Martin Schoeller Shoots in the Brazilian Rainforest for Nat Geo

In this episode of National Geographic Live! Martin Schoeller travels to a very remote part of the Brazilian Amazon, deep inside the largest section of protected rainforest in the world. Schoeller photographs the Kayapo tribe as they are traditionally as well as documents how they are coping with the changes that have been brought on by the modern world. He applies both a photojournalistic approach to the story as well as his more-known style of lit portraits, and both are pretty stunning.

Martin Schoeller has shot for National Geographic before. You can watch him speak about it here. Personally, I find his approach supremely fascinating. He takes the Bernd and Hilla Becher approach of cataloging objects in the same way and applies it to humans. It's a pretty unique process and great food for thought. What do you think about his approach to the work?

Chris Knight's picture

Residing in New York City, Chris is an internationally published photographer whose work has appeared in Vogue, People, MSNBC, ABC, Ocean Drive, GQ and others. He is an instructor of Photography and Imaging at Pratt Institute and the New York Film Academy.

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5 Comments

As per National Geo style, more anthropology then even photography, as beautiful as were the images.

I am intrigued to discover how many of his outdoor shots employed supplemental lighting and ND filters.

Fascinating. Says a lot about Martin too, about the way he can ingratiate himself from A list celebs to some of the most remote indigenous tribes in the rain forest. His words on connecting with your subject in this and other videos are extremely valuable (to me, at least). Thanks for posting.

Am I the only one who thinks shooting an African tribe takes very little skill or talent? Try making a homely fat gal look glamorous, now thats real skill.

I can't say for sure. But if I had to guess, I'd probably say there are other people out there that also vastly underestimate the technical and cultural difficulties required to pull off a complex production of this sort, told with expert narrative, in a remote section of the rainforest cut off from the modern world. Then again, it's probably overreaching to expect that kind of insight from someone who thinks the Brazilian Amazon is in Africa.

"...shooting an African tribe...? What has African got to do with this video?