I picked A Camera, Two Kids, and a Camel: My Journey in Photographs by Annie Griffiths Belt up off the new adult nonfiction rack at the library because of the stunning cover photograph. (That goes without saying, I guess.) What I found inside was very inspiring and enjoyable: the story of Annie Griffiths Belt, a former National Geographic photographer, who traveled the world with her two young and growing children in tow, just to capture the perfect shot. I really enjoy beautiful photography and reading about new-to-me places (the more obscure, the better), and this book combines those two things delightfully. An added bonus is that Annie Griffiths Belt is just as passionate about her children and being with them as much as possible, to the point of taking them along to very remote (and even admittedly dangerous) places. I like that. (Well, okay, not the dangerous part, maybe. I’m not sure how I feel about that. But I do love that she was a very committed, hands-on parent when her children were young, especially.) Interspersed among the gorgeous photographs are mini-essays in which Belt writes about their travel experiences. The topics and locales are as different as a Scandinavian farm during a North Dakota blizzard to Lag b’Omer in Jerusalem, a traditional Hasidic festival which only men and boys attend (and for which Belt disguised herself as a boy) to remote Baja California, Mexico, and its poor but happy inhabitants. Belt‘s love for both her family and her profession shines through on every page of this small, coffee table style book. I couldn’t help but be a little wistful that I can’t take my own children on such adventures as she took hers, but at least we can do the next best thing–visit them by reading about all these beautiful, interesting, and exotic places. Highly Recommended. (National Geographic, 2008)
