Plus, take my picture—with my goat
|  | Saturday, August 20, 2022 | | | | |
 | PHOTOGRAPHS BY STEPHEN WILKES
| | By Whitney Johnson, Director of Visual and Immersive Experiences
“I try to capture a sense of awe, a sense of wonder about our world,” says National Geographic Photographer and Explorer Stephen Wilkes. And this is exactly what he did in the four epic photographs he made for our America the Beautiful cover story.
Laden with heavy bags of camera gear, Stephen and his team hiked into the remote site at Bears Ears National Monument, perched on a sandstone cliff. Once there, they faced wind gusts of over 50 miles an hour and plenty of blowing sand. “It’s like your worst nightmare as a photographer,” he recalls.
Despite these challenges, the planets aligned for Stephen—quite literally, during a rare celestial show. The resulting cover image uses 44 of the 2,092 frames captured during this 36-hour period (pictured above; below, we zoom in on details of his composite image, such as the sunrise in the top left of the frame.)
See the full story here.
Please consider getting our full digital report and magazine by subscribing here.
| | | |
|
“Science is becoming a challenging area—people don’t believe the data,” Stephen says. “As an artist, it’s on us how well we tell the story and create a certain level of emotion that touches people, and that connection is what drives action.” (Below, another image at the center of his composite: A lone figure in a gray hooded sweatshirt gazes over the precipice.) | | | |
| | Below, miniscule hikers can be seen dotting the path in this close-up. Below that, the most prominent human figures in Stephen’s composite show up near the center of the frame. | | | |
| Not without the goat: Photographer Matthieu Paley knows collaboration is key to a good image. Exhausted after a long day’s walk in rural Pakistan, Paley was approached by a Sufi pilgrim, Safdar Ali. When Paley asked Ali if he could take his picture, the pilgrim excused himself, then returned carrying a goat. “Now you can take a picture,” he said. This image is featured on our Instagram page. See Paley’s work among Pakistan’s stunning landscapes.
| | | |
 | VIDEO COURTESY OF DISNEY+
| | | |
 | VIDEO BY JUHI SHARMA AND VEDA SHASTRI
| | | Changing India, one video at a time: Video performances by sibling dancers Sanatan and Savitri Mahato, set to yesteryear Hindi film songs, went viral on TikTok before the social platform was banned in India in 2020. Sanatan develops the choreography and the duo records in the mud courtyard of their home, Nat Geo reports. | | | |
 | PHOTOGRAPH BY BATES LITTLEHALES
| |
Drama with your softball: Between Broadway shows, the casts of My Fair Lady and A Raisin in the Sun duked it out on a Central Park ballfield in this Bates Littlehales photo. The image came from a 1960 National Geographic portrait of Central Park. It has a nice summertime feel, don’t you think?
| | | |
| This newsletter has been curated and edited by David Beard, Jen Tse, Heather Kim, Anne Kim-Dannibale, and Allie Yang. Amanda Williams-Bryant, Alec Egamov, and Jeremy Brandt-Vorel also contributed this week. Have an idea for us? We’d love to hear from you at david.beard@natgeo.com. Thanks for reading! | | | |
| SHARE YOUR THOUGHTS | | We'd like to hear from you! Tell us what you think of our emails by sharing your feedback in this short survey.
| | | |
Clicking on the Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and National Geographic Channel links will take you away from our National Geographic Partners site where different terms of use and privacy policy apply.
This email was sent to: mitch.dobbs.pics@blogger.com. Please do not reply to this email as this address is not monitored.
This email contains an advertisement from:
National Geographic | 1145 17th Street, N.W. | Washington, D.C. 20036
Stop all types of future commercial email from National Geographic regarding its products, services, or experiences.
Manage all email preferences with the Walt Disney Family of Companies.
© 2022 National Geographic Partners, LLC, All rights reserved. | | |
