How photography connects us
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0:00 - 0:03Let's just start by looking at some great photographs.
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0:05 - 0:08This is an icon of National Geographic,
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0:08 - 0:11an Afghan refugee taken by Steve McCurry.
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0:11 - 0:14But the Harvard Lampoon is about to come out
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0:14 - 0:16with a parody of National Geographic,
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0:16 - 0:20and I shudder to think what they're going to do to this photograph.
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0:20 - 0:22Oh, the wrath of Photoshop.
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0:24 - 0:27This is a jet landing at San Francisco, by Bruce Dale.
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0:27 - 0:30He mounted a camera on the tail.
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0:34 - 0:37A poetic image for a story on Tolstoy, by Sam Abell.
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0:40 - 0:42Pygmies in the DRC, by Randy Olson.
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0:42 - 0:44I love this photograph because it reminds me
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0:44 - 0:47of Degas' bronze sculptures of the little dancer.
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0:50 - 0:55A polar bear swimming in the Arctic, by Paul Nicklen.
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0:55 - 0:58Polar bears need ice to be able to move back and forth --
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0:58 - 1:00they're not very good swimmers --
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1:00 - 1:02and we know what's happening to the ice.
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1:04 - 1:08These are camels moving across the Rift Valley in Africa,
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1:08 - 1:10photographed by Chris Johns.
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1:11 - 1:17Shot straight down, so these are the shadows of the camels.
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1:19 - 1:21This is a rancher in Texas, by William Albert Allard,
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1:21 - 1:24a great portraitist.
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1:25 - 1:27And Jane Goodall, making her own special connection,
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1:27 - 1:29photographed by Nick Nichols.
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1:32 - 1:36This is a soap disco in Spain, photographed by David Alan Harvey.
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1:36 - 1:38And David said that there was lot of weird stuff
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1:38 - 1:40happening on the dance floor.
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1:40 - 1:43But, hey, at least it's hygienic.
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1:43 - 1:47(Laughter)
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1:47 - 1:51These are sea lions in Australia doing their own dance,
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1:51 - 1:53by David Doubilet.
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1:54 - 1:58And this is a comet, captured by Dr. Euan Mason.
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2:00 - 2:04And finally, the bow of the Titanic, without movie stars,
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2:04 - 2:06photographed by Emory Kristof.
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2:11 - 2:13Photography carries a power that holds up
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2:13 - 2:17under the relentless swirl of today's saturated, media world,
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2:17 - 2:19because photographs emulate the way
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2:19 - 2:21that our mind freezes a significant moment.
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2:21 - 2:23Here's an example.
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2:23 - 2:25Four years ago, I was at the beach with my son,
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2:25 - 2:28and he was learning how to swim
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2:28 - 2:31in this relatively soft surf of the Delaware beaches.
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2:32 - 2:35But I turned away for a moment, and he got caught into a riptide
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2:35 - 2:36and started to be pulled out towards the jetty.
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2:38 - 2:41I can stand here right now and see,
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2:41 - 2:44as I go tearing into the water after him,
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2:44 - 2:47the moments slowing down and freezing into this arrangement.
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2:47 - 2:51I can see the rocks are over here.
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2:51 - 2:53There's a wave about to crash onto him.
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2:53 - 2:56I can see his hands reaching out,
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2:56 - 2:58and I can see his face in terror,
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2:58 - 3:01looking at me, saying, "Help me, Dad."
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3:02 - 3:04I got him. The wave broke over us.
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3:04 - 3:06We got back on shore; he was fine.
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3:06 - 3:08We were a little bit rattled.
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3:08 - 3:12But this flashbulb memory, as it's called,
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3:12 - 3:14is when all the elements came together to define
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3:14 - 3:19not just the event, but my emotional connection to it.
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3:19 - 3:21And this is what a photograph taps into
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3:21 - 3:24when it makes its own powerful connection to a viewer.
