National Geographic is known for capturing unbelievable photographs. For some of their stories they have cameras diving into the deep oceans, hand on trees, or left behind for weeks to capture a rare mating in a desolated jungle.
While Nat Geo also uses stock Nikon Cameras, they do modify them sometimes in what could only be dubbed the heavens of camera hackery labs. The lab, led by Kenji Yamaguchi – Nat Geo Chief Maker, converts cameras, lenses and strobes for specific needs. Nat Geo’s Proof did a full story and video on Kenji, giving a glimpse into the wonderful world of Nat Geo’s camera hackery.
… Kenji builds contraptions that can’t be bought. When a photographer needs to fasten a camera onto a thirty-foot pole to capture a bird in her nest, or build a wide-angle macro lense to identify pollen on a flower with mountains in the background, he’ll call Kenji
An example of such a device is the one enabling photographer David Doubilet to capture gorgeous half submerged photo at Suruga Bay, Japan below. Or photographer Steve Winters to get extreme close ups of big cats.
Photograph By David Doubilet / national geographic
Kenji has held this job for 32 years. I think I would too.
[The Magic Starts Here: Kenji’s Workshop of Camera Wizardry | Proof via gizmodo]
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