National Geographic Magazine editor in chief
National Geographic Magazine's Top 10 Photos of the Year presents a countdown to the magazine’s best image from 2009. The photos cover a broad range of subject matter, from unexplored caves and endangered freshwater dolphins to the global food crisis and vanishing cultures.
2009-12-01
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National Geographic Magazine's Top 10 Photos
0.0Fernando Lemos, a Portuguese surrealist artist, fled from dictatorship to Brazil in 1952 searching for something better. The movie follows the last moments of his journey and the struggle for the preservation of his legacy, trying to fulfill his last great desire: to be a good dead man.
0.0Man Ray, the master of experimental and fashion photography was also a painter, a filmmaker, a poet, an essayist, a philosopher, and a leader of American modernism. Known for documenting the cultural elite living in France, Man Ray spent much of his time fighting the formal constraints of the visual arts. Ray’s life and art were always provocative, engaging, and challenging.
7.9Legendary photographer and director Anton Corbijn is responsible for many of the most indelible and important images of the past two and a half decades. His recently released book U2 & I is a photographic retrospective of his 25 year collaboration with U2. Later this year, Anton will direct his first feature film, Control, based on the life of the late Joy Division lead singer Ian Curtis.
0.0The sofa, the fire, the silhouette. A home that disappears in ashes. After thirteen years of mental and physical confinement in that house, another confinement was necessary to face those images. Family photographs (90s-00s) and personal video archive footage filmed in 16mm and MiniDv between March and April 2019 during the move and the burning of the sofa, edited in quarantine, April 2020.
7.6A documentary celebrating Lee Miller, a model-turned-photographer-turned-war reporter who defied anyone who tried to pin her down, put her on a pedestal, or pigeonhole her in any way.
6.7There could hardly be a more telling contrast between the analog and digital eras than the beautifully blurry memories captured in a Polaroid picture and the thousands of pin-sharp photos on an iPhone. In this ambitious visual essay, Willem Baptist explores the visionary genius of Edwin H. Land, the inventor of the Polaroid camera. Even today, all sorts of people are keeping his instant dream alive. Former Polaroid employee Stephen Herchen moved from the United States to Europe to work in a laboratory developing the 2.0 version of Polaroid. Christopher Bonanos, the author of Instant: The Story of Polaroid, tells us, "When I heard Polaroid would stop making film, it felt like a close friend had died." Artist Stefanie Schneider, who is working with the last of her stock of Polaroid film, is using the blurring that occurs with expired film as an additional aesthetic layer in her photographic work.
7.0Mike Disfarmer, small town portrait photographer turned posthumous art star. This is the story of an eccentric curmudgeon and artistic icon whose powerful pictures of depression-era USA have left an unlikely mark on the modern Manhattan art world.
0.0Nan Goldin's slide show “The Ballad of Sexual Dependency” converted, mixed and screened as a film by the artist, portraying the American underground culture, the no wave scene, post-Stonewall gay subculture, among others.
0.0An intimate look at pioneering artist George Platt Lynes, who took radically explicit photographs of the male nude. The documentary reveals Lynes’ gifted eye for the male form, his long-term friendships with Gertrude Stein and Alfred Kinsey, and his lasting influence as one of the first openly gay American artists.
6.2This look behind the scenes shows how worldwide camera crews climbed, dived and froze to capture the documentary's groundbreaking night footage.
7.0A pair of identical twins, one a photographer and the other a painter, have very little in common.
Bombarded by thousands of images every day, are we still able to truly see them, especially those of conflict and its aftermath? Helen Doyle takes us on a quest for the meaning of images and discovers a vast palette of contrasting images which shock and compel.
6.4A documentary about Academy Award-winning costume designer Cecil Beaton. A respected photographer, artist, and set designer, Beaton was best known for designing on award-winning films such as 'Gigi' (1958) and 'My Fair Lady' (1964). The film features archive footage and interviews with a number of models, artists, and filmmakers who worked closely with Beaton during his illustrious career.
8.8A man at the cutting edge of fashion, photojournalism and portraiture, photographer to the stars Douglas Kirkland has portrayed over sixty years of pop culture. This fascinating feature takes a closer look into the career of one of the most important photographers of the last century. His subjects, who are some of the biggest stars of Hollywood and the fashion world, provide testimonials.
6.8BBC Arena's documentary on the Dames of British Theatre and film featuring Maggie Smith, Eileen Atkins, Judi Dench and Joan Plowright on screen together for the first time as they reminisce over a long summer weekend in a house Joan once shared with Sir Laurence Olivier.
7.2An uncannily revealing portrait of American photographers Andy Sweet and Gary Monroe and the vibrant community of Jewish retirees they obsessively focused their camera's lens on in the sunburned paradise of 1970s Miami Beach.
5.1Men talk openly about their penis, the physical realities of sex, masturbation and erections, and how it feels to be a man. They also tell stories of infertility, violence and sexual abuse. Men of differing sexualities (gay, straight, non-binary and trans), differing cultural and racial heritages are interviewed by photographer Ajamu X as he photographs them.
7.5The James Webb Telescope stirs imaginations with vivid photos of distant galaxies. This documentary tracks its historic journey from inception to launch.
7.0A film about fragility; about a man obsessed with photographing the accident who discovered that the fate of others was his way of connecting to life. When does the image of the accident become the object of desire? Following the footsteps of Metinides and the work of contemporary tabloid photographers, we discover Mexico City through a narrative of crime scenes and accidents; rubbernecking though Metinides’ Gaze.