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3:24 - 3:26Now I have to tell you,
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3:26 - 3:28I was talking to Kyle last week about this,
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3:28 - 3:30that I was going to tell this story.
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3:30 - 3:32And he said, "Oh, yeah, I remember that too!
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3:32 - 3:34I remember my image of you
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3:34 - 3:36was that you were up on the shore yelling at me."
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3:36 - 3:38(Laughter)
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3:38 - 3:40I thought I was a hero.
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3:40 - 3:41(Laughter)
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3:41 - 3:44So,
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3:44 - 3:46this represents -- this is a cross-sample of
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3:46 - 3:50some remarkable images taken by some of the world's greatest photojournalists,
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3:50 - 3:53working at the very top of their craft --
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3:53 - 3:55except one.
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3:55 - 3:58This photograph was taken by Dr. Euan Mason
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3:58 - 4:00in New Zealand last year,
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4:00 - 4:03and it was submitted and published in National Geographic.
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4:03 - 4:05Last year, we added a section to our website called "Your Shot,"
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4:05 - 4:09where anyone can submit photographs for possible publication.
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4:09 - 4:12And it has become a wild success,
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4:12 - 4:15tapping into the enthusiast photography community.
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4:15 - 4:17The quality of these amateur photographs
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4:17 - 4:19can, at times, be amazing.
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4:19 - 4:21And seeing this reinforces, for me,
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4:21 - 4:24that every one of us has at least one or two
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4:24 - 4:26great photographs in them.
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4:26 - 4:29But to be a great photojournalist,
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4:29 - 4:31you have to have more than just one or two
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4:31 - 4:33great photographs in you.
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4:33 - 4:35You've got to be able to make them all the time.
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4:35 - 4:38But even more importantly,
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4:38 - 4:41you need to know how to create a visual narrative.
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4:41 - 4:44You need to know how to tell a story.
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4:44 - 4:46So I'm going to share with you some coverages
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4:46 - 4:49that I feel demonstrate the storytelling power of photography.
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4:51 - 4:54Photographer Nick Nichols went to document
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4:54 - 4:57a very small and relatively unknown wildlife sanctuary
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4:57 - 4:59in Chad, called Zakouma.
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5:00 - 5:02The original intent was to travel there
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5:02 - 5:04and bring back a classic story of diverse species,
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5:04 - 5:06of an exotic locale.
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5:06 - 5:08And that is what Nick did, up to a point.
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5:08 - 5:10This is a serval cat.
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5:10 - 5:12He's actually taking his own picture,
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5:12 - 5:14shot with what's called a camera trap.
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5:14 - 5:16There's an infrared beam that's going across,
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5:16 - 5:18and he has stepped into the beam and taken his photograph.
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5:18 - 5:22These are baboons at a watering hole.
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5:23 - 5:25Nick -- the camera, again, an automatic camera
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5:25 - 5:27took thousands of pictures of this.
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5:27 - 5:29And Nick ended up with a lot of pictures
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5:29 - 5:31of the rear ends of baboons.
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5:31 - 5:32(Laughter)
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5:32 - 5:35A lion having a late night snack --
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5:35 - 5:37notice he's got a broken tooth.
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5:40 - 5:43And a crocodile walks up a riverbank toward its den.
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5:43 - 5:45I love this little bit of water
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5:45 - 5:47that comes off the back of his tail.
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5:49 - 5:52But the centerpiece species of Zakouma are the elephants.
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5:52 - 5:56It's one of the largest intact herds in this part of Africa.
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5:56 - 5:58Here's a photograph shot in moonlight,
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5:58 - 6:01something that digital photography has made a big difference for.
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6:01 - 6:03It was with the elephants that this story pivoted.
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6:03 - 6:07Nick, along with researcher Dr. Michael Fay,
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6:07 - 6:09collared the matriarch of the herd.
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6:09 - 6:11They named her Annie,
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6:11 - 6:13and they began tracking her movements.
