On Monday evening, scores of guests gathered as Lynn Abercrombie, accomplished photographer and contributor to National Geographic, shared both captivating stories and breathtaking images from the life of her late husband, Tom Abercrombie, who also spent years capturing the world on film and in writing as part of National Geographic’s foreign editorial staff. With the assistance of her family, Mrs. Abercrombie pored over literally tens of thousands of photographs from their travels to produce Traveling the World for National Geographic, a 352-page volume brimming with photographs that cover more than 40 years of travel that spanned all seven continents. Mrs. Abercrombie, along with her daughter Mari and son Bruce, treated a captivated audience to an enticing sampling of stories and photographs included in the book — a volume that Mrs. Abercrombie described as “a picture story of two very lucky people”.
Lynn and Tom Abercrombie, self-described high school sweethearts, began their photography adventures in their teens. Throughout the program, Mrs. Abercrombie recounted the career path of her husband, a renaissance man with guts, guile and innate adaptability that made him well-suited to exploring different cultures and climates, from his first trip to Lebanon and the deserts of the Middle East to his assignment in Antarctica. Taking in slide after slide of phenomenal photographs, it is clear that the Mr. Abercrombie had immense talent and an impressive resume. For instance, after converting to Islam, he was the first western photographer at record the hajj pilgrimage to Mecca, and the first photographic correspondent to reach the South Pole. But beyond the impressive list of assignments, locations and accomplishments, one thing is clearly evident: that in addition to cameras and photography equipment, Lynn and Tom Abercrombie also traveled with an undying passion and sense of wonder for the people and places around them. Mrs. Abercrombie noted that Tom liked to think of his work as adding planks to the bridges of understanding between countries. After an evening of stories and photographs, the audience could only heartily agree when Mrs. Abercrombie noted, “I think Tom added more than one plank.”
Mrs. Abercrombie was available to sign copies of Traveling the World for National Geographic at this event; while guests at the event had the opportunity to purchase the book on site, is also currently available from Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Traveling-National-Geographic-Thomas-Abercrombie/dp/B005MK2ALU