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| Washington Post |
The National Geographic has been a mainstay in photography for as long as it has existed, so it makes sense that they have
one of the best Instagram accounts on the market,
gotta keep with the times. From the sublime to the humorous to the
breathtaking, their feed is an utter joy to scroll through, and now you
can essentially stand in the middle of it.
Well, you can do that if you happen to be in Washington DC any time soon.
From
now until April, the National Geographic Museum (yes, it's a thing) are
exhibiting prints of more than 200 of their most popular posts out of
the 12,300 or so that they've uploaded since the account went live in
2012.
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| wtop.com |
Nat Geo being who they are, the sheer variety is enough by itself to
generate interest, they have photographers literally coating the planet
and the kinds of moments they've been able to capture paint a tapestry
so vibrant it's seizure inducing.
The first thing you see upon walking into the museum is a giant iPhone
with a blown up version of the account itself, and from there you're
invited to wander through
a literal maze of plus-size prints, meant to represent the narrow avenues that social media funnels you through. Using social media to your advance, and taking a swing at it at the same time; well played, Nat Geo.
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| wtop.com |
The maze features a few alcoves which allow visitors to examine the
photos in more detail, and listen to some recorded backstory from the
photographer. They can then actually record their own thoughts and
feelings on the image, and
the best examples get edited onto the end of the photographer's recording.
Get that, if you're impressed enough, you can actually become part of
the exhibit, and not in a creepy way like that photograph at the end of
The Shining.
If this all sounds exciting in one sense, but frustrating in another,
far more literally geographic sense, fret not, there's a book you can
buy as well. It won't record your thoughts, but at least you'll get a
similar sense of how amazing some of these images are beyond just
flicking between them on a touch screen.
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