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Post by kiev4a on Feb 6, 2007 9:39:07 GMT -5
Anybody see the PBS special last night on National Geographic photographer Joel Sartore. He's a Nebraska native who goes on assignment for N.G.--sometimes for several months at a time. One of the few N.G. photographers left who shoots film (Nikon F5s). Really an interesting and down-to-earth guy. According to him great photos are "all about the light." From the looks of his house and office, photography still pays pretty well if you have the right connections (and talent).
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Post by greyhoundman on Feb 6, 2007 10:24:22 GMT -5
I watched the show. I'd say it must still pay pretty well. He seemed to be down to earth about the whole lifestyle. Considering he almost died doing a job. Rough on the kids though.
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Post by kiev4a on Feb 6, 2007 10:28:23 GMT -5
You could see one of the things that makes him successful. The way he interacted with the cowboys at the rodeo you could tell he was genuinely interested in them--not just getting a picture. That sort of interest can't be faked. Your subjects can sense it.
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Post by greyhoundman on Feb 6, 2007 11:21:24 GMT -5
True. They also sensed he was wound a tad tight. LOL It's no wonder he had to have a bodyguard while shooting. He would have got stomped for sure.
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Post by kiev4a on Feb 6, 2007 11:39:39 GMT -5
Yeah, that was smart to have a lookout. I have shot rodeo down in the arena and you can't look through a viewfinder and keep track of all the hoofs flying around you. Closest I ever came was when a saddle bronc who had shed his rider ran past me then kicked out with his hind legs. A hoof came near enough to my head I could feel the wind. I would have been DRT (Dead Right There)
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Post by greyhoundman on Feb 6, 2007 11:48:02 GMT -5
I'd rather get kicked, than catch the crud he's been exposed to in the jungle. Doctors up here wouldn't even know what you had or how to treat it. He definitely has some cajones to go with his obvious love of photography.
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Post by kiev4a on Feb 6, 2007 12:01:56 GMT -5
I'm with you on that. I've been around a few guys like that. Getting the right shot at any cost is an obsession for them.
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Post by greyhoundman on Feb 6, 2007 12:04:28 GMT -5
I've stepped over the sanity line a time or two. And got just what I didn't want. Shooting poisonous snakes with your eye behind the VF is not the brightest idea.
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Post by kiev4a on Feb 6, 2007 12:43:23 GMT -5
I sent Sartore an email. Got a reply from his assistant who said he's on assignment. She says since the special was made he has switched to digital--Nikon D2Xs
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Post by greyhoundman on Feb 6, 2007 13:16:27 GMT -5
Progress. But I imagine he has had the same problem with getting top processing like everyone else. I read somewhere that they sometimes shoot 500 rolls on a 3 month assignment. Cards sure would be lighter.
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Post by kiev4a on Feb 6, 2007 13:19:04 GMT -5
Cards are OK unless you encounter a fairly strong EMP.
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Post by greyhoundman on Feb 6, 2007 13:21:50 GMT -5
I would think they would carry one of the new storage devices to download the cards to.
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Post by kiev4a on Feb 7, 2007 11:36:11 GMT -5
Ron:
There aren't many places who pay like National Geographic. Even back in the '60s they were paying one dollar per word for writing and who know how much for photographs. Once they sent a photographer out here to do a feature on Idaho. He wanted to photograph the annual Basque Dance here. I was a newspaper photographer at the time and helped him set up. He had four huge strobes flown in and we hung them up in the rafters of the fieldhouse where the dance was to be held--slaved to the one on his camera. Don't know how many rolls he shot that night. NG used one photo from the dance!
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Post by doubs43 on Feb 7, 2007 18:07:09 GMT -5
When I was young I used to look through the stacks of NG magazines that were in one of the mill buildings. They were all from the late 1920's and early 1930's. Fascinating and I wish I'd kept them. Anyone aspiring to doing photo stories could do a lot worse than studying NG magazines.
Walker
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