In the world of National Geographic, white people overlooking a landscape are not uncommon. ‘The Red Shirt School of Photography’ was a label used to describe National Geographic photographers who allegedly brought red clothing and props with them on assignment to put on their subjects in order to make better photographs when working with Kodachrome film, which is famous for its ability to render rich colours. Overlooking a landscape wearing red, the observer asserts dominance over the land. They glorify it, seeing a country that is beautiful, rich in resources, and therefore ‘worth taking’.
This is part our of series on 'documents' in collaboration with the-documents.org. Read the introduction here.