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HOW ONE PHOTOGRAPHER CAPTURED AMERICA'S NATIONAL PARKS

Saturday, April 23, 2022

In today’s newsletter, we explore how Jonathan Irish captured America’s national parks, discover how to ‘elephant proof’ a camera trap ... and cover K-pop in Queens.

PHOTOGRAPHS BY JONATHAN IRISH

By Whitney Johnson, Director of Visual and Immersive Experiences

When the U.S. Congress established Yellowstone as the first national park in 1872, it was “for the benefit and enjoyment of the people.” One hundred and fifty years later, there are 63 parks to explore.

In 2016, Jonathan Irish traversed the country and its territories to photograph every park that was designated at the time. (Above, Washington’s North Cascades National Park.)

He revisited natural wonders made famous by photographers before him, like Ansel Adams; pinpointed his favorite views, where natural wonders lead your eye through the frame; and even shared tips on how to photograph an elusive moonbow—a rainbow produced under moonlight. It’s a fitting survey as Americans wind up National Parks Week.

See the full story here—and catch a few of his images below.

Going deep: More than 119 caves are hidden beneath the surface of New Mexico’s Carlsbad Canyons National Park. Cave scientists have explored at least 30 miles of passageways of the main cavern of Carlsbad, and the investigation continues. Visitors may tour three of these miles on a paved trail.

Salmon for everyone! A brown bear (nicknamed “Uno” for her one ear) and her two cubs walk along a river in Alaska’s Katmai National Park and Preserve. Visitors in July watch some 2,000 brown bears grab sockeye salmon around the Brooks Camp waterfall. The bears are focused on the fish, Nat Geo’s Douglas Main told us in 2020. “If you’re careful and respectful, the bears view humans as a neutral presence.”

Hoodoos: That’s the name for these phantom-like spires in southern Utah’s Bryce Canyon National Park. Bryce, like several other Utah parks, is also known for its stunning red arches. (Discover the sound that could preserve Utah’s arches.)

Towering trees—and lightning bugs: South Carolina’s Congaree National Park contains the largest intact tract of old-growth bottomland forest in North America. Visitors come for the boardwalk hikes, canoe tours, and, during a brief window in late spring, a synchronized light show by thousands of lightning bugs, pulsating in near-unison, Nat Geo writes. See glimpses of all 63 national parks here—and Irish’s full-length book.

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STORIES WE'RE FOLLOWING

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EARTH MONTH: ARTICLE OF THE DAY

PHOTOGRAPH BY SHAAZ JUNG

PHOTO OF THE DAY

VIDEO BY TOM O’BRIEN

Elephant-proof: One big problem with camera traps had been the pounding pads of the pachyderm. Here Nat Geo staff photographer Mark Thiessen, former junior photo engineer Keegan Barber, and photo engineer Tom O’Brien assemble 25 elephant-proof strobe housings for camera traps. The traps—digital cameras attached to a sensor that take an image when an animal walks past—were designed for Jasper Doest’s story on forest elephants in Gabon, in the May issue of National Geographic.

SEE WHAT THEY DID

IN THE SPOTLIGHT

PHOTOGRAPH BY NATALIE KEYSSAR

K-pop in Queens: In Flushing Meadows Corona Park, in the part of New York known as “The World’s Borough,” it’s not uncommon to hear many of the 300-plus languages of Queens being spoken. Pictured above, photographer Natalie Keyssar photographs Singularity, a K-pop group that was working on a music video in the park. From left to right are Tenzin Dayab, Ahsan Tariq, and ZeLinLi.

THE WORLD’S BOROUGH

IN A FEW WORDS

QUOTE

When susceptible minds fall under the sway of a powerful leader, disaster is sure to follow.

David Hume Kennerly

Pulitzer-winning photographer

From: Photographing Hell—Reflections of Jonestown, and of Putin-occupied Ukraine

LAST GLIMPSE

PHOTOGRAPH BY LOREN MCINTYRE

Infrared: Dogged photographer Loren McIntyre spent a year searching for the most distant source of the Amazon River for a 1972 Nat Geo article. In this image, selected by Sara Manco, the National Geographic Society’s senior photo archivist, McIntyre used infrared film on the green landscape of a rice plantation in Brazil. Manco says that McIntyre would spend most of his career traveling, photographing, and writing about South America. The Amazon Basin remains a vital topic at Nat Geo to this day; read about our just-launched effort to explore and document it.

Ensure a greener future by supporting the work of National Geographic Explorers who are illuminating and protecting the Amazon and Earth’s critical ecosystems. Donate to the nonprofit National Geographic Society today at natgeo.org/earthday.

MORE VINTAGE PHOTOS

This newsletter has been curated and edited by David Beard, Jen Tse, and Monica Williams. Amanda Williams-Bryant, Rita Spinks, Alec Egamov, and Jeremy Brandt-Vorel also contributed this week. Have an idea or a link? We’d love to hear from you at [email protected].

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