The images in this post are not mine, but rather photos from Richard Avedon himself.

Richard Avedon was truly an amazing photographer. Many of us have seen his photos and never realized whose they were. The photo to the left is one of my favorites from him. It is Charles Chaplin right before he was exiled from the United States for “un-american”/communist activities. The way he is acting in the photo is simply humorous.

This second photo is right up there with the Chaplin photo. The chances of taking this photo are about 1 in 1,000,000. The emotion on her face along with the snake’s tongue create a nearly perfect photo from composition to subject matter. This photo is simply amazing.

The photo to the left interests me in a strange way. The photo is rather creepy, they guy looks like an axe murderer or something… maybe not. But the way this photo looks draws it out of a crowd of photos, which is the goal of the photographer… to make the photo stand out. Thats what this photo does perfectly. When someone sees this photo, they have to get a closer look to see what it is about. I am not entirely sure what this guy does, but it looks scary.

Finally, this photo of Marilyn Monroe had to be included. This photo is probably one of Avedon’s most famous photos. This photo shows her emotion at the time of capture perfectly. She was tired from the photo-shoot, and Avedon captured her facial expression and body language in such a way that you can feel exactly (or close to) as she does when you look at this photo.

Avedon started out in the fashion photography industry, and became one of the greatest portrait photographers ever in the United States.

Throughout the movie, it demonstrated the hardships experienced by the photographers at National Geographic. From what I have seen in the movie, it is definitely a job to be taken on by a single, motivated, passionate photographer. Although being single is not he most important of the necessary traits… it is certainly a factor because the photographer will not be seeing them very often as they will be traveling a lot and, from what I saw in the movie, they lose touch with their families and friends.

Photo © Joel Sartore

Joel Sartore’s stories throughout the movie were both informing and inspiring. He described, in detail, many of the ordeals he went through while working for National Geographic. Some of his stories involved pain and suffering due to injuries and other disease. However, it also showed how many countries Sartore has traveled to in his life time, how many places he has photographed. For me, being a photographer for National Geographic would be the ultimate job regardless of the disadvantages. Traveling to foreign lands, capturing images that could change people’s entire perspective on a nation.

Photo © Joel Sartore

Sartore goes to great lengths to capture amazing images. To the right, there is a photo of him capturing a photo of, what looks to me like, a Caiman. Caiman are dangerous animals, and could have easily taken offense to Sartore taking his picture. But Sartore was willing to take the risk. Luckily for him, Mr. Caiman felt that he shouldn’t eat Mr. Sartore.

To experience everything Sartore would quite possibly be the ultimate thing one could do in their life.

Photo © Joel Sartore

Sartore captured everything from images of animals, to portraits of people, to landscapes. To the right is a photo of a wildlife crossing. This photo interested me, not only because it a good photo, but also because of the subject matter. It is a wildlife crossing in Banff National Park, Alberta, Canada. This image demonstrates that it is not only a good photo because of composition and exposure, it is also the subject matter. Sartore seems to have amazing subject matter, as all of his photos cause one to have a desire to find out more about what is in the photograph.

When one travels the world like Sartore, they see many different amazing things. I can say that if I could take a year off from school, work, and everything else, I would want to do what Sartore does… maybe not work for National Geographic, but travel the world and document it with photographs.