Water: Our Thirsty World- 03.25.10
Let me just start by saying that I’m fully aware how ironic it is that I, with my amateur photo skills, was sent to cover this exhibition of absolutely gorgeous photography by National Geographic at the Annenberg Space for Photography in Century City. But when Jean couldn’t make it to the preview and asked if I’d be interested, I was happy to fill in for her. I hadn’t been to the Annenberg Space for Photography either, so it was a good opportunity to check it out.
I got a sneak peek of “Water: Our Thirsty World” which presents images from National Geographic photographers examining the importance of earth’s fresh water resources, and the dangers we face if we don’t work to preserve them. This exhibition coincides with the release of the magazine’s April 2010 “Water” issue. More pics and info on the next page!
National Geographic’s Editor in Chief, Directory of Photography, Senior Photo Editor, and featured photographers were all at the preview today. We also got a peek at the high-res digital program that will be shown on the screen(s?) during the exhibition.
It’s also worth noting that this exhibition coincides with the Annenberg Space for Photography’s one year anniversary. If I heard corre ctly, in one year there’s been more photography shown at the space than in all of the other spaces in LA combined. That’s pretty impressive! I also noticed the spiral ceiling, and going through the press kit just now, I had an “oohhh” moment when I read this:
“Even the ceiling features a striking, iris-like design that is reminiscent of an aperture.”
You can see parts of the ceiling in the pics above, and below here…
The caption for the above photo:
Mixing a powder made by Pur into diluted water kills bacteria and makes dirt, metals, and parasites clump together so they can be filtered out, leaving crystal-clear water in 30 minutes. Aid groups distribute this product to help combat waterborne diseases.
I love this turtle photo! In the digital program, the photographer said that people connect to this image because it looks like the turtle’s smiling, and that the challenge is to create images that make people have a connection with animals that aren’t cute. He said something along the lines of “It’s really hard to take a sexy picture of a mussel!” which made the crowd chuckle.
These two massive jugs that you are encouraged to pick up were there to demonstrate how women in Kenya have to struggle and carry insane amounts of water back to their villages. The caption for this reads:
The Weight of Water
you don’t have to imagine what it’s like to lift 5.3 gallons of water…
just try it…
now consider walking home with it.
Press kit and the April 2010 “Water” issue of National Geographic.
We were also just informed that you can download a free interactive copy of the Water issue of National Geographic here: www.natgeofreshwater.com. This version of the mag includes extra photo galleries, video profiles of photographers, and other goodies! The free download is available through April 2, 2010.
“Water: Our Thirsty World” will be open to the public from March 27 to June 13, 2010.
Annenberg Space for Photography
2000 Avenue of the Stars
Century City, CA 90067
http://www.annenbergspaceforphotography.org/
Linhchi Tang
NotCouture Senior Editor
@notcouture
@shadeelaine
