the MatadorU community?

It is great to see what others are accomplishing and it gives me more incentive to try and produce more great photos.

What would you say to anyone considering getting into travel media as a career, for supplemental income, or even as a hobby?

I’ll give the same advice as I would to anyone who wants to travel: Don’t have excuses not to. There really shouldn’t be anything holding you back from traveling or starting to make money in travel media.