ABOUT THE SPEAKER
David Griffin - Director of photography, National Geographic
As director of photography for National Geographic, David Griffin works with some of the most powerful photographs the world has ever seen.

Why you should listen

David Griffin has one of the world's true dream jobs: He's the director of photography for National Geographic magazine. He works with photo editors and photographers to set the visual direction of the magazine -- which in turn raises the bar for photographers around the world.

Griffin offers an intriguing look into the magazine's creative process on his blog, Editor's Pick, where he talks about how the magazine uses its extraordinary photos to tell compelling stories.

More profile about the speaker
David Griffin | Speaker | TED.com
TED2008

David Griffin: How photography connects us

Filmed:
1,348,574 views

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.
- Director of photography, National Geographic
As director of photography for National Geographic, David Griffin works with some of the most powerful photographs the world has ever seen. Full bio

Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.

00:18
Let's just start by looking at some great photographs.
0
0
3000
00:23
This is an icon of National Geographic,
1
5000
3000
00:26
an Afghan refugee taken by Steve McCurry.
2
8000
3000
00:29
But the Harvard Lampoon is about to come out
3
11000
3000
00:32
with a parody of National Geographic,
4
14000
2000
00:34
and I shudder to think what they're going to do to this photograph.
5
16000
4000
00:38
Oh, the wrath of Photoshop.
6
20000
2000
00:42
This is a jet landing at San Francisco, by Bruce Dale.
7
24000
3000
00:45
He mounted a camera on the tail.
8
27000
3000
00:52
A poetic image for a story on Tolstoy, by Sam Abell.
9
34000
3000
00:58
Pygmies in the DRC, by Randy Olson.
10
40000
2000
01:00
I love this photograph because it reminds me
11
42000
2000
01:02
of Degas' bronze sculptures of the little dancer.
12
44000
3000
01:08
A polar bear swimming in the Arctic, by Paul Nicklen.
13
50000
5000
01:13
Polar bears need ice to be able to move back and forth --
14
55000
3000
01:16
they're not very good swimmers --
15
58000
2000
01:18
and we know what's happening to the ice.
16
60000
2000
01:22
These are camels moving across the Rift Valley in Africa,
17
64000
4000
01:26
photographed by Chris Johns.
18
68000
2000
01:29
Shot straight down, so these are the shadows of the camels.
19
71000
6000
01:37
This is a rancher in Texas, by William Albert Allard,
20
79000
2000
01:39
a great portraitist.
21
81000
3000
01:43
And Jane Goodall, making her own special connection,
22
85000
2000
01:45
photographed by Nick Nichols.
23
87000
2000
01:50
This is a soap disco in Spain, photographed by David Alan Harvey.
24
92000
4000
01:54
And David said that there was lot of weird stuff
25
96000
2000
01:56
happening on the dance floor.
26
98000
2000
01:58
But, hey, at least it's hygienic.
27
100000
3000
02:01
(Laughter)
28
103000
4000
02:05
These are sea lions in Australia doing their own dance,
29
107000
4000
02:09
by David Doubilet.
30
111000
2000
02:12
And this is a comet, captured by Dr. Euan Mason.
31
114000
4000
02:18
And finally, the bow of the Titanic, without movie stars,
32
120000
4000
02:22
photographed by Emory Kristof.
33
124000
2000
02:29
Photography carries a power that holds up
34
131000
2000
02:31
under the relentless swirl of today's saturated, media world,
35
133000
4000
02:35
because photographs emulate the way
36
137000
2000
02:37
that our mind freezes a significant moment.
37
139000
2000
02:39
Here's an example.
38
141000
2000
02:41
Four years ago, I was at the beach with my son,
39
143000
2000
02:43
and he was learning how to swim
40
145000
3000
02:46
in this relatively soft surf of the Delaware beaches.
41
148000
3000
02:50
But I turned away for a moment, and he got caught into a riptide
42
152000
3000
02:53
and started to be pulled out towards the jetty.
43
155000
1000
02:56
I can stand here right now and see,
44
158000
3000
02:59
as I go tearing into the water after him,
45
161000
3000
03:02
the moments slowing down and freezing into this arrangement.
46
164000
3000
03:05
I can see the rocks are over here.
47
167000
4000
03:09
There's a wave about to crash onto him.
48
171000
2000
03:11
I can see his hands reaching out,
49
173000
3000
03:14
and I can see his face in terror,
50
176000
2000
03:16
looking at me, saying, "Help me, Dad."
51
178000
3000
03:20
