Nate Swanson is an award-winning visual journalist and photo editor hailing from west suburban Chicago. If the multiple part-time jobs he worked in the service industry taught his once-shy self anything while growing up, it's that people will confide to complete strangers, even to the 16 year-old working the register. He learned that everyone has a story, and he is unafraid to make conversation with anyone in passing and always willing to lend an ear or a hand, as his Boy Scout background has this come naturally. If the hundreds of thousands of frames he made since he was 14 taught him anything, it's that being a people person was nearly just as important as making the picture in the industry of visual storytelling.

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An early fascination with walking the same sidewalks as Chicago photographer Vivian Maier and voluntary documentation of several protests in Chicago between 2016-2018 cemented his passion for the fast-paced job that also requires patience. Years of mentorship and press badges have granted him access to continue his love for documenting stories, just on a more intimate level with those who still confide in a stranger.

 

Nate earned his B.S. in Visual Communication from Ohio University in 2022. His work has been published in The Washington Post, Evansville Courier & Press, Deutsche Welle, and The Post, Athens.

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