National Geographic photographer Nevada Wier
Nevada Wier can often be found in the most forgotten, most remote corner of the globe, photographing fascinating cultures that not many of us know much about. She followed Ethiopia’s Blue Nile through incredible wildernesses and isolated villages on assignment for National Geographic magazine. She’s captured smiling faces and evocative scenes all around the world, but one of her favorite places remains India. We got in touch with her to find out why.
Q: Tell us about a memorable moment when shooting for National Geographic magazine.
A: I had so many memorable moments when I was photographing an expedition down the Blue Nile in Ethiopia. But one that will always stay with me is when we met a group of herders who said, “This is tarik (history); if we had never come down to water our cows we never would have met you!” I was so touched and it confirmed the value of travel and one-to-one communication between cultures.
Q: You helped create the itinerary for our India Photography Expedition. What makes this such an extraordinary trip?
A: India is so misunderstood. I think it is the most friendly and vibrant country in the world. Rajasthan is the epicenter of color, light, and exuberance. We have designed this expedition to propel a traveler directly into its benevolent maelstrom. We are photographing the incomparable Pushkar Camel Fair, but equally important we are visiting and intimately interacting with the locals of the extreme desert of Rajasthan. There is so much packed into this itinerary that people will be editing and exclaiming over their photographs for a very long time.
Q: You’ve led this trip previously. As a photographer, what is a favorite stop or two for you on this itinerary? Do any specific images come to mind?
A: Oh! So many… Dancing on the dunes with scarves waving as the sun goes down. Hundreds of camels and their minders as the sun peaks over the horizon. The simplicity of a woman feeding a baby in a hut. The warm, dry air of the desert turning into nighttime magic as the the dancers whirl to the beat of drums. I could go on and on and on…
See a photo gallery of images taken by travelers on our India Photography Expedition after the jump. Several were selected as winners of the 2009 Expeditions Moments Photo Contest.
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A brown bear tackles a cliff face in southeastern Alaska. (Photo by Doug Gualtieri)
Last week we reported that our travelers had encountered a plethora of polar bears in Svalbard, but Arctic Norway isn’t the only place we’ve seen bears recently. Our naturalist John Kernan wrote in from aboard the National Geographic Sea Lion about yet another impressive ursine display–this time in southeastern Alaska’s Glacier Bay National Park. Read on!
Our ship had hardly aligned with the glacier face when we spotted a large brown bear on the inlet’s north side. The glacier would have to wait. The brown beast was an impressively large and strikingly colored male. He walked with a measured stride down the beach, reached its boulder-plugged end, scratched his back upon the great rocks, and then placed his front paws upon the edge of the soaring cliff face.
What would he do next? Where would he go from here? We stood awed for the next twenty minutes as the powerful bear–deftly, purposefully–climbed the cliff, a feat that would have been impressive even if he were a mountain goat. At intervals, he would pause and gauge his next move. Every step and shift of bulk carried with it the anxiety of viewing a high-wire act. Would he slip or even fall? Would he turn back?
He continued ever farther up slope, testing the scree with his paws before committing to a move. It looked impossible, but for the fact that it was occurring before our eyes. Every now and then, he would stop to graze on some foliage. This bear was experienced. Using the purchase of small fissures, cracks, and hand-sized ledges, he ascended halfway up the steep face as we watched. His attention never wavered. He paid us no mind. We left him, bold and golden, confidently clinging to the angled wall.
A polar bear swims in the icy Arctic waters. (Photo by Eric Guth)
We recently had a banner day for polar bear sightings on one of our Land of the Polar Bears expeditions to the Norwegian archipelago of Svalbard high in the Arctic Sea. From on board the National Geographic Explorer somewhere in Spitzbergen National Park naturalist Eric Guth recounted a truly exhilarating day.
We have taken in some wonderful scenery today. Anchored under the jagged peaks that give Spitzbergen its name, we have been surrounded by incredible tidewater glaciers, many-thousand-foot peaks and textured skies the majority of the day. Then this evening we were humbled by the presence of the planet’s first and second largest inhabitants – the fin and the mighty blue whale, who we found feeding near the continental shelf off western Spitzbergen.
But there was really only one show in town today – the polar bear! This has been argued as one of the most impressive days of polar bear behavior over the past thirty years of exploration with Lindblad.
Until today, I’m pretty sure everyone aboard could have gone home happy with the knowledge that they had been approached by not one, but two bears at the bow of the National Geographic Explorer, in addition to witnessing up-close a feeding by three lone bears via Zodiac yesterday.
Who would have thought that today we would nearly double the trip’s bear sightings? We bumped it up from 12 to 20, thanks to a fermenting whale carcass that drew in the eight additional bears to the same spot at the same time – three of which were cubs (6-month old puff balls of cuteness)!
See more photos after the jump.
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The Asturian coast (Photo by S. Erdman)
This is what’s magnificent about northern Spain: if you trace the coast from Cantabria to Asturias, you pass tiny, pristine beaches clinging to the cliff sides and brightly painted seaside villages where the tourists are mostly Spanish. But you can’t keep your eyes glued to the beautiful shoreline because rising up just to the south are the sudden, jagged peaks called the Picos de Europa. This October, travelers on the first departure of our new trip through northern Spain will travel this spectacular stretch perhaps the best way possible: by classic train. But a few of us have had a sneak preview and can’t get over what a terrific surprise this region is.
Our colleague Jim recently spent a week on our train, the Transcantábrico, and reported back, “It slowly slips through 800 miles of beautiful scenery, often hugging the dramatic coastline and passing through the back yards of small farms along the way. Every day we explored local towns, beaches, mountains, and even an ancient Roman villa with astounding mosaic floors. Then we’d board the train, find a comfortable chair by a large window, sip a cold drink, and admire the charming then dramatic then charming scenery gliding by.”
This area is two hours north of the dry hills of Rioja but it’s as verdant as Ireland. Indeed, the local crafts show that the Celts passed through here as well. Lush green valleys spill down from the peaks, scattered with cows and sheep and goats and dotted with villages that might have been here 500 years ago. The Asturias region is famous for its cheeses and smoked meats and many are made in homesteads right along the train’s path.
See more photos after the jump.
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A soggy self-portrait by traveler Brittany Brothers, taken at Iguaçu Falls on our first Brazil departure.
Our expeditions are filled with many “National Geographic moments.” Below, expedition manager Meredith Mason shares a few of her favorite moments from the first departure of our new Brazil expedition.
Our adventure started with an amazing day at Iguaçu Falls. Since we were staying at the only hotel located within the Brazilian Iguaçu National Park, we rose early and had the falls entirely to ourselves before the park opened to other visitors. Standing at the base of the falls and feeling the force of the spray was an incredible experience. But the day just kept getting better. We continued exploring the falls from different viewpoints—each one magnificent in its own way. The sun was shining, the sky was blue, and there were rainbows everywhere. It was truly breathtaking.
Thinking it would be difficult for the rest of the trip to live up to what we experienced that first day, we traveled to the Pantanal—the world’s largest wetlands. And there, we were introduced to natural splendor of a different sort. From our base at the Araras Eco Lodge, we headed out into the wilderness on daily adventures, spotting capybaras, caimans, colorful birds, and monkeys. A lucky few even saw an ocelot. We hiked all over, took a canoe trip, and rode horses like Pantaneiro cowboys.
Iguaçu Falls, the Pantanal, plus Rio de Janeiro—these were the places we visited. But it was the experiences we had, the people we met, the wildlife we saw, the history we learned, the stories we shared, the music we listened to, the food we tasted, the caipirinhas we sipped, and the culture we immersed ourselves in that made this expedition so special.
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