Monthly Archive for March, 2007

dear photographers/readers/friends…

i started this blog just a few weeks ago and i have learned a lot….first of all, the comments from you have been most welcome and the questions excellent….i will continue to respond as best i can….if i am just a bit late in response it is because i am on a “road trip” and cannot get to an internet cafe or find some wireless connection for my laptop or am just too busy shooting…but, once i start something, i do follow through, so i will ride this horse as long and as hard as i can….

now i only have my friend and assistant marie to help me with this….and we are often not in the same place…..so your patience is totally appreciated….we do have so so so much to post and i have so many friends in the business i want you to know about and hear from and so much student work to publish….right now, i just cannot do it all…but,

fate has brought me to an interesting point in my life…..i am a magnum photographer …..i want to introduce you to my colleagues even beyond what you may see on the magnum site…and meet photographers from all of the agencies..i have photographed over 40 stories for national geographic so i want you to meet those colleagues and editors as well..and the photo editors from all of the magazines….the publishers for my books are: “cuba” (national geographic); “divided soul” (phaidon) and the upcoming hip hop book with no title yet (powerhouse)…..i will do interviews with these publishers and publishers i do not yet know…..and we will meet the gallerists from around the world who set the tone for the often lucrative collectors print market……

it is time for me to share all of this experience…just feels right….i have been blessed….lucky…..my feeling has always been to pass on knowledge, which i have done since i was 22 and finished a university of missouri photo workshop where i told myself then ” david, if you succeed in this craft, this business, this art…you must must pass the torch”…it is to this end that i have taught workshops ever since….BUT i can only teach if i am also working, publishing, exhibiting, and to be comptempory….otherwise, what would i have to teach???

i am not difficult to work with….but, i also have always been a bit of a renegade…..i have always done “my own thing” ….but i always tried to keep the newspapers i worked for, the magazines i did stories for, and the ad agencies i occassionally shoot for, mostly happy….not always, but mostly….lots and lots and lots of mistakes i have made……i will tell you about those too….

but, of course, working alone, on your own, always produces the very best work…..photographers must ultimately “stand alone”….so, it is always tricky to do your own best work and be true to the magazine or source of funding…..i have been fortunate in this regard and i want to help emerging photographers learn how to think about being “professional” and being true to one’s self simultaneously…….

i am mostly blessed with terrific family and friends….my real “heartbeat”…many of these friends are well-known photographers, and some of them will be well- known photographers, and some of them could care less!!!….i love them all……my immediate family is my “soul” and they are spiritually with me always and sometimes quite literally also…..

the dream….and it is a new dream: to secure enough funding for one or more of the emerging photographers who cross my path to actually go out on a significant assignment….a commission, a stipend, a grant or whatever you want to call it……publish the work here…..publish in print….i will have soon a new web page for this work…..

ultimately, this site will be a hybrid….part blog, part “magazine” part something we do not even have a name for yet….fate has put me in a unique position……..like few others……..organizations do these things, but photographers do not really “know” them…..and they rarely have a “vision”….i do have a vision…..this does not mean it is the only way to see …part of my “vision” is to let others have a “voice” including those with a different point of view from mine….. colleagues will speak, students will speak, gallerists will speak, publishers and editors will speak, book store owners will speak, and anyone else we can learn something from will speak….

please let me know what you think…..i welcome ideas, and i will then choose a route based on my “gut” and instincts…..my instincts got me to wherever this is, so i think i will just stay “on it”……..

certainly we have potential to be on the most adventurous “road trip” of all…..

peace, david