10.Q Interviews: Spencer Stoner - Humanitarian Filmmaker & Photographer | Editorial & Humanitarian Photographer, Heber Vega.

Welcome to 10.Q Interviews.This section usually features interviews to Humanitarian, Cultural & Travel Photographers, their work and photography.

This week in 10.Q Interviews, Spencer Stoner:

“Spencer Stoner is an award-winning filmmaker and photographer based in Austin, Texas. He specializes in providing distinct and personal approaches to visual storytelling and awareness-raising for non-profit and private-sector clients alike.” [More about Spencer...]

1. Tell us about you and your photography. What kinds of shooting have you done? Have you worked for any humanitarian organizations/magazines etc.? Could you name any current or former clients?

I starting shooting as a teenager, took some darkroom courses in college, and spent six months in Argentina and Brazil shooting stills for a children’s book series before I fell into the world of documentary filmmaking. I cut my teeth in DC shooting for the Discovery Channel and have since worked on shoots for TLC, A&E, Blender, and a variety of non-profit clients. When I found my way back to photography it was with the perspective of a documentarian. It’s really cool to operate between the two disciplines. One’s an epic poem, the other’s a haiku. They both hit you in different ways.

There’s not really a specific “thing” that I shoot, but lot of my work centers around the relationship between people and their environment. People who work the land, people who fish it, people who are forced to endure it. I’ve worked with farmers and fishermen in El Salvador and with non-documented refugees in Morocco who froze every night, and every day were afraid that the gendarme would discover them, load them up into a van and abandon them in the Sahara. I find it really interesting how basic that relationship is, between us and the land and how alienated we urban-dwellers tend to be from it.

I’ve shot for the Sierra Club, EcoViva, the Conseil de Migrants Subsahariens au Maroc, Putney Student Travel, among other broadcast clients. My photos have also appeared in the Washington Post and the DC current. When I’m not on a humanitarian or documentary shoot, I also have several commercial clients to look after back in Austin with the production company that I co-own.

© Spencer Stoner | www.spencerstoner.com

2. We all know that you don’t get into humanitarian photography to become rich, so what does humanitarian photography means to you? What’s your vision for it?

For me, humanitarian photography is about curating an understanding of a particular place, situation, or moment in time that’s based in reality, not stereotype. It brings tremendous responsibility with it as well, since I think it’s one of the key media forces in terms of shaping a general understanding of the developing world within our culture.

I still remember the old Sally Strothers infomercials from the 80s with all the images of hungry kids with flies in their eyes. That’s sort of the antithesis for what I want to achieve in my work.

I think there’s a well-intentioned but patronizing attitude that people in the developing world are just passive victims of their situations, when the reality is that most of the people you meet facing those kinds of hardships are anything but passive. Yet that sort of attitude, that people are just “helpless victims” goes on to inform a good chunk the giving and relief work that goes on, and I would argue often helps create the same culture of dependency on foreign aid that it’s supposed to combat..

If I can show people through my work that my subjects are normal, intelligent people full of hope and compassion and, with support, capable of building an independent future for themselves, then I think that’s a success.

3. How did you get into humanitarian photography? Where did you get the idea to shoot these kinds of people and groups?

I went to school in DC to study to be a diplomat. I wanted to feel that my work was having an impact on the quality of life of people in other countries and our relationship to them. It took me one summer internship at a consulate to realize that I wouldn’t be able to accomplish that through the gears of government. Through media you’re able to reach so many more people and have an impact on how they experience the world.

I got into photography as a career somewhat backwardly. I started working on the camera department of various motion pictures before landing in documentary work for the Discovery Channel and TLC. When you’re shooting docs for clients, everyone wants photos to go along with the video. Photography emerged as a natural extension of this video work. I’ve been shooting with an SLR since I was 15, so adding photography to the repertoire was relatively seamless.

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

It goes without saying that compared to commercial clients, most NGOs have very limited budgets, which means shooting can be pretty guerrilla. You’re frequently working in rural locations and rarely staying in hotels, so finding secure storage for your equipment, access to electricity and internet can all be challenges. Replacing or adding gear on the fly can be next to impossible. We had a documentary shoot in North Africa and sent our fixer out to find a USB cable, and it took the better part of a day. You really have to plan out the worst case scenario, come up with a backup plan and then assume your backup plans fall flat.

That said, I have found most of my non-profit clients to be exceedingly liberating when it comes to creative control of content. From my experience, they tend to trust in your vision more and let you run with it.

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

I typically travel between two and three months a year, split up across 8 or so smaller trips. I’m pretty young still and just have a girlfriend and dog to worry about, so I’m lucky to have some flexibility there, but it’s certainly something that’ll become much more challenging in a few years time.

Thanks to the relative ubiquity of internet, it’s so much easier to stay in touch with loved ones when you’re on the road. A community center in rural El Salvador where was staying at just happened to have wi-fi recently installed, so every night I was able to chat with folks and give them a little skype video tour of where I was working. It was nice to have that kind of visual contact.

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

I really love classic photographers. I love the structured candidness of Max Demain’s portraits. More recently, I really admire Rebekka Guðleifsdóttir’s use of natural light and depiction of people interacting with their landscapes.

At Georgetown, my Professor Bruce McKaig always used to emphasize that there was no “right or wrong” in photography, “Everything was technique”. Of course, this led to a lot of crazy experimentation, pinhole cameras and “painting” stop across undeveloped photo paper, etc., but it’s probably the one piece of advice from school that I still refer to regularly. It’s liberating, and true.

Though he’s a cinematographer, I think Emmanuel “Chivo” Lubezki’s success in treating each project as an entity totally separate from his previous work is really important. Everything he shoots has a distinct look and feel that’s totally unique and appropriate for the content. The conventional wisdom is that you need to establish a specific style for yourself, but I think Lubezki’s work shows how important it is to let the content drive the visuals rather than the other way around.

One of my favorite ways to stay inspired is to dig through old photographs and see what jumps out at me in a new way. So often what seems interesting to us at a particular moment is just a function of our mental state at the time. Seeing images that were previously “uninteresting” in a new light helps us appreciate that aspect of photography for future shoots, and better recognize those hidden gems when they appear.

That said, I don’t think I can emphasize how helpful it is for me to just disconnect sometimes, take a trip, leave the camera at home, and appreciate my surroundings without always trying to filter it. When I pick up the camera again, my work always feels fresher.

7. 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?

I think informal communication and a connection between the shooter and subject are vital. It’s what makes the difference between you being some foreigner who has come to potentially exploit the situation versus a fellow person working to solve the problem alongside them.

I speak fluent Spanish and Portuguese, and am very grateful for the flexibility and freedom it offers me in shooting in Latin America and Portuguese-speaking Africa. I can chat one on one without the help of a fixer or translator, and explain exactly what it is that we need to get to make the project a success. It really strips down the barriers between “us” and “them” – it becomes a co-production.

I think that as long as you approach the shooting on that kind of equal footing, then the limits to shooting “people in need” come naturally. It makes you more sensitive to the fine line between documenting hardship and exploiting misery.

8. What are the characteristic that a good humanitarian photographer needs to have? What would be your advice for a photographer who is just starting out in this field?

Content matters, and it pays to know your background. Read a couple of history books or the local newspaper before going somewhere new. A substantive understanding of the situation that you’re in helps you make informed judgments about what’s actually worth documenting versus that which just seems “exotic” or “different”. As humanitarian and cultural photographers, we have a responsibility to not “otherize” our subjects. Understanding the uniqueness of a shoot makes the difference between photography with true insight versus some kind of “disaster porn”.

For new photographers, there’s no substitute for experience in the field. Despite the international travel, few of my shoots could be described as “vacation-like”. Living conditions can be tough. You often don’t know where you’ll sleep, what resources you’ll have access to. Schedules rarely work as planned.

Once we were staying in a spare room in a house in Rabat and came back from a shoot just totally exhausted and ready to pass out on the spot. As we got closer we started hearing music coming from the direction of the house. Our hosts hadn’t told us they were holding a wedding party in the house that evening. The party was going until the early hours of the morning, and our room was one of the main areas the other guests were sitting in. It can all be extremely frustrating if you’re not used to it. Sometimes the hard part of the job comes from just getting by day in and day out.

Photography skills are clearly crucial in this field, but I think the sorts of adapting skills you pick up as a traveler or backpacker can often be more important in making a shoot a success than necessarily having top of the line gear or superior lighting skills. Again, content is king – the toys and the talent are the icing on the cake.

9. 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?

I just added in the 5D MK II to the roster. For the ease of being able to switch back and forth between stills and video seamlessly, it’s an easy call. That it’s compact size (for video) helps the non-professional talent/locals feel more comfortable and act much more naturally is a huge boon.

Not sure if this is a “duh” moment or not, but the piece of gear that’s been most important in my career has been my laptop, currently a 17” MacBook Pro Unibody. The ability to review, retouch, and edit photos and video in the field, bus, or plane is essential, and the unibody can go 8 hours plus without recharging. The screen displays images beautifully for clients review as well. I love it.

10. How important is social media for you? How do you manage it in your work? Any tips to share?

In terms of professional development, it’s hard to beat social media when it comes to staying on top of everything going on in the world, current events, new resources, new toys, etc. I find that when it comes to business development, the vast majority of new work comes in through client referrals and personal connections. The world of social media helps you see the big picture through the clutter, but in the end, it’s hard to beat the importance of personal relationships.

My Social Media

Spencer in Twitter: @spencerstoner
Spencer in Facebook
Spencer in Flickr
IGVP profile IGVP
Spencer in Vimeo
Spencer in Photoshelter
Spencer in LinkedIn

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http://totellastory.org lane davis

Spencer,

great work man. really enjoyed hearing your heart behind your work. favorite statements…

“Yet that sort of attitude, that people are just “helpless victims” goes on to inform a good chunk the giving and relief work that goes on, and I would argue often helps create the same culture of dependency on foreign aid that it’s supposed to combat..”

and

“If I can show people through my work that my subjects are normal, intelligent people full of hope and compassion and, with support, capable of building an independent future for themselves, then I think that’s a success.”

thanks for sharing.

lane
http://www.visualpeacemakers.org Mario Mattei

I love it that you’re sporting the IGVP Profile in the Social Links line up….

and this is quotable stuff:
“For me, humanitarian photography is about curating an understanding of a particular place, situation, or moment in time that’s based in reality, not stereotype.”

Thanks, guys!
M
http://aegallerie.com Ed

Interesting and slightly different point of view with regards to developing a style or approaching each project with fresh eyes – content driving the visuals as you say. It’s a refreshing take I haven’t seen mentioned a lot. I would equate it to developing your vision for a project as opposed to imposing a style upon it. Coincidence, my wife once led a Putney creative writing trip to Italy.

Great interview.
Erin Wilson

“One’s an epic poem, the other’s a haiku.”

Love this line. Great reminder to be ruthless with composition. What isn’t essential should be edited out.