The Power of Photography

 Photographers use their cameras as tools of exploration, passports to inner sanctums, instruments for change. Their images are proof the photography matters-now more than ever.

Thirty-four years before the birth of this magazine, the Danish philosopher Søren Kierkegaard sourly prophesied a banal fate for the newly popularized art of photography. “With the daguerreotype,” he observed, “everyone will be able to have their portrait taken—formerly it was only the prominent—and at the same time everything is being done to make us all look exactly the same, so we shall only need one portrait.”

The National Geographic Society did not set out to test Kierkegaard’s thesis, at least not right away. Its mission was exploration, and the gray pages of its official journal did not exactly constitute a visual orgy. Years would go by before National Geographic’s explorers would begin using the camera as a tool to bring back what is now its chief source of fame: photographic stories that can alter perceptions and, at their best, change lives.

By wresting a precious particle of the world from time and space and holding it absolutely still, a great photograph can explode the totality of our world, such that we never see it quite the same again. After all, as Kierkegaard also wrote, “the truth is a snare: you cannot have it, without being caught.”

Today photography has become a global cacophony of freeze-frames. Millions of pictures are uploaded every minute. Correspondingly, everyone is a subject, and knows it—any day now we will be adding the unguarded moment to the endangered species list. It’s on this hyper-egalitarian, quasi-Orwellian, all-too-camera-ready “terra infirma” that National Geographic’s photographers continue to stand out. Why they do so is only partly explained by the innately personal choices (which lens for which lighting for which moment) that help define a photographer’s style. Instead, the very best of their images remind us that a photograph has the power to do infinitely more than document. It can transport us to unseen worlds.

When I tell people that I work for this magazine, I see their eyes grow wide, and I know what will happen when I add, as I must: “Sorry, I’m just one of the writers.” A National Geographic photographer is the personification of worldliness, the witness to all earthly beauty, the occupant of everybody’s dream job. I’ve seen The Bridges of Madison County—I get it, I’m not bitter. But I have also frequently been thrown into the company of a National Geographic photographer at work, and what I have seen is everything to admire and nothing whatsoever to envy. If what propels them is ferocious determination to tell a story through transcendent images, what encumbers their quest is a daily litany of obstruction (excess baggage fees, inhospitable weather, a Greek chorus of “no”), interrupted now and then by disaster (broken bones, malaria, imprisonment). Away from home for many months at a time—missing birthdays, holidays, school plays—they can find themselves serving as unwelcome ambassadors in countries hostile to the West. Or sitting in a tree for a week. Or eating bugs for dinner. I might add that Einstein, who snarkily referred to photographers as lichtaffen, meaning “monkeys drawn to light,” did not live by 3 a.m. wake-up calls. Let’s not confuse nobility with glamour. What transfixes me, almost as much as their images, is my colleagues’ cheerful capacity for misery.

Apparently they wouldn’t have it any other way. The lodestone of the camera tugged at each of them from their disparate origins (a small town in Indiana or Azerbaijan, a polio isolation ward, the South African military), and over time their work would reflect differentiated passions: human conflict and vanishing cultures, big cats and tiny insects, the desert and the sea. What do the National Geographic photographers share? A hunger for the unknown, the courage to be ignorant, and the wisdom to recognize that, as one says, “the photograph is never taken—it is always given.”

Terjemah

Fotografer menggunakan kamera mereka sebagai alat eksplorasi, paspor ke tempat-tempat suci, instrumen untuk perubahan. Gambar-gambar mereka adalah bukti bahwa fotografi itu penting—sekarang lebih dari sebelumnya.

Tiga puluh empat tahun sebelum lahirnya majalah ini, filsuf Denmark Søren Kierkegaard dengan masam meramalkan nasib buruk bagi seni fotografi yang baru dipopulerkan. "Dengan daguerreotype," katanya, "setiap orang akan dapat dipotret—dulu hanya orang-orang terkemuka—dan pada saat yang sama segala sesuatunya dilakukan agar kita semua terlihat persis sama, jadi kita hanya perlu satu potret."

