DEV E L O P I N G T H E PH O T OGRAPHER’S EY E, HEAR T AND M IN D

VOL I - ISSUE I

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TATSUO SUZUKI - RINZI RUIZ - KAREN ROSE - RICHARD BERTER - OLIVIER DUONG - DON SPRINGER
 INSPIRED EYE

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 S U M M A R Y
I N S P I R E D E Y E V O L I I S S U E I

MAGAZINE

06
From the editors
About this first issue of Inspired Eye

32
In the streets with Streetshooter
The first in a column about street photography

54

The Inspired Frame
Design basics for photographers

110

The long road ahead
What to look forward to from Inspired Eye

88

Selective attention
What it means for you and your photography

PHOTOESSAYS
Bev’s world
22
Exploring daily life of Beverly

42
In the streets of Haiti
Haiti as seen from the streets

INTERVIEWS
Rinzi Ruiz
08
Street Photographer from California

64
Karen Rose
Scottish photographer

RINZI TATSUO KAREN RICHARD OLIVIER 74

Tatsuo Suzuki
Japanese Photographer

PHOTO PROJECTS

92
Nuru Project
Funds non profits through print sales
 INSPIRED EYE

A WARM WELCOME FROM

THE EDITORS Senile Editor in C hief

Senior Ed
it or in C hi
ef

W elcome to the Inspired Eye

Magazine. This is a joint effort
between Don, Olivier, and YOU. I
include YOU because without you,
we can’t make this work.

The magazine will be shaped

by our readers as much as by
ourselves. We have a Facebook
page and a Website with an upcoming forum (see last
page). Between these elements, we are sure with your things like that but it’s mainly about images. It’s about
participation that this will be a success. the reason we are all photographers.

If there’s something you want to see or not see, post a
thread on the forum or on Facebook or send an email
to the magazine. If you would like to write an article,
do an interview or do a photo essay, let us know and
we will get it started.
We are doing this because we love and live
photography. Gear is nice and we will do reviews and
So flip the pages and read the words but make sure you
enjoy the photos. This is our journey as much as it’s
yours. Who knows, next issue...it’s your photos we are
all looking at.
Thanks for your continued support.
Olivier and Don

eF at ure Submission
Have an article pitch? Would you like to be considered for an interview or want to present your work?
6 Turn to the end of this magazine for links for article submission. 7
 INSPIRED EYE

RINZI RUIZ
INTERVIEW WITH

BY DON SPRINGER

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 INSPIRED EYE
What inspired you to become a
photographer?
I always enjoyed taking pictures but as far as
really getting into photography it was a result of
wanting to find my creativity again after years of
mind numbing and uninspiring work.
It was because I enjoyed it that made me decide
to take it up and really learn how the camera
works and how photographs that I admired were
accomplished.
As I continued to learn and take pictures I found
a passion for it and haven’t
turned back since.
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What purpose does it serve for you?
A few years ago it served to bring me back to a
creative place, to find relaxation and to get out
and about. These days it does a lot of the same
but now it also serves as a career path I am taking
in life. We’ll see how it goes.
Have you ever, or do you now work for
hire? Do you want to work for hire in the
future and in what capacity do you plan
to use your photography?
Yes, I’ve worked as a second shooter for a few
weddings, I’ve shot parties and events, and have
done some portraits/head shots. I took them for
the experience and it was good to get paid while
I learn.
In the last year and more so in the last month When you are not being engaged by a
I’ve been giving a lot of thought into what type of third party to make images, what are the
photography I would like to pursue. I’ve gotten images your making?
attention for my street photography work which
I do appreciate and am happy about but as many Well, I’m shooting in the streets and really still
know there isn’t much money to be made in it enjoy creating images from the environments and
unless you’re consistently selling prints, books or life around the downtown area. I’ve been doing a
teaching workshops. lot of editing my last year or so of work and can
see how I’ve developed and changed over time.
I have an interest in photojournalism but unsure I’ve also seen the changes in the environment.
about taking that route at this time. I also have an Downtown Los Angeles is going through changes
interest in fashion or editorial photography so I’m and it’s looking like I’ve documented at least some
researching it and will be practicing a lot in the of it.
next few months.
My goal at this point is to go through all my
Since those will take some time and more images and organize them to be able to learn from
experience I’m going to focus on engagements them, see what I’ve been seeing, see if there are
and weddings for now and hoping to excel in any themes that I can stick to and then present
that field. them on my website.
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I don’t think I’ll ever get tired of shooting the
streets but I feel I do have to switch
my focus to building my professional portfolio.
So, I’ll be switching from a more
documentary or improvising type of shooting to
“ ”
I don’t think I’ll ever get tired of shooting the streets
a conceptual and planned type of shooting. I’ll
see how it goes.
What are your recurring themes?
I haven’t really gone out with any theme in mind
but after looking through a years
worth of photos I’m seeing certain themes pop
up. Most times, I use light to lead me to where
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and what I should shoot so many of my photos
have the “Light and Shadow” theme to it if that
could be considered a theme.
Many of my photos are of the people of specific
areas of downtown Los Angeles so I think
eventually I will put that into a set or find a theme
to string a set of photos together with. I suppose
most of my photos have a somber feel to them so
I’ve been collecting photos to put in a set called
Captured Souls.
The last few years since I started photography I’ve
been in a learning mode so again themes haven’t
really been in the forefront of my mind as I shoot.
INSPIRED EYE
Maybe in the future I could focus or collect more
images that fit within something more deep and
meaningful.
{There are trigger mechanisms that we
should identify for ourselves. They are
important as they lead the way to new
work and also point to our history to give
understanding to what we are doing.}
Can you describe a few of the things that
make you want to stop and shoot?
Well, for me it usually starts with light. I chase
the light and light illuminates and makes me stop
to analyze a scene. Sometimes it’s someone’s
character that I find interesting that makes me
stop to shoot. I also observe people and find
certain moments I can try to capture.
A simple gesture, a look in someone’s face,
an interaction between people that strikes my
interest can also make me stop to shoot.
How do you feel about being
photographed?
I’m surely more used to being behind the camera
than being in front of the
camera. I’m no model but I suppose I’m getting
more used to being photographed because while
hanging out with my photographer friends they
take pictures of me at time.
Are you self taught, educated, or a little
bit of both?
I’m mostly self-taught. I did study arts and
graphic design in school but as far as
photography is concerned, I learned by reading
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“ ”
Much of what I learned, I did shooting out in the streets.
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up on it on the internet and books I bought,

watching Youtube videos, and shooting as much
as possible.

