Michael Nichols: Ambassador profile
Being an editor-at-large of National Geographic is a seriously challenging role for any photographer and its one that Michael ‘Nick’ Nichols took on in early 2008. But the path to such a prestigious position wasn’t always clear. The man dubbed ‘The Indiana Jones of Photography’ by Paris Match spent a lot of time looking at photographs when he was young, but for a long time he didn’t know exactly why!
Nick was born in 1952 in the US state of Alabama but recalls: “I was from a very poor family. I couldn’t even buy a camera.” So poor that when he could, he took his chances to flick through photographs in magazines and books in the school library. “I would go to the school library and get a book and take it to the bathroom to have more time with it. I’d read The Decisive Moment until my legs went to sleep.”
So how did photography become the driving force in Nick’s life? “When I studied I always wanted to express myself and I had a very inspirational high school teacher who encouraged me to be creative and to be an individual. She saw something in me and pushed it,” he says.
He recalls: “Photography wasn’t really in my mind, but this immediate medium was what I was looking for. I had been looking at pictures my whole life – the pictures in National Geographic each month. I’ve always loved to look at pictures. When I first did I looked at the work of Cartier-Bresson and Edward Weston, and when I started thinking about photography I began looking at photo magazines.”
In the 1970s when he received the draft from the US Army Nick, a self-confessed “full blown hippy” and conscientious objector, bought himself some time by offering to serve an extra year on top of the mandatory two years of national service. The reasoning was that this willingness to serve for longer would delay his entry into the army and allow him to be a photographer. As it happened, this delay meant the Vietnam War had ended by the time he joined the forces.
He remembers: “If you get that (draft) letter you do two years in the infantry and you’re probably gonna end up killing someone, which was against my beliefs. I would have died and burned before ever going to Vietnam.”
In fact Nick served out his time in the army in Kentucky in the photographic department. He admits: “I gave a third year of my life to the army so they let me be a photographer. I mostly hid in the darkroom but they gave me a 4x5 Speed Graphic and used to ask how many sheets did you want – two, four or six? I also had some funky Konica cameras and I bought a Canon F-1 and shot with that.”
Whilst in the US Army Nick started to take pictures in caves with a Nikonos camera and the Speed Graphic. He remembers: “I started photographing caves because of the challenge, because there was no light. So I started knowing how to work with light very early on. We used to have storehouses full of the flash powder and had to use it. In hindsight it was the best thing that ever happened to me and let me learn my craft. Around 1975 I started mixing flash with ambient light and I later got inspiration from the work of Jeff Jacobson and the like.”
After completing his national service Nick went back to school and began a course called Photo 101 in the fine art department at the University of North Alabama and it was there that he learnt to print black and white photographs. He also met one of his mentors, former Life magazine photographer Charles Moore. Nick explains: “A very defining moment for me was meeting Charles Moore - who had taken all those famous shots of the civil rights movement in the ‘60s - he took me under his wing.”
Clearly his time in the army had prepared him well for his future career. “The army allowed me to do the ‘f/8 and be there thing’.” What it also prepared him for was his first assignment with Geo magazine. Nick had been building up is portfolio by shooting nudes of his wife, Reba, and his lighting work in caves so, given his background, it was little surprise that his first major assignment for Geo was shooting in caves.
He recalls: “My first assignment was in Geo and it became a huge hit in 1979 and all the early years were with for Geo US and Germany. Three years later I was with Magnum. When Geo was folding they made applications for me at National Geographic and Life.” Nick suffered a rejection from National Geographic. “Bob Gilka was the director of photography at the time, when there was a whole different culture at National Geographic, and he suggested I became an attorney.”
Nick’s stint with the famous Magnum co-operative (founded in 1947 by Henri Cartier-Bresson, Robert Capa, George Rodger and David ‘Chim’ Seymour) ran from 1982 to 1995. He reveals: “Philip Griffiths Jones took me under his wing and, without being aware of it, he brought me to the environment. I photographed gorillas in Rwanda in 1981 and that was when I realised what I could do with this camera. It was the gorillas that started this stuff (environmentalism).”
His conservation work probably also has its roots in an early appreciation for the rights of others when growing up in the deep south of the USA and witnessing the civil rights movement of the 1960s. Nick recalls: "I was really influenced as I was surrounded by social documentary." Now he was documenting the struggles of nature and wildlife, not people.
