Geographic's "Greatest Portraits" Collected in New Book

Chelsea Lane-Miller
National Geographic News

November 4, 2004

This fall National Geographic Books is releasing In Focus: National
Geographic Greatest Portraits , an assembly of portraits from the
National Geographic Society's collection of 10.5 million photographs.
(See photos from the book.)

National Geographic News recently spoke with the book's senior and associate editors, Leah Bendavid-Val and Chris Johns. (Johns will take over the editorial reins of National Geographic magazine in January.) The pair spoke about the significance of portraits and offered advice for aspiring photographers.

What makes a good portrait?

Leah Bendavid-Val: The question—what makes a good photographic portrait?—is very difficult to answer and in fact may be unanswerable. Everybody who worked on In Focus asked an even more basic question, What is a portrait?

National Geographic photographers have taken thousands of pictures of people. So many of them are truly wonderful, but are they all portraits? Our book takes up this question in several ways, and we hope the reader will find the book not only entertaining but also thought provoking.

Chris Johns: The great portraits are about a connection between the photographer and the subject. The connection that the photographer and the subject make with one another is reflected then to the person who looks at the photograph. Now, how do you know when that connection works the best? It's when the photograph goes straight from your eyes to your heart.

As an editor, what do you look for in a portrait?

Bendavid-Val: The first thing I look for is whether or not the picture is affecting. If it doesn't touch the viewer on an emotional level, if the viewer doesn't somehow connect with the subject in the picture, nothing else matters.

Many photographs are technically accomplished, but if there's no authentic emotional content, which can be extremely elusive and difficult to attain, the picture simply won't be memorable. Occasionally a technically weak photograph has such great emotional power that the technical content becomes almost unimportant.

Johns: I look for a photograph that has that strong connection, that has a degree of storytelling, insight, but also has the strong emotional appeal. It's a picture that transcends time and place … and will stand the test of time.

That picture will resonate with people. It will grab people, make them care, help them understand. And, if it's doing all those things well, then it will probably stand the test of time [and] will be an important statement about humanity for generations to come.

Those kinds of pictures are not easy to come by. They take a lot of commitment from the photographer and from the editors that edit those photographs.

What advice would you give to an aspiring photographer?

Bendavid-Val: For any aspiring photographer, any age, I would recommend photographing what you care about, what you love, and keep at it. Look at other people's pictures and think about what you want to do in your own photography. Stay true to your own vision, and photograph continually.

Johns: First thing I'd say is, make lots of pictures. Take lots and lots of pictures, and then look at those pictures critically. And as you look at them critically, and by having trusted friends, colleagues who will look at your pictures and be honest with you about your pictures … you really open yourself up.

The best photographs are truly from the heart. So when you're criticized for those, it's tough. But it's also a necessary part of growth.

I would [also] say a photographer needs to build a terrific library of magazines they love, of books they love.

Ground yourself in the history of the great masters of photography.

Over time you will develop your own vision, and hopefully you will make a contribution to those great bodies of work that have been the foundation of strong photography.

What are some top tips you can share about being a photographer for National Geographic?

Johns: Patience. Patience with your subject and patience with yourself. One of the ways you get patience is through commitment. That you've committed to this subject and telling the truth, that you've committed to improving every day.

One that's tied right in there is persistence. That you never give up, you never give up on yourself, even on the bad days. You never give up on a great picture because there are problems or impediments. You just stick with it and are committed to constantly improving. You're always hungry. You're not quite satisfied.

Why has National Geographic decided to dedicate a book to portraits?

Johns: Portraits connect so well with our readers. People can look at that photograph and think, Well, gosh, I have a feeling now what it must be like to be that person or to live that life. Portraits are one of the most powerful devices we have for connecting with our readers.

How are portraits different from other types of photographs?

Johns: Any good photograph—it could be landscape, wildlife photograph, a science photograph—is about connections. There's a strong connection and [desire] to communicate about a landscape, or an animal. Maybe it's an endangered species, and you realize that its days are numbered if we don't do something. So there'd be this strong connection with trying to show what the animal looks like, but not just what it looks like.

I want to see pictures that don't just show me what something looks like, but they show me what it feels to be like that animal or like that person. Show me what you see. Show me what you feel. And always tell the truth. Those are the three mantras we use when we send photographers out.

All that is ratcheted up, all of that is exacerbated to a degree by a portrait because a portrait is so personal. The eyes are really the windows into that being, and there's something about the eyes and the eye contact. There's this vulnerability when someone really opens up to a photographer to allow a portrait.

Some photographers are very good at putting people at ease, and that's largely because of sincerity. You're not out there to make a great picture, per se. You're out there to connect with a person and get to know that person. And, if a great picture comes out of it, that's terrific.

I submit that the best pictures are always made with that in mind. Not where the photographer says, Here is a person, here is an object for me to make a great picture with. No, that's backwards. It's, Here's someone that I'm so intrigued with, that I want to share what I found out about this person, how I feel about this person, what this person looks like … I want to share that with millions of people.

If you approach it that way—and your best photographers do that naturally—then you'll connect with the subject and you'll connect with the readers and make memorable portraits.

Editor's Note: In Focus: National Geographic Greatest Portraits (U.S. $30) is now available in the National Geographic online store and U.S. bookstores.

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