National Geographic Society tidak bermaksud menguji tesis Kierkegaard, setidaknya tidak saat itu juga. Misinya adalah eksplorasi, dan halaman-halaman jurnal resminya yang berwarna abu-abu tidak sepenuhnya merupakan pesta pora visual. Bertahun-tahun berlalu sebelum para penjelajah National Geographic mulai menggunakan kamera sebagai alat untuk mengembalikan apa yang sekarang menjadi sumber ketenaran utamanya: kisah-kisah fotografis yang dapat mengubah persepsi dan, dalam kondisi terbaiknya, mengubah kehidupan.

Dengan merenggut partikel berharga dunia dari ruang dan waktu serta menahannya agar tetap diam, sebuah foto yang hebat dapat meledakkan totalitas dunia kita, sehingga kita tidak akan pernah melihatnya sama lagi. Lagi pula, seperti yang juga ditulis Kierkegaard, "kebenaran adalah jerat: Anda tidak dapat memilikinya, tanpa terperangkap."

Saat ini fotografi telah menjadi hiruk-pikuk global bingkai-beku. Jutaan gambar diunggah setiap menit. Dengan demikian, setiap orang adalah subjek, dan mengetahuinya—setiap hari sekarang kita akan menambahkan momen yang tidak dijaga ke dalam daftar spesies yang terancam punah. Di "terra infirma" yang sangat egaliter, semi-Orwellian, dan terlalu siap kamera inilah para fotografer National Geographic terus menonjol. Mengapa mereka melakukannya hanya sebagian dijelaskan oleh pilihan pribadi yang melekat (lensa mana untuk pencahayaan mana untuk momen mana) yang membantu menentukan gaya fotografer. Sebaliknya, gambar terbaik mereka mengingatkan kita bahwa sebuah foto memiliki kekuatan untuk melakukan lebih dari sekadar mendokumentasikan. Itu dapat membawa kita ke dunia yang tak terlihat.

Ketika saya memberi tahu orang-orang bahwa saya bekerja untuk majalah ini, saya melihat mata mereka terbelalak, dan saya tahu apa yang akan terjadi ketika saya menambahkan, seperti yang harus saya katakan: "Maaf, saya hanya salah satu penulis." Seorang fotografer National Geographic adalah personifikasi keduniawian, saksi dari semua keindahan duniawi, penghuni pekerjaan impian setiap orang. Saya telah menonton The Bridges of Madison County —saya mengerti, saya tidak sakit hati. Namun, saya juga sering kali bekerja bersama fotografer National Geographic , dan apa yang saya lihat adalah segalanya untuk dikagumi dan sama sekali tidak ada yang perlu diirikan. Jika yang mendorong mereka adalah tekad yang kuat untuk menceritakan sebuah kisah melalui gambar-gambar yang transenden, yang menghambat pencarian mereka adalah serangkaian rintangan harian (biaya bagasi berlebih, cuaca yang tidak bersahabat, paduan suara Yunani yang mengatakan "tidak"), yang kadang-kadang disela oleh bencana (patah tulang, malaria, pemenjaraan). Jauh dari rumah selama berbulan-bulan—tidak menghadiri ulang tahun, hari libur, drama sekolah—mereka dapat mendapati diri mereka menjadi duta besar yang tidak diinginkan di negara-negara yang memusuhi Barat. Atau duduk di pohon selama seminggu. Atau makan serangga untuk makan malam. Saya mungkin menambahkan bahwa Einstein, yang dengan sinis menyebut fotografer sebagai lichtaffen, yang berarti "monyet yang tertarik pada cahaya," tidak hidup dengan panggilan bangun pukul 3 pagi. Jangan samakan antara kemuliaan dengan kemewahan. Yang membuat saya terpesona, hampir sama seperti gambar mereka, adalah kapasitas keceriaan rekan-rekan saya untuk merasakan kesengsaraan.

Rupanya mereka tidak akan melakukannya dengan cara lain. Batu magnet kamera menarik mereka masing-masing dari asal-usul mereka yang berbeda (kota kecil di Indiana atau Azerbaijan, bangsal isolasi polio, militer Afrika Selatan), dan seiring waktu, karya mereka akan mencerminkan minat yang berbeda: konflik manusia dan budaya yang punah, kucing besar dan serangga kecil, gurun dan laut. Apa yang dimiliki oleh para fotografer National Geographic ? Rasa haus akan hal yang tidak diketahui, keberanian untuk bersikap bodoh, dan kebijaksanaan untuk menyadari bahwa, seperti yang dikatakan orang, "foto tidak pernah diambil—ia selalu diberikan."