I’ve taken a few workshops too. About 3 years ago

now when I first got into it, I started with a point
and shoot and shot as much as I could with it.
As I learned more I bought my first DSLR and it
really pushed me to another level, especially with
the variety of lenses I was able to use and
learn from.

Much of what I learned, I did shooting out in the

streets. While out I’d try out different settings
and experimented to see what I could do with the
camera. Also my background in graphic design
helped me in that I picked up Lightroom pretty
quickly since I was familiar enough with
Adobe products.

I’m still learning a lot, every day and every year.

Where in the world are you located?

I live in Burbank, California, which is about 20

minutes from downtown Los Angeles, well, when
there’s no traffic. It’s great to shoot here in LA
most especially because of the fantastic weather
and the almost consistent sunlight we get.

Where is your favorite place to work?

In Los Angeles, my favorite is the downtown

area. It’s busy and has a variety of people and
characters. There’s some classic buildings there
that I love as backdrops to some
of my photos.

Before I started shooting the streets I wasn’t very

familiar with the downtown area but it is different
now than it was when I was younger. It is still

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constantly changing especially in the historic area where corporations are starting to move into.

I think in a way I’ve documented the changes. Going through my photos I see backgrounds that
aren’t there anymore or have changed since I took the photo. I’ve also been going just outside the
downtown area and looking for other places to shoot at. I like shooting in other cities too but I’d
say in reality my favorite places to work is where the light is good.

Any closing comments?

Thanks so much for your interest, time and for asking me to be a part of this. I feel honored and
encouraged.

C A P T U R E T H E S T R E E T S

“ I have only recently started the street shooting addiction,

and enjoy it immensely. I use these presets for both Nik
Silver Effects Pro and for LR4. These presets are wonderful
and add “life” and atmosphere to my shots. Whether one
uses the the Nik versions or the LR versions of these presets,
the results are amazing ”

Above is a kind comment we received from a satisfied user of Street Presets, or “SP” for short. We
developed our presets not for the average photographer but specifically for the street photographer. Just
in case the image above does not convince you, we are offering you 3 presets from various SP packs to
download and try out. Enjoy.

WEBSITE | TUMBLR | FLICKR | TWITTER | INSTAGRAM D O W N L O A D B U Y

L R 4 S A M P L E R P R E S E T S
20 www.streetpresets.com 21
 INSPIRED EY
EYE

BEV’s
WORLD

M y name is Richard Berter, I am 64 years old and have lived

in Cincinnati, Ohio all my life. Two years ago I picked the
camera up again after a 25 year hiatus . I started shooting street
again. I had a small set back with throat cancer, during this time
I started learning the digital world of photography and still am.
In February 2012 I started a project called Beverly’s World.
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 INSPIRED EYE

B everly is my wife’s sister who lives

with us, she is mentally handicapped
and has a seizure disorder. Beverly’s
moods and attitudes can change within a
few minutes depending on if she gets her
way or not. A project I thought was going
to be straight forward has turned out to
be more complex. I see this is going to be
a slow and on going project. I feel that it
will be well worth the effort.

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 INSPIRED EYE
WITH STREETSHOOTER
This is the first in the series of articles that takes you behind some of Don Springer’s
(Streetshooter) images. Part memoir, part technical, part photography, there’s always
something to take home.
Philadelphia Parkway, 1974 (left)
It was a Sunday in July 1974. My
daughter Bethany was about a year old,
born August 17, 1973.
My son Paul was still a twinkle in my
eye. He wouldn’t arrive until January
9, 1976, twenty years to the day and 20
minutes apart from the day my father
died in a car accident. That was January
9, 1956. I was 6 and a half at that time.
The reason for the details is to place my
state of mind and emotional condition.
I had been home from Nam for only
3 and a half years, not enough time to
cleanse myself. I had Post Traumatic
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Stress Disorder but they didn’t invent
PTSD for decades later. I still have it. I
was a grunt and was dirty. I still am and
will never be clean.
What I had was a wife that knew how to
make me feel human, even if it was an
illusion. My wife wanted to get out of the
house and I just wanted to rest. It was
around 8am and I had been printing in
the darkroom for round 16 hours.
See, the only thing that could make me
feel like living and breathing was and
still is photography.
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Being in the darkroom and hearing the gurgle of cream in the cup covered with water
the print washer, smelling the fixer in ice. She walks over to the truck, I’m watching her
the air, the beautiful safelights. They call them like a hawk. I’m watching every living
safe lights for a reason. Every photographer knows thing near my wife cause I’m on permanent guard
they are safe in the darkroom. duty. THIS IS THE REASON I WORK
ALONE. I don’t want to divide my attention.
So I agreed to take her and my daughter to the fair
on the parkway. I grabbed 2 M4’s. Black had the I thought, oh well....just enjoy the day. Then as
35 Lux on it cause it might be dark before we get she’s getting closer to the attendant in
home. My 1st choice would always be the Cron.... the truck....I turned and looked in the opposite
to this day! direction. I see this man standing like in a
stupor. I mean this guy doesn’t hear a thing, he
The silver M4 had a 50 Lux and I carried a 90mm sees something but only he knows
in my pouch. A few rolls of Tri-x and I was good what. I raise the camera and just as I am ready to
to go. click....I see this woman behind
him....then there enters a woman carrying a
We took the Frankford Elevated train because it banana and I immediately see the
was the most convenient way for poor people to connection from the banana and the dolls legs.
travel. I still travel that way for reasons mentioned. Click.
When we got to the fair, I realized that the sun was
really bright. This meant FG-7 1:9 or 1:15. I didn’t I walked closer to him and he said to me...”Ya
want to blow the highs, like I do now. know, I hate coming to these events. I
have to watch my wife and daughter all the time”.
Blackie was in my hand set to hyper-focal at f/11. I smiled and said, “Brother, I know what you
Shutter was at 1/250 and floated mean”.
between that and 1/1000 depending on the light. felt and responded. It never intruded on my work and as I did I adjusted the zoom to it’s longest
Thank the Yellow Mother that I didn’t Atlantic city, NJ (Image on right) or thoughts. length. He turned from her and kissed the nipple
need a light meter. I’d be reading that and not It was a very hot day in July 2009. People were of the Ape statue. Click....I turned and started to
making photos. trying to find shelter from the blazing heat but Anyway.....this guy is getting yelled at by a very hot walk away.....
that only can be found in the Casino’s. I walked on woman with a baby in her arms and 2 kids tugging
I had my daughter in a Gerry Strap anchored the boardwalk and just past Trump Casino I saw The woman saw me make the photo and said...”Put
at her skirt. She’s not happy, he’s not caring. He’s
against my chest. It’s a funny thing. Every this woman yelling at this man. She was wiping looking at her like she’s not there. My camera is that picture on the internet so the world can see
time I raised the camera to my eye to frame....I’d the sweat from her head with a towel. I was still ready but for what. I rested it against my thigh somy stupid husband”. I smiled and glanced at
click the shutter and without fail, looking straight ahead at her and then I looked to that is was not visible. him. He then smiled back at me and shrugged his
Bethany’s eyes would squint open and look up at my right. shoulders. That ended the scene and I continued
me. Then back to sleep. All the sudden he yelled at her and even tho I walking on the boardwalk looking for my next
Well, the ole shooter knows there’s a photo don’t understand Spanish, a man understands photo.
So we’re walking around and wifey want’s a water working and the heart beat started going strong. another man when he’s on the trouble list with
ice. Now in Kensington, the real The camera in my hand at the time was the Pen1 his wife. That’s built into men’s firmware. He said I knew I made a photo that I would really be
water ice is called a Radio Ball. It’s a scoop of ice with the 14-42. I just loved the way that camera something and her face got red. Then I could feel happy with but I didn’t look at it until I got back to
the peak moment coming.....I raised the camera my LightRoom the next day.

