Nat Geo Mags pix and rangefinders

Carzee

Carzee

unpimp deine auto-kamera!
Local time
7:24 AM
Joined
Dec 12, 2006
Messages
156
Location
Canberra Australia
View My Gallery
I have invested a load of change -between $20-$30 dollars- over the last 2 years buying some old National Geographic mags. About 50 issues.

They are solid gold - the pix have to 'make the cut' and are generally excellent.

Obviously I'm not talking about the numerous Space, Geology/dinosaur, sealife, birdlife, wildlife, insect, stories -they don't generally get all that much attention from me...

But I AM talking about the fantastic PJ work on human cultures -they're unbeatable. I'm not gonna list 'em all, but I have my favs - what are yours? Anyone else collect NG?

As for my fav 'people stories'... well so many excellent pix/portrait chromes in low light. Some have outstanding portraits, timeless.

Dust off your mags.... there's so much.

But of all the issues I have here so far I make special mention of these (see if you agree about the magic qualities in them).. and whether or not they are rangefinder pix (maybe irrelevant, maybe interesting...)

1997, Sept; China's Three Gorges (cover pic but many more)
1993, March; A Broken Empire (USSR) (too numerous)
1992, December; Milan (too numerous)
1998, December; Barcelona (drool)
1997, June; Black Pearls (amazing portrait p31)
1986, March; Morocco's Holy City of Fez (drool city -every pic)
-and- same issue; Walking Britain's Pennine Way (page411 and page398 especially. p398 is a pic of a village grocery shop and the lens paints very well)

--and 1985, June; Steve McCurry's Haunted Eyes Afghan refugee portrait.
 
Last edited:
Yes, David Allan Harvey is one of the shooters on one of those stories.
I'll see which one after work.
(frivolous name drop: last year a NG shooter, Robert Clark of NY, sold me his EOS 5D. I remember that the box had all the correct manuals etc ...plus a Ricoh GRD manual..)
 
For sure check out William Allard's stuff... he also had a book done about him years ago. i think it was a series that American Photographer did on a couple great shooters than dropped the concept. It was a great book though.

I was wondering if David went back to a rangefinder when the M8 came out... it will be interesting to see which way he heads.

-Rob
 
thread revival:
found some more issues, 1980's-1990s. Used mags are anabsolute gold mine for the money.
I found my absolute favorite NG portrait/cover shot on ebay of all things. I googled it and found out its famous:

A copy was recently on ebay but I found my minty copy locally at the Salvation Army for 50cents

The PIC link = feebay's pic:
2005690893755670315_rs.jpg
 
I remember recently leafing through an old NG that was knocking about in the house (I think we have 4-5 years worth from the '80s/'90s, possibly even 70's), and there was an article on post-fall East Germany. The photography was incredible. I'll try to dig it out and put up a few of the shots.
 
VinceC said:
The "girl with green eyes" was shot with a Nikon SLR and second-generation 105/2.5.
Click to expand...

You've been to an exhibition or a lecture about it? Is it masterful use of soft interior available light or is it purely the expression thru the eyes.

Wonder if it was a newish F3 he used. F3 model was early 80's. It is a perfect exposure; using that F3's big light sensor and its stepless shutter perhaps. Or maybe not. 🙂
 
Rob Skeoch said:
For sure check out William Allard's stuff... he also had a book done about him years ago. i think it was a series that American Photographer did on a couple great shooters than dropped the concept. It was a great book though.

I was wondering if David went back to a rangefinder when the M8 came out... it will be interesting to see which way he heads.

-Rob
Click to expand...

The book is called "The Photographic Essay" and I had Allard sign my copy earlier this month at the Festival of the Photograph in Charlottesville, VA:

http://www.festivalofthephotograph.org/index.html

I also had Alex Webb review my portfolio and sign my copy of "Istanbul".

Then, I took a workshop with Harvey and he signed "Cuba" and "Divided Soul" for me. He also spared me no mercy in the class, quite humbling to say the least.

