Yes, that's right, there's a special day for toilets. But while it may be fodder for scatalogical jokes, for the many millions of people who do not have access to toilets it's no laughing matter.
Imagine what it would be like if we weren't able to flush away the vast amounts of human waste we generate in our cities. Apart from the stench and vermin, disease would flourish, as it does in many of the world's informal settlements.
Poor sanitation kills 1.8 million people a year--mostly children and primarily through diarrheal diseases, reports colleague Tasha Eichenseher today on National Geographic's Green Guide blog.
Read more about this intolerable situation and learn what a privilege it is to have access to a toilet.
National Geographic photographer Paul Nicklen's YouTube video "Face-Off With a Deadly Predator," an account of his scary encounter with a leopard seal in the Antarctic, has been downloaded more than a million times.
In this subsequent video interview with NatGeo News Watch, below, Nicklen shares his thoughts about leopard seals--and other polar predators he has studied since he was a boy growing up in a small Inuit community in the Canadian Arctic.
He talks about the patience and time needed to make the photographs of polar predators for ten National Geographic Magazine articles and for his new National Geographic book, Polar Obsession.
Video by David Braun
A large female leopard seal greets photographer Göran Ehlmé. Anvers Island, Antarctica (p. 161 of Paul Nicklen's new book, Polar Obsession.)
A leopard seal feeds Paul Nicklen a penguin. Antarctic Peninsula (p. 36)
Growing up in the Arctic, Nicklen said, "We didn't have a television...telephone...radio...so all of my entertainment came in the form of playing outside, and that meant being around animals...seeing my first polar bear when I was five years old.
"So you really learn from the time you are young how these animals work, what makes them tick. You learn about social hierarchy, and then most of all, the best thing you learn is their connection to the ecosystem," he said.
Looking towards an uncertain future, a huge male bear triggers a camera trap, taking his own picture. Leifdefjorden, Spitsbergen, Norway (p.239)
All this information plus a college degree in marine biology taught Nicklen how to approach and get up close to animals, to use body language to communicate with them, and devote many hours to get them used to his presence before getting into the water with them.
A large bull walrus returns to the shores of Prins Karl Forland after diving and feeding on clams. Svalbard, Norway (p. 150)
What people don't realize when they see his pictures, Nicklen says, is the sometimes days, weeks or months he needed to get the animals to care less about his presence.
Narwhals dive deep under the ice to feed on Arctic cod, then return to the surface to breathe and raise their tusks high in the air. Lancaster Sound, Nunavut, Canada (p. 103)
"The narwhals story...a chapter in the book, took me 15 years to try to figure it out," Nicklen said. The project involved working with the Inuit, buying an ultralight plane, flying out to the remote pack ice in the Arctic, "and finally, in one day, getting all those images for that narwhal story. It's just time and patience."
(National Geographic Books; November, 2009; $50; hardcover) is a showcase of Nicklen's best pictures and an opportunity for him to share important insights into animal behavior, the fragile polar environment and climate change that threatens the ice and its inhabitants.
In the Arctic spring, meltwater channels drain toward and down a seal hole, returning to the sea. (p. 71)
"The polar regions are disappearing quickly, and I want my photo essays to stand as a reminder of what is at stake. It is my mission to bring the rare, remote and threatened to caring people who can enjoy and help protect these lands and creatures," Nicklen writes in his introduction.
The book includes 150 of Nicklen's most spectacular images from the polar regions. Elephant seals, leopard seals, whales, walruses, narwhals, polar bears, penguins, albatrosses, petrels, arctic cod, and krill, are among the cast of characters he captures through his lens. To make these photos took many years of thinking and planning and sometimes many hours of waiting in difficult conditions for the right moment.
A kittiwake soars in front of a large iceberg. Svalbard, Norway (p. 29)
"Nicklen has risked his life many times in the 20 years he has been documenting the polar regions," says the National Geographic news release about this book. "He has crashed his ultralight airplane, fallen through the sea ice, been lost in blizzards, bitten by fur seals, attacked by a walrus and an 8,000-pound elephant seal, charged by a grizzly bear and sniffed through the thin fabric wall of a tent by a polar bear."
