Women of Vision: National Geographic Photographers on Assignment 1426212720, 9781426212727

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DESCHUTES PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 5394 01425 1686

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NEC harelarci mmCi-velel a) olalie Photographers

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on Assignment.

WOMEN Or WANs) @ DN For 125 years, National Geographic has docu-

mented the world and all that is in it with SaUlalaliarem e)ave)cele| co] e)a\mant-jarerc] @1d0/casmaal-msele) of a story beyond the words on a page. Some of the most powerful narratives of the past decade have been produced by

a forward-thinking generation of women ohotojournalists as different as the places and the subjects they have covered. But they all

share the same passion and commitment to storytelling that has come to define INFelate) ate] Gisele |eo]ola](en Women of Vision is a tribute to the spirit and the ambition of these journalists and art-

ists who have created riveting experiences for aaliiievarsmanlcelelelamaa-Miarsiie|alaie|mesolas)]q\Vomme]a16) strategic use of a camera. With an introduction by Chris Johns, Editor. in Chief of National Geographic magazine, and a thoughtful foreword by acclaimed journalist Ann Curry, this.

book presents both personal reflections and stunning selections of photographic assignment work over the past decade. From the last great wildernesses of Africa to the tumult e of the Jersey Shore, these stories explore the

*‘realities of our world and the depths of what it means to be human in the 21st century. These

. women ofvision have taken millions with them Son assignment through the pages of Geographic—and in the process have

standard for excellence that will contin iN

nspire for decades to come. :

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WOMEN OF VISION Nichakelarclmer-velena-)olalre Photographers

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FOREWORD INTRODUCTION

BY ANN

CURRY

BY CHRIS JOHNS

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Stephanie Sinclair has spent the last decade documenting some of the world’s most controversial subjects, from Yemen's child brides to Texas’s polygamists. But her goal is simple: to record what is in front of her and pass as little judgment as possible. “It’s all too easy to make things black and white. But every issue is gray,” she says. “You have to operate and communicate from that perspective.” After earning her B.S. in journalism from the University of Florida in 1997, Sinclair worked for the Chicago Tribune covering the lraq war. For the next six years, she worked as a freelance photographer in the Middle East before moving back to the United States and joining the prestigious VIl Photo Agency in New York as a full member in 2009. She currently contributes to National Geographic, the New York Times Magazine, Time, Newsweek, and other publications. “Being a female photographer definitely has its pluses,” she says. “I think you get better access.” \

Sinclair has received critical acclaim for her work on child marriage and other human rights stories, including the Overseas Press Club’s Olivier Rebbot Award, three Visa d’Or awards, and four World Press Photo awards. Her photo series “Self-Immolation in Afghanistan: A Cry for Help” was part of the Whitney Museum of American Art’s 2010 Biennial in New York. “The story was heartbreaking,” she says. “But you have to leave your ego out of it and understand that photography isn’t about you or your feelings as the photographer. It’s about what the subjects are going through.” Despite her record of courageous work, Sinclair, who is based in Brooklyn, New York, only recently felt a personal sense of reward. In 2012 the United Nations hosted a major exhibition of her work on child marriage. Both Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and Archbishop Desmond Tutu attended the opening. To Sinclair, the exhibition symbolized action against the practice. “I feel like I've done as much as | can do,” she says. “And

* that’s a good place to be.”

Preceding pages: A 16-year-old Nepali bride cries out in despair as she is carried in a cart to her new husband's village.

Child Brides ~ 2007-2010 Marriage should be a time of joy and celebration, but that is not the case for tens of millions of girls around the world who are forced to marry young, many it

before reaching puberty. Cast of their {and

homes schooling, f

and denied childthe girls usually

poverty

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and abuse.

of such girls

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In a combined

ceremony

in rural Yemen

(right),

young brides, ages 11, 12, and 13, marry each other’s brothers and uncle.

Yemen

on the Brink ~ 2012

Inspired by the Arab Sprin launched a pro-democra in 2011 that led

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Sister Wives ~ 2008-2009 In 2008, when Texas authorities raided a fundamentalist polygamous offshoot

of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latterday Saints, a confounding question arose. Were women

in the

Mormon

sect coefced into “spiritual”

marriages?