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 The FG-7 would be diluted to 1:15 with the Sulfite
and the Rodinol would be diluted anywheres from
1:20 - 1:32. With either developer the light from
the day would determine what I would use and
how I would use it. For mixed lighting or if a roll
wasn’t finished in a week, Edwal was the ticket.
There is no better developer.
Back to the street. I had a light jacket on and if
I rested my hand, the camera would sleep in the
right pocket. Work time....the leather strap is
wrapped around my wrist and the camera cradled
in my right hand.
and I was part of it. Either that or the photography
elders on the other side were having a good time
with their sense of
humor.
I decided it was destiny. I can hear her saying
how much she likes a particular ring. I can see
him looking at something else. Then she moved in
close to the window....he backs out just a little and
puts his hands on his hips....click.
Rittenhouse Square, Philadelphia 1981
(following page)

I had been working the financial district all

I usually shot at 125 f/11 or there about. It was very
easy to see the Hyper-focal Distance because Leica morning. I guess I walked well over 3 miles up and
engraved the numbers on the lens. I hear tell that down the area and made some photos. My right
Nikon and Canon and others also did that but I leg started hurting again and I knew that meant
can’t confirm that. to take a break for 1/2 hour. It’s due to an injury
from Nam when I jumped out of a chopper. After
I was walking around Jewelers Row and looking 11 years, it still wakes me up some times.
for a photo. There were a few drunks, a few
homeless people around but nothing to get my I started walking up 18th Street towards
juices flowing. Of course, anytime I saw a homeless Rittenhouse Square. I surrendered to the fact that
person I would make a photo and a note as to the for the next hour I would just rest and not make
In a class I was teaching a few years ago, I was should be enough. location and submit it to the Homeless Advocacy any photos. Ok, resting back then meant resting. It
asked why I didn’t look at the photo. Well, the Group...a procedure I still do to this day. means sitting and just looking at photos that you
answer is simply that I don’t want to see how it Sansom Street, Philadelphia 1983 (Above) weren’t going to make.
came out until I am on the computer. Looking at Then, out of nowhere as if the Yellow Mother knew
you images while your working sets you up for It was Springtime and I get so excited about being I needed something special, it started happening. Sorry kids, no cell phones, no iPads, Nooks,
work issues. comfortable on the street, I get out as much as I This couple walked into the frame and they never Computers etc. Just a bench and a wandering
If you are constantly looking at what your doing can. So I loaded the Black Lac M4 with the 35mm even saw the man on the street, no not me but the mind. The sounds of the traffic, the scent of the
when your shooting, then you take away the Summicron and hit the street. That’s 35 frames homeless man. I backed out into the traffic zone of pretty woman mixed with the smells of the cars,
anticipation of shooting. If you have a real keeper of Tri-X 640 and I would never shoot that much. the street and held my position. buses and trucks. The sounds of the sirens, the
and you see it, then it’s hard to continue as a hungry
I worked hard back then and I worked light as They did not see me. horns, the people talking, yelling etc. This is the
shooter. You already satisfied your appetite. possible. music and smells for a street shooter.
The camera on a leather neck strap. No extra film, The Cron was set to f/4 and without looking I set
If you look at your stuff and see that not much is no meter...just the 2 of us without interference. it to f/11. I moved the shutter speed to 1/60. The I rested about 30 minutes and started walking out
really that good....you then killed you appetite in thing about an M4 is that you can do this without of the park. I wrapped the thin black leather strap
another way. By not looking there is the suspense I used ASA 640 after much testing in my darkroom. looking at the camera. Anyway.....the homeless around my wrist and cradled the M4 in my palm.
of what you have been doing. You stay in a hungry The film was normally developed in either Edwal guy is crashed out on the curb, all the sudden this
mood and continue like a shark looking for prey. FG-7 with a 1:13 dilution of Sodium Sulfite or smoke starts coming out from the dry cleaners on As I was walking across Walnut Street on 18th
Rodinol that I mixed from scratch. Yes, I had and Sansom Street.....get out I thought. Street, I saw this homeless man on the corner. I
If your using a screen to make the photo, you still have all the Proprietary ingredients. knew it was my duty as a human to make a photo
already saw the image for a flash of a second. That I smiled because I knew destiny was happening and notate the location. I stood there and pulled