All in all, it was great fun! I went to a hush-hush gathering one night, before the whole thing started. I had an amazing experience shooting photos of Nick Nichols presenting Eugene Smith as the opening to the festival. On one side of me shooting was Allard, Harvey on the other, they were using M8's and I had my M6.

It was surreal...

I went to Charlottesville to promote my Kodachrome project, In the workshop, I got one heck of a reality check...I need to get more in touch with my inner voice and have some "Authorship" if I am ever going to get published in that mag..

..But I knew that. At first, I left depressed, I have been shooting for National Geographic all my life, I just have not been published yet. Some how, some way, I will get my ass in there.

On the way home to shake my depression, I stopped in Greensburg, Kansas and shot these:

http://www.photo.net/photodb/photo?photo_id=6118064

http://www.photo.net/photodb/photo?photo_id=6118078

http://www.photo.net/photodb/photo?photo_id=6118092

I have to hit the road and shoot, it is the only way it will happen.
 
Last edited:
Carzee said:
You've been to an exhibition or a lecture about it? Is it masterful use of soft interior available light or is it purely the expression thru the eyes.
Click to expand...

Carzee, perhaps you're not familiar with Steve McCurry's other work. You can visit his site here. The photo of the Afghan girl is considered by some to be one of the most famous portraits ever taken. (That is debatable I suppose.) There was a big splash a few years ago when he returned to Afghanistan twenty years later and found the girl, now a woman. She had previously been unidentified when the original photos were taken.

Just FYI, the cover of his book 'Portraits' has the Afghan girl on it. The front is the well-known portrait; the back has a version I'd never seen with her holding the fabric across her nose and mouth so only her eyes and hands holding the fabric are visible. There is a bit of hair too, but far less than the 'regular' shot.

KM - Nice photos from Greensburg, if nice is the way to describe such destruction. I particularly like the first one. Being here in Kansas City I've seen a lot of Greensburg photos. Yours are strong in my opinion. Thanks for sharing.
 
Carzee said:
thread revival:
found some more issues, 1980's-1990s. Used mags are an absolute gold mine for the money.
I found my absolute favorite NG portrait/cover shot on ebay of all things. I googled it and found out its famous:

A copy was recently on ebay but I found my minty copy locally at the Salvation Army for 50cents
Click to expand...

I remember first seeing the 'Afghan Girl' picture on the cover of a special issue of National Geographic which showcased some of their best photography (I don't recall what the issue was called). I was really struck by the image, causing me to pick up the issue and page through it, though nothing else inside had quite as much of an impact on me as that image did. Thing was, I wasn't even into photography at the time, I don't think I even owned a camera.

Duane
 
Last edited:
We had a Nat geo subscription up until about two years ago, and I'd read the obsessively, and went to the library to read old ones, great photos.
 
When I was a small child in the early 50s my grandparents had a COMPLETE collection of NG which my Dad had sleeved for them and continued to keep up the subscription which my brother has continued to this day, I believe. They say there are almost enough copies of the magazine still in American households to sink the North American continent, & I believe it's true. It's a lovely portrait!
 
Obviously NG has some very talented photographers working for them. It is just too bad that NG has no respect for the photographs these men and women produce. I say no respect because so many of the pictures are prited across the "gutter" (spine) of the magazine. This destrroys the image IMO. I have never seen NG (or any other magazine with the same type binding) print text across the gutter. Why not? Well, information would be lost. But for some reason they think it is okay to print a photo that way.
 
Thx for that link to SteveMcCurry's gallery. Some amazing collection. Made my day. Where do start commenting on it all... its gobsmacking. One portrait of another Afghan/Pakistan child features blue cloth and blue eyes... and the lens 'drawing' of the blue is gorgeous. Or maybe its the film/chrome.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

J
  • Article Article
The Golden Age of American Photo Magazines: 1949-1989
Replies
16
Views
5K
Pál_K
Pál_K
Back
Top Bottom