A gentoo penguin chick peeks, checking for patrolling leopard seals before tempting fate. Port Lockroy, Antarctic Peninsula (p. 166)
"If I really want people to care about polar species, my images have to be wild and raw," he writes. "I want people to feel what it's like to be in the water, swimming three feet from a polar bear. I want them to experience what it's like to be offered a penguin as food by a leopard seal. Only then will they really care about that habitat and that species."
Paul Nicklen emerges numb from the cold after an hour under the ice. Admiralty Inlet, Nunavut, Canada (p. 15)
Included in the book is a gear list detailing the enormous amount of equipment that accompanies Nicklen on his assignments, "likely more equipment than any other natural history photographer on the planet," because Nicklen shoots above and below water.
He usually travels with 14 to 20 cases and hockey duffel bags weighing between 60 pounds and 70 pounds each. "Getting to and from location with all the gear is often the worst and hardest part of the assignment," he writes.
Paul Nicklen on assignment. Lewes Lake, Yukon Territory, Canada. (not in book)
Even in his wildest dreams, China's first emperor, Qin Shihuangdi (Chin She-hwong-dee), could never have imagined that terra cotta warriors made to guard his tomb in the afterlife would travel the world as ambassadors of friendship between nations.
Caption: Terra cotta figures on exhibition at the National Geographic Museum, Washington, D.C. The average terra cotta warrior is 6 feet tall and weighs 300-400 lbs. Craftsmen sculpted individual facial features for each figure by hand. Many of the faces are thought to resemble the artists themselves or some real person or military figure. It is believed that no two faces are identical.
Photo by David Braun
Auspicious sign
Minister Xie also observed that while President Obama was in Beijing today, visiting the Forbidden City and holding talks with China's President Hu Jintao, the terra cotta warriors were in Washington--a coincidence that was "an auspicious sign" of the improving relationship between the two countries.
Caption: President Obama at the Forbidden City today. The Forbidden City was the official residence of many of China's emperors.
White House photo by Pete Souza.
The National Geographic Museum is the final venue of the terra cotta warriors' four-city U.S. tour. The largest number of terra cotta figures ever to travel to the United States for a single exhibition includes more than 100 artifacts from the tomb of Qin Shihuangdi, who ruled from 221 B.C. to 210 B.C.
Caption: A view of reconstructed warriors, on exhibition in China.
Originally, the soldiers were painted with pigments made from minerals mixed with either egg white or animal blood.
Photo by Wang Da Gang
"The First Emperor's magnificent terra cotta army is one of the great wonders of the ancient world," said Terry Garcia, National Geographic's executive vice president for Mission Programs. "Visitors to the National Geographic Museum will have the rare opportunity to experience one of the greatest archaeological discoveries of the 20th century as they stand face-to-face with the terra cotta warriors," he added.
Level 1 artifacts
More than 96,000 tickets have been purchased in advance for the Washington venue of the exhibition, which offers an in-depth look at the First Emperor's enormous tomb complex that contained thousands of terra cotta warriors intended to protect him in the afterlife. The exhibition showcases the life-size terra cotta figures and other objects, including 20 "Level 1" artifacts--China's highest possible ranking in terms of rarity and importance.
Caption: Albert E. Dien, Ph.D., professor emeritus, Stanford University, is guest curator for the "Terra Cotta Warriors: Guardians of China's First Emperor" exhibition. In this video he explains why the terra cotta warriors are the "Eighth Wonder of the World."
Video by David Braun
Secrets of the Qin
Discovered after being buried for more than 2,000 years, the terra cotta warriors reveal secrets of the Qin dynasty, a National Geographic statement about the exhibition explains.
"The warriors were found in 1974 by a group of farmers digging a well near Xi'an in China's Shaanxi province. When archaeologists began excavating the area, they uncovered a subterranean vault containing fragments of thousands of terra cotta figures in four pits."
Caption: Terra cotta warriors and horses found in the tomb of China's first emperor Qin Shihuang, located north of Xi'an in China.
Photo by Wang Da Gang
Caption: There are four pits of varying sizes, three of which contain warriors, filled with an estimated 7,000 figures along with hundreds of horses, chariots and weapons. Pit 1 (in the illustration above) is the largest at 203 feet x 755 feet, roughly the size of two and two-thirds football fields, and was the first to be discovered. Ranks of terra cotta warriors, horses and chariots were placed in formation throughout this space.
