By Cathy Newman
Cary Wolinsky, whose quicksilver mind and creativity illuminated more than 32 features and 46 shorter pieces for National Geographic, died on June 16 at South Shore Hospital in Weymouth, Massachusetts of heart failure. He was 75.
- He traveled the world for Geographic articles on the Kremlin, Sichuan, the Brain, Color, Poison, Diamonds, among others, as well as a series on textile fibers: Cotton, Wool and Silk. For a story on wool published in 1988, he wanted to show what a season’s growth of wool on a sheep looked like. He commissioned a professional sheep shearer in Australia to carefully clip one side of a sheep to create a profile view to make the point. The first half-sheared, lopsided sheep toppled over; subsequent attempts also failed. The 30th sheep was the charm and the photo was the lead shot in the article.
One season of growth on a sheep. Fabric of History: Wool- Cary had a gift for turning a complicated, abstract idea into an often-droll image. In addition to the half-shorn sheep, he photographed a large, ripe strawberry, its seeds meticulously plucked out and replaced with 110 tiny diamonds for a story on that gem.
India’s cutters produce millions of tiny parve diamonds. Diamonds: The Real Story
By his own admission he was a fanatic researcher. For the Cotton story that ran in 1994, he read 65 books, relied on 160 contacts, and visited 11 countries. In planning the Poison story, he decided the coverage should include a food taster. But where to find one? Considering the occupational hazards, did practitioners of the job even survive? And weren’t employment opportunities limited? “The Japanese Emperor hasn’t used a taster in years,” he was told. Buckingham Palace advised they didn’t use “food tasters as all in-house chefs are vetted and trustworthy.” The photograph seemed a no-go, until Cary discovered that in the royal kitchens of Thailand the job fell to a legion of nibbling white mice under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Health. Then word came back that the mice would not be made available for an interview. Undeterred, he and his fixer Neha Diddee, tracked down Mathura Prasad, food taster to the Thakun of Mandawa in India’s Thar desert. The image appeared in the May, 2005 issue.
“Taking a photograph literally describes what is done,” he said. “Something is taken. Besides taking their likeness, I take people’s time and cooperation.” He gave, too. He made friends easily and well on assignment—not to make access easier—but rooted in a genuine interest in his subjects. Many remained friends long after the assignment was over.
“He came to people and said, ‘I want to tell your story and I need your help in making that happen,’” his son, Yari, explained. “The stories were collaborations with the people involved, who responded to him because he was authentic.”
Is fear hard-wired or learned? for What’s in Your Mind article.
His generosity extended to his peers. “He was the voice of reason for all of us,” Randy Olson, a photographer for the magazine remembered. His quiet composure gave agency to his fierce advocacy for fellow photographers. “Cary was a leader,” recalled David Doubilet, another colleague. It was a role, Doubilet added, that often did not sit well with management.
Dru-Gu Choegyal Rinpoche, Buddhist teacher and “Olympic” meditator.
“It was early in my career at NGS, around 1984,” said Chris Johns, who would later be editor in chief. “We were in a contentious meeting on fees and rights with [then editor in chief] Bill Graves. Cary represented us. Graves went on an apoplectic rant. Cary was calm and cool. When Graves was finished, he said, ‘Why are you so interested in controlling us and not inspiring us?’” That quieted Graves down.
In a passage that will resonate with any photographer embarking on a foreign assignment who must struggle with the demands of the job and responsibilities to family—in his case his wife Barbara (Babs) and son Yari—he wrote:
Fifteen hours later the door reopens and the hot smoky air of a developing country fills the plane. With any luck, my papers will be in order, the man from the Ministry of Something-or-Other will meet me as promised…I take a deep breath.
In Morocco, it took two trips to Security Headquarters in town to get my cameras released from customs. In Bombay, it took 30 days, a trip to New Delhi, and a gratuity to a highly placed official to get 300 rolls of film released. In Moscow, I was walked around customs, provided I was carrying the preferred brand of scotch…
Returning to home and office after being in the field is always jarring. Life has gone on. Months of mail and phone messages await my review. My family rightfully expects that I will want to become reacquainted and take over a few responsibilities. There is also a story to finish.
After his work for National Geographic, he would turn to film making. He joined with Yari to found Trillium Studios Film. The family joke was that their roles were reversed, Yari said. “As a child, I held the reflector for my Dad while shooting. Later, when we switched to films, my Dad held the reflector for me while making the Climate Change series we did for Turnaround Films,” which he was working on at the time of his death.
A rebus illustrating how to read Egyptian hieroglyphics. Hint: The first word is “eye.” History of Writing
His later career also included a collaboration with performance artists and identical triplets Alicia, Kelly and Sara Casilio. Known as TRIIIBE; the partnership produced artful photographs that provoke conversations about gender, equality and difference (see photo at top).
Cary once likened an idea to a flaring match, a spark that lights the way to successively bigger blazes of light. Illumination again—not just in his flair for lighting a subject, but in sparking the flame of understanding and wonder in readers.
Asked why he took pictures, he replied it had to do with curiosity. “Open your eyes,” he said. “There is no end to the world.”
The family asks that donations in his honor be made to the North and South Rivers Watershed Association. A celebration of his life will be held later this year. For details, write to
Cathy Newman, a former editor at large for National Geographic, was fortunate to collaborate with Cary on three stories for the magazine.
