“Images themselves are always a story about humans, even if humans aren’t in the photo to begin with.”
Whether you love to binge-watch visually arresting docuseries like Planet Earth or you’re more partial 60 Minutes-style deep dives, you’re in for a major treat: A new series from National Geographic is going to scratch an itch (or several) for you.
Photographer is a six-episode docuseries that focuses on globally renowned photographers across numerous industries — including our beloved Katie Couric Media contributors, Paul Nicklen and Cristina Mittermeier. As you might expect, the visuals in each episode of Photographer are flat-out jaw-dropping (you can get a sneak peek in the trailer below). But what’s equally compelling about this show is the opportunity it offers for you to crawl inside the minds of such groundbreaking artists.
Photographer premieres on the National Geographic Channel on March 18, and the entire show will be available to stream online on Disney+ and Hulu on March 19. In honor of the show’s upcoming premiere, Katie Couric Media is giving you the equivalent of a bonus episode: a chance to go behind the scenes with the show creators themselves, Oscar and Emmy Award-winning filmmakers Elizabeth “Chai” Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin.
You might know the two filmmakers from their work on Free Solo, the mind-boggling, award-winning documentary released in 2018 that chronicled the trials and tribulations of rock climber Alex Honnold as he attempted to climb El Capitan, an infamous rock face in Yosemite National Park, without the help of any ropes or safety mechanisms. More recently, you might have seen their 2023 film Nyad, which offered a narrative depiction of open water swimmer Diana Nyad’s attempt to swim from Cuba to Florida.
Chin and Vasarhelyi are, like Nicklen and Mittermeier, partners in both work and life. In addition to creating Photographer, the married couple also directed the pilot episode for the show, which features Nicklen and Mittermeier. Talk about major power couple vibes. Below, Chin and Vasarhelyi offer exclusive insight into why they wanted to make this show so badly, how their marriage has changed their professional careers, and more.
Can you tell us a bit about Photographer?
Jimmy: I’m really excited about this new series. It offers a totally unique form of insight into a lifestyle and art form that so few people have access to. We wanted to help people understand what it takes for a photographer to reach the height of their craft. When you watch this series, you’ll see how truly singular each of the spotlighted individuals are. They have wildly different backgrounds and interests and styles, and they’re all unbelievably talented. Photography is the throughline that connects them, of course — but when you come to look at the work that they’re doing, and how they’re doing it, and why they’re doing it, they might as well all be living in different worlds. It’s fascinating to see how one art form can be used in so many different ways, and for such different reasons.
Chai: When we embarked upon this project, we had a goal of reminding people that there’s a human behind every image — and maybe even more importantly, we wanted to remind people that images themselves are always a story about humans, even if humans aren’t in the photo to begin with. When you think about it, skilled photographers are extremely powerful and influential people. They control what we look at, and how we look at it. And we don’t always take the time to think about the images we’re consuming, so Jimmy and I were eager to help people make that jump.
Visual fields, like photography and filmmaking, can often be particularly powerful tools of activism. Do you consider yourselves activists?
Jimmy: One of my mentors was the environmentalist and entrepreneur, Patagonia founder Yvon Chouinard. He told me once that everybody’s efforts can help to move the needle in some way. You just have to figure out what tools are available to you in your own personal toolbox. And so I like to ask myself: What are the tools that Chai and I have to move the needle? For us, it’s storytelling. More specifically, it’s storytelling through photography and filmmaking. Everyone has something to contribute, though. So you have to ask yourself: What can you do? What’s the tool in your toolbox that you can contribute?
Chai: My take on this is quite different from Jimmy’s. I don’t look at myself as an advocate in any way. I think my form of service is aimed at amplifying the voices of others, and that’s it. In Photographer, for example, the goal was to amplify the voices of seven extraordinary individuals. And while some of their work may contain certain political undertones, for me it’s less about the politics and more about the fact that their stories are personally moving to me. I wanted to do everything in my power to help audiences to see through Paul and Cristina’s eyes, for example. That way, the audience might better understand what these remarkable individuals see in the world around us.
What has it been like to merge your professional careers, now that you’re both married and creative partners on so many major projects?
Jimmy: When Chai and I first started working together, what I admired about her most was her standard of excellence. We’re both kind of relentless in the craft of filmmaking and storytelling. So I think that is what drives us to work together. We found the perfect partner within one another, and it’s been pretty interesting to watch our trajectory, once we aligned on the stories that we wanted to tell.
Chai: Jimmy has opened my eyes to a lot of new things. He’s also inspired me to be invested in different types of stories than I would’ve been interested in previously. There’s also a new practical reality for both of us:Wwe have two kids together. Because of that, I’m unwilling to film in places like Afghanistan the way that I would’ve been previously. So I would say that Jimmy expanded the breadth of my work. It’s not necessarily that we were similar and then found each other. I think that we found another tool or instrument in one another, if that makes sense. Oh, and we’re also just passionate life partners with amazing kids and all that great stuff.