Talking of his relationship with his cameras Nick explains: “I might have had a brief moment with the A series but after that I was using the T90. It was such a fabulous design and once my fingers had changed shape to that design that was it. As I think back Canon has always been the camera choice for me – I just like the ruggedness and the design. Eventually when the T90 didn’t have any black left on the body I gave it to my kids.”
Michael Nichols: Ambassador profile
Despite previously being rejected by National Geographic on two separate occasions by 1996 Nick had finally joined the publication as a staff photographer. “I had been searching for the path of National Geographic – not that I thought it was the end all, but it has 30 million readers and they give you the time and freedom to go on assignment. To be honest I only left Magnum because of the money although I was worried there weren’t more women photographers involved. I believe in co-operatives, I don’t believe in elitism. I believe in VII – I love any co-operative and the only way you can ‘see’ anything is together.”
A management change sealed Nick’s career move to National Geographic with Bob Gilka making way for Tom Kennedy as director of photography of the publication, and what Gilka chose not to grab Kennedy did. “I wanted that audience. When I came along Geo was forcing changes in National Geographic, but I believe in the substance of National Geographic – reporting the facts,” says Nick.
With the 1981 experience of photographing the gorillas of Rwanda having set Nick on a path of conservation and environmentalism soon his work was being noticed began to be sought out by several luminaries from that world. He worked on the book project ‘Brutal Kinship’, which looks at man’s contradictory relationship with his closest relative the chimpanzee, with the famed anthropologist Jane Goodall.
Nick explains: “Clearly I had made a lot of noise for going in to the wildest places on earth so I did the project with Jane Goodall and the chimpanzees – Goodall searched me out. It was always my ability to have adventure so I got a lot of attention in that world. I became more and more obsessed.”
So what is the key to Nick’s continuing photographic obsession? “When I first started looking at Ernst Haas, Cartier-Bresson and Edward Weston I didn’t know what their work meant. I was just fascinated by the image, but I didn’t see the power of the image. I was just fascinated by Ernst Haas’ colours and Edward Weston’s floating nude, but now I think of the process. Now it’s become ‘Wow, what can I do with this?’ The fact is it’s instantaneous and freezes a moment, and I’m addicted to that moment. I’m just driven like a maniac.”
Another person who sought Nick out was the conservationist Mike Fay who was set to embark on his ‘Megatransect’ expedition walking 2,000 miles (3,219 km) on foot from Congo’s deepest rain forest to the Atlantic Coast of Gabon, studying Africa’s last great wilderness. Nick joined him on the epic trail in 1999 and 2000 and his photographic work from this epic journey was showcased in the 2001 National Geographic articles ‘Megatransect: Across 1,200 Miles of Untamed Africa on Foot’, ‘Green Abyss: Megatransect, Part II’, and ‘End of the Line: Megatransect, Part III’.
Nick reveals: “Mike searched me out to help them to get the message out.” This message clearly went straight to the President of Gabon as one of the major outcomes from Megatransect is the fact that the leader agreed to set aside 11% of the land mass of his country to create 13 National Parks. In 2002 the then US Secretary of State Colin Powell approved a $53 million (US) grant to help to preserve the Congo Basin.
In 2005 National Geographic Books published ‘The Last Place on Earth’, which featured Nick’s colour photographs and Fay’s journals from the ‘Megatransect’ expedition, whilst his black and white images from the expedition featured in the book ‘Megatransect Journal’. Other books Nick has authored include ‘Keepers of the Kingdom’, a photographic essay reflecting on changes in U.S. zoos and ‘The Year of the Tiger’, which focused on the world’s remaining tigers.
Of his conservation work Nick says: “I believe we have set a standard for conservation with the establishment of the National Parks in Gabon. I don’t think we do this for ourselves. I don’t care if the public knows that it’s Nick Nichols who has taken the pictures, just that they feel differently about nature. National Geographic is the vehicle but the mission is much bigger than photography. If you get a few great frames in your life you’ve done well.”
Having come from an age where Speed Graphics were still acceptable as standard use, at least in the US Army, how is the digital age for Nick? “I started out using manual so when autofocus arrived I didn’t turn it on for about three years. I don’t like change but when it becomes undeniable you change. For me there’s never been a different choice, as I know that Canon will answer my requirements. Canon has always made something to suit me. In the early days you had one camera but now you have to change a lot as I don’t want to be out with a 10-megapixel when I should have a 21-megapixel camera with me.”
“I have most of the lenses from the 600mm telephoto down to the wideangles and I have the EOS 5D, EOS-1D Mark III and the EOS-1Ds Mark II. To be honest my timing has never caught up with the 5D yet,” laughs Nick heartily.
