Anatomy of assignement

The book “A camera, two kids and a camel” was one of those. I started and ended reading in one evening. It was just captivating. Wonderful stories, told in a great narratives. Another photography book, which turned out to be more about life and choices, then photography itself. The photographs, which again I didn’t particularly liked, seemed to be mere illustrations. Although, you have to give it to Annie Griffiths Belt that her photographs are not the snapshots and typical depiction of places, for example her photographs of Petra, Jordan do not show the old architecture emerging from narrow pass through rocks. I loved her confession that she was the only photographer packing her gear in Pampers (maybe the only one to admit to it?). I appreciate her work for Habitat for Humanity.

But what interested me the most was her description of work for National Geographic and some insight into working on assignment for them. That you were essentially given a location and subject, then you needed to do research, organize the trip on your dollar, go and come back with a story. What I found even more surprising is the fact, that photographers and writers did not work together on the story. I always admired how the photographs in the magazine were telling their own stories, adding to the article. Maybe they were telling a different story, if two people were/are discovering it each in their own way?

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