"More than 1,000 life-size figures have been unearthed as part of the site's ongoing excavation, with estimates of 6,000 more remaining in the known underground pits," National Geographic's statement says.
"Construction of Qin Shihuangdi's tomb took 36 years to complete, and the tomb complex is estimated to extend more than 19 square miles."
Warrior assembly line
"The terra cotta figures were created in assembly-line fashion, and molds were used to mass-produce hands, heads and ears. Craftsmen sculpted individual armor details and facial features by hand. It is believed that no two faces are alike," National Geographic said.
The 15 terra cotta figures in "Terra Cotta Warriors: Guardians of China's First Emperor" consist of nine warriors--two infantrymen, a chariot driver, two officers, an armored warrior, two archers and a cavalryman--as well as two musicians, a strongman, a court official, a stable attendant and a horse. The exhibition showcases 100 sets of artifacts, including weapons, stone armor, coins, jade ornaments, roof tiles and decorative bricks, and a bronze crane and swan.
Two replica bronze chariots are also on display.
Caption: One of the replica bronze chariots on exhibition at the National Geographic Museum. All figures are life-size.
Photo by David Braun
Caption: National Geographic Museum Director Susan Norton and her staff worked for more than two years to bring "Terra Cotta Warriors: Guardians of China's First Emperor" to Washington, D.C. In this video she talks about the planning and challenges of moving and exhibiting 2,200-year-old artifacts.
Video by David Braun
The objects in the exhibition are drawn from 11 different collections in and near Xi'an, including the Museum of the First Emperor's Terra Cotta Army and Horses, Shaanxi Provincial Institute for Archaeological Research, the Zhouzhi Museum, Baoji Museum, Xianyang Museum, Lintong Museum, Fengxiang Museum, Chencang Museum, Xi'an Institute for Archaeological Research and Protection, Baoji Archaeological Excavation Team and Xianyang Institute for Archaeological Research.
Caption: Terra cotta figures on display at the National Geographic Museum.
Photo by David Braun
The Washington exhibition is open daily from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., with extended hours on Wednesdays until 9 p.m. The National Geographic Museum is closed on December 25. The exhibition will be open to the public from November 19, 2009 until March 31, 2010.
Tickets are timed and dated and can be purchased online at the Buy Tickets page of the exhibition Web site www.warriorsdc.org, by phone at (202) 857-7700 and at the National Geographic Museum ticket booth located at the exhibition's entrance or at the National Geographic ticket office, 1600 M Street, N.W., Washington, D.C.
Caption: A standing archer.
The warriors' hands are positioned to hold weapons, many of which were stolen during the rebellions that followed the emperor's death.
Photo by Wang Da Gang
Caption: A detailed look at one of the terra cotta warriors found in the tomb of China's first emperor Qin Shihuang, located north of Xi'an in China.
Photo by Wang Da Gang
Caption: Warrior armor on exhibition at the National Geographic Museum.
Photo by David Braun
The exhibition is co-organized by the Bowers Museum, Houston Museum of Natural Science and the National Geographic Museum, and is guest curated by Dr. Albert E. Dien, professor emeritus, Stanford University.Support for the exhibition was given by American Airlines; Amtrak; Washington, D.C.'s Loews Madison Hotel; P.F. Chang's China Bistro; The PIMCO Foundation; UPS; Viking River Cruises; and WTOP.
Terra Cotta Warriors Exhibition Fact Sheet
Emperor Qin Shihuangdi
In the long history of China, the First Emperor of the Qin dynasty stands out for his accomplishments and the controversy that surrounds his rule. He ruled a unified China for only 11 years, but many of his reforms have lasted as long as his warriors have stood guard -- more than 2,200 years.
Born in 259 B.C., Ying Zheng became king of the state of Qin at age 13. In 239 B.C. the king began to rule in his own name and shortly thereafter he sent his armies to conquer the surrounding states. By 221 B.C. a vast empire was under his control. He renamed himself Qin Shihuangdi (Chin She-hwong-dee), First Emperor of the Qin.