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out my little notebook. Then I saw a woman
coming out of the Gucci Store. I dropped the
book and pen, raised the camera and as fast as
lightening, I framed the photo and waited for her
to get to the edge where I needed her to be. All the
elements were there.....
38
She walked slowly and comfortably right past the
man as any good wealthy red blooded American
would do.....Click!
Here’s a dissection of the photo as I saw it in that
flash of a second. Her shoes against the mans feet.
Of course, the obvious. But what would make the
off center that works with the lower
right etc.
This photo is about 5 seconds from first thought to
climax and capture. Maybe that sounds like a lot of
time but if any of the elements I mentioned above
were not in their exact place, the photo would fail.
It was used in different Homeless Advocacy
newsletters and such. It was a billboard for
a month on Rt95.
Ya know, I was much younger when this and
Sansom Street were made. I look at my catalog
for over 45 years and I see the same person made
these photos. I still like the ones that I did back
then. Others do to. I still recognize the images like
they were made yesterday. What I don’t recognize
is me.
WITH STREETSHOOTER
u ed i n n e xt is s u e
C ont in
eye travel?
The round grates on opposite corners against the
shape of the shadow upper left working with the
shape on the lower right.
Then the cement slabs tying all the graphic
elements together. Theres a bright light area upper
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 C A P T U R E T H E S T R E E T S

“ I have only recently started the street shooting addiction, and enjoy it immensely. I use these presets for both Nik Silver Effects Pro and for LR4. These presets are wonderful
and add “life” and atmosphere to my shots. Whether one uses the the Nik versions or the LR versions of these presets, the results are amazing ”

Above is a kind comment we received from a satisfied user of Street Presets, or “SP” for short. We developed our presets not for the average photographer but specifically for the street photographer. Just in case the images
above do not convince you, we are offering you 3 presets from various SP packs to download and try out. Enjoy.

D O W N L O A D B U Y
L R 4 S A M P L E R P R E S E T S
www.streetpresets.com
 INSPIRED EYE

HAITI THE STREET

LIFE OF

PRESS PLAY TWICE

by OLIVIER DUONG
& DON SPRINGER
I was born and raised in Haiti, I’m used to the streets, the chaos, the smell and the sound. Walking
in a busy Haitian street is pretty much a unique experience. For this interview - essay I got the
ambient sound of a market in Haiti to complement the photographs.
I highly recommend to view the photographs first, then another time with the ambient sound on.
Your ability to play the recording is based on your PDF reader. Try to press play twice on the left, if it
plays it means that you can play embedded media. If nothing happens, click on the download icon to
download and play in an external player.

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Olivier,
Could you please explain why the Haiti that thing was the personal touch. The teacher
Project seems so personal. What I mean told me, “You have a very defined definition
is, I see more of you in the work then is of photography” when looking at my shots of
common from a shooter on a project. buildings and things. Didn’t understand it then
but it was wise and simple advice: connect with
That’s a very good question, I think there is two
your work. Later I understood that photographers
sides to it. First of all, like I said, was born and
need to be true and real to themselves. Shoot
raised in Haiti. That makes me a “Nèg Lakay”, a
what you want and what you feel.
homeboy if you like.
I think the best work is connected work, that’s
So this work is personal because I’m part of it.
why the best work can be done right outside your
The second aspect is that whatever I do I try to
home. As a documentary photographer, you also
connect with my work and my subject. In the
have to connect with your subject. This was easy
only photography course I took, I remember
for me because it’s my home country. But in all
clearly seeing my classmates work. They were not
documentary, you have to care because it’s going
groundbreaking but they had something to them,
to show in your photographs.

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There was this biographer interviewing people Emergence is when multiple entities come
that were Eugene Smith’s subjects, it’s amazing together to form a unified pattern. An example
how people remember him because he genuinely of this is when you see a flock of birds fly, it’s
cared, and got away with some very personal hundreds of birds yet acting as one.
photographs.
I only shoot intuitively, I am never really
In a street setting like this one, knowing who concerned about the whole, because I know that
you are shooting pays. I was shooting the street in the end undeniable patterns will emerge. Being
life of Haiti, and I know Haitians, how they are. too selective in the field is a sure way to miss shot
They are a poor but a proud and resilient people, and not focusing on the situation at hand.
always their head high.
I don’t really see the documentary in my street,
Most photographers in Haiti would overlook but in my opinion it just confirms what I always
certain things, as a Native I know what to look knew: I’m documentary at the core. Looks like I
for. This, I believe is the element that you can’t shake it!
perceived in the work. It’s that aspect of people
that you as a photographer don’t get, until you get Olivier, Let’s end this and let our friends
up close and personal. see your photos. At a later date we will do
a full interview with more photos.
You say that you were born and raised in
Haiti. I know you live in Florida, do you Thanks for your patience and time.
still have family in Haiti? Don
I’ve cousins here and there, but friends also. My
last leg there is my dad, who’s pretty burned
out. He’s moving out so it will be an interesting
situation. Will I still feel like it’s home while I
have no immediate family there?
Your work is more of a documentary
nature then street. Of course street lives in
all work but the way you shoot is different.
You shoot more in a sequential mode then
as a single image like a street shooter.
Is this a conscious decision or more an
intuitive decision?
Truly the work can never escape the artist! When
I shoot, I just shoot, I’m never concerned about
the big picture because I know Emergence always
comes trough.

