Photo essay Photojournalism

The magazine of the art-form of the photo-essay “A free, really high quality photo-essay magazine. Fabulous!” Stephen Fry. British actor, writer and film & documentary maker

Jan 2016 back issue

You Are Here Around the World in 92 Minutes

by Chris Hadfield

“See the world.” It’s a common expression, not normally literally meant. But for astronauts, it becomes almost an imperative. Through the windows of our spaceships we have started to truly see the world. Gagarin and Glenn got the first sense of it in their pioneering orbits, and the Apollo astronauts standing on the Moon could cover the entire Earth with a thumb – squinting to conceal our small bit of blue in the endless black. During my half-year in space on Mir and the International Space Station I saw the world like few have ever seen it before, and felt compelled to take pictures in every free moment. Like any photographer I got better with practice, and developed a feeling of intimacy with my subject, seeing nuance and transient light and detail. By the time I landed after my third spaceflight I found I had taken nearly 45,000 photos, and was left with the question of what to do with them? I’d already shared some in low-res through social media, but the majority of the images I had never really seen, albeit in a fleeting moment through the lens at 17,500 mph.

I decided to go through all 45,000 images, one by one, publish 150 of them in a book called You Are Here, and donate my profits to the Red Cross. I tried to choose photographs that best showed the Earth for what it truly is, as if the reader was floating at my side on the spaceship, and I was pointing out the planet’s highlights as they raced by. I didn’t want to tell people what to think or conclude, but rather simply to show our planet for what it actually is, in its infinite variety and ageless, generous richness. The pictures in this magazine are some of my very favourites. I hope you enjoy the once-around with me. See the world, indeed.