The emperor instituted a series of ambitious reforms, creating a centralized administration to consolidate his power. He is credited with unifying seven warring states; building an extensive network of roads; standardizing weights, currency and measures; establishing Qin writing as the official language, which became the basis of the written script now known as Simplified Chinese; beginning construction on the Great Wall of China; and pioneering the use of mass production.
In 210 B.C. Emperor Qin fell ill and died unexpectedly. He is believed to have been interred beneath a large man-made hill in an elaborate chamber that has not yet been excavated.
Records written nearly 100 years after Emperor Qin's death show that succeeding dynasties defined the Qin period as a time of draconian enforcement of harsh laws. However, recent discoveries of Qin laws indicate a less severe administration than previously imagined, and the emperor's reputation is being reevaluated. Regardless of how his legacy is ultimately judged, the impact of his rule and the grandeur of his tomb set a standard that has not been surpassed.
The tomb complex and pits
Photo by Wang Da Gang
As was customary, Emperor Qin began work on his tomb complex when he ascended the throne at age 13. After conquering the neighboring states, he expanded the plans in keeping with his new title of First Emperor. The tomb complex covers 19 square miles and includes a man-made earthen mound rising above his underground burial chamber.
Providing for the emperor in the afterlife meant filling his tomb complex with a wide range of items to serve his needs. The emperor's tomb mound sits at the center of what was once a walled area. Outside the walled tomb area in pits three-quarters of a mile to the east are the warriors, standing ready to defend the emperor.
Photo by Wang Da Gang
The army faced east, towards a pass in the mountains through which enemies might approach.
There are four pits of varying sizes, three of which contain warriors, filled with an estimated 7,000 figures along with hundreds of horses, chariots and weapons.
Photo by Wang Da Gang
Pit 1 is the largest at 203 feet x 755 feet, roughly the size of two and two-thirds football fields, and was the first to be discovered. Ranks of terra cotta warriors, horses and chariots were placed in formation throughout this space.
Pit 1 was dug to a depth of about 15 feet, with walls of pounded earth dividing the interior into 11 corridors. The floors were paved with bricks. A framework of wooden pillars and beams covered with planks, matting and a plaster shell formed the roof. The whole area was covered with earth mounded about 6 feet above the original ground surface. Pits 2 and 3 were constructed in similar fashion.
Photo by Wang Da Gang
Photo by Wang Da Gang
The figures contained in the smaller Pit 2 are more varied. The ranks include cavalrymen, chariots and 160 standing and kneeling archers.
Pit 3 is even smaller and is the only one to be completely excavated. This pit was meant to serve as a command center for the underground army. It contains just 68 soldiers, most of them guards with a few officers stationed behind a single chariot, perhaps meant for the supreme commander.
Pit 4 is incomplete and contains no figures, suggesting that work ceased in the rebellions following the death of Qin Shihuangdi.
The warriors
Photo by Wang Da Gang
The average warrior is 6 feet tall and weighs 300-400 lbs.
Craftsmen sculpted individual facial features for each figure by hand. Many of the faces are thought to resemble the artists themselves or some real person or military figure. It is believed that no two faces are identical.
Originally, the soldiers were painted with pigments made from minerals mixed with either egg white or animal blood.
The legs and feet of each warrior are solid clay to support the weight of the figure. To create the torso, artisans built up coils of clay; the hands, arms and head were molded separately and then attached.
Photo by Wang Da Gang
When a figure was complete, a layer of fine clay was applied to the entire sculpture so individual details could be incised by hand. After this was completed, the statues were fired at high temperatures.
The warriors' hands are positioned to hold weapons, many of which were stolen during the rebellions that followed the emperor's death.
The warriors were discovered in March 1974 by a group of men digging a well along the Wei River near the city of Xi'an. The tomb complex of the First Emperor has since been dubbed the Eighth Wonder of the World.
To date, only 1,000 figures have been excavated and restored.
All information is drawn from exhibition text and the "Terra Cotta Warriors: Guardians of China's First Emperor" exhibition e-Guide, available for download at www.warriorsdc.org
More photos from the the Terra Cotta Warriors exhibition at the National Geographic Museum:
Colombia has made impressive progress in declaring a large part of its Amazon rain forest protected for conservation. But there's another rain forest in Colombia, the Chocó, on the Pacific side of the country. This forest teems with even more species than in the Amazon forest, but it is not as well protected. Conservation biologist Stuart Pimm recently visited the region to see the biodiversity for himself.