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W hen I first rediscovered a dormant love for photography it quickly became second nature for me.
Part of it was just a given but most of it was my background in Graphic Design. Upon further
investigation, I realized that it was not just me, photographic history has example after example of THE
INSPIRED FRAME
graphic designers turned photographers.
This prompted me to seek out the similarities between design and photography to see what
photographers can get out of graphic design. As it turns out, photographers, like painters and all Design basics for stronger photographs
artists actually use principles and elements of design all the time in their work to communicate an
idea. This article series is a collection of insights I made after studying design, photography and
also psychology.
Visual Literacy
Humans are emotional creatures, capable of
feeling a whole spectrum of emotions. But even
more, humans are hard wired for relationships,
and relationships imply communication. We
communicate through signs, body language,
speaking, etc. Humans are also emotional
creatures.
A problem arises when humans long to
communicate a specific mood, idea or emotion but
are limited through their usual communication
portals like language. If you love someone for
example, you can understand that words cannot
express what you feel. The fact that you are hard
wired to express yourself yet can’t because of
communication barriers creates what I call “Inner
frustration”.
That indescribable “Stuff” that you want to express
is what I call Vision and Photography (and art in
general) is the only way to release that “Inner
Frustration”. This is why you feel miserable when
you missed a shot you had a clear idea of. Likewise
this is why photography is so fulfilling when you
do produce a photograph that you previsualized
accurately.
Every photographer strives for that 1:1 Vision, they
try the best they can to recreate what they saw in
their Mind’s eye. Photography is a visual language,
54
By Olivier Duong
it’s a tunnel, a channel, a mean to an end. And
just like any other language you can either be
photographically literate or illiterate.
The illiterate photographer can take a photograph
but he cannot express himself because he does not
know how to accurately convey his ideas. Likewise
photographs are only visual stimuli to him because
he does not know how to read images.
This article series is about learning the visual
language. It is going to present to you the words
first (Elements) and then will present the grammar
(Principles). The foreign language student has
lots of work to do in order to begin to formulate
coherent phrases. By the same token each of the
elements and principles laid out will take some
time to internalize but when it is, it’s there forever.
I personally do not think about composition
anymore, I frame by intuition because it is now part
of my subconscious. Do you remember learning to
read? How you had to pause at each word? Now do
you even think about each word?
Photography has the same learning curve. It’s easy
once you keep diligently at it. Let’s first explore
how humans learn in order to fast track your
photographic learning journey.
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T hink of photography as a huge “Find the word” puzzle.
The top-down mode
In this popular game, there is a huge grid of letters all
equally spaced, and you have a list of words to find within
that chaos of a grid. You can play the game two ways: You
either scan the overall scene for some words you recognize,
or you look for each word one by one.
Likewise in photography, there is only two
ways to photograph: Either you search for
your photographs or your photographs find
you. REQUEST
When you search for your photograph, you
are using a top-down approach. When in
top down mode your brain has a definite
image of what it is looking for and it actively
searches the scene to find it. It is the same
process as you looking for a specific word in
the word grid. In the illustration on the left
I told myself I really wanted strong leading
REQUEST? REQUEST? REQUEST?
56
lines while in a vacation house. When they were recognized my brain
prompted me to shoot and I did.
When your brain is in top down mode, most of the buffer zone (it’s
RAM) is filled with the pattern you told it to find, so when other
worthy patterns appear you will overlook them just like you will
overlook other words than the words you are looking for in the game.
This is the reason why when you are too focused
on a particular type of photograph you will miss
what is unravelling in front of you. But the Top-
down approach is vital to learning, it forces the
brain to be familiar with patterns. If you do not
know a pattern you will not recognize it, to learn
it you must train your brain to recognize it. This
is done by doing top down exercises like the ones
in future articles.
Once you internalize the patterns, these can
then be used in a more passive mode, when your
brain is in bottom up mode.
REQUEST! REQUEST?
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The bottom-up mode

T he bottom up approach is somewhat the opposite of the
top-down approach. Whereas the top-down approach
is active, the bottom-up approach is reactive. It has no real
prime objective and it simply reacts to certain stimuli. In
the word search game when you scan the whole grid for
some words you recognize, you are using the bottom up
approach.

When looking for words, you cannot recognize one that

you did not know before hand. Likewise when you have
a scene before you, you will not be able to see the various
photographic possibilities in front of you if you have not
trained your brain to recognize them before.

On the base of your brain is located your RAS, your Re-

ticular Activating System. It’s your own Really Awesome
Secretary, and like a good secretary it filters out what is
important from what is unimportant. When you scan the
grid of letters you actually scan all of them but your RAS
labels them as unimportant, until the sequence of letters
matches a previously known sequence of letters, and then
it brings it to your attention.

This is the reason why you always see the people with the
MOTION-SHADOW-HARMONY-BALANCE-UNITY-TEXTURE-RYTHM
RAS (FILTER)
PORTRAIT-LINES-LANDSCAPES-SPACE-COLOR-EMPHASIS
same car, brand or camera as you in the streets. You can
spot one familiar face in a sea of thousands because of your
RAS. The more you train yourself to recognize patterns, the
more you will find things to shoot in a scene. If you have
ever been out with a photographer friend and were amazed
at the shots that you never saw, their palette of patterns
was broader than yours. You will have to be in top down
mode often before enjoying bottom up to it’s full extent.

The best way to be a better photographer is to use your

brain in the way it was designed for: By looking at
photographs, deconstructing them and expanding on
them.

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INSPIRED FRAME
O ne can lack Vision, or one can lack the necessities to convey that vision,
but both are necessary for what I call the Inspired frame. Vision is
universal, but it takes certain skills and tools to externalize it. The tools are
of course the cameras and other photographic equipment, as for the skills
they are, amongst others, design elements and principles.

While design has been there for the longest time, the big breakthrough came
when the first design school in the world, the Bauhaus school in Germany
(1919) formulated a comprehensive system that broke down Design in
terms of design elements of principles.

The elements of design are the most basic units of the frame, they include:
Line, shape, space, color and texture. Composition is the arrangement of
these units while the principles are the concepts behind this arrangement.
To illustrate, Elements are the words and Principles the grammar behind the
arrangement of words

To successfully convey Vision there must be good communication because

the idea behind Vision is to say to the viewer: See what I see, feel what I felt.
Without good communication, Vision is dead on arrival and the non shared
Vision creates frustration in the photographer.

The design elements principles laid out in this article series are the
language for you to convey your Vision better. The inspired frame is when
you meaningfully frame your photograph to express your Vision. The
temptation is to focus strictly on composition and not the feel, the soul of
the photograph. Relying solely on design principles can create aesthetically
and compositionally strong photographs but empty and cold because they
are void of meaning. A good example of this are the Bokeh photos. They are
packed with lots of creamy goodness but are void of meaning. Why take the
photograph at such aperture?

Think of the design elements and principles as a box of color crayons to use
when you want to express yourself, the magic is not in the crayons but in
what you do with them.

t i n u ed i n n e xt is s u e
C on
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 INSPIRED EYE

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SE SPR
DON
BY

ER
ING
N RO
KARE
What Genre’ of photography are you most
comfortable working in?

