Creative Inspirations – Rick Smolan

I have just been watching one of the latest Creative Inspiration series of videos with Rick Smolan on Lynda.com , and was intrigued by his project Natasha’s Story.

A former Time, Life and National Geographic photographer, Rick Smolan has created some   well known photographic projects such as the Day in the Life and 24/7 book series. He has photographed covers for Fortune, Time, Newsweek and US News & World Report.

One of Ricks projects was documenting Amerasian children fathered by American GI’s in the Korean war.

I was struck by a couple of pictures in the Lynda.com video of a girl called Unsuk Lee (later named Natasha), who looked incredibly western, along side her grandmother in Korea.

Intrigued by the story, I hunted around the web finding a presentation Rick had given on Ted.com.

It has been interesting to read other peoples opinions on various blogs on whether Ricks involvement was a good or bad thing, and they reminded me of  a presentation by another photojournalist on what is was like to document tragedy happening all around you, and how difficult it was not to interfere.

Returning to the Lynda.com video… It was a treat to listen to Rick discuss the many projects he has worked on and the way he approaches them…… recommended viewing.

Links

• Get inspired: New Creative Inspirations title with Rick Smolan – Lynda.com Blog
• Talks Rick Smolan tells the story of a girl – Video on Ted.com