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6:13 - 6:15The herd was safe within the confines of the park,
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6:15 - 6:17because of this dedicated group of park rangers.
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6:17 - 6:21But once the annual rains began,
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6:21 - 6:24the herd would begin migrating to feeding grounds outside the park.
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6:24 - 6:26And that's when they ran into trouble.
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6:27 - 6:29For outside the safety of the park were poachers,
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6:29 - 6:33who would hunt them down only for the value of their ivory tusks.
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6:34 - 6:36The matriarch that they were radio tracking,
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6:36 - 6:39after weeks of moving back and forth, in and out of the park,
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6:39 - 6:41came to a halt outside the park.
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6:41 - 6:46Annie had been killed, along with 20 members of her herd.
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6:49 - 6:51And they only came for the ivory.
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6:55 - 6:57This is actually one of the rangers.
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6:57 - 7:00They were able to chase off one of the poachers and recover this ivory,
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7:00 - 7:02because they couldn't leave it there,
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7:02 - 7:04because it's still valuable.
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7:04 - 7:06But what Nick did was he brought back
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7:06 - 7:10a story that went beyond the old-school method
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7:10 - 7:12of just straight, "Isn't this an amazing world?"
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7:12 - 7:16And instead, created a story that touched our audiences deeply.
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7:16 - 7:18Instead of just knowledge of this park,
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7:18 - 7:20he created an understanding and an empathy
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7:20 - 7:22for the elephants, the rangers and the many issues
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7:22 - 7:25surrounding human-wildlife conflicts.
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7:26 - 7:28Now let's go over to India.
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7:28 - 7:31Sometimes you can tell a broad story in a focused way.
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7:31 - 7:34We were looking at the same issue that Richard Wurman
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7:34 - 7:37touches upon in his new world population project.
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7:37 - 7:39For the first time in history,
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7:39 - 7:43more people live in urban, rather than rural, environments.
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7:43 - 7:45And most of that growth is not in the cities,
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7:45 - 7:47but in the slums that surround them.
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7:48 - 7:51Jonas Bendiksen, a very energetic photographer,
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7:51 - 7:53came to me and said,
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7:53 - 7:56"We need to document this, and here's my proposal.
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7:56 - 7:59Let's go all over the world and photograph every single slum around the world."
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7:59 - 8:02And I said, "Well, you know, that might be a bit ambitious for our budget."
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8:02 - 8:04So instead, what we did was
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8:04 - 8:07we decided to, instead of going out and doing what would result
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8:07 - 8:09in what we'd consider sort of a survey story --
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8:09 - 8:12where you just go in and see just a little bit of everything --
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8:12 - 8:15we put Jonas into Dharavi,
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8:15 - 8:17which is part of Mumbai, India,
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8:17 - 8:19and let him stay there, and really get into
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8:19 - 8:25the heart and soul of this really major part of the city.
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8:26 - 8:28What Jonas did was not just go and do a surface look
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8:28 - 8:31at the awful conditions that exist in such places.
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8:31 - 8:34He saw that this was a living and breathing and vital part
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8:34 - 8:36of how the entire urban area functioned.
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8:37 - 8:39By staying tightly focused in one place,
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8:39 - 8:42Jonas tapped into the soul and the enduring human spirit
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8:42 - 8:44that underlies this community.
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8:46 - 8:48And he did it in a beautiful way.
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8:51 - 8:54Sometimes, though, the only way to tell a story is with a sweeping picture.
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8:54 - 8:57We teamed up underwater photographer Brian Skerry
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8:57 - 8:59and photojournalist Randy Olson
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8:59 - 9:02to document the depletion of the world's fisheries.
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9:02 - 9:05We weren't the only ones to tackle this subject,
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9:05 - 9:08but the photographs that Brian and Randy created
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9:08 - 9:10are among the best to capture both the human
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9:10 - 9:12and natural devastation of overfishing.
