Photos made the stories. Before you read a single word in National Geographic, chances are a photograph had already stopped you from turning the page. It could be an animal you had never seen, a place you couldn’t pronounce, or a face that stayed with you long after you put the magazine down. The yellow border helped you find it on the shelf. The pictures did the rest.
The National Geographic. Around the World in 125 Years (TASCHEN, ISBN: 9783836597142) gathers that photographic storytelling into three hardcover volumes. That’s 1,356 pages of exploring the planet without having to establish whose turn it is to occupy the airplane armrest.
The itinerary begins with the Americas and Antarctica, continues through Europe and Africa, and finishes in Asia and Oceania. Travel, wildlife, science, history, culture, and conservation all get their moment, with rare images alongside celebrated photographs and photo essays.
There’s a journey through photography itself, too: early black-and-white pictures, autochromes, Kodachrome, and digital images. Along the way, the magazine’s outlook shifts from carefully posed scenes to stories that confront political unrest, social struggles, and environmental threats. The world wasn’t always smiling for the camera.
Edited by Reuel Golden, TASCHEN’s photography editor and former editor of the British Journal of Photography, the collection includes work by Steve McCurry, Frans Lanting, George Rodger, James Nachtwey, and numerous National Geographic staff photographers. Underwater encounters and wildlife photography are well represented, naturally.
The English-language, three-volume hardcover set comes in a slipcase, measures 17 × 24 cm (6.7 × 9.4 inches), and weighs 4.58 kg (10.1 pounds). If anyone’s interested, the National Geographic. Around the World in 125 Years is available now from Taschen.com for US$125.
Images: TASCHEN.
