- By : Mr. Daleep Dhar
- Date: 11-12-2013
- Views : 1357
- [Bisho, South Africa]
For 125 years National Geographic photo-journalism has charted our changing planet. John O’Ceallaigh looks through its unique archive
Having documented all that is beautiful and bizarre in travel, wildlife, history and culture over the past 125 years, National Geographic provides what is arguably the world’s most comprehensive compendium of phenomena and places. To celebrate five generations of activity, the publication is releasing National Geographic: Around the World in 125 Years.
Published by Taschen, it is divided into three hefty tomes, each showcasing the most striking images captured in a specific geographic region: Volume 1 covers the Americas and Antarctica; Volume 2 Europe and Africa; Volume 3 Asia and Oceania. Together they display 1,468 pages of photographs, almost all of which have been featured in the magazine, though a smattering are being published for the first time.
The publication has helped to further the careers of photographers such as Frans Lanting, George Rodger, James Nachtwey and Steve McCurry, the latter indelibly associated with the Afghan Girl picture that appeared on the magazine cover in 1985.
Their work is showcased throughout the book, but some of the most powerful and poignant images are the earliest shots, showing habitats that have long vanished and ways of life that have been eradicated.
As the pages advance through the years, the images change from early black-and-white to autochrome, Kodachrome and finally digital.
The compilation shows an evolution in National Geographic’s photojournalism style, too. In its earliest days, the magazine published romanticised stories complete with posing, smiling subjects, before gradually introducing more confrontational imagery that provided raw and unadulterated exposure to social unrest, political strife and environmental catastrophe around the world.
Limited to a global print run of 125,000 copies, the three-tier National Geographic. Around the World in 125 Years will be made available in January 2014.
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