By Stuart L. Pimm Special contributor to NatGeo News Watch
Ten days ago I was in Colombia with my Colombian graduate student German Forero Medina, about to give a keynote address on REDD--Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation -- the subject now uppermost in the minds of those of us who care about biodiversity. (Read about REDD on my earlier blog on NatGeo News Watch.)
I wasn't going to go that far without taking time to visit one of the most diverse rain forests on Earth--the Chocó, along the country's Pacific Slope.
Colombia has more than one rain forest. The most familiar is the Amazon.
This has been a good few weeks for the Amazon, so that news first.
Just over a week ago, Brazil's President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva announced that only 7,000 square kilometres (2,700 square miles) of the Brazilian Amazon were cleared in the 12 months to August 2009. [NatGeo News Watch: Amazon deforestation slows as Brazil tightens prevention.]
Neighbouring Colombia has much less of the Amazon compared to Brazil, but it too has been losing forest cover.
At the International Forum on Biodiversity and Climate Change on the November 6, Environment Minister Carlos Costa told his audience in Bogotá: "It is important for the world to know that the Colombian Amazon is for conservation only." I was in the audience.
The Colombian government was making more than bold statements. At the Protected Areas Conference and on the Biodiversity Forum two weeks earlier (October 26, also in Bogotá), the country announced the creation of the Yaigoyé Apaporis National Par --an area of over 1,000,000 hectares (4,000 square miles) in the Amazon close to the equator.
Even before that addition, Colombia had exceeded the targets for conservation it had agreed to meet by signing the Convention on Biological Diversity. Signers agreed to set aside 10 percent of their land for protected areas by 2010.
With this latest addition, Colombia has protected 12.5 million hectares of its country--about 49,000 square miles, or 11 percent of the country-- an area a little smaller than the State of Florida. Some 70 percent of the protected land is in the Amazon.
Here's the problem that had me at the second meeting--and German Forero Medina at both meetings: Colombia is spectacularly rich in biodiversity. (Ask any birdwatcher. Colombia has nearly 1,900 species, more than any other country and 19 percent of the world's total. It has a similar excess of mammals and amphibians.)
But rich in species though the Amazon might be, it's Colombia's other forests that have even more species--and they are not been given the same protection. German and I were in Colombia to argue for more reserves outside Colombia's Amazon.
Chocó rain forest
Conservation biologist Stuart L. Pimm visits Colombia's Chocó rain forest. There Jorge Orejuela, director of the Cali Botanic Garden and an expert on the Chocó's birds and orchids, tells Pimm about the remarkable orchids and other species in one of Earth's biodiversity "hotspots."
Video by Stuart L. Pimm
One of those regions, the Chocó was where I headed after the meeting. The old road from Cali to Buenaventura is "the best area in the world for seeing a rich diversity of birds," according to Steven Hilty and William Brown, authors of the Birds of Colombia.
How could I resist? This is one of 25 "biodiversity hotspots"--places that my Duke University colleague Professor Norman Myers and colleagues showed contained half of all the variety of life on Earth--in about 10 percent of the land surface. By definition, hotspots are also places where there's been large losses of habitats.
22 feet of rain a year
Resist? Well, easily, it happens. Dripping wet mountain forest, some areas getting 7 metres (22 feet) of rain each year sounds wonderful, but tragically, it's been a war zone. Coca grows well here. The consequence of U.S. citizens being unable to "just say no" to cocaine have played havoc with Colombia and scarred the lives of millions of its people. Armed conflict and anti-government guerrillas had been active in the Chocó.
But all my Colombian friends were cautiously optimistic about the reduction in violence in the last few years. So I set off with Jorge Orejuela, an old friend with whom I shared a house in graduate school decades ago.
Jorge won the prestigious National Geographic/Buffett Award for Leadership in Conservation in 2007. He's the director of the Cali Botanic Garden and an expert on the Chocó's birds and orchids. And he won the prize for his efforts to protect the Chocó's forest.
Photo of orchid Dracula wallisii by Luis Mazariegos
In the rain, our 4x4 slipped and slid down the narrow dirt road, from Cali to the coast. Then we turned into the watershed of a large reservoir, showing our permits to the Colombian military who guard the area.
