See National Geographic’s best portraits – and enter the photography contest

Many of us grew up with National Geographic magazines and remember some of the photographs from around the world. The magazine’s photographers have so often captured the essence of a place or the emotion of people better than anything short of an actual visit.

The Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History and National Geographic have created an exhibit through the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service to display 56 of the most striking pictures of people taken by these photographers, titled In Focus: National Geographic Greatest Portraits. There are images of tribal leaders, fishermen and American workers from the Great Depression, as well as riveting modern pictures of refugees, city dwellers and urban laborers. Both black and white and color, these pictures display history and the world in breathtaking scope.

The exhibit opened in Atlanta December 12 and will be here until April 18. You can see it at the Southern Museum of Civil War and Locomotive History in Kennesaw. (see map) The museum has permanent exhibits about the Great Locomotive Chase that took place near here during the Civil War, railroads, and Glover Machine Works. It also has a good collection of Civil War era letters, records and photographs.

The Southern Museum is celebrating the exhibit by holding a photography contest. there are three categories – one for photos with one subject, one for two to five subjects, and the last is for those with over five subjects. They have requested only one submission per person. The winner in each category will have his or her photograph framed and displayed along with the In Focus exhibition. (Submission deadline is Feb. 19. Winners are announced March 5.)

Hours: Monday through Saturday from 9:30 to 5.

Admission: $7.50 for adults, $5.50 for children between the ages of 4 – 12.

(Photograph: Afghan Girl by Steve McCurry, 1985. Courtesy Southern Museum of Civil War and Locomotive History. Used with permission.)