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Tears, Passion At National Geographic Photo Summit
There are few places where adults can cry in public without
embarrassment, and the National Geographic Magazine Photography Summit
is among them. Thursday's installment of the annual seminar brought out
people with such passion for pictures that tears – and just as often,
talk of romantic love – came naturally.
The tone was set early when legendary Life photojournalist David Douglas Duncan took the stage for an interview with Visa Pour l'Image festival director Jean-Francois LeRoy. Both men had traveled here from France.
Duncan's voice broke when an audience question about inspiration conjured a memory of the small-town doctors Duncan knew in his childhood. "I'm on the edge. Change the subject," he said, to a round of applause.
Each year the National Geographic summit draws several hundred photographers and editors, including many who have no affiliation with the magazine. It's a chance for some of the most influential people in photojournalism to eat, drink and mingle in the nation's capital.
Presenters included Duncan, Paul Nicklen, Alec Soth, Eugene Richards, Debbie Fleming Caffery, Jodi Cobb and Larry Fink. National Geographic director of photography David Griffin, editor in chief Chris Johns and magazine group president John Q. Griffin also made brief remarks. A presentation paid tribute to photographer Alexandra Boulat, who died in October.
Each of the presenters takes a different approach to photography. Duncan's black-and-white portraits and war photos are now an established tradition. He even spoke about shunning color film when covering war. "I made an oath to myself, no color in combat, because blood is misleading," he said, adding that fatal wounds sometimes spill no blood.
Nicklen, on the other hand, showed off underwater color images from his project on leopard seals, made possible by state-of-the-art technology. "Thank God for digital because I shot thousands of pictures on that first encounter in the water," he said. He spoke about diving with a remarkably friendly leopard seal, which swam with him every day for four days. "I had such a desire to be in the water with this leopard seal," he said, passion evident in his voice...
The tone was set early when legendary Life photojournalist David Douglas Duncan took the stage for an interview with Visa Pour l'Image festival director Jean-Francois LeRoy. Both men had traveled here from France.
Duncan's voice broke when an audience question about inspiration conjured a memory of the small-town doctors Duncan knew in his childhood. "I'm on the edge. Change the subject," he said, to a round of applause.
Each year the National Geographic summit draws several hundred photographers and editors, including many who have no affiliation with the magazine. It's a chance for some of the most influential people in photojournalism to eat, drink and mingle in the nation's capital.
Presenters included Duncan, Paul Nicklen, Alec Soth, Eugene Richards, Debbie Fleming Caffery, Jodi Cobb and Larry Fink. National Geographic director of photography David Griffin, editor in chief Chris Johns and magazine group president John Q. Griffin also made brief remarks. A presentation paid tribute to photographer Alexandra Boulat, who died in October.
Each of the presenters takes a different approach to photography. Duncan's black-and-white portraits and war photos are now an established tradition. He even spoke about shunning color film when covering war. "I made an oath to myself, no color in combat, because blood is misleading," he said, adding that fatal wounds sometimes spill no blood.
Nicklen, on the other hand, showed off underwater color images from his project on leopard seals, made possible by state-of-the-art technology. "Thank God for digital because I shot thousands of pictures on that first encounter in the water," he said. He spoke about diving with a remarkably friendly leopard seal, which swam with him every day for four days. "I had such a desire to be in the water with this leopard seal," he said, passion evident in his voice...
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