This year?s Annual Photographic Exhibition will have a constructive critique by an international photo editor.

Linda Meyerriecks has been the photo editor of the National Geographic Traveller Magazine since 1990 and she has been with the National Geographic Society since she graduated from the Pratt Institute with a degree in Fine Arts.

She is responsible for the photographic vision of the magazine, producing special issues and calendars.

The exhibition will feature no more than six pieces from around 40 photographers. It will open on tomorrow at the Bermuda Society of Arts, at 5.30 p.m.

After studying photography and print making, Mrs. Meyerriecks landed a job in design with the National Geographic Society.

?I worked in the design area for a couple of years,? she said, ?And during a growth period they needed help in the promotions division and I became an art director.

?I then realised that I really wanted to do editorial work and I was there for a couple of years. I then interviewed all around the building and I realised that the book division was growing and they needed a photo editor ? so I worked there for a about 15 years.

?They then had two book divisions that were going to merge, so I began looking for another job, because I figured that they were going to change a lot.

?They asked me to be photo editor at Traveller Magazine and that is how I started in 1990. It was a good change.?

Traveller Magazine has been around since 1984, said Mrs. Meyerriecks.

?It is a good contemporary travel magazine and our competitors are Conde Nast Travel, Travel Leisure, Gourmet, but we are the largest travel magazine with the largest sell through on the news stands right now,? she said.

?We are the most widely read travel magazine with five-million readership an issue. We do ten issues a year and have a circulation of 735,000.?

The National Geographic Travel Magazine also hosts photo seminars.

?We did five this year and I think we are doing 15 next year in different cities around the country,? she said.

?Other photo editors, myself and our photographers do workshops throughout the year. We do an annual issue on photography with a different approach each year. For 17 years we have had an amateur photo contest.

?Now we are starting a campus edition of Traveller called On Campus.?

As photo editor she looks for a lot of different qualities in the photographers she uses.

?Basically, being a photographer and working for Traveller is a combination of many, many things,? she said.

?But one important thing is personality. We look for people that will be compatible, and who will represent us well out in the field. It is not only their photography. However, their photography has

?We really stress a more journalistic type of photography ? not the typical travel photography. Our whole magazine has an emphasis on authenticity ? nothing set up ? although we may arrange for things to happen, but in a natural way that would happen anyway.

?We focus on the cultural context of places around the world. We just don?t go to a place because it looks nice, there has to be a story there to tell. We always ask ?Why Traveller, why this story and why now?? So, those are the key elements that we look for in story proposals. We get a lot from our stable of writers and photographers.?

For new photographers who like the National Geographic feel of photography she suggested perseverance.

Mrs. Meyerriecks said: ?It is hard to break in because we only do a certain amount of stories a year.

?We have a huge bank of stories that we are trying to use and even our contributing photographers that we list on the mast head don?t always get assignments every year.

?We do use a lot of stock fills; it depends on the feature stories a lot in our department. And our department is where a new photographer may get a start, because we are always looking for new fresh work, because photographers get booked up and they have busy lives.

?So sometimes we find great photographers that we use a lot and then all of a sudden they get whisked away by National Geographic Magazine. So, we are almost an entry point and obviously everyone at the Geographic watches each other and keeps tabs.

?Our assignments are a lot shorter and they average six to ten days. They can be any place in the world and you have to land with your feet on the ground ready to shoot.

?That takes a lot of preparation.?

Get familiar with photography and with what people are doing, what photographers are doing and what magazines are doing.

?Take workshops ? don?t be afraid to do that ? that?s what professionals do all their lives.

?Work on building a portfolio, because there is that Catch 22 time ? if you are not published how do you get published?

?Start out small and build on it. Make stories for yourself and keep showing your work. Smaller publications and newspapers are a great way. There are so many different kinds of photography.

?Internships are a great way to work your way into places and also becoming an assistant to professional photographers.

?One of our photographers that we just love is John Kernick. He used to be an assistant to Bob Krist, a photographer that we use a lot.

?That is another great way, because the photographer that we are working with can say, ?try this guy?. Also make sure that you get a website now if you want to get your name out there.

?But it is really important to know who you are showing your work to. Don?t waste people?s time. I mean, I get promo cards all the time with studio portraits or celebrities. So, you really have to do your homework.?

Her advice is for new photographers is not to get too attached to an image.

?Don?t think that your image is so great that if it gets turned down ? that it wasn?t,? she said.

?I think our needs are so different from what they photographers think we have. It is hard to let go (of an image) and go here, if one works great if not fine -I?ll send it somewhere else.?

Also now with a tighter travel budget Traveller is constantly looking for photographers everywhere.

?So that we don?t have to fly someone somewhere,? she said.

?It?s almost a detective job that I?ve got now and we make these matches and discovered people who were in Oslo, Norway.

?And they could be two days from (the shoot) and I only have two days to give them.?

Although Mrs. Meyerriecks has spent most of her life in the office and not behind the lens, she said: ?I?ve done a little bit and I still do occasionally. I?ve done some for Traveller and some promotional work for MGM.

?But I travelled with photographers on shoots and that doesn?t happen very much anymore, as we just have so much going on. But since 9/11 our travel budget has been cut considerably ? so most of the time that we travel now is to spread the word about photography with workshops.?

When asked about her relationship with Bermuda, she said: ?Well I had my honeymoon here and I haven?t been back since, but my husband (Jeffrey) has been back as a musician.?

On returning she is looking forward to meeting other photographers and seeing their work.

?All I know there is are about 30 or 40 exhibitors and they are all from Bermuda ? that?s a lot of photographers,? she said.

?It is always exciting to get away from your home and office ? you can get away and get refreshed. It?ll be great to watch and listen.?

At the moment her favourite shoot and photographer has to be Ken Kochey who is in Venice at the moment, she said.

?I?ve worked with him several times,? she said ?And one of the first stories he did for me we both agreed, as we were planning this Venice shoot, was still our favourite shoot.

?This was a story pertaining to Rome and it was to talk about ?Roman Holiday?, which starred Audrey Hepburn and Gregory Peck. We went to all the places that they saw in the movie.

?So, we went back to Rome and visually it was fun and Ken and I said, because it was an old black and white movie, so let?s do some black and white ? it was still hard for us to say, let?s just do a black and white story. So we backed it up in colour. He went to all the places and he actually found a woman in a caf? that looked like Audrey Hepburn. It was phenomenal.?