When I was shooting the old-growth forest story for the National Geographic, the picture editor and I decided we would try to illustrate the heart of the issue in one photograph -- that could be played big. This meant we needed to find a place that showed the contrast between pristine nature, a logged-over national forest, and private clear-cutting, all in one scene. My contacts suggested Mt. Rainier, where the snow-capped heights are preserved as a national park, where the national forest, which starts just below the timber line, is checkerboarded with clear-cut sections sold by the Forest Service for logging, and where Weyerhauser has a big timber operation around the base of the mountain.
Once in Seattle, I chartered a Cessna 210 on a crisp autumn morning and took off shortly after dawn from Boeing Field -- pilot in the left seat, me in the right, and my assistant behind to hold up the open window -- for the thirty-minute run to Mt. Rainier. I made a point of discussing my ideas with the pilot ahead of time and stressed the need to get his right wing well above the mountain so that I could have an unimpeded view. (The beauty of the Cessna 210 is that it has no wing strut or wheels to get in the way.) In the air, I attached lenses to my three Nikon F4s, set speeds at 1/250, double-checked my incident light meters, and loaded the cameras with Velvia. After dry runs to see which altitude was best, we made six more runs, using 20, 24 and 35 mm lenses with and without polarizers. Before heading home, we turned into the mountain just to see if the border between the private land and the Forest Service had been compromised. I hadn't expected to, but I shot one more roll over the border.
Wouldn't you know! Back in Washington, the editor liked the carefully planned overall, but he went bananas over the unplanned border picture and ordered it to be three columns. Moral #1: always look for the unusual angle. Moral #2: Nothing is ever final when it comes to publishing. Eventually, our "double truck" was killed for space reasons. You see it published here for the first time.
Unpublished, National Geographic Image Collection file select #057227-332. This photograph is for sale through the National Geographic Society Image Collection, 1145 17th St., N.W., Washington DC 20036. Phone: (202)857-7537; FAX: (202)429-5776.
Jim Blair will teach two week long workshops, Sept 29 - Oct 12, 1996 from his home base in Middlebury, VT. If you are interested in more informations, please contact:
