[April 2, 2010]

Welcome to 10.Q series. This section features interviews to humanitarian photographers, their work and photography for non-profit organizations.

This week 10.Q features David duChemin.

“David duChemin is an assignment photographer specializing in humanitarian projects and world photography. A passionate contributor to the international photography community, duChemin’s first book, Within the Frame: The Journey of Photographic Vision, received worldwide acclaim for its vision, passion, and depth. Find David online at PixelatedImage.com”.

1. Tell us about you and your photography. How long have you been shooting?
What kinds of shooting have you done? Can you name any current or former clients?

I’ve been a photographer of one stripe or another since I was 14 years old, even older if you count the little 110 camera I had from about 10 years old. I’ve shot everything from macros of flowers to weddings to endless photographs of ducks in ponds, but it’s my current work that gets me most excited – shooting for clients like World Vision and Save The Children. I also spend a good deal of time in education and writing books like Within The Frame or the series of eBooks I make available through CraftAndVision.com

© David duChemin | PixelatedImage.com

2. I read in you blog that you are a Humanitarian photographer…
What’s humanitarian photography for you?

How did you get into Humanitarian photography?

Humanitarian photography, for me, is shooting images for the international humanitarian NGO community, but on a broader scale I think it’s creating images used to move the human heart to broader issues of justice and compassion. I got into this because I was passionate about it and these were the stories I wanted to tell, but logistically it was simply a matter of being in the right place at the right time and catching the eye of a great client who saw the potential in my images.

I’ve also read in your blog about “world photography”…
What’s that?

World photography, to me, is what used to be called Travel Photography, but as I believe that Travel Photography as it once was is now a dead or irrelevant genre, I call it World Photography. At the end of the day it’s semantics and splitting hairs, but for me the issue is that I don’t photograph travel, I photograph the world and her peoples and cultures. How you get there – the travel – is not relevant.

3. Today, you are well known as a “Vision-driven” guru…
Where did you get the whole idea of writing/talking about vision?
What is your vision as individual (part of this world) and photographer?

LOL, am I really known that way? That’s funny. The word “guru” always makes me laugh. It implies someone has secret knowledge or attained a level of awareness others haven’t and that’s just not the case with me. But I’ve perhaps preached this particular sermon a little louder than others lately so that’s how I’m known. The idea of vision isn’t at all new with me, all the great photographers have talked about it in one way or another, I just talk about it a lot myself because it’s the way I think. Seems basic to me that before you try to say something you are conscious of what that something is and how best to say it, and it’s the same with speaking through the camera. How can you make decisions about your technique if you don’t first know what the desired outcome is? As to what my vision is, I think vision occurs in both the micro and the macro. For me the big picture is a vision of this world as a beautiful, hopeful, and diverse place, despite the ugliness, despair, and intolerance. The small pictures, each individual frame, are seen through that lens. I don’t see a possible distinction between my vision as an individual and as a photographer – they are one and the same.

4. How much do you travel every year?
How do you manage your family time?

I travel more and more and have not managed to balance things well, but that’s changing. I think it’s important to set boundaries and I think that mostly because I’ve learned the hard way and not done that. Many photographers in this line of work know it can be very solitary work, and many others have broken marriages in their past. I’m trying to find a balance, and don’t always do it well. But it’s important to know what kind of life you want and draw lines accordingly.

© David duChemin | PixelatedImage.com

5. What are the challenges of shooting for NGO’s  or non-profit organizations?

Too many to mention, but mostly that many NGOs do not have the budget for photographic resources, but that’s a symptom of a larger problem – they simply haven’t valued storytelling and the role of photographs in that storytelling. As they become more aware of the power of stories for both advocacy and fundraising, and as they begin to embrace web-based mediums for spreading those stories instead of expensive print-campaigns, there will be – I hope – a greater willingness to engage expert visual storytellers like photographers and videographers.

6. How do you normally approach people from other cultures?
What are your limits at the moment of shooting people in need, or in a complicated situation?

It depends from situation to situation, but in the broadest strokes I would say I try to approach people with respect, a sense of humor, kindness, and the most knowledge I can find about the local culture and customs. The rest is improv and it doesn’t really ever get easy or second nature for me. As for shooting people in need, again it depends. On one level we’re all in need and have stories to tell, so it’s more a question of approaching people with humility and sensitivity. I’m not a photojournalist so my own ethic tells me it’s more important to be a human first and a storyteller second, though it rarely feels I need to do one to the exclusion of the other.

7. Is social media/Internet important in promoting your work?
If so, how? Is it over rated perhaps?

I wouldn’t say social media is over-rated, though it’s often misunderstood. It’s not a magic pill, it’s a tool, and like any tool it’s effectiveness depends on how you use it. For me the internet is incredibly important. My best business and creative opportunities in the last 5 years have come as a direct result of my blog, my website, and lately Twitter. But it’s only a tool and what makes it work or not work is an understanding of who you are, who your intended audience or market is, and whether that tool can be best used to connect the two.

© David duChemin | PixelatedImage.com

8. Gear is good… Tell us about the last piece of gear that you deemed important enough to buy.
How about the one that’s been most important in your career?

The last piece of gear I shelled out for was a new camera body, a refurbished Canon 1Ds MkIII from B&H Photo. I think gear is incredibly important for the working photographer, but never to exclusion of vision and when camera companies promote the whole “Buy this camera, Shoot like a Pro” nonsense, it drives me up the wall. But the fact is for a working photographer you need the most reliable gear to get the job done. For some that’s a couple bodies and a couple lenses, for others it’s rental gear on weekends, and others still it’s a truck full of strobes. For me it’s a couple bags of proven lenses and enough back-up equipment to keep shooting if something breaks and I’m stuck 10 hours from nowhere on the border of The Gambia. As for the most important piece of gear, I’m going to take the easy way out and say it’s whatever I had in my hands when I shoot the images my client loves. I can’t say what that is because in some ways it just doesn’t matter, it did the job and that’s what counts.

9. Who’s been an inspiration for your photography? How do you stay inspired?
Do you read blogs? If so, which ones would you recommend?

My inspirations are everywhere but a short list would be Freeman Patterson, Steve McCurry, Dorothea Lange, Yousef Karsh, and Galen Rowell, but beyond that I’m as inspired – or even more inspired – by the stuff I see coming out of my colleagues – people like Gavin Gough and Bruce Percy simply amaze me with their work.  I do read blogs but these days it’s more to stay in touch with the lives of my friends, many of whom, like Matt Brandon, and Gavin Gough, are traveling photographers themselves. Sometimes the blogs are the only ways to stay in touch with the details of their lives. Other than that, I’m finding less and less time for the blogs I used to check daily, and I miss them.

10. What would be your advice for a photographer who is just starting out in this field?
What is the biggest obstacle you see facing new photographers who want to work on this type of photography

Avoid at all cost the illusion that more gear, or newer/shinier/better gear, will make you a better photographer. Study your craft, and shoot more photographs than anyone you know. Put down the catalogs and the magazines with all the ads about gear and read the classics of the craft. Then pick up books of images and look at lots and lots of images with a critical and questioning eye. Why did she do this? Why did he do that? What does this photograph make me look at and feel, and how does it do that? Does this photograph engage me and why or why not? Only after that would I suggest a budding photographer consider industry-specific challenges. In the case of world or humanitarian photography I would say get used to the idea that you’ll not get rich on this work, and that the skills most useful to you and your clients will not only be photographic, but inter-personal. And then find out everything you can about the needs of your clients. The NGO world has very specific needs, not only in terms of the images they require but also in terms of understanding the international development context in which most of them work.

© David duChemin | PixelatedImage.com

I hope you had enjoyed today’s 10.Q.
Finally, I want to leave some other links to keep following David’s work:

- Kathmandu Tour: Within the Frame – Two weeks of Tour & Workshop. Here
- David’s Blog: Here
- David’s Twitter: Here
- David’s eBooks: Here
- David’s Books: Here

Next Week in 10.Q: Jeffrey Chapman…