
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.
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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