Travel conditions are often horrific. And I go to easy places compared to photographers like Nick Nichols and Frans Lanting. No local photo store around to help. Often you cannot even get such simple things as AA batteries, much less film and digital things. Computers, think again.
Some places have lots of restrictions.
At the National Geographic the photographer is responsible for determining the visual direction of a story and conducting exhaustive research before arriving on the field to shoot. You manage a budget of six figures, often juggle personnel in several different countries, and meet a number of deadlines that are tightly constructed and cross numerous continents. The photographer has to negotiate with officials in all the countries, sometimes with world leaders, to coordinate coverage. Photographer Reza recounts an amazing story about covering Libya for the National Geographic and his crafty negotiations with Muammar Qaddafi to make it possible. For example in 1994 I photographed a story on the Basque country.