When I meet people for the first time and I happen to tell
them that I like photography, they invariably ask me what
type of photographs do I like to take. My answer is always
“anything, I just shoot what I see”. This might just be wishful
thinking on my part, that I am a free spirit and not constrained
by specific genres in my vision quest. But truth is, if my camera
is in my hand, I will just shoot what I see. Just sometimes it takes
me longer to see.

ith
Ww
RVIE
INTE

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When you work are you working on
different series or just finding photos that
fit the way you feel at the moment?
Sometimes my pictures are part of a series. But,
always, my feelings influence the pictures I see.
know when I found one. That moment, when a
picture would magically come together in front
of me. Nothing else would matter. For that brief
moment, I’d lose myself in that image and, with
the release of the shutter, I’d feel free.

“ Chasing photographs was and continues to be my medicine for the soul

Around 2010 I was going through a particularly
difficult time in my life. I had lost my father the
year before and still I wasn’t dealing well with
my loss. At the time I worked in an incredibly
stressful environment which continued to haunt
Chasing photographs was and continues to be my
medicine for the soul.

Can you describe a few of the things that

make you want to stop and shoot?
”
my thoughts when I left at the end of each shift.
I will give you three: life, light and fantasy. But
Photography became a means to escape from the there are more ... there are always more.
feelings I couldn’t deal with at that time. I never
went looking for specific photographs. I’d just

Do you like to work by yourself or to have In no particular order, RX100, GXR, GRD3, EP3,
someone with you? Please explain why. X100, X10, NEX5, G1X, LX5 and TG1. I’d grab
any of them and be happy working with them.
I don’t mind either way. But, to be honest, I’m not
great company when I am out shooting. I like to Are you self taught, educated or a little bit
lose even myself so there are no distractions from of both?
the images dancing in front of me.
I’d say self learning, always more to learn. So
What is your favorite Field of View? much I still don’t know.

I so want to say a field of wild, red poppies!
But I know that’s not what you mean. I think it
depends on where I am and what I am shooting.
Street and landscapes then no doubt, the 28mm
or 35mm. With portraits and general travel
photography I love to zoom so anything is within
my reach.
What camera are you working with
currently?
Where in the world are you located?
Edinburgh, Scotland, mostly.
Where is your favorite place to work?
Always the Edinburgh Fringe in August, no other
place I’d want to be then. But for the rest of the
year, offer me any place I’ve never been. I love an
adventure.

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About Karen Rose

I remember my first camera was a cheap Halina point and shoot film camera.
It had no zoom and it had no instructions on how to manually load the film. I
never could. I remember on day trips I took as a teenager I would rely on kind
strangers on the bus to load the film for me. Without their help I wouldn’t have
grown to love photography as much as I do now. Without their help I would have
no pictures.

Thirty-six pictures at a time, some in color, some in black and white, I slowly
developed an eye for photography. Waiting days, sometimes
weeks for my pictures to come back from the chemist. Then
developing my film in the dark room myself. That was a
blast. My interest grew.

Now in the digital age my tools have changed and

my processing skills are faster, my photography
even better I hope. Photography has become
my food for my soul. It sees me through the
good times and the bad. For my photographic
journey I am ever thankful to those first
strangers on the bus who helped me out when
I needed it, and set me on the right road.

FLICKR
EIFFEL WALLPAPER

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INTERVIEW WITH

TATSUO
SUZUKI
BY DON SPRINGER

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 INSPIRED EYE
It should be noted that Tatsuo and I (Don Springer) agreed for me to interpret his answers
the best I can. I will do so but will not let the English language interfere with his emotions and
or intent.
What inspired you to become a
photographer?
I don't know exactly. I just wanted to take
scenic photos around my life. I used a Nikon
D70 first. After shooting and shooting, I'm into
photography much deeper. I’ve always had an
interest in people. It excites me very much.
So I go out, shooting on the street, it fits me
very much.
Maybe, I like people very much and want to
record them through my eyes.
Shooting every day is good for my life, though
I work every weekday. Maybe this is my hobby
76
but maybe it's my life work.
What purpose does photography
serve for you?
Photography is a means of self expression
for me. Photography will express my
swirling emotions . By the day, my mood is
different. Taking photos should be different
by the day.
However, my biggest goal is to take a
decisive moment for me on the street. To
that end, I will continue to take pictures
and I would like to share my world through
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my eyes to all of the viewers of my photos. The answer was, I don't know. I don't understand.
So, shooting on is my answer, I just believe.
What did photography mean back then?
More and more, it’s become difficult keeping a
My hobby. certain level of quality in my photographs.
So I do more shooting on the street to keep that
What does it mean now? certain level of quality in my photographs.
Day by day, before I knew it, it's went beyond the
My life’s work. hobby.

Could you define what is was that got into
you to make photography your
life's work?
Firstly, I enjoyed taking pictures, so shooting and
shooting and uploading on my photoblog. One
day, I thought about that. What does it mean?
Yes, I think it is my life’s work. I realize that now.
Have you ever, or do you now work for
hire?
I'm a company man from 1990.
I'm in sales at ICT company 'Fujitsu Ltd.' I feel It

does not fit my photography but it is needed for moment. People's emotions, their wrinkles of
my wife and cat and dog. They are my family. their history appears. I would like to express
their life through my eyes.

What
are your

“
recurring themes?
I think it is my life’s work. I realize that now.

My themes are, people, people and Streets.

I'm into people very much. don't know the reason
why. All I know is that it charms me very much.
”
Can you describe a few of the things that
make you want to stop and shoot?

I will want to shoot when I find a special presence

So I’m shooting and shooting people. Of course,
I will try decisive moments of people and streets
when they are crossing each other.
It's very hard and rare that I find and shoot this
80
that attracts me. This presence is for example, a
special character in a person that I see, or a
special moment in a scene or in the streets.
Walking on the streets, I am always looking for
this moment to shooting.

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 INSPIRED EYE

“ ”
What does it mean? I don’t know. I don’t understand. So, shooting on is my answer, I just believe.

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 INSPIRED EYE

Do you like to work by yourself or to have someone with you? Please

explain why.

I like to work by myself. I don't like to have someone with me.

The reason is,I want to take a picture with my own feeling.
So no one needs to be with me, no one.
I would like to go right or left or up or down with my feelings. Walking through
the streets, I would like to focus on shooting.