The next morning the rain let up. Jorge spotted orchids everywhere--many were small and I missed them. Close up, they were lovely.
"Here's a branch covered with orchids." Jorge pointed them out. "There's an orchid in the genus Pleurothallis--perhaps it's a new species...There are a hundred or more new species being described every couple of years from this genus in Colombia and Ecuador."
Sobrailia orchid
Video still by Stuart L. Pimm
Later, standing in the middle of a small river, looking at its bank covered in showy Sobralia orchids, Jorge continued, "Biodiversity here is unbelievable. Along this gradient from the Andes to the lowlands, we may have 1,500 species of butterflies and 800 bird species." (That's half as many again as birds that nest in all of Europe and North Africa.) "Orchids--perhaps 1,000 species."
"There's high human pressure on this area. My work that was highlighted by National Geographic was protecting areas that, had they been destroyed, the endemic species--those that we found only within them--would have been lost for ever."
Photo of orchid D. syndactyla by Luis Mazariegos
Just how many species are found only in these areas, I wondered. "And how many species are still unknown to science here," I asked Jorge.
"It's hard to tell," he said. "In one area, not knowing anything about orchids, we collected 400 species--and that was not the only thing I had to do. This was in an area of only 30 square kilometres." (About 12 square miles).
"Easily 20 percent of those species were new to science...Many of those are endangered--they are rare and found only in those particular places."
Professor Stuart L. Pimm is a conservation biologist at Duke University, North Carolina. A former member of the National Geographic Committee for Research and Exploration, Pimm is the author of dozens of books and research papers, including the book "The World According to Pimm: A Scientist Audits the Earth."
In an age of strip malls, fast food chains, and big-box stores, every small town in America looks the same. Or so it would seem if you roll down any interstate highway.
But linger and ask about local festivals, and soon you will find that the U.S. is a richly diverse country that celebrates cultures of every kind. The melting pot is chock-full of spicy ingredients.
That was the experience of two adventurous photographers, Ross McDermott and Andrew Owen, who set out to discover and document America's small, hidden, and bizarre festivals.
McDermott (left) and Owen shooting from a crane lift in Apache Junction, Arizona.
Forty thousand miles and forty festivals later, they have thirty thousand pictures and many hours of video that showcase the many ways Americans celebrate.
"We discovered that what may have started as small local festivals have become in some cases national and even international events, thanks in large part to the Internet," Owen said in an interview. "These festivals are attracting people with a shared passion or interest, and so they have become global experiences with a local flavor."
The World Beard and Mustache Competition attracts contestants from every corner of the world. In the past few years, the competition has been attended by more Americans than any other country. See more photos on The American Festivals Project's World Beard and Mustache Competition Web page.
Photo by Ross McDermott and Andrew Owen
McDermott (27) and Owen (28) are from Charlottesville, Virginia, where they met through a mutual friend. The idea to document American festivals is McDermott's, who was inspired by the cultural festivals he photographed while teaching English in Japan.
"I wondered if American festivals would be as culturally relevant as those in Japan. If I documented them, would I discover that they said something about American culture," he said.
In a truck converted to run on used vegetable oil they scrounged along the way from fast food restaurants and universities, the duo hit the festival circuit.
McDermott pumping vegetable oil from the back of a local diner in Ainsworth, Nebraska. The truck could hold 80 gallons of veggie oil and allow the team to drive over 1,000 miles before another fill-up.
"I thought we would look for the most bizarre festivals and those that were dying out. But what we found is that in most cases the festivals are alive and doing well," McDermott said. "Their dynamic has changed with the influx of many visitors, but they are doing well."
The photographers sought out festivals that seemed to focus on the more peculiar facets of the American way of life.
And so they headed for the Machine Gun Shootout, Wooly Worm Festival, Cajun Mardi Gras, Rattlesnake Roundup, Xtreme Cheerleading, Middle of Nowhere Celebration, Rainbow Gathering, Okie Noodling Competition, Lumberjack Championships, Pine Ridge Pow Wow, Sturgis Motorcycle Rally, Hick Festival, and Pole Dancing competition. What could be more American than festivals like those?
Xtreme Dance and Cheer Competition, Wisconsin Dells, Wisconsin. See more photos and read about this at The American Festivals Project's Xtreme Cheerleading Web page.
