The Life of a Photograph

Veteran National Geographic photographer Sam Abell offers a look inside the heart and mind of a master photographer.

• Category

  • Documentary

[Mark Meyer]

It's an outstanding presentation, but the use of the Ken Burns effect on the photos is very distracting making it difficult to see the composition as described by Abell. I wish they would simply show the photos in their entirety.

[jchengimpact]

"Above all, compose and wait. Wait for the train to pull out of the station."

[theeggtimer tic tic]

Why do I feel like I'm a 10 year old in Church!

[DanDELFE]

It is a bit frustrated to not see the photos entirely.

[loonybin1125]

Don't know why people are ragging on him for "making the pictures sound better than they are". I personally think it's very interesting to hear the method and the thought behind each picture, and don't even try to tell me that there weren't some beautiful shots in there. The ability to see beyond what is in front of you and present it in an abstract and poetic manner is very impressive if you ask me.

[FMECCTV]

hahahaha

[Theokondak]

I almost got depression out of this video...

[Robert Young]

Totally agree, describing your own photos as 'poetry' when it's only vaguely interesting to anyone else is not becoming. Pretentious people like this spoil such wonderful creative arts for everyone. Attempting to alienate other with their super human ability to micro compose and not even mention a single time the element of luck makes me call bullshit on this

[perfectpickleman]

This was bad ; ( It really was. Impressive if he was a high school teacher maybe. There is and was far far better work out there un/fortunately. If you want to listen to someone take an occasional nice photo and blow its meaning and skill level way out of proportion, this your guy. Or on the other hand if you want to hear about how impressed he is with his father and the family up bringing, this is also your guy. Henri Cartier-Bresson for everyone else

[TetsuyaIT]

Thank you Sir for this great video, I learned a lot from it. I'm leaving all those "pixel peeper" forum. Heart and sould are not numbers.

[Andrew Hind]

Just a fantastic video, really inspiring and crammed full of photographic goodness!

[Stephan Strauss]

Yes, this is what distinguishes an artist from a normal person: the art authentically is your life