James Stanfield photographed 60 articles and several books over his three-decade career as a National Geographic staff photographer. A natural diplomat, Jim is equally at home in an Appalachian farmhouse, a Bedouin tent, or a papal palace. His assignments took him from the bottomlands of the Potomac River to the heights of the Himalayas, traveling the globe to document dozens of countries during phases of disruption and transformation, the legacies of the worlds foremost empires, behind-the-scenes in the Vatican, the allure of gold, hidden communities of rats, and intimate folkways in Japanese villages. Among his colleagues, Jim is regarded as the photographers photographer, with an unerring eye and sincere respect for the people who allowed him access into their lives.