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9:12 - 9:14Here, in a photo by Brian,
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9:14 - 9:17a seemingly crucified shark is caught up
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9:17 - 9:19in a gill net off of Baja.
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9:19 - 9:22I've seen sort of OK pictures of bycatch,
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9:22 - 9:24the animals accidentally scooped up
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9:24 - 9:26while fishing for a specific species.
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9:26 - 9:28But here, Brian captured a unique view
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9:28 - 9:31by positioning himself underneath the boat
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9:31 - 9:35when they threw the waste overboard.
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9:37 - 9:39And Brian then went on to even greater risk
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9:39 - 9:41to get this never-before-made photograph
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9:41 - 9:43of a trawl net scraping the ocean bottom.
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9:46 - 9:48Back on land, Randy Olson photographed
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9:48 - 9:50a makeshift fish market in Africa,
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9:50 - 9:53where the remains of filleted fish were sold to the locals,
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9:53 - 9:56the main parts having already been sent to Europe.
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9:56 - 9:59And here in China, Randy shot a jellyfish market.
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10:00 - 10:02As prime food sources are depleted,
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10:02 - 10:04the harvest goes deeper into the oceans
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10:04 - 10:06and brings in more such sources of protein.
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10:06 - 10:09This is called fishing down the food chain.
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10:09 - 10:11But there are also glimmers of hope,
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10:11 - 10:14and I think anytime we're doing a big, big story on this,
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10:14 - 10:16we don't really want to go
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10:16 - 10:18and just look at all the problems.
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10:18 - 10:19We also want to look for solutions.
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10:19 - 10:23Brian photographed a marine sanctuary in New Zealand,
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10:23 - 10:25where commercial fishing had been banned --
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10:25 - 10:29the result being that the overfished species have been restored,
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10:29 - 10:32and with them a possible solution for sustainable fisheries.
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10:32 - 10:35Photography can also compel us to confront
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10:35 - 10:38issues that are potentially distressing and controversial.
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10:38 - 10:42James Nachtwey, who was honored at last year's TED,
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10:42 - 10:44took a look at the sweep of the medical system
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10:44 - 10:47that is utilized to handle the American wounded coming out of Iraq.
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10:47 - 10:50It is like a tube where a wounded soldier enters on one end
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10:50 - 10:53and exits back home, on the other.
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10:53 - 10:55Jim started in the battlefield.
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10:55 - 10:59Here, a medical technician tends to a wounded soldier
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10:59 - 11:01on the helicopter ride back to the field hospital.
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11:02 - 11:04Here is in the field hospital.
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11:04 - 11:07The soldier on the right has the name of his daughter
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11:07 - 11:10tattooed across his chest, as a reminder of home.
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11:10 - 11:14From here, the more severely wounded are transported
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11:14 - 11:16back to Germany, where they meet up with their families
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11:16 - 11:18for the first time.
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11:21 - 11:25And then back to the States to recuperate at veterans' hospitals,
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11:25 - 11:27such as here in Walter Reed.
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11:27 - 11:29And finally, often fitted with high-tech prosthesis,
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11:29 - 11:31they exit the medical system and attempt
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11:31 - 11:33to regain their pre-war lives.
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11:33 - 11:36Jim took what could have been a straight-up medical science story
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11:36 - 11:40and gave it a human dimension that touched our readers deeply.
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11:42 - 11:44Now, these stories are great examples
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11:44 - 11:46of how photography can be used
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11:46 - 11:49to address some of our most important topics.
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11:49 - 11:51But there are also times when photographers
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11:51 - 11:53simply encounter things that are, when it comes down to it,
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11:53 - 11:55just plain fun.
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11:55 - 11:57Photographer Paul Nicklin traveled to Antarctica
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11:57 - 11:59to shoot a story on leopard seals.
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11:59 - 12:02They have been rarely photographed, partly because they are considered
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12:02 - 12:04one of the most dangerous predators in the ocean.
