National Geographic Documentary Photography
Violet Schoneman
National Geographic has revealed the seven iconic photographers featured in the upcoming documentary series Photographer, created by Academy and Emmy Award-winning filmmakers E. Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin.
The six-episode docuseries focuses on photographers across many industries, including conservation, wildlife, fashion, and more. Photographer pairs leading documentary filmmakers with photographers, taking the viewer on adventures worldwide. Each episode will follow specific photographers as they work to create images that will stand the test of time and convey powerful visual stories.
The seven featured photographers were selected for their varied personal and professional identities. Hailing from all over the world, including the Middle East, Mexico, Australia, Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, and Ghana, the photographers may all seem very different at first glance, and they undoubtedly produce exceptionally disparate bodies of work, but a common throughline that connects them all is their passionate advocacy for telling stories through photography, which has been a considerable focus for National Geographic in the past 135 years.
Photographer was first announced in February 2021, so the development and production process has been long. However, the extended wait will end in early spring 2024 when Photographer makes its debut. It is extraordinary for photographers and the typical viewer to get an in-depth, behind-the-scenes look at the people who have dedicated their lives to capturing and creating powerful imagery.
Alex Honnold is a professional adventure rock climber whose audacious free solo ascents of America's biggest cliffs have made him one of the most recognized and followed climbers in the world. A gifted but hard-working athlete, he is known as much for his humble, self-effacing attitude as he is for the dizzyingly tall cliffs he has climbed without a rope to protect him if he falls. Honnold has been profiled by "60 Minutes" and The New York Times, been featured on the cover of National Geographic, appeared in international television commercials and starred in numerous adventure films, including the Emmy-nominated "Alone on the Wall."
Honnold is the founder of the Honnold Foundation, a nonprofit that promotes solar energy access worldwide. To this day, he maintains his simple "dirtbag-climber" existence, living out of his van, donating a significant portion of his income to the Honnold Foundation, and traveling the world in search of the next great vertical adventure. He is sponsored by The North Face, among others.
Award-winning filmmaker Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi is the director and producer of FREE SOLO, from National Geographic Documentary Films. Co-directed with Jimmy Chin, the film offers an intimate, unflinching portrait of rock climber Alex Honnold, as he prepares for and then achieves his lifelong dream: to climb the face of the world's most famous rock ... without a rope.
Vasarhelyi's films as a director include "Meru" (Oscars Shortlist 2016; Sundance Audience Award 2015); "Incorruptible" (Truer Than Fiction Independent Spirit Award 2016); "Youssou N'Dour: I Bring What I Love" (Oscilloscope, 2009), which premiered at the Telluride and Toronto Film Festivals; "A Normal Life" (Tribeca Film Festival, Best Documentary 2003); and "Touba" (SXSW, Special Jury Prize Best Cinematography 2013). Vasarhelyi has directed a New York Times Op Doc, an episode for Netflix's nonfiction design series "Abstract" and two episodes for ESPN's new nonfiction series "Enhanced." She has received grants from the Sundance Institute, the Ford Foundation, the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, Bertha Britdoc, the William and Mary Greve Foundation and the National Endowment of the Arts. She is a member of the DGA as well as AMPAS. She holds a B.A. in comparative literature from Princeton University and lives in New York City.
Jimmy Chin is a professional climber, skier, mountaineer, 18-year member of The North Face Athlete Team and National Geographic Explorer. As the director, producer and cinematographer of the National Geographic Documentary Film FREE SOLO, which he co-directed with Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi, Chin captured rock climber Alex Honnold's nail-biting free solo ascent of Yosemite National Park's El Capitan.
Consistently over the past 20 years, he has led or participated in cutting-edge climbing and ski mountaineering expeditions to all seven continents and made the first and only American ski descent from the summit of Mount Everest. Chin is also a filmmaker and National Geographic photographer. He has worked with many of the greatest explorers, adventurers and athletes of our time, documenting their exploits in the most challenging conditions and locations in the world. He has garnered numerous awards shooting on assignment for publications, including The New York Times Magazine, Vanity Fair and Outside Magazine, and has directed commercial work for a wide range of clients, including Apple, Chase, Pirelli and The North Face. His 2015 documentary "Meru," which was also co-directed by Vasarhelyi, won the Audience Award at Sundance and was nominated for best documentary by the DGA and PGA. "Meru" was also shortlisted for an Oscar.
Evan Hayes is the Head of Production & Development at the Emmy award-wining production company ACE Content, where he is also a Partner. Hayes developed and produced FREE SOLO alongside co-directors Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin. During the production of FREE SOLO, he served as President of Production at Parkes+MacDonald/Image Nation where he supervised all aspects of production, finance and creative development in both film & television. Hayes also oversaw Parkes+MacDonald's discretionary development fund as well as strategic partnerships with Image Nation Abu Dhabi, Universal Television and Studio Canal, among others. During his tenure at Parkes+MacDonald the company produced and/or financed such films as James Ponsoldt's "The Circle" starring Tom Hanks, Emma Watson, and John Boyega; Davis Guggenheim's "He Named Me Malala" for Fox Searchlight; and "Rings" for Paramount Pictures.
Prior to joining Parkes+MacDonald, Hayes served as President of Production at Story Mining & Supply Co. where he oversaw the Starz original series "Outlander" created by Ron Moore; the upcoming Fox Searchlight film "The Fence," written by Dennis Lehane and George Pelecanos and to be directed by Peter Nicks; and "The Yellow Birds" directed by Alexandre Moors and starring Alden Ehrenreich and Tye Sheridan. Hayes also spent eleven years at Working Title Films, where he first met Chin, as a producer on "Everest."
It was "He Named Me Malala" that caught the eye of directors Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin, who reached out to Dill to produce FREE SOLO. A non-climber with a well-known fear of heights, Dill decidedly came quickly on board. She was on the ground from day one overseeing every aspect of production for over two years of often logistically and emotionally challenging filmmaking.
Alex Honnold and Tommy Caldwell organize their climbing gear at the top of the Freerider route on the summit of El Capitan in Yosemite National Park, California. They had just set a new speed record on the climb. (Photo by National Geographic/Jimmy Chin)
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