Although now a much decorated, award-winning photographer - Nick has four times been awarded first prize for nature and environment stories by World Press Photo and his other awards include Wildlife Photographer of the Year – he refuses to ever stand still.
As well as his ‘day job’ Nick is also heavily involved in fostering community among photographers. In 2007, he founded and co-directed the inaugural ‘Look 3: Festival of the Photograph’ in Charlottesville, Virginia and he is involved with the newly-formed International League of Conservation Photographers.
‘Look 3’ is three-day celebration of peace, love and photography and the 2007 event was a sold out success including interviews and slide shows from established photographers, plus an interactive gallery exhibit that encouraged all festival attendees to share their work. Indeed he was busy putting the finishing to the 2008 ‘Look 3’ event when CPN spoke to him.
His recent promotion to become an editor-at-large of National Geographic will increase his involvement in these areas and he has a brief to “start new initiatives for expanding and leveraging National Geographic magazine’s photographic reach.”
Michael Nichols: Ambassador profile
He has now photographed over two dozen stories for National Geographic with one of the most recently published being ‘Ivory Wars: Last Stand in Zakouma’ (March 2007), which is said to have generated an incredible response from the public in raising awareness and funding to protect the elephants of Chad. He notes: “Now it’s becoming the body of work that’s important.”
In September 2008 Nick will have an exhibition at the 20th VISA pour l’Image event in Perpignan, France, and the September 2008 issue of National Geographic will feature Nick’s latest work ‘Family ties, the Elephants of Samburu’.
So what’s next? He laughs: “Hey, I’m 55, pretty beat up, I’ve had malaria 20 times but I’ve got a new project that scares the heck out of me. Shooting Redwood trees is what I’m about to start. They represent what nature is all about. They’re 400 feet tall, 2,000 year old trees, so this is almost a history story.”
So he’s off to live in California, with his wife, for a year shooting these giants of nature from the Big Sur up to the tip of Oregon. “Only 1% of old growth, that’s uncut trees, is left. When you walk in those forests it’s like being with Tolkien and the hobbits. This time next year the project will be finished,” he explains.
Nick is also working on two book projects – one about the elephants of Africa and the other an account of his life as a photographer. And, if talking to him is any indication of the strength of its potential content, that life story is going to be one hell of a read.
- Technical
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Nick Nichols’s equipment:
Cameras:
EOS-1D Mark III
EOS-1Ds Mark II
EOS 5D
EOS 30D
EOS 350D
Lenses:
EF-S10-22mm f/3.5-4.5 USM
EF16-35mm f/2.8L II USM
EF24mm f/1.4L USM
EF28mm f/1.8 USM
EF35mm f/1.4L USM
EF50mm f/1.4 USM
EF70-200mm f/2.8L USM
EF180mm f/3.5L Macro USM
EF300mm f/4L IS USM
EF 400mm f/4.0 DO IS USM
EF500mm f/4L IS USM
EF600mm f/4.0L IS USM
Accessories:
Speedlite 580EX
- Click through to page 4 of this article to read Nick Nichols's opinions on the Ambassadors Programme.
Michael Nichols − shooting from the lip
What do you think about the Ambassadors Programme?
“I like the name, as Ambassador has the right connotation. As a 30 years Canon user I feel perfectly at home. The fact is that I have always been a Canon Ambassador anyway.”
Why do you think the Ambassadors Programme is important?
“At this point, I’m proud of being associated with the other photographers who are included. If the choice continues in this manner this could be a very positive and powerful voice for photography beyond Canon. To just think about Canon, I think we might have a chance to influence the young photographers, and to influence the design of cameras that fit our selfish needs.”
What got you started in photography?
“The need to express myself. As a very young man I studied art and painting and at 19 when I first took a photographic course in a liberal art university, the instant gratification very much fit my personality and talent. From that moment I never thought of anything else.”
What does photography mean to you?
“The freezing of a moment in time. It means self-expression, activisms, concern, documentation, and a means to affect positive change.”
What kind of photographer do you consider yourself to be?
“I started as a photojournalist in the traditional sense. Because of National Geographic’s huge audience I have evolved into a photographer with a mission to give voice to those creatures, places and cultures on the planet that are gravely threatened.”
What would you advise someone who is just coming into the business?
“To create and stand up for your rights, to learn to use photography, audio and video as part of our tools, and to never ever forget why you love photography in the first place.”
