Thanks to a mention at PhotoShelter’s “Shoot! The Blog” (here) – I found this hidden gem and discovered another great site, TED.com (here)

David Griffin, the DOP at National Geographic, “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.”

This video of Mr. Griffin’s presentation is about 15 minutes long – it’s great start to finish – I strongly recommend getting comfortable and watching the entire clip. Enjoy!

watch here or below..

During his presentation, Mr. Griffin shares stories and photographs from many of the National Geographic greats – if you’d like to see more of their work (which I highly recommend), I’ve posted links to their sites below -

Steve McCurry
Bruce Dale
Sam Abell
Randy Olson
Chris Johns
William Albert Allard
“Nick” Nichols
David Alan Harvey
David Doubilet
Jonas Bendiksen
James Nachtwey
and
Paul Nicklen

Also talking about this clip:
A Photo Editor

I just had a change in plans and I am happy to say that we’ll be on Long Beach Island (NJ) for Labor Day weekend, one of our favorite places on earth! – I’ll be shooting a job on Saturday, if all goes well, and I’m going to make some time for a couple of personal projects that I’ve been working on..

The first began in April 2007.. shooting with my Hasselblad Super Wide on a dark night, with my wife thankfully along for the ride, I shot this photograph as a gift for my aunt and uncle who have been incredibly generous hosts to us.

LBI - ©2008 MDAVIDLEEDS - All Rights Reserved

LBI - ©2008 MDAVIDLEEDS - All Rights Reserved

The reaction to the print at my aunt and uncles house was, frankly, a bit overwhelming. I decided to make a project out of this LBI at night photo and create a series… maybe even have a gallery show, something I’ve never done. During our next trip, the weather was not so favorable with lots of thunderstorms and heat lightning.. clearly not the best recipe for standing on the beach with a tripod!! When there was a break in the clouds, and the storm was mostly to the south of us, I went out to make a couple of pictures.. and one of them, spawned project number two.. “Lit By Lightning”, or, “LBI LBL”..

Corona - LBI LBL - © 2008 MDAVIDLEEDS - All Rights Reserved

Corona - LBI LBL - © 2008 MDAVIDLEEDS - All Rights Reserved

I’ve got the photos in mind that I’m planning to make over Labor Day weekend, hopefully, I’ll luck out and have a variety of great weather with a storm or two mixed in.. I’m really excited about the potential for two really nice series of photographs and the potential for each.. hope you’ll check back to see this as it comes together.