Verba

1. photographic stories that can alter        perceptions and, at their best, change lives.

2. now we will be adding the unguarded moment to the endangered species list.

3. It can transport us to unseen worlds.

4. I see their eyes grow wide, and I know what will happen when I add

5. When I tell people that I work for this magazine.

6. I’ve seen The Bridges of Madison County—I get it, I’m not bitter.

7. If what propels them is ferocious determination to tell a story through transcendent images.

8. The lodestone of the camera tugged at each of them from their disparate origins.

9. I might add that Einstein, who snarkily referred to photographers as lichtaffen, meaning “monkeys drawn to light,”

10. Photographers use their cameras as tools of exploration, passports to inner sanctums, instruments for change.

11. The Danish philosopher soren kiergegaard sourly prophesied a banal fate fot the newly.

Nomina

1. The photographers' commitment is evident in their photographs.

2. The relationship between photographers and subjects is collaborative.

3. Their sense of responsibility is toward those who trusted them.

4. The beauty of harp seals is fragile due to the collapse of ice floes.

5. The devastation in the Congo is a result of war and gold mining.

6. The glimmer of hope is in showing the truth to the world.

7. Kierkegaard’s view of photography is both right and wrong.

8. The diversity of the world is revealed through National Geographic images.

9. Sharbat Gula’s stare is iconic and unforgettable.

10. The influence of National Geographic is significant in shaping global awareness.

5W+1H

1. Who predicts bad luck for photographers?

Answer: the Danish philosopher Søren Kierkegaard sourly prophesied a banal fate for the newly popularized art of photography.

2. What do the National Geographic photographers share?

Answer: A hunger for the unknown, the courage to be ignorant, and the wisdom to recognize that, as one says, “the photograph is never taken—it is always given.”

3. What is a National Geographic Photographer?

Answer: A National Geographic photographer is the personification of worldliness, the witness to all earthly beauty, the occupant of everybody’s dream job.

4. How to get the best photos?

Answer: By wresting a precious particle of the world from time and space and holding it absolutely still, a great photograph can explode the totality of our world, such that we never see it quite the same again.

5. When did Danish philosopher Soren Kiekergaard predict the fate of photographers?

Answer: Thirty-four years before the birth of this magazine

6. Why should photographers use cameras?

Answer: Photographers use their cameras as tools of exploration, passports to inner sanctums, instruments for change. 

7. Why didn't the National Geographic Society directly test Kierkegarrd's thesis?

Answer: Its mission was exploration, and the gray pages of its official journal did not exactly constitute a visual orgy.

8. Where does the author work?

Answer: The author works for a magazine or, more precisely, is a national geographic photographer.

9. What did Einstein say about photographers?

Answer: I might add that Einstein, who snarkily referred to photographers as lichtaffen, meaning “monkeys drawn to light,” 

10. Why photography is a global frenzy at the moment?

Answer: Today photography has become a global cacophony of freeze-frames. Millions of pictures are uploaded every minute. Correspondingly, everyone is a subject.

Passive

1. The camera is lifted to the eye after photographers have spent days or weeks listening to their subjects.

2. Trust is placed in the photographers by those who opened the door to their quiet world.

3. A sense of responsibility is felt by photographers toward those who trusted them.

4. Harp seals are seen swimming in the Gulf of St. Lawrence by conscientious photographers.

5. The frailty of habitats is witnessed through the collapse of ice floes.

6. Gold merchants were shown the consequences of their profiteering by displaying photos in Switzerland.

7. Images have revealed a world of diversity, not sameness, over the past 125 years.

8. Societies, species, and landscapes are increasingly documented as they are threatened by homogenization.

9. A photograph of Sharbat Gula was taken by Steve McCurry in 1984.

10. The world was stopped by Sharbat Gula’s stare in the June 1985 issue of National Geographic.

Active

1. Photographers use their cameras as tools of exploration.

2. Their images are proof the photography matters.

3. he Danish philosopher Søren Kierkegaard prophesied a banal fate for photography.

4. The National Geographic Society did not set out to test Kierkegaard’s thesis.

5. A great photograph can explode the totality of our world.

6. Millions of pictures are uploaded every minute.

7. National Geographic photographers continue to stand out.

8. I see their eyes grow wide.

9. The lodestone of the camera tugged at each of them.

10. The images in National Geographic have revealed a world of wondrous diversity.