OVER A DECADE OF EXPERIENCE AS A PHOTO EDITOR, PRODUCER, AND RESEARCHER WORKING COLLABORATIVELY AND EFFECTIVELY WITH GLOBAL MEDIA COMPANIES, FESTIVALS, AND PHOTOGRAPHERS.
BY ALBERTO LUCAS LÓPEZ AND KAYA LEE BERNE
This rendering of history’s most lethal periods highlights the 100 deadliest events of the past 2,500 years, based on work by researcher and author Matthew White. In 1945 WWII became the bloodiest war in recorded history. Death tolls, especially those further back in time, are best estimates. Statistics can’t fully reflect the devastation and suffering of war. But they illustrate how humankind has been prone to surges of violence throughout the ages, motivated by many of the same timeless drivers.
BY ALBERTO LUCAS LÓPEZ, RYAN WILLIAMS, AND KAYA BERNE
The ebb and flow of people across borders has long shaped our world. Data from the past 50 years of international migration help us understand why people make the choice to leave and where they go. Less than 10 percent of these migrants are forced to flee; most are seeking a better life and move only when they can afford to. Global migrants totaled fewer than 100 million in the 1960s, and although the number has increased substantially since then, it remains a fraction of the world’s 7.6 billion people today.
GRAPHICS AND MAPPING BY ALBERTO LUCAS LOPEZ AND MATTHEW W. CHWASTYK
RESEARCH AND REPORTING BY KAYA LEE BERNE
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​National Geographic Magazine, December 2019
“Sacred Mosaic” is the most complete and detailed map published to date of the places of worship in the Old City of Jerusalem, marking all of the active churches, synagogues, and mosques. To our dismay, the Israeli government keeps track only of the synagogues, otherwise there are no official lists publicly available for places of worship.
Through rigorous research, I was able to dig up a complete list in a scholarly book from 2002. After translating it from Hebrew (a long process due to most places having multiple names and translations), I pulled 10 maps and 4 atlases of the Old City and began searching for all of their locations. The lesser-known, smaller places of worship were near-impossible to find from our desks in D.C., but since I had a vague sense of their location, I hired a historian in Jerusalem to walk the city and find their exact GPS coordinates.
Using architectural plans, photographs, and text descriptions that included building dimensions, the team then made detailed 3D models of the buildings. They would serve the reader as a reference and would eventually be colored with the same color code used for historical period on the map. This was one of the most challenging - and rewarding - projects we have worked on to date.
Graphics/Illustrations by Jason Treat, cartography by Riley Champine, text by Alejandra Boruda, research and reporting by Kaya Lee Berne.
National Geographic Magazine, April 2019
GRAPHIC/ILLUSTRATION BY TAYLOR MAGGIACOMO, MAP BY RILEY CHAMPINE, RESEARCH AND INTRODUCTION BY KAYA LEE BERNE
National Geographic Magazine, February 2020
Society for News Design 42nd Edition - Award of Excellence
GRAPHIC / ILLUSTRATION BY FERNANDO BAPTISTA
RESEARCH AND REPORTING BY KAYA LEE BERNE
National Geographic Magazine, July 2019
