If you were given the seemingly impossible task of photographing a giant 300-foot-tall Redwood tree, how would you go about doing so? National Geographic photographer Michael Nichols chose to use raise up a special rig of three Canon 1Ds Mark II DSLR cameras into the air, photographing dozens of photographs that he stitched into a beautiful panoramic tree photo. The photograph was used as the cover photo of the October 2009 edition of the National Geographic. Read the rest of this entry »
It’s always fun listening to photographers recount once-in-a-lifetime experiences that lead to once-in-a-lifetime photographs. In this short National Geographic video, photographer Brian Skerry describes what it was like to get up close and personal with a 45-foot-long whale. We only wish there was a little video to go along with his wonderful storytelling!
Think it’s difficult to muster up enough courage for street photography? At least strangers don’t eat you! This wildlife photographer got quite a scare while shooting a pride of lions when a lioness decides to investigate him. Luckily, he escapes without a scratch and now has a great story to tell his buddies.
Can anyone identify the camera and lens he’s clutching in his hand?
Being a photographer for the National Geographic opens the door to all kinds of photo opportunities that other photographers would die for. For a Nat Geo story on “The Power of Light”, photographer (and now blogger) Joe McNally climbed to the very tip of the Empire State Building to capture a stunning wide angle photograph of the antenna light bulb being changed. Luckily for the rest of us, they also created an awesome behind-the-scenes video giving us a glimpse into how the photo was made.
Bruce Dale spent 30 years as a staff photographer for National Geographic, travelling the world and having thousands of his amazing photographs published in the magazine. In this 10 minute video, he talks about his experiences and shares stories behind some of his favorite photographs. Like the 1978 photo agency documentary we shared yesterday, this one also provides an interesting and inspiring behind-the-scenes look at a particular photography job.
A great way to learn and become inspired is to look at great photographs. Even better is listening to experts discuss those images as you’re looking at them. The above video shows National Geographic editors picking their favorite photographs from their ongoing Your Shot contest and discussing why they feel the photo is so great.
The great pictures just stop time. They capture something that did not continue. It just was then, and that was the perfect moment. It wasn’t the moment before. It wasn’t the moment after. It was that moment.
Apologies if this video doesn’t load because you’re outside the US. If anyone knows a way around it for YouTube, feel free to share it with us in the comments.
National Geographic cameraman Bob Poole was in Mali searching for elephants when he and his team were engulfed by a gigantic sandstorm that spanned the horizon. The sandstorm is so massive that it blocks out the sun for four hours. Like any good cameraman, Poole keeps his camera rolling during the whole ordeal, capturing amazing footage of what it’s like to be eaten by a dust storm.
It’s the end of an era. Photojournalist Steve McCurry has developed the last roll of Kodachrome film produced by Kodak.
National Geographic has been following the final journey of the last Kodachrome roll ever since Kodak’s announcement last year that it would retire Kodachrome. Kodak has been manufacturing Kodachrome since 1935.
McCurry developed 36 slides on Monday at Dwayne’s Photo Service in Parsons, Kansas, which is the last labs to process the film type. The final images were shot in New York City, but the last three frames were taken in Parsons.
If you’ve got undeveloped canisters of Kodachrome of your own, Dwayne’s will develop them only through December of this year.
Documentary filmmaker and photographer Louie Psihoyos is on the list of nominees for this year’s Oscar in Documentary Features. The film, The Cove, is an expository investigative documentary about dolphin killing in Japan.
Psihoyos is a longtime National Geographic photographer, among other photo and film endeavors.