It's no need for talking. The only needs with talking, is my subject.
Concentration, concentration, only needs are concentration to my subject.
My inspiration comes from the subject and my senses. Nothing comes from
talking with my friends while shooting.

How do you feel about being photographed?

When I'm feel so good, it's no problem. If I'm feeling so not good,i t's no thank
you. Timing is very important. So I want to shoot people when their feelings are
good but sometimes, people not feeling so good also makes a good photo.

So I think, good photo is taken people's emotional moments, feeling good and
not feeling good is not so important. When I am not good feeling, if someone take
a photo of me, I'm not feeling good about the photo but this photo may be good
one. God only knows it.

Are you self taught, educated or a little bit of both?

Self taught.

Where in the world are you located?

Tokyo, Japan.

Where is your favorite place to work?

Shibuya,Tokyo. It's a good place to shoot.

Any closing comments?

Though I am still immature of photography, I am glad I get the opportunity to

talk about photographs. Thank you so much Don.
Best Regards, Tatsuo Suzuki
BLOG | FLICKR | 1PX

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What selective
Professional application
Professional photographers, depending on their
work ethics want to give their clients the best
photographs. The issue comes when you have
1000+ images to edit. As a photographer you will
Photographic application
Those who make photography a personal quest
also spot the imperfections listed on the left.
Since the work is even closer to the heart, the
mistakes are blown to exponential proportions.

attentien means
notice all sorts of defects within the photographs.
Ever had someone obsess over a part of their
- Image is slightly soft body but couldn’t spot anything wrong? It’s
- Sky is blown out much of the same thing. But here is another great
- White balance is slightly off truth: Only you, as the maker of the image care

for YOU and your

- ISO is too high about the small details, everyone else, including
- Image ever so slightly underexposed photographers care about the overall image.
- Should have been shot at f/4
- Etc. Ask yourself this question: How many times
did you stop looking at any of the most famous

PHOTOGRAPHY
But here is the beautiful thing: Clients don’t care
about these things. I have never met a client
putting their finger on a photograph to say “This
By Olivier Duong sky is blown out”, “the ISO is too high”. All
they care about is what’s in the image. You are
stressing about sharpness and softness, while
the only thing they want to know if it they look
Did you notice that the logo of the magazine has one of it’s “e”s reversed? Did you notice that handsome of pretty.
“attention” above is misspelled (easiest one!)? Did it ever happen to you to proofread a text many
times but never caught a blaring typo? Welcome to the funky world of selective attention. You care about visual weight distribution,
they care about their weight. You care about
The brain is a beautiful thing, but can you Not everybody notices the same thing underexpose, they hope their nose (forehead,
imagine if it alerted you for right about Due to selective attention, not everyone sees the chin, etc) that they hate are not over exposed. I’m
everything? Just imagine what would happen if same thing. Show a photograph of an sick rabbit not advocating mediocrity, that the client won’t
you were in a busy street of New York. You would to a veterinary, a rabbit lover and a photographer be able to differentiate between good and bad
go crazy! and all will notice different things. photography (they can’t say why but they know
So the brain only alerts you for certain things. there’s a je ne sais quoi) but it is something to
The rabbit lover will notice the animal’s race keep in mind when you have 1000+ images to
If I had a billboard with 2 types of photographs and gender and how the animal needs medical knock out in a day or so.
photographs to point out that the sky is
overexposed, that image is a bit soft, colors are
ugly, etc. Che Guevarra’s famous photo is a blown
out sky, Einstein’s famous tongue picture is very
harsh flash.
The most famous photographs are technically not
perfect. You’ve never noticed that because you
never paid attention to it. So likewise for your
own photography, don’t sweat the small stuff too
much, photography is much more than technical
perfection.
Therefore knowing about selective attention frees
the photographer from having tunnel vision in
their work. What you see is not what everybody
sees.

Ever Not iced?

in them, one black and white and the other
color, the first one to be seen would be different,
depending on the viewer’s photographic tastes. I
know I would see the BW first.
We have seen how attention works with the top-
down and bottom up models, but knowledge of
selective attention can actually help you better
appreciate your photography.
88
attention. The veterinary will notice the
symptoms on the rabbit’s skin, it’s posture and
try to diagnose the sickness. The photographer
will notice the subtle tones of the rabbit’s fur, the
composition, the shallow depth of field, etc.
The Fedex Logo is a legend amongst graphic designer for it’s
brutal simplicity but also it’s brilliance. Did you ever notice the
We do not notice the same things. This great
arrow between the “E” and the “x”?
truth has many applications for both professional
photographers and photographers in general.
Probably not because your attention was focused on reading the
text. But now, just like many photographs you might sweat over,
you cannot unsee it. Only the knowledge that not every body sees
the same thing can prevent you from over focusing on your work.
89
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WHEN
PHOTOGRAPHY
DOES GOOD
Marco Trovato’s photograph of
Children playing in Angola as it
appeared on the cover of an
issue of Sports Illustrated

CONVERSATION WITH J.B REED ABOUT THE NURU PROJECT

By Olivier Duong
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 INSPIRED EYE
About the Nuru Project
The Nuru project is a non profit organization that sells photojournalism prints to support other non
profits and the photographers themselves. One of the founders, J.B Reed talks about the project.
How did you come up with the Project?
Right after university I had a Fulbright fellowship
which is a US state department grant to go to
Kenya for a year.
I proposed to document a slum in Nairobi for
a year, and what I was interested in looking at
was what the very baseline experience was in the
slums. So not when there is a political crisis in the
country or anything related to a health crisis just
“what is daily life like here? What’s the normal?”
94
A client’s home with a Nuru Print
approached me. He was working in business
and had a good head for building organizations.
We brainstormed a platform that would sell
lots of prints from different photographers and
return money to the communities that they had
photographed through donations to relevant
non-profits.
So it kind of came out of this personal experience
than building that out as an option for lots of
photographers to take advantage of.
How did you come up with the name
“Nuru project”?
We wanted something which would stick in
people’s minds, something that had a sort of ring
to it but we also wanted to have a deeper meaning
and be a kind of puzzle. Nuru means light in
Swahili. One of the guys that I started Nuru
project with and he had done a lot of traveling
and that is part of what inspired him to want to
work on this.
He had traveled through East Africa so we looked
at Swahili and we liked it because we think that
a lot of the people who buy our prints feel a
connection to the rest of the world, so we thought
when they dig a little deeper and they uncover the
In a nutshel l
I followed guys my age for a year and when that
experience was over I came back to the United
States and felt a pretty big debt to the guys I
photographed. They let me follow them around
every day for a year which is just and enormous
gift, so I had a gallery event in Boston.
I sold my prints and I sent the money back to a
non-profit working in their neighborhood.
After that event was over, a friend of a friend
meaning of the actual name what was a puzzle to
them is now like a discovery which is kind of what
the prints are themselves. So that is what Nuru
means.
What response did you get from the
photography community to the project?
We’ve changed over time, so what we asked of
photographers has changed over time and I think
their response has changed along with it.
When we first started out, we were just doing live
events like photography auctions and we were
giving away all the money to non-profits.
That’s a lot to ask, there is no financial reward
in that for photographers. Obviously there is an
emotional reward by giving to causes but not
much financial reward. So as we began to reach
the limit of what we could do as volunteers and
realized that we needed to keep some of the
money, we wanted to use that moment to cut
photographers into the proceedings because we
understand, myself being a photographer, how
difficult it is to make a living.
Also one of the people that mentored me through
this process was Susan Meiselas from Magnum.
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 INSPIRED EYE
“I wasn’t planning to shoot the sunrise, but the
thunderous waves crashing against El Malecon
managed to wake me up pretty early, even in my
17th floor Havana hotel room. Soon after, a man
who’d been watching me photograph in the surf
96
worked up the nerve to join. I was so caught up
in the scene that I took little initial notice of him.
Eventually, a particularly big wave forced him to
jump onto a pole. In opening his mouth to yelp,
he’d dropped his cigarette. I felt like an asshole
for laughing at him and shooting his picture, but
the water quickly receded and he was fine. It was
a pretty comical Cuban moment.”
- Benjamin Norman
She was always encouraging me to think about the Nuru
project and how I could make it a win-win for other
photographers too.
So that’s one of the things we are most exited about
and not surprisingly, as we have been able to pay
photographers, the buying has been even greater. So
now we have photographers at Nuru project, after they
get their quarterly check, will reach back out to me and
say “This is great! How can I get more images on the
site?” It’s a way for them to give back but it’s also a way
for them to keep their own businesses growing.
What kind of non-profits does Nuru support? Is
there a common thread between all of them?
One thing that is not common among them is what they
do, we have non profits that work in health, economic
empowerment, disaster relief and several other areas.
They also work across different geographies. We try and
keep that pretty diverse.
On the flip side, we want to make sure our non profits
are very efficient in the use of their funds, and we also
want to make sure that they are pushing the envelope in
non-profit service delivery. So that might be, in the case
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of Acumen fund, applying business principles to
poverty alleviation and promoting that idea and
being a thought leader in that way.
In the case of Partners in Health, Dr Paul Farmer,
who is kind of this visionary in terms of how to
deliver low cost medicine in developing countries,
specifically in Haiti. And all of our non profits are
like that.
Kiva: How do you take micro
lending and increase it to an
incredible new scale and sort
of change the game of poverty
alleviation through micro
lending. All of our non profits
have that theme, they all do
something innovative, playing
a thought leader role in their
particular space.
that increasingly what you see is photographers
interested in going a little bit further, and it raises
interesting ethical questions. How does, when
you as a storyteller, begin to engage with your
subject, do you alter the story? Is that important
or not? How should you behave?
One interesting case for us has been Alex Masi’s
print of Poonam (left), this girl in Bhopal where
there was an industrial accident. Her brother
had suffered some health
consequences as a result
of this accident so Alex has
continued to use revenues
from this image to support
her family and help them
with the family business and
education fees, to try and
improve the lot of this family
he encountered.

Do you think that it’s Is he stepping over the

something inherent to
photography that makes
you always want to give
back?
It’s not uncommon to see photographers trying
to do so. Obviously there are different types of
photography, we deal more with storytelling
photography, typically from the developing world,
images depicting low income communities.
Who’s going to take that job? Who’s that
photographer? Why are they there? What
motivates them? What animates them? A
common theme obviously is that these people
look at the world around them and they perceive
that it’s unjust and they feel compelled to go out
and tell that story.
Traditionally the end of that process has been
to bring your story to some sort of outlet,
typically a magazine or newspaper, and hoping
that news coverage will have an impact. I think
ethical line by doing that? or
is he having a total human
response to somebody that
he met is in need and he’s in a position to help?
It’s an interesting question. And obviously we
are encouraging photographers to go beyond
the media application of their image. Yes I do
think it’s something that is a sort of common
denominator amongst the practitioners of this
craft, that motivates us to create a platform that
helps them act on that impulse.
Any stories on what impact a print had on
a community?
Interesting question, a recent addition to our site
is Taylor Weidman’s prints, he is working on a
project called “Vanishing cultures project”. His
basic premise is basically that modernization
is bringing pressure on what he defines as
traditional cultures and he’s interested in
exploring that process. His print sales support
ongoing efforts to provide people of these business, the creation of this kind of content is
communities with options to preserve their under threat. Just the ability to help
culture if that is the direction that they want to a photographer’s bottom line, I think, is a pretty
go. I think probably the Alex Masi example is the important cause.
Just the ability to help a photographer’s bottom line, I think,
is a pretty important cause.
most concrete example.
But I’ll be honest, I don’t really want our Does the Nuru Project respond to urgent
photographers necessarily to just us their needs, like and earthquake or something,
revenues from their Nuru sales to give to their like if there was an earthquake or a
subjects, I do think that the continued creation of hurricane?
the work itself is important.
Sometimes. We do not exist expressly for that
And in this environment where media is changing purpose but sometimes we do. For instance with
so much and newspapers are going out of hurricane Sandy we dedicated a pretty significant

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How t o Hel p
There are numerous ways to help out
the Nuru project, here are some:

Buy a print
Buying a print supports non-profits,
photographers and also the Nuru
project. 8x10’s go for a modest $50.

Give a print
It is more blessed to give than to
receive! Nuru prints make great gifts.

Submit work
Submit photographs to broaden the
selection of Nuru prints, helping
it grow.

Donate
Donate directly to the Nuru Project to
show your support.