For Immediate Release

WASHINGTON—The first National Geographic volume dedicated to the life work of one photographer—one many consider to be the magazine’s all-time best—will be published in September.

EYE OF THE BEHOLDER: THE PHOTOGRAPHY OF JAMES L. STANFIELD (National Geographic Books, September 1998, U.S. $40) not only reproduces some of the most beautiful images ever made for NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC but also tells of the adventures behind Stanfield’s award-winning photographs, his triumphs and failures, and some of his professional secrets.

“NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC expects its photographers to come back from assignment with something different, with the best visual interpretation that’s ever been done on that subject while remaining faithful to the Society’s high standards of being truthful and informative,” said Bill Allen, Editor of NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC magazine. “Jim Stanfield has defined those standards.”

Stanfield’s life and look comes close to the romantic image of a NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC photographer that Clint Eastwood portrayed as the fictional Robert Kincaid in the movie The Bridges of Madison County.

Stanfield has triggered his cameras’ shutters more than a million times for the 62 stories he has shot for NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC magazine. His assignments have taken him to the far corners of the Earth—to more than 100 countries over 33 years. His subjects have ranged from rats to royalty, and from the most isolated desert oasis to the private papal apartments in the Vatican.

EYE OF THE BEHOLDER reflects the wide variety of Stanfield’s career. “Even I was amazed at how much work I had done over the years,” he said. “It took three or four months just to go through my images.”

The book opens with a spread from Stanfield’s military and newspaper days and his early years at the National Geographic.

The chapter “Rats to Riches” covers some of his extraordinary assignments for the magazine. While photographing rats around the world, Stanfield visited a Hindu shrine in Rajastan that teemed with as many as 80,000 of the sacred creatures—so many that they swarmed up his bare feet and legs and chewed holes in his photographic equipment. In the Philippines he helped kill rats that were devastating crops and granaries. Then he sat down to eat them with the local farmers.

Equally comfortable with royalty, Stanfield covered the 1967 coronation of the Shah of Iran. Queen Elizabeth II of England was so delighted with his image of her husband driving her horses through snow at Windsor Castle that she used it for her official Christmas card.

Stanfield produced what are still regarded as the most intimate and powerful images of life “Inside the Vatican,” the subject of a magazine article, a book, and a full chapter in EYE OF THE BEHOLDER. “It was the greatest assignment of my career,” Stanfield said. “I shot 2,000 rolls of film and took a year to do it. But I scaled Vatican walls by building a bond of trust with the Holy Father and his officials.”

His best photography, Stanfield said, was from another year-long assignment: retracing the journeys of 14th-century explorer Ibn Battuta. “Following a 42-day camel caravan across the Sahara I realized this was why I came to NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC. Those pictures could have been made in the year 1300. They are my best work.”

Stanfield sifted through images of thousands of people for “The Human Connection” chapter in EYE OF THE BEHOLDER. “This is where you see my development as a photographer and see how deep the photography really is,” he said. The subjects of these photos range from an exhausted medical team tracking the vital signs of a heart-transplant patient after an all-night surgery session in Poland to a glowing Romanian couple awaiting a turnout by their village for their wedding reception.

“In making pictures of people, I must rely on experience,” Stanfield said. “Should I move with incredible speed not to miss the peak of action or emotion? Or, in a sensitive situation, must I move cautiously, honoring the subject’s rights or religious beliefs? Many assignments have taught me patience. But I also have to remember that a split second of expression—joy or sorrow—may never come again.”

Stanfield prides himself on his ability to blend into the lives of his subjects, even though he cannot speak their language and he does not dress as they do. He travels with so much kit—cameras, lenses, film, strobe lighting, tripods, books, and maps—that he fills more than a dozen trunks and cases. It may take him days to clear customs in some countries. He’s been known to take two hotel rooms, one for himself and the other for his mountain of luggage.

Yet with all this he has learned how to be an unobtrusive, unblinking presence waiting patiently for the magic moment to make the matchless photograph.

“NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC is the best life a guy could ask for,” Stanfield said. “It’s an open ticket to the whole world. You get to slip into the lives of Bedouins, cowboys, miners, soldiers, fishermen—even kings, movie stars, and millionaires. “Truth is, I wouldn’t trade jobs with any of ’em.”

EYE OF THE BEHOLDER will be in bookstores nationwide in September.

Q & A with Jim Stanfield

Q: People are under the impression that being a photographer for National Geographic is like being on extended vacation in exotic parts of the world. How much of an assignment is work and how much is sightseeing and play?

A: The fact is it is a lot of hard work. I don’t have time to play. I work long hours every day I’m on assignment until every angle is exhausted. I’m often on location before sunup and again in the late afternoon to take advantage of the light. I schedule indoor shots during the day. I travel and do my administrative work at night. The work can also be hazardous. In 1994 I rode in the gunner’s seat in an open-cockpit biplane on a journey of 11,000 miles (17,702 kilometers), continuing to shoot photographs as the plane hurtled to the ground with engine failure in Indonesia.

Q: What cameras and film do you prefer to use?

A: I’m not a fanatic about film, and I can’t tell you much about cameras. I know how to operate cameras, but I’m not infatuated with them. I’m more interested in them as a tool, as an extension of my mind. Light is probably one of the most important things to consider. You can create an awful lot of action when there is no action at all just by the way you use the light. It’s as important as the camera.

Q: What are the ingredients of a memorable photograph?

A: A still photograph can grip the imagination. Great visual documentation has sense of place, a sense of moment, and the power to move people as words seldom can. Photographers look at life a little differently in the hopes of capturing that subtle shift of expression or the alignment of elements in a composition that will make a more compelling image. Light is one of my most powerful tools to create that unpredictable mood.

When people look at one of my photographs, or stories, I’d like them to see a certain degree of taste and a level of purity, so that I might open a few eyes and touch a few hearts.

Q: How much do you prepare before you start making photographs?

A: I do extensive research before I get to the location. I consult books and experts. I look at what other photographers before me have done. I like to have a little script as to exactly what it is I want to do. Once I start shooting I lose my preconceptions. My first pictures are often what others have done before me. Then I start to scrape that away and get to the real personality and character of the subject in my own unique way.

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