The Scape Exclusive:Up, close and personal with Annie Griffiths

by Abira Pathak
 

The city of Kolkata had a rare date with Annie Griffiths Belt. Photographer extraordinaire, she has been one of National Geographic’s foremost photojournalist and lecturers, joining the house in 1978. Her passion has taken her across thousands of nations and she has garnered a gamut of experience. She has worked in dozens of magazines and global projects, some of which are the rarest and choicest works in photojournalism across the globe. She was a visiting professor of photography at Ohio University in 1986-87. She is the Founder and Executive Director of Ripple Effect Images, a non-profit organization, which documents the effect of climate change on communities around the world, as well as the programs that help poor women cope with environmental change. Born and brought up in Minnesota, she commenced her professional career while she was still in school, working as a staff photographer for the Minnesota Daily. She was awarded from the National Press Photographers Association, The Associated Press, The National Organization for Women, and the White House News Photographers Association.

She has several publications to her name. A Camera, Two Kids and a Camel, a photo memoir, published in 2009 created ripples around the world. Her latest publication, Simply Beautiful Photographs, published in October, 2010, is a visual extravaganza that appeals to the aesthetic. It comprises of some rare, unused photographs from the archive of the National Geographic Magazine. She graced the ongoing 35th Kolkata International Book Fair partially to promote her publication and as a part of her ongoing tour of discovering India. Our Scape correspondent, Abira Pathak, was lucky enough to have a one-on-one tété-a-tété with this very unassuming and elegant lady:
Scape: You are one of the first women photographers in the stalwart channel, National Geographic. How was the journey?
 

Annie: I think being a woman, it has been a wonderful advantage…I really do. You know, I think it’s an advantage because women are less threatening and the kind of work that I do, you want to blend in. you don’t want to draw attention to yourself…and so people are less intimidated by a strange woman walking into their neighborhood in a strange way! I always thought and found it to be an advantage… (Smiles)

Scape: You have had an extraordinarily illustrious career with zillions of experiences almost everyday! Any certain incident or incidents that you would like to share with us…

Annie: I did another book a couple of years ago that’s called, ‘A Camera, Two Kids and a Camel’…and it’s like a photo memoir…of memories that I have in kind of my journey through all of that! And there are just so many. There are just days when I used to connect with the people… I had a very very touching day in Pakistan one time and I was in this very very remote village and the people were very poor and yet they showed me every kindness. They offered to let me sleep there, they fed me and they played music for me. It was like even though they had nothing but they gave everything to a stranger. Those days really…you know…they can’t be replaced. It was such a privilege! 

For the entire interview follow the link : http://www.thescape.in/newsdetail.asp?newsid=1806