PHOTOMENTARIES

In this episode, we meet photographer Michael "Nick" Nichols, who's earned a reputation as being a resourceful adventurer who always returns from the field with breathtaking images. But in the quiet forest of northern California, he faces a whole new challenge when he tries to photograph a single redwood tree. With a team of climbers and scientists, Nick creates a robotic dolly system that will carry his cameras 100 meters into the forest canopy and take nearly a hundred photographs that will be stitched together to form one single jaw-dropping image of a redwood tree from top to bottom.

Biologist and photographer Mark Moffett is on a globe-trekking quest for National Geographic magazine to document the world’s pollinators in action - Mammals, Insects, and Birds.

Photographer Carsten Peter and lightning researcher Tim Samaras are chasing lightning storms in the North American Southwest on "Nat Geo's Most Amazing Photos: Lightning." Carsten's dual missions are to shoot pictures of lightning for National Geographic magazine and to photograph Samaras as he tries to capture scientifically valuable images of the process that occurs when an electrical strike from the ground meets a bolt from the sky. If successful, the men could take a ground-breaking photograph. But it is dangerous. Will they get the lightning or will the lightning get them?

We follow photographer Chris Rainier as he travels around the world, from India through Paraguay to Papua New Guinea, to face a crucial challenge, photographing the essence of language itself. Accompanied by two linguists, he photographs locals speaking a previously undocumented language on the northeast frontier of India, records a shaman ceremony in the Pantanal of Paraguay, and films the initiation dance of an indigenous tribe in Papua New Guinea. It's Chris's life-long objective to photograph the traditions of endangered cultures before they are lost forever but he knows time is running out. More than fifty percent of the world's 7,000 languages may be extinct by the end of the century, and Chris sees his pictures as cultural documentation for future generations - a portfolio of iconic images that may be used to revitalize cultures and languages.

Renowned underwater photographer Brian Skerry is known for not only taking stunning images, but for bringing important environmental issues to the general public's attention. Despite this experience, he's not prepared for what he finds on his latest assignment for National Geographic magazine, when he travels to a remote corner of the planet to photograph "pristine" coral reefs in the Phoenix Islands. He arrives to find hectares of dead coral - the result of increased water temperatures due to a recent El Niño event. With just over a week to document the area through photographs, Brian is unsure what story he'll be able to tell, until - amidst the desolation, Brian finds signs that, like the proverbial phoenix rising from the ashes, the coral here is rebuilding itself. It seems that when left to its own devices, life really does find a way.

Watch some of the most iconic cover photos ever taken and what did it take for National Geographic photographers to get those shots?

David Doubilet is a renowned photographer for National Geographic magazine. Join David on his quest to mine sunken warships for undersea photographic treasure as he tells the story of the artificial reefs off the East Coast of the United States. And he watches as the USS Vandenberg is dynamited and sent to the bottom of the ocean - with two of David's cameras aboard to capture the inrush of water on what will become the newest artificial reef. But will he get the shot?

More than 40 years ago, famed photographer Bill Allard fell in love with the American West. Now, on assignment for National Geographic magazine, he follows the path of the Hi-Line Railroad, which cuts across a thousand kilometers of northern Montana. He's there to track down the descendants of homesteaders who settled there a century ago to eke out a living despite the odds stacked against them. Along the way, we'll find out what connects Bill to this rugged landscape and why, at 73, he can't resist coming back again and again.

What is it about the human face? Two of the world's most renowned photographers, Steve McCurry and Martin Schoeller reveal their secrets for capturing intimate portraits using very different shooting styles and lighting techniques. We'll follow along and learn from these masters how they find and photograph that one-in-a-million face.

For a photographer, getting published inside National Geographic's famed yellow border is one of the most esteemed accomplishments in photojournalism. Having your photo selected as one of the magazine's 10 best photos of the year is even better. Join Chris Johns, National Geographic's Editor in Chief, as he selects his Top 10 Photos of 2011 and reveals the powerful stories behind each one, as well as the photographers who took them.

Rio de Janeiro is hosting the 2016 summer Olympics, but before the athletes and spectators arrive, theres a lot of work to be done. Veteran National Geographic magazine photographer David Alan Harvey hits the ground running to reveal how this complex city known for both its lavish parties and dangerous neighborhoods is preparing for the worlds arrival and reinventing itself along the way.

National Geographic photographer Steve McCurry faces a once-in-a-lifetime challenge: after 75 years, Kodak has discontinued their Kodachrome 64 Slide Film, and Steve's been given the very last roll to document its retirement in just 36 frames. He travels from the streets of New York to Mumbai, India and then into remote farming villages in the heart of Rajasthan to capture portraits of a changing world on a film that will never be made again.

Underneath Paris is a world of mystery and darkness. We'll follow photographer Stephen Alvarez - renowned for his groundbreaking cave pictures - into the subterranean realm beneath Paris. It's a place filled with historic mysteries and modern danger, where historians study the roots of Paris, and where artists, writers, and revolutionaries have woven the plots of novels, rebellions, and more.

National Geographic photographer Paul Nicklen is on assignment in the Arctic. We follow Paul as he braves the frigid waters off Greenland to photograph the unpredictable and dangerous Atlantic walrus. These giant mammals have rarely been photographed feeding on the ocean floor. Paul's challenge is to get close enough to capture the unique feeding habits of the walrus, while keeping a safe distance from their razor-sharp tusks.

Nick Nichols has been photographing elephants for more than 20 years. Now, he faces his most emotional assignment yet photographing orphaned elephants at the moment when they are most vulnerable immediately after their parents have been killed by poachers. Nick works closely with the keepers at the Sheldrick Wildlife Trust, who have made caring for these orphaned elephants their lifes work.

Everyone's seen pictures of tigers and that leaves veteran big cat photographer Steve Winter with a problem - how do you photograph Bengal tigers in their natural habitat in a way that's never been seen before? To accomplish his mission, Steve travels to India with boxes of high-tech photographic equipment in an attempt to do just that.