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12:05 - 12:07In fact, a year earlier, a researcher had been
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12:07 - 12:09grabbed by one and pulled down to depth and killed.
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12:09 - 12:11So you can imagine Paul was maybe a little bit hesitant
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12:11 - 12:13about getting into the water.
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12:14 - 12:17Now, what leopard seals do mostly is, they eat penguins.
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12:17 - 12:19You know of "The March of the Penguins."
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12:19 - 12:21This is sort of the munch of the penguins.
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12:21 - 12:23(Laughter)
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12:24 - 12:27Here a penguin goes up to the edge and looks out
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12:27 - 12:29to see if the coast is clear.
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12:29 - 12:32And then everybody kind of runs out and goes out.
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12:35 - 12:37But then Paul got in the water.
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12:37 - 12:40And he said he was never really afraid of this.
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12:40 - 12:42Well, this one female came up to him.
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12:42 - 12:45She's probably -- it's a shame you can't see it in the photograph,
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12:45 - 12:47but she's 12 feet long.
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12:47 - 12:49So, she is pretty significant in size.
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12:50 - 12:51And Paul said he was never really afraid,
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12:51 - 12:54because she was more curious about him than threatened.
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12:54 - 12:56This mouthing behavior, on the right,
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12:56 - 12:59was really her way of saying to him, "Hey, look how big I am!"
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12:59 - 13:02Or you know, "My, what big teeth you have."
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13:02 - 13:03(Laughter)
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13:03 - 13:05Then Paul thinks that she simply took pity on him.
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13:05 - 13:09To her, here was this big, goofy creature in the water
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13:09 - 13:11that for some reason didn't seem to be interested
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13:11 - 13:13in chasing penguins.
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13:13 - 13:17So what she did was she started to bring penguins to him,
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13:17 - 13:20alive, and put them in front of him.
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13:20 - 13:23She dropped them off, and then they would swim away.
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13:23 - 13:25She'd kind of look at him, like "What are you doing?"
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13:25 - 13:28Go back and get them, and then bring them back
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13:28 - 13:30and drop them in front of him.
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13:30 - 13:33And she did this over the course of a couple of days,
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13:33 - 13:35until the point where she got so frustrated with him
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13:35 - 13:38that she started putting them directly on top of his head.
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13:38 - 13:40(Laughter)
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13:40 - 13:43Which just resulted in a fantastic photograph.
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13:43 - 13:46(Laughter)
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13:46 - 13:49Eventually, though, Paul thinks that she just figured
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13:49 - 13:51that he was never going to survive.
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13:51 - 13:54This is her just puffing out, you know,
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13:54 - 13:56snorting out in disgust.
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13:56 - 13:58(Laughter)
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13:58 - 14:01And lost interest with him, and went back to what she does best.
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14:01 - 14:03Paul set out to photograph a relatively
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14:03 - 14:05mysterious and unknown creature,
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14:05 - 14:07and came back with not just a collection of photographs,
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14:07 - 14:10but an amazing experience and a great story.
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14:11 - 14:13It is these kinds of stories,
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14:13 - 14:16ones that go beyond the immediate or just the superficial
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14:16 - 14:18that demonstrate the power of photojournalism.
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14:19 - 14:24I believe that photography can make a real connection to people,
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14:24 - 14:27and can be employed as a positive agent
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14:27 - 14:29for understanding the challenges and opportunities
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14:29 - 14:31facing our world today.
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14:31 - 14:32Thank you.
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14:32 - 14:36(Applause)
- Title:
- How photography connects us
- Speaker:
- David Griffin
- Description:
-
The photo director for National Geographic, David Griffin knows the power of photography to connect us to our world. In a talk filled with glorious images, he talks about how we all use photos to tell our stories.
- Video Language:
- English
- Team:
- closed TED
- Project:
- TEDTalks
- Duration:
- 14:36
TED edited English subtitles for How photography connects us | ||
TED added a translation |