Women of Vision: National Geographic Photographers on Assignment
For 125 years, National Geographic has documented the world and all that is in it with stunning photography that captures the soul of a story beyond the words on a page.
Some of the most powerful narratives of the past decade have been produced by a forward-thinking generation of women photojournalists as different as the places and the subjects they have covered. But they all share the same passion and commitment to storytelling that has come to define National Geographic.
Featuring the work of 11 female photojournalists who have made a significant impact through their images, Women of Vision is a tribute to the spirit and the ambition of these journalists and artists who have created riveting experiences for millions through the insightful, sensitive, and strategic use of a camera. From the last great wildernesses of Africa to the tumult of the Jersey Shore, these stories explore the realities of our world and the depths of what it means to be human in the 21st Century. These women of vision have taken millions with them on assignment through the pages of National Geographic–and in the process have set a new standard for excellence that will continue to inspire for decades to come.
Lynsey Addario, a MacArthur Fellow, is widely admired for her conflict coverage in Afghanistan, Iraq, Lebanon, Darfur and the Congo. Featured assignment work includes images that document human rights issues, particularly the plight of women and families in conflict zones.
Kitra Cahana explores important social, anthropological and spiritual themes. Born in Miami but raised in Canada and Sweden, Cahana earned her B.A. in philosophy from McGill University and her M.A. in visual and media anthropology from the Freie Universitat in Berlin. She has won a first prize from World Press Photo, a TED Fellowship and the ICP Infinity Award. Her work includes images taken on assignment for NGM’s feature on the teenage brain and culture in the United States.
Jodi Cobb has worked in over 65 countries and produced 30 National Geographic Magazine stories, including "21st -Century Slaves," which was among the most popular stories in the magazine's history. Cobb was the only photographer to penetrate the geisha world, which resulted in her Pulitzer Prize-nominated book, "Geisha: The Life, the Voices, the Art." She was also the first photographer to document the hidden lives of the women of Saudi Arabia and among the first to travel across China when it reopened to the West. She has received numerous accolades, including repeated honors from the National Press Photographers Association, Pictures of the Year, and World Press Photo, as well as receiving the 2012 Missouri Honor Medal for Distinguished Service in Journalism. Cobb was also the first woman to be named White House Photographer of the Year.
Diane Cook is a leading landscape photographer whose work is in numerous collections, including the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; the Museum of Photographic Arts in San Diego; and the L.A. County Museum in Los Angeles. Cook often works collaboratively with her husband, Len Jenshel. Their NGM stories have covered New York’s elevated park, the High Line; Mount St. Helens; Green Roofs; the Na’Pali Coast of Hawaii; the U.S.-Mexico border; and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument.
Carolyn Drake is the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship, a Fulbright Fellowship, the Lange Taylor Documentary Prize and a World Press Photo award, and she was a finalist for the Santa Fe Prize. She has spent years documenting the cultures of Central Asia and life in western China’s Uygur region.
Lynn Johnson, a Knight Fellow and passionate advocate for visual arts education, has covered a wide range of assignments for NGM, producing images for 21 stories on subjects including vanishing languages and challenges facing human populations in Africa and Asia. Johnson has also participated in photo camps in Chad, Botswana and the Pine Ridge reservation. She has received several awards, including the Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award for Coverage of the Disadvantaged.
Beverly Joubert is a National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence, filmmaker, photographer and co-founder of the Big Cats Initiative. Together with her husband, Dereck, she has been documenting the plight of African wildlife for more than 30 years. Her images have appeared in more than 100 magazines worldwide (including NGM), and the Jouberts have co-authored several books and scientific papers. They have produced more than 25 television documentaries, and their 2011 feature film “The Last Lions” reached more than 350 million people worldwide. Their films have garnered seven Emmys, a Peabody, Panda Awards and the World Ecology Award. The Jouberts were inducted into the American Academy of Achievement, and for their conservation work in Botswana they received the Presidential Order of Merit.
Erika Larsen studies cultures with strong ties to nature. She published a 2009 story in NGM on the Sami reindeer herders of Scandinavia, an assignment which grew out of her own documentary work for which she lived and worked within the culture for over four years. Larsen received a B.F.A. and an M.F.A. from Rochester Institute of Technology and is the recipient of a Fulbright Fellowship and a New Jersey State Arts Council Fellowship. Larsen’s photography has been exhibited at the National Portrait Gallery and the Sami Ájtte Museum in Sweden.
Stephanie Sinclair's decade-long project on child marriage has earned global recognition, including three World Press Photo awards and prestigious exhibitions on Capitol Hill, at the United Nations and at the Whitney Biennial in New York. Her images also include scenes from Yemen and from polygamist families in the Fundamentalist Church of the Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.
Maggie Steber, a celebrated figure in the photographic community, has worked in more than 62 countries and her images have earned several prestigious honors, including the Leica Medal of Excellence and World Press Photo awards. NGM has published her essays on Miami, the African slave trade, the Cherokee Nation, sleep, soldiers’ letters, Dubai and a story on the science of memory that featured a touching sidebar on Steber’s mother, Madje, and her struggle with dementia. Steber has worked in Haiti for over 25 years and has a monograph published by Aperture Foundation Inc. entitled “Dancing on Fire.” She is a member of Facing Change Documenting America, a group of civic-minded photographers covering important American issues.
Amy Toensing began her prolific career covering the White House and Congress for the New York Times. She has created portraits of unforgettable people around the world while shooting National Geographic Magazine stories in Papua New Guinea, Puerto Rico, the Jersey Shore, and Tonga. For the past 3 years, she has been documenting Aboriginal Australia for a story that was published in the June 2013 issue of National Geographic Magazine. Toensing is also committed to teaching photography to kids in underserved communities. She has worked with Somali and Sudanese refugees in Maine and Burmese refugees in Baltimore, and recently traveled to Islamabad to teach young Pakistanis.
(National Geographic)
Women of Vision: National Geographic Photographers on Assignment is currently on view at the Palm Beach Photographic Centre, Jan. 22 - Mar. 22, 2015.
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