50 Best Nat Geo Photos Exhibition

Exhibition Advertising at Canterbury Museum, Christchurch NZ

Living as I do in a small rural town, I don't get out much. I certainly don't get to as many international exhibitions as I would like. We do, however, go to Christchurch a few times a year to see family, and this will occasionally coincide with an exhibition or show worth seeing.

Such was the case on our last visit in early February 2018, when National Geographic's "50 Greatest Photographs" just happened to be on at the Canterbury Museum. I couldn't possibly pass up the chance to see some of my favourite images 'in the flesh'. We only had an hour before heading back to the West Coast, but I was not going to miss the opportunity to see 50 of National Geographic's most iconic images.

Steve McCurry's "Afghan Girl"

Of course the most famous of them all is Steve McCurry's "Afghan Girl" which took pride of place at the entrance to the exhibition. It's such a simple, yet iconic portrait and it was amazing to see it printed large (about 1.5m tall) and back-lit in the darkened gallery space.

The one feature that everyone mentions in relation to the portrait are her piercing eyes. These were made even more piercing with the use of back-lighting. They practically glowed, and are so incredibly sharp (as they should be).

Steve McCurry and National Geographic are inextricably linked through this portrait - it's his modern 'Mona Lisa' - the image he will forever be known for. But, just like DaVinci, Steve McCurry has a larger body of work just as exceptional as the Afghan Girl portrait. Fortunately, other images of his were also represented in the exhibition (three in total if I counted correctly), making him the most represented National geographic photographer in the exhibition. Another of his images also happened to be my favourite in the entire show...

Steve McCurry - "Burning Oil Fields"

McCurry described his image "Burning Oil Fields" as like being in hell. Camels and other animals escaped across the Kuwait Desert through oil fields that had been set alight by retreating Iraquis - poisoning the land and the air. It's another powerful image, but for such different reasons from the "Afghan Girl" portrait.

Nick Nichols - "Jane Goodall and Jou Jou the Chimpanzee"

Another iconic image (in a room full of them), was Nick Nichols' photo of Jane Goodall's tender interaction with Jou Jou the Chimpanzee. As you can see in the shot above, many of the photos had the sequence of images taken down the side so you could get an understanding of the photographer's working of the scene that lead to the 'one' great image. The 'decisive moment' as Henri Cartier-Bresson described it. These sequences, together with the story behind the image in the photographer's own words, gave fantastic context to all the photos in the exhibition and helped bring them to life. Yes, images can, and should, be able to speak for themselves. But some background information can also be important, especially with the National Geographic's photojournalistic style where the one image itself is often part of a larger story.

Visitors to the exhibition - Canterbury Museum.

As I mentioned at the start of this post, we only had an hour to go around the whole exhibition. That wasn't really enough time to take it all in  - I could have spent three hours reading the captions, watching the videos and soaking the images in. We were there mid-afternoon on a school day, and there were still a lot of people enjoying the exhibition. I suspect because of the subject matter and the strong brand that National Geographic has, this has been an incredibly successful show that has toured all over the world. It also helps that it was free entry - although I certainly would have paid to see the exhibition.

Mitsuaki Iwago - "Brutal Fight"

The exhibition runs until February 25th 2018 at the Canterbury Museum, and is well worth a look if you are a lover of images, stories, photojournalism or photography. Basically this exhibition has something for everyone! And it's free entry! So what are you waiting for people. Go. Now...