photo by Marie McGrory 
Matt Adams, a Point Park University alumni and adjunct professor of photography from 2013- 2015. Adams was recently hired as a photo editor at National Geographic.

Matt Adams pursued many paths on his ten-year journey to National Geographic, but not one he predicted. 

“I remember my first photography class, I think everyone in my class really wanted to work at National Geographic, and I didn’t at the time,” Adams said. “I wanted to work for Rolling Stone.” 

Adams was a Point Park University alumni, who later became a photography professor, photographed successful bands like Blink-182 and now works as a photo editor at National Geographic. 

Although Adams always dreamed of being in a band, he never learned to play an instrument. Wanting to remain close to his passion, Adams figured the next best thing was to photograph musicians. 

“I still wanted to work at a magazine, I still wanted to be an editor somewhere, and eventually it worked out, but I had to take a different kind of road to get here,” Adams said. 

Becoming a Point Park professor was not in Adam’s sights, but his three years of experience as a photo editor for The Globe and undeniable passion for photography made him the perfect candidate for the job. Adams taught at Point Park from January 2013 to May 2015. 

Adams taught introduction to digital photography, introduction to black and white photography, multimedia, a specialized video documentary course and a digital imaging class which created a multimedia project. The mini documentary was entitled “90 Neighbors” and covered stories of local neighborhoods in Pittsburgh. 

Teaching became an unexpected passion for Adams, who wanted to ensure his students could succeed in their careers. 

“One of the main things I wanted to teach in [class] was anytime you talk to an editor, or you’re pitching work, eventually an editor is going to want to see how you sequence things and the order of your photographs,” Adams said. “So that is something I really push for students in their work.” 

Adam’s teaching career continues into his work at National Geographic. The first week on the job lead Adams to the Ninth Ward in New Orleans. 

“Within a week of starting here I was on a plane going to New Orleans. I had never been there before,” Adams said. 

A project on Hurricane Katrina led Adams to be a mentor to local students, who were given cameras and told to shoot their own stories. 

“What can we do with photo education, going beyond colleges, but the areas like the ninth ward where students might not ever get into a photography class, or never have that chance to learn how a camera works, or how to tell a story,” Adams said. 

Adams moved to Washington, D.C. in one week. His new career is spent attending meetings, pre-editing photos, setting up workshops and blogging for National Geographic’s site Your Shot. Your Shot is National Geographic’s website that allows anyone to have their work critiqued by a National Geographic photo editor. 

“It’s got a little bit of real world experience in there, but it’s so great because it’s got that photo education that you can’t get anywhere else, where you’re having actual National Geographic photo editors talk to you about your photographs,” Adams said. 

Currently in the works is a project for Your Shot on conflict photographers. This includes photographers who are embedded within the military or freelancers. The project includes interviews from photographers and will be published on the blog. 

Adam’s favorite part of the new job is getting to discover photographers he never knew existed. 

“That’s the power of the internet…meeting someone you might have never known about, and having phone conversations with them or looking at more of their work,” Adams said. 

Adams also says he loves seeing work from all over the world. His daily inbox can consist of images from New York, Chicago and South Africa, all in the same day. 

Students continue to admire Adams and his teaching methods. 

Junior photography major Hannah Altman, who has had success on her own, commented on her former professor saying, “If there is a more enthusiastic and dedicated photo lover than Matt Adams, I have yet to meet them.” 

Sophomore photography major Julianne Griffith also learned a lot from Adam’s classes. 

“Matt was my favorite professor because he always checked in with how we were doing and took an interest in our personal projects,” said Griffith. “He still comments on our work on social media and gives us feedback.” 

Adams arrived at his dream job, but wants to stress to students that his path was not always easy. 

“There were a lot of bumps in the road, a lot of self-doubt…but I didn’t want to do anything else,” Adams said. “If you don’t tell your story, someone else is going to do it; so why would you want someone else to tell your story when you can do it.”