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young women in

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some

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wives

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In a 2008 investigation of underage marriage,

Merril Jessop’s family

Texas officials collected DNA from Veda Keate

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Photographer Diane Cook prefers landscapes to people. After two decades documenting the world for Nationa/ Geographic and other magazines, “| want my pictures to reconnect people who aren't connected to the landscape,” she says. “And | want those who are connected to understand it better.” Cook, who grew up in Indiana, studied painting and art history at Rutgers. “| had the harebrained idea that to support my painting, | could earn a living as a photographer,” she says. Her photography passion began long before college, when a family member took her into his darkroom. “It was magic to see light doing something to a piece of paper—to witness an image materialize in a tray of chemicals,” she says.

She married photographer Len Jenshel in 1983, and the two began collaborating in the early 1990s, after realizing they had a similar aesthetic. Since then, they have contributed numerous landscape stories to National Geographic, including photo essays on Mount St. Helens, the U.S.-Mexican border, New York's High Line, and Hawaii's Na Pali coast.

Despite the many years Cook has been in the business, showing her photographs to editors still makes her nervous. She has described presenting her National Geographic story on Kauai’s coast as “the most nervewracking,” because Editor in Chief Chris Johns is an expert on the topic. “It was like putting your wares before the king,” she says. “I thought | would get beheaded. | had to show him something he hadn't seen before.” More recently, she was heartened when a room full of editors burst into applause after seeing Cook and Jenshel’s photographs for an acclaimed story on night gardens, which appeared in the magazine in 2013.

For Cook, a recipient of grants from New York's Council on the Arts, it’s all about hard work. “| always quote Thomas Edison: ‘It’s 99 percent perspiration and 1 percent inspiration,’” she says. She and Jenshel spend a great deal of time on research before beginning a shoot. “Taking pictures is not just pushing a button,” she says. “Like

a musician, you have to practice and be tuned and have the instinct to respond in the moment.”

ideal spot to view fireworks. Preceding pages: A work in progress, this section of Manhattan’s elevated park promises to be an

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Manhattan High ~ 2010 Jew York City planners recently transformed a derelict 1950s elevated rail ine into a popular urban

oasis.

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the High Line, it is the kind of ingeni ‘eclamation project that inspires andscape

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Jodi Cobb is one of only four women to become a Nationa/ Geographic staff photographer. Her work has become legendary. When she first came to the magazine for a trial assignment, her only experience besides a =

few newspaper gigs had been photographing her hippie friends in concerts. Some, like Bruce Springsteen and

Crosby, Stills, and Nash, became stars. “I had never shot colorfilm and | had never read the magazine,” says Cobb. Her first piece was a 30-page story on Owens Valley, California. “At one point | pulled off to the side of the road and just sat there sobbing because | was so tired and lonely and insecure about my work.” Two years later, the magazine hired her full-time. She was “determined to do everything the boys could do.” In 1980, she traveled to China as one of the first Westerners to set foot in the country following the 1949 revolution. “Hundreds of people would gather within a minute of my arrival anywhere and silently stare at me, because | was the first Westerner they'd ever seen,” she says. “But no one would talk to me.”

Despite her impressive array of news-making stories, Cobb struggled with her position as one of Geographic's few female photographers. “Every fiber in my being resented that extra word identifying me—female. | felt | had an extra job to do—uphold all women—while trying to do my work.” While preparing for an assignment on Saudi Arabian women, “a lightbulb went on.” Cobb recognized her advantage as a woman, for she was the only one of her colleagues who could gain access to her closely guarded subjects. The project increased her interest in human rights and influenced her subsequent work.

In the mid-1990s, Cobb traveled to Japan as the first person to photograph the closed society of geishas. In 2003, she gained wide recognition for her National Geographic story “2\st-Century Slaves,” about human trafficking. “It took me a year to do the story, and another year to get over it,” she says.

Cobb won the Missouri Honor Medal for Distinguished Service in Journalism in 2012. “| love seeing things - 've never seen before,” she says. “I love travel. | love the process of making an image that speaks to people.”

Carnevale. Preceding pages: A reveler pauses as a shower of confetti rains down on her during Venice’s

an

Venetian Allure ~ 2008

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scientist

the splendid city

‘ramble to Se o

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encroaching sea, nothing stem the tide of touris ts and cruise sitor population peaks levale, the city’s annual festival.

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