I got him. The wave broke over us.
52
182000
2000
03:22
We got back on shore; he was fine.
53
184000
2000
03:24
We were a little bit rattled.
54
186000
2000
03:26
But this flashbulb memory, as it's called,
55
188000
4000
03:30
is when all the elements came together to define
56
192000
2000
03:32
not just the event, but my emotional connection to it.
57
194000
5000
03:37
And this is what a photograph taps into
58
199000
2000
03:39
when it makes its own powerful connection to a viewer.
59
201000
3000
03:42
Now I have to tell you,
60
204000
2000
03:44
I was talking to Kyle last week about this,
61
206000
2000
03:46
that I was going to tell this story.
62
208000
2000
03:48
And he said, "Oh, yeah, I remember that too!
63
210000
2000
03:50
I remember my image of you
64
212000
2000
03:52
was that you were up on the shore yelling at me."
65
214000
2000
03:54
(Laughter)
66
216000
2000
03:56
I thought I was a hero.
67
218000
2000
03:58
(Laughter)
68
220000
1000
03:59
So,
69
221000
3000
04:02
this represents -- this is a cross-sample of
70
224000
2000
04:04
some remarkable images taken by some of the world's greatest photojournalists,
71
226000
4000
04:08
working at the very top of their craft --
72
230000
3000
04:11
except one.
73
233000
2000
04:13
This photograph was taken by Dr. Euan Mason
74
235000
3000
04:16
in New Zealand last year,
75
238000
2000
04:18
and it was submitted and published in National Geographic.
76
240000
3000
04:21
Last year, we added a section to our website called "Your Shot,"
77
243000
2000
04:23
where anyone can submit photographs for possible publication.
78
245000
4000
04:27
And it has become a wild success,
79
249000
3000
04:30
tapping into the enthusiast photography community.
80
252000
3000
04:33
The quality of these amateur photographs
81
255000
2000
04:35
can, at times, be amazing.
82
257000
2000
04:37
And seeing this reinforces, for me,
83
259000
2000
04:39
that every one of us has at least one or two
84
261000
3000
04:42
great photographs in them.
85
264000
2000
04:44
But to be a great photojournalist,
86
266000
3000
04:47
you have to have more than just one or two
87
269000
2000
04:49
great photographs in you.
88
271000
2000
04:51
You've got to be able to make them all the time.
89
273000
2000
04:53
But even more importantly,
90
275000
3000
04:56
you need to know how to create a visual narrative.
91
278000
3000
04:59
You need to know how to tell a story.
92
281000
3000
05:02
So I'm going to share with you some coverages
93
284000
2000
05:04
that I feel demonstrate the storytelling power of photography.
94
286000
3000
05:09
Photographer Nick Nichols went to document
95
291000
3000
05:12
a very small and relatively unknown wildlife sanctuary
96
294000
3000
05:15
in Chad, called Zakouma.
97
297000
2000
05:18
The original intent was to travel there
98
300000
2000
05:20
and bring back a classic story of diverse species,
99
302000
2000
05:22
of an exotic locale.
100
304000
2000
05:24
And that is what Nick did, up to a point.
101
306000
2000
05:26
This is a serval cat.
102
308000
2000
05:28
He's actually taking his own picture,
103
310000
2000
05:30
shot with what's called a camera trap.
104
312000
2000
05:32
There's an infrared beam that's going across,
105
314000
2000
05:34
and he has stepped into the beam and taken his photograph.
106
316000
2000
05:36
These are baboons at a watering hole.
107
318000
4000
05:41
Nick -- the camera, again, an automatic camera
108
323000
2000
05:43
took thousands of pictures of this.
109
325000
2000
05:45
And Nick ended up with a lot of pictures
110
327000
2000
05:47
of the rear ends of baboons.
111
329000
2000
05:49
(Laughter)
112
331000
1000
05:50
A lion having a late night snack --
113
332000
3000
05:53
notice he's got a broken tooth.
114
335000
2000
05:58
And a crocodile walks up a riverbank toward its den.
115
340000
3000
06:01
I love this little bit of water
116
343000
2000
06:03
that comes off the back of his tail.
117
345000
2000
06:07
But the centerpiece species of Zakouma are the elephants.
118
349000
3000
06:10
It's one of the largest intact herds in this part of Africa.
119
352000
4000
06:14
Here's a photograph shot in moonlight,
120
356000
2000
06:16
something that digital photography has made a big difference for.
121
358000
3000
06:19
It was with the elephants that this story pivoted.
122
361000
2000
06:21
Nick, along with researcher Dr. Michael Fay,
123
363000
4000
06:25
collared the matriarch of the herd.
124
367000
2000
06:27