World's Largest Rattlesnake Roundup, Sweetwater, Texas. See more photos and read about this at The American Festivals Project's World's Largest Rattlesnake Roundup Web page.
Photo by Ross McDermott and Andrew Owen
Rainbow Gathering, Sante Fe National Forest, New Mexico. See more photos and read about this at The American Festivals Project's Rainbow Gathering Web page.
Pine Ridge Pow Wow, Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, South Dakota. See more photos and read about this at The American Festivals Project's Pine Ridge Pow Wow Web page.
"The Machine Gun Shootout in Kentucky was an example of what we thought were going to be eccentric people shooting their guns," McDermott said. "Instead, we found people passionate about their collections, and owning and firing machine guns in a safe and educational manner."
Machine Gun Shootout in Kentucky. See more photos and read about this at The American Festivals Project's Knob Creek Machine Gun Shootout Web page.
Photos by Ross McDermott and Andrew Owen
Every festival gave them the same impression. The participants they met were passionate people with compelling reasons for doing what they were doing, and who were very good at it.
"We discovered that we were not photographing one-off events so much as sub-cultures. The Machine Gun Shootout is a festival for the machine gun sub-culture across the U.S. And the same can be said for the other festivals," McDermott said. "These festivals are sub-cultures within the homogenous American culture."
"The Cajun Mardi Gras is not only for the local people," Owen added. "It draws old-time musicians like fiddlers, from everywhere. It's really like a gathering of tribes. These festivals are focused human gatherings."
Cajun Mardi Gras, rural Louisiana. See more photos and read about this at The American Festivals Project's Cajun Mardi Gras Web page.
Photo by Ross McDermott and Andrew Owen
"There are strong family traditions in some of these festivals," McDermott said. "For many participants, such as at the Lumberjack Championships, there is real pride in what's been passed down through the generations, and an opportunity to show that off."
World Lumberjack Championships, Hayward, Wisconsin. See more photos and read about this at The American Festivals Project's World Lumberjack Championships Web page.
It sounds like an idyllic vacation, traveling across America, visiting interesting festivals, meeting colorful people. But from a photographer's point of view it had challenges and was very hard work.
"Unlike photographers who have the privilege of revisiting an event to rework shots that they might have missed, we were working on a very short notice, and often had a one or two-day window to gather all our material. We would arrive and start shooting, sometimes from sunrise to dusk, in all kinds of weather and without really knowing what the event would offer," McDermott said.
They would sometimes have to spend hours looking for veggie fuel for their truck. Driving from one festival to the next could involve long overnight journeys.
Sleep happened whenever the guys had a chance. In Oklahoma, it was so hot inside the tent that McDermott decided to sleep on the concrete picnic table.
"We attended a festival in Louisiana on one day and another in Wisconsin the very next day," Owen said. "That meant we had to drive through the night. We started shooting the second we arrived, and didn't stop for 12 hours."
McDermott and Owen are mulling over several uses of their collection of images and video. They are busy with talks and planning an exhibit in Charlottesville on January 9th at The Bridge--Progressive Arts Initiative.
Are there any plans to photograph the festivals of Europe or Asia?
"Not right now," McDermott said, "we're still trying to absorb what happened to us in America."
To see more of the 30,000 photos made by Ross McDermott and Andrw Owen, please visit The American Festivals Project Web site. Prints of the photos can be be ordered.
As head of National Geographic's daily online news service, David Braun has a front-row seat on developments in the fields of science, nature, and cultures. This blog will give you David's unique perspective on the news, including access to some of the interesting stories that don't make it onto the news site, behind-the-scenes details about life in the National Geographic newsroom, and David's insights into what's changing in our world, why, and what we can do about it. Read More About This Blog Visit News.NationalGeographic.com
A large female leopard seal greets photographer Göran Ehlmé. Anvers Island, Antarctica (p. 161 of Paul Nicklen's new book, Polar Obsession.)
Caption: A standing archer.
Professor Stuart L. Pimm is a conservation biologist at 
The World Beard and Mustache Competition attracts contestants from every corner of the world. In the past few years, the competition has been attended by more Americans than any other country. See more photos on The American Festivals Project's 
