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A DECADE OF NAT GEO IMAGES ON INSTAGRAM

Saturday, January 29, 2022

In today’s newsletter, milestones on TikTok, Instagram. Plus, Lynsey Addario awarded; Roy DeCarava honored; hospital workers celebrated; how to photo edit … and a quest for history.

VIDEO BY JOEL SARTORE, NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC PHOTO ARK

By Whitney Johnson, Director of Visual and Immersive Experiences

When National Geographic published our first photograph in 1890, we could not have imagined where technology would lead us today.

For all you photo lovers, we surpassed 200 million followers on Instagram this month (205 million people as of Friday)–and you can see some of our most-loved, most-talked about photographs here, including a surprising portrait of Angelina Jolie, covered in bees. And just this week, our newish TikTok account pushed past 1 million followers on the platform. With mini-videos, we take readers behind the scenes with our Nat Geo photographers and Explorers, with pro tips on how to photograph the elusive snow leopard or a shy hippo.

VIDEO BY NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC

We share all the wonders of our world, like this intimate look (pictured at top) at a woolly monkey–the cutest!–by Nat Geo photographer and Explorer Joel Sartore, and beyond, venturing into the metaverse with Nat Geo photographer and Explorer Aaron Huey.

Do we dare ask, Where will the frontiers of visual storytelling take us in the next 134 years?

And on a personal note: Every week, I have the pleasure of talking with our photographers to bring you, the reader, behind the scenes with some of our greatest talent. Like last week, what did it take for Tomas van Houtryve to bring us those never-before-seen views of the renovation of Notre Dame? But these stories don’t happen in a vacuum. They are supported by you, lovers of photography and readers of National Geographic, who subscribe. So please, join me in supporting the work that we do and ensuring that we can continue to share all the wonders of our planet. Subscribe now.

TODAY IN A MINUTE

PHOTOGRAPH BY LUCA LOCATELLI AND ESRF, HUMAN ORGAN ATLAS

The power of an image: This is what happened to a 54-year-old man's lung on COVID-19 (he later died). HiP-CT scans show that in severe cases, the lungs’ blood vessels are severely damaged: Here, airspaces are colored with cyan, open blood vessels are colored in red, and blocked, damaged blood vessels are colored in yellow, Nat Geo reports. Researchers say images like this, created by the world’s brightest x-rays, not only are helping scientists understand the virus—they are so scary that they are prompting their friends to get boosted. See more images.

Overdue: Roy DeCarava once wrote that he wanted to capture “a creative expression” of African American life, not mere documentation. For the first UK show of his works in 30 years, his widow, art historian Sherry Turner DeCarava, told the Guardian: “Roy was searching for beauty … He was defined by aesthetics.” See his portrait of a young Billie Holliday. (Hat tip: John Edwin Mason)

How to photo edit: Nat Geo big cat photo specialist (and Explorer) Steve Winter demonstrates in a step-by-step effort for Wired. The twist: he’s editing images of a little cat.

PHOTOGRAPH BY CÉDRIC GERBEHAYE

The toll: Just glance at their faces. Sixty Belgian hospital workers came to an improvised studio at their workplace and just looked. The images, taken by documentary photographer Cédric Gerbehaye, showed the strain of fighting three waves of COVID-19. (Pictured above are medical students Héloise, Jenna, and Mégane.) As the medics let go of their “game faces” away from patients, some talked of quitting. Their pain affected Cédric. “I am not the same person anymore,” he tells Nat Geo’s Nina Strochlic. See the portraits.

PHOTO OF THE DAY

COMPOSITE BY SCOTT CHIMILESKI, MICROBEPHOTOGRAPHY.COM, AND ROBERTO KOLTER, HARVARD MEDICAL SCHOOL

What are those shapes? They are colonies formed by human bacterial pathogens that develop antibiotic resistance and cause hospital-acquired infections. In a word: Yikes! The visual is composed of eight different bacterial colonies, without any false coloring. Top row, from left to right: Pseudomonas aeruginosa (seen swarming), Mycobacterium tuberculosis, Enterobacter cloacae Center row: Salmonella enterica, Serratia marcescens Bottom row: Klebsiella pneumoniae, Acinetobacter baumannii, Staphylococcus aureus. This composite accompanied a Nat Geo story on how “superbugs” have grown during the pandemic.

LISTEN UP!

PHOTOGRAPH BY WAYNE LAWRENCE

‘You’ve been called’: That’s what the family’s church pastor told Nat Geo Explorer Tara Roberts to spur a genealogical search of her ancestors. That was just part of her preparation to join a project to search the world’s waters for sunken ships that had been carrying enslaved Africans to America. On the Into the Depths project, which launched on Thursday with this podcast, she talks with 40 historians, experts, and fellow Black divers, covering the recovery of one sunken ship and searching for others. “Maybe the ancestors did call me to tell their story,” Roberts told Nat Geo’s Storytellers Summit on Wednesday. (Above, members of Divers With a Purpose take a moment while investigating a wreck discovered on the shore of the U.S. Virgin Island of St. John. From left to right, Jewel Humphrey, Kamau Sadiki, Vanessa and Jay Haigler, Dr. Justin Dunnavant and Dr. Ayana Flewellen.) Catch the podcast.

SUBSCRIBER EXCLUSIVE

LAST GLIMPSE

PHOTOGRAPH BY LYNSEY ADDARIO, NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC

Award winner: If you care about photography, you have seen what Nat Geo Explorer Lynsey Addario has been able to convey from the world’s conflict zones such as Afghanistan or Tigray. Lynsey has just won the National Geographic Society’s Eliza Scidmore Award for Outstanding Storytelling, named for a pioneering woman writer and photographer at Nat Geo. Lynsey has sought to convey humanity in war, refugee camps, field hospitals, military training—and has survived capture and deadly accidents. “In war, one sees extremes in character,” she once told Nat Geo. “I've seen the most evil people, and I've seen the most unbelievable people.” (Pictured above, Lynsey, who also has covered maternal mortality, spotted these two Afghan women, traveling without male accompaniment, which was unusual. Lynsey discovered one’s water had broken. She and a colleague got the pregnant woman to a hospital, where the 18-year-old delivered a baby girl.)

SUBSCRIBER EXCLUSIVE

This newsletter has been curated and edited by David Beard, Monica Williams, and Jen Tse. Have an idea or a link? We’d love to hear from you at [email protected].

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