They named her Annie,
125
369000
2000
06:29
and they began tracking her movements.
126
371000
2000
06:31
The herd was safe within the confines of the park,
127
373000
2000
06:33
because of this dedicated group of park rangers.
128
375000
2000
06:35
But once the annual rains began,
129
377000
4000
06:39
the herd would begin migrating to feeding grounds outside the park.
130
381000
3000
06:42
And that's when they ran into trouble.
131
384000
2000
06:45
For outside the safety of the park were poachers,
132
387000
2000
06:47
who would hunt them down only for the value of their ivory tusks.
133
389000
4000
06:52
The matriarch that they were radio tracking,
134
394000
2000
06:54
after weeks of moving back and forth, in and out of the park,
135
396000
3000
06:57
came to a halt outside the park.
136
399000
2000
06:59
Annie had been killed, along with 20 members of her herd.
137
401000
5000
07:07
And they only came for the ivory.
138
409000
2000
07:13
This is actually one of the rangers.
139
415000
2000
07:15
They were able to chase off one of the poachers and recover this ivory,
140
417000
3000
07:18
because they couldn't leave it there,
141
420000
2000
07:20
because it's still valuable.
142
422000
2000
07:22
But what Nick did was he brought back
143
424000
2000
07:24
a story that went beyond the old-school method
144
426000
4000
07:28
of just straight, "Isn't this an amazing world?"
145
430000
2000
07:30
And instead, created a story that touched our audiences deeply.
146
432000
4000
07:34
Instead of just knowledge of this park,
147
436000
2000
07:36
he created an understanding and an empathy
148
438000
2000
07:38
for the elephants, the rangers and the many issues
149
440000
2000
07:40
surrounding human-wildlife conflicts.
150
442000
3000
07:44
Now let's go over to India.
151
446000
2000
07:46
Sometimes you can tell a broad story in a focused way.
152
448000
3000
07:49
We were looking at the same issue that Richard Wurman
153
451000
3000
07:52
touches upon in his new world population project.
154
454000
3000
07:55
For the first time in history,
155
457000
2000
07:57
more people live in urban, rather than rural, environments.
156
459000
4000
08:01
And most of that growth is not in the cities,
157
463000
2000
08:03
but in the slums that surround them.
158
465000
2000
08:06
Jonas Bendiksen, a very energetic photographer,
159
468000
3000
08:09
came to me and said,
160
471000
2000
08:11
"We need to document this, and here's my proposal.
161
473000
3000
08:14
Let's go all over the world and photograph every single slum around the world."
162
476000
3000
08:17
And I said, "Well, you know, that might be a bit ambitious for our budget."
163
479000
3000
08:20
So instead, what we did was
164
482000
2000
08:22
we decided to, instead of going out and doing what would result
165
484000
3000
08:25
in what we'd consider sort of a survey story --
166
487000
2000
08:27
where you just go in and see just a little bit of everything --
167
489000
3000
08:30
we put Jonas into Dharavi,
168
492000
3000
08:33
which is part of Mumbai, India,
169
495000
2000
08:35
and let him stay there, and really get into
170
497000
2000
08:37
the heart and soul of this really major part of the city.
171
499000
6000
08:44
What Jonas did was not just go and do a surface look
172
506000
2000
08:46
at the awful conditions that exist in such places.
173
508000
3000
08:49
He saw that this was a living and breathing and vital part
174
511000
3000
08:52
of how the entire urban area functioned.
175
514000
2000
08:55
By staying tightly focused in one place,
176
517000
2000
08:57
Jonas tapped into the soul and the enduring human spirit
177
519000
3000
09:00
that underlies this community.
178
522000
2000
09:04
And he did it in a beautiful way.
179
526000
2000
09:09
Sometimes, though, the only way to tell a story is with a sweeping picture.
180
531000
3000
09:12
We teamed up underwater photographer Brian Skerry
181
534000
3000
09:15
and photojournalist Randy Olson
182
537000
2000
09:17
to document the depletion of the world's fisheries.
183
539000
3000
09:20
We weren't the only ones to tackle this subject,
184
542000
3000
09:23
but the photographs that Brian and Randy created
185
545000
3000
09:26
are among the best to capture both the human
186
548000
2000
09:28
and natural devastation of overfishing.
187
550000
2000
09:30
Here, in a photo by Brian,
188
552000
2000
09:32
a seemingly crucified shark is caught up
189
554000
3000
09:35
in a gill net off of Baja.
190
557000
2000
09:37
I've seen sort of OK pictures of bycatch,
191
559000
3000
09:40
the animals accidentally scooped up
192
562000
2000
09:42
while fishing for a specific species.
193
564000
2000
09:44
But here, Brian captured a unique view
194
566000
2000
09:46
by positioning himself underneath the boat
195
568000
3000
09:49
when they threw the waste overboard.
196
571000
4000
09:55
And Brian then went on to even greater risk
197
577000
2000
09:57
to get this never-before-made photograph
198
579000
2000
09:59
of a trawl net scraping the ocean bottom.
199
581000
2000
10:04
Back on land, Randy Olson photographed
200
586000
2000
10:06
a makeshift fish market in Africa,
201
588000
2000
10:08
where the remains of filleted fish were sold to the locals,
202
590000
3000
10:11
the main parts having already been sent to Europe.
203
593000
3000
10:14
And here in China, Randy shot a jellyfish market.
204
596000
3000
10:18
As prime food sources are depleted,
205
600000
2000
10:20
the harvest goes deeper into the oceans
206
602000
2000
10:22
and brings in more such sources of protein.
207
604000
2000
10:24
This is called fishing down the food chain.
208
606000
3000
10:27
But there are also glimmers of hope,
209
609000
2000
10:29
and I think anytime we're doing a big, big story on this,
210
611000
3000
10:32
we don't really want to go
211
614000
2000
10:34
and just look at all the problems.
212
616000
2000
10:36
We also want to look for solutions.
213
618000
1000
10:37
Brian photographed a marine sanctuary in New Zealand,
214
619000
4000
10:41
where commercial fishing had been banned --
215
623000
2000
10:43
the result being that the overfished species have been restored,
216
625000
4000
10:47
and with them a possible solution for sustainable fisheries.
217
629000
3000
10:50
Photography can also compel us to confront
218
632000
3000
10:53
issues that are potentially distressing and controversial.
219
635000
3000
10:56
James Nachtwey, who was honored at last year's TED,
220
638000
4000
11:00
took a look at the sweep of the medical system
221
642000
2000
11:02
that is utilized to handle the American wounded coming out of Iraq.
222
644000
3000
11:05
It is like a tube where a wounded soldier enters on one end
223
647000
3000
11:08
and exits back home, on the other.
224
650000
3000
11:11
Jim started in the battlefield.
225
653000
2000
11:13
Here, a medical technician tends to a wounded soldier
226
655000
4000
11:17
on the helicopter ride back to the field hospital.
227
659000
2000
11:20
Here is in the field hospital.
228
662000
2000
11:22
The soldier on the right has the name of his daughter
229
664000
3000
11:25
tattooed across his chest, as a reminder of home.
230
667000
3000
11:28
From here, the more severely wounded are transported
231
670000
4000
11:32
back to Germany, where they meet up with their families
232
674000
2000
11:34
for the first time.
233
676000
2000
11:39
And then back to the States to recuperate at veterans' hospitals,
234
681000
4000
11:43
such as here in Walter Reed.
235
685000
2000
11:45
And finally, often fitted with high-tech prosthesis,
236
687000
2000
11:47
they exit the medical system and attempt
237
689000
2000
11:49
to regain their pre-war lives.
238
691000
2000
11:51
Jim took what could have been a straight-up medical science story
239
693000
3000
11:54
and gave it a human dimension that touched our readers deeply.
240
696000
4000
12:00
Now, these stories are great examples
241
702000
2000
12:02
of how photography can be used
242
704000
2000
12:04
to address some of our most important topics.
243
706000
3000
12:07
But there are also times when photographers
244
709000
2000
12:09
simply encounter things that are, when it comes down to it,
245
711000
2000
12:11
just plain fun.
246
713000
2000
12:13
Photographer Paul Nicklin traveled to Antarctica
247
715000
2000
12:15
to shoot a story on leopard seals.
248
717000
2000
12:17
They have been rarely photographed, partly because they are considered
249
719000
3000
12:20
one of the most dangerous predators in the ocean.
250
722000
2000
12:23
In fact, a year earlier, a researcher had been
251
725000
2000
12:25
grabbed by one and pulled down to depth and killed.
252
727000
2000
12:27
So you can imagine Paul was maybe a little bit hesitant
253
729000
2000
12:29
about getting into the water.
254
731000
2000
12:32
Now, what leopard seals do mostly is, they eat penguins.
255
734000
3000
12:35
You know of "The March of the Penguins."
256
737000
2000
12:37
This is sort of the munch of the penguins.
257
739000
2000
12:39
(Laughter)
258
741000
2000
12:42
Here a penguin goes up to the edge and looks out
259
744000
3000
12:45
to see if the coast is clear.
260
747000
2000
12:47
And then everybody kind of runs out and goes out.
261
749000
3000
12:53
But then Paul got in the water.
262
755000
2000
12:55
And he said he was never really afraid of this.
263
757000
3000
12:58
Well, this one female came up to him.
264
760000
2000
13:00
She's probably -- it's a shame you can't see it in the photograph,
265
762000
3000
13:03
but she's 12 feet long.
266
765000
2000
13:05
So, she is pretty significant in size.
267
767000
2000
13:08
And Paul said he was never really afraid,
268
770000
1000
13:09
because she was more curious about him than threatened.
269
771000
3000
13:12
This mouthing behavior, on the right,
270
774000
2000
13:14
was really her way of saying to him, "Hey, look how big I am!"
271
776000
3000
13:17
Or you know, "My, what big teeth you have."
272
779000
3000
13:20
(Laughter)
273
782000
1000
13:21
Then Paul thinks that she simply took pity on him.
274
783000
2000
13:23
To her, here was this big, goofy creature in the water
275
785000
4000
13:27
that for some reason didn't seem to be interested
276
789000
2000
13:29
in chasing penguins.
277
791000
2000
13:31
So what she did was she started to bring penguins to him,
278
793000
4000
13:35
alive, and put them in front of him.
279
797000
3000
13:38
She dropped them off, and then they would swim away.
280
800000
3000
13:41
She'd kind of look at him, like "What are you doing?"
281
803000
2000
13:43
Go back and get them, and then bring them back
282
805000
3000
13:46
and drop them in front of him.
283
808000
2000
13:48
And she did this over the course of a couple of days,
284
810000
3000
13:51
until the point where she got so frustrated with him
285
813000
2000
13:53
that she started putting them directly on top of his head.
286
815000
3000
13:56
(Laughter)
287
818000
2000
13:58
Which just resulted in a fantastic photograph.
288
820000
3000
14:01
(Laughter)
289
823000
3000
14:04
Eventually, though, Paul thinks that she just figured
290
826000
3000
14:07
that he was never going to survive.
291
829000
2000
14:09
This is her just puffing out, you know,
292
831000
3000
14:12
snorting out in disgust.
293
834000
2000
14:14
(Laughter)
294
836000
2000
14:16
And lost interest with him, and went back to what she does best.
295
838000
3000
14:19
Paul set out to photograph a relatively
296
841000
2000
14:21
mysterious and unknown creature,
297
843000
2000
14:23
and came back with not just a collection of photographs,
298
845000
2000
14:25
but an amazing experience and a great story.
299
847000
3000
14:29
It is these kinds of stories,
300
851000
2000
14:31
ones that go beyond the immediate or just the superficial
301
853000
3000
14:34
that demonstrate the power of photojournalism.
302
856000
2000
14:37
I believe that photography can make a real connection to people,
303
859000
5000
14:42
and can be employed as a positive agent
304
864000
3000
14:45
for understanding the challenges and opportunities
305
867000
2000
14:47
facing our world today.
306
869000
2000
14:49
Thank you.
307
871000
1000
14:50
(Applause)
308
872000
4000

▲Back to top

ABOUT THE SPEAKER
David Griffin - Director of photography, National Geographic
As director of photography for National Geographic, David Griffin works with some of the most powerful photographs the world has ever seen.

Why you should listen

David Griffin has one of the world's true dream jobs: He's the director of photography for National Geographic magazine. He works with photo editors and photographers to set the visual direction of the magazine -- which in turn raises the bar for photographers around the world.

Griffin offers an intriguing look into the magazine's creative process on his blog, Editor's Pick, where he talks about how the magazine uses its extraordinary photos to tell compelling stories.

More profile about the speaker
David Griffin | Speaker | TED.com

Data provided by TED.

This site was created in May 2015 and the last update was on January 12, 2020. It will no longer be updated.

We are currently creating a new site called "eng.lish.video" and would be grateful if you could access it.

If you have any questions or suggestions, please feel free to write comments in your language on the contact form.

Privacy Policy

Developer's Blog

Buy Me A Coffee