National Geographic, that old venerable documenter of the world and home to some of the most striking photographs ever published, turned 125 two years ago. During this period, covering the lives of five generations, it amassed an astounding range of images on themes from the environment and wildlife to politics and social change.
To celebrate this collection, the magazine, in collaboration with the Germany-based publisher Taschen Books, released a three-volume set of books, one based in the Americas and Antarctica, the second in Europe and Africa, and the third in Asia and Oceania.
A constant criticism of National Geographic’s images is that they tend to exoticise people who do not belong to a white, Western culture, something the publisher also notes.
“Readers will discover how the magazine evolved from presenting a romantic view of the world ‒ subjects posed and smiling ‒ to edgier stories reflecting political turmoil, social issues, and environmental threats,” says Taschen's website.
Here is a selection of photographs spanning the 20th century from the third volume on Asia and Oceania.
Life teems on a Hong Kong staircase. When seen from the harbour, the city rose so steeply to cloud-capped Victoria Peak that buildings seemed to stand atop one another. While the British colony’s main avenues rain horizontally, the numerous cross streets resembled ladders, and some were so precipitous that they turned into stone steps, traversable only by foot or sedan chair. Hundreds of thousands of Chinese lived, loved, laughed, kept shop, or otherwise transacted business in this dizzying world of landing and balcony.
Equipped with a surplus U.S. Army ambulance he had converted into a darkroom and sleeping quarters ‒ and emblazoned with “National Geographic Photo-Survey Vehicle” in English, Hindi, and Urdu ‒ the magazine’s Volkmar K. Wentzel travelled the length and breadth of the Indian subcontinent at a pivotal time in its history: its independence from Britain.
A shepherd leading his charges down a busy Rue Georges Picot epitomizes the contrasts often encountered in mid-20th century Beirut: He wears Arab garb but also a Western-style jacket. Part-Muslim and part-Christian, part-East and part-West, Lebanon’s capital was the “Paris of the Middle East,” as famous for its glittering cafés as for its banks, bazaars, and trading houses.
Rats roam freely throughout a temple to the Hindu goddess Bhagwati Karnjii in Rajasthan. At the feet of two devotees the long-tailed rodents slurp a bowl of laddu, a sweet concoction of grain and fruit. They also gnawed holes in the photographer’s camera bag ‒ even shorting out his strobe lights by chewing through the insulation around the wires ‒just in the few hours he spent photographing the temple.
Perched on wooden stilts, Sinhalese men fish for spotted herring in the monsoon-lashed surf pounding Sri Lanka’s south coast. When the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami crashed over same beaches, it took the lives of 35,000 Sinhalese with it.
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To celebrate this collection, the magazine, in collaboration with the Germany-based publisher Taschen Books, released a three-volume set of books, one based in the Americas and Antarctica, the second in Europe and Africa, and the third in Asia and Oceania.
A constant criticism of National Geographic’s images is that they tend to exoticise people who do not belong to a white, Western culture, something the publisher also notes.
“Readers will discover how the magazine evolved from presenting a romantic view of the world ‒ subjects posed and smiling ‒ to edgier stories reflecting political turmoil, social issues, and environmental threats,” says Taschen's website.
Here is a selection of photographs spanning the 20th century from the third volume on Asia and Oceania.
W Robert Moore, British Hong Kong, 1931.
Life teems on a Hong Kong staircase. When seen from the harbour, the city rose so steeply to cloud-capped Victoria Peak that buildings seemed to stand atop one another. While the British colony’s main avenues rain horizontally, the numerous cross streets resembled ladders, and some were so precipitous that they turned into stone steps, traversable only by foot or sedan chair. Hundreds of thousands of Chinese lived, loved, laughed, kept shop, or otherwise transacted business in this dizzying world of landing and balcony.
Volkmar K Wentzel, India, 1948.
Equipped with a surplus U.S. Army ambulance he had converted into a darkroom and sleeping quarters ‒ and emblazoned with “National Geographic Photo-Survey Vehicle” in English, Hindi, and Urdu ‒ the magazine’s Volkmar K. Wentzel travelled the length and breadth of the Indian subcontinent at a pivotal time in its history: its independence from Britain.
Thomas Abercrombie, Lebanon, 1957.
A shepherd leading his charges down a busy Rue Georges Picot epitomizes the contrasts often encountered in mid-20th century Beirut: He wears Arab garb but also a Western-style jacket. Part-Muslim and part-Christian, part-East and part-West, Lebanon’s capital was the “Paris of the Middle East,” as famous for its glittering cafés as for its banks, bazaars, and trading houses.
James L Stanfeld, India, 1976.
Rats roam freely throughout a temple to the Hindu goddess Bhagwati Karnjii in Rajasthan. At the feet of two devotees the long-tailed rodents slurp a bowl of laddu, a sweet concoction of grain and fruit. They also gnawed holes in the photographer’s camera bag ‒ even shorting out his strobe lights by chewing through the insulation around the wires ‒just in the few hours he spent photographing the temple.
Steve McCurry, Sri Lanka, 1995.
Perched on wooden stilts, Sinhalese men fish for spotted herring in the monsoon-lashed surf pounding Sri Lanka’s south coast. When the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami crashed over same beaches, it took the lives of 35,000 Sinhalese with it.