James B. Wellford

James Wellford is the Senior Visual Editor and Assistant Managing Editor for Global Issues at National Geographic. Stories he has worked on at NatGeo include; Afghanistan, the Science of Sleep, the Circular Economy, the restoration of the Notre Dame Cathedral, Covid stories around the world, El Salvador, Falcons, Lithium, crisis in Niger/Mali, World War II Veterans, No People Contacted in the Amazon, Ebola in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Eritrea, Sudan, Uganda, Ghana, Kashmir, Indonesia and migration/refugee issues around the world.
Before working at NatGeo, he was international photography editor at Newsweek magazine for 12 years. He has also worked as a visual editor for Foreign Policy, CNN, and the Smithsonian.
James graduated from Brown University and is a Knight Wallace Fellow at the University of Michigan. His career now spans decades during which he served as editorial director at Visura, founded ScreenProjects.org, edited the archival collection of the New York Daily News, curated numerous photography exhibitions, and served on several photography juries around the world, including the Leica. Oskar Barnack Award, Tim Hetherington Trust, Overseas Press Club, PX3 in Paris, Cortona Photo Festival and POYi.

Dedicated to visual education, James has taught at the International Center of Photography and the New School in New York.