Last Week's Best Photos (Dec 03-09) from National Geographic

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

In this issue of photos from National Geographic - a selection of exclusive, vintage photographs, sometimes dated from the beginning of the last century. At that time, they did not know anything about photoshop, or digital cameras, or about the now fashionable lomography and cross-process. Live photography is exactly what the National Geographic team is sharing with us this week.

03 december

The mystery of our century, an amazing people, considered the Japanese photographer and writer Eliza Skidmore. She went to great lengths to bring the beautiful cherry blossoms, captured in the photograph, into the Potomac Park in Washington DC.

04 december

In 1928, the editor of National Geographic magazine Gilbert Grosvenor decided to dismantle the archive with photographs and update it, throwing out all low-quality and unnecessary pictures. The photograph of the Sphinx, which is presented here, is one of the most valuable, and has lived in the archive for over 90 years.

05 december

Autochromic photographs of the early 20th century are considered the greatest value, the rarest phenomenon. They are not black and white, unlike other retro photographs, but color, printed thanks to a photographic plate that gives a color image. This unique photograph, dated 1926, was taken in Algeria, in the province of M'Sila, by photographer Franklin Price Knott. This image and several other autochromic images were part of the first series of color photographs published by National Geographic.

06 december

Back in 1921, photographer Kiyoshi Sakamoto photographed a group of Japanese people in traditional kimono boating down the Hotsugawa River. This activity is still considered one of the most beloved and popular Japanese entertainment in the summer. The author of the photograph collaborated with the magazine for over ten years, between the two world wars.

07 december

Spain. Grenada. A romantic date between a Spanish musician and a young girl. Another autochromic, color photograph published in National Geographic is dated 1929. Its author, Jules Gervais Courtellemont, was one of the first to master this technology in the early 20th century when it became commercially available.

08 december

Indian woodcarvers from Amritsar, this is from a series of photo essays on the lives of people in India, taken in 1921 by a photographer named Maynard Owen Williams. He was one of the first travel photographers to provide National Geographic with images from the cities and countries where he happened to be.

09 december

France, a picturesque landscape by the river, and a group of artists who enthusiastically transfer to the canvas the splendor of the nature of their native land that appeared before their eyes. Another color shot by Jules Gervais Courtellemont, one of the first authors to master autochromic printing technology. From 1923 until his death, in 1931, he collaborated with National Geographic, and specialized in just such photographs taken using autochromic printing.