By AMY JONES / Associate Editor

INDIAN SPRINGS — An Indian Springs School junior will spend part of her summer snapping photos in Greece and Italy as part of National Geographic’s On Assignment Program.

Laura McMullan of Vestavia will work with some of the magazine’s photojournalists during a two-and-a-half week trip. McMullan said she wanted to participate in the program because photography is one of her chief interests.

“I have a passion for art with photography,” she said. “The reason I was so excited about the program was that we get to work with a National Geographic photographer.”

She will work with Massimo Bassano, an Italian-born photographer and the author of the photography book “The Color of Silence.” Bassano has been published in National Geographic Traveler and on Nationalgeographic.com.

McMullan, who has also been in Latin courses since the fifth grade, said she looks forward to learning more about the Greek and Italian cultures. She has already learned about Greek and Italian history in the classroom, she said.

Most of all, she’s most looking forward to meeting new people and exploring what could possibly be a future career.

“(I’m excited about) getting prepared for what could come in the future,” she said.

McMullan is one of only about 20 students nationwide to participate in the program, which involves traveling to the Italian cities of Rome, Pompeii, Capri and Salerno and the Greek cities of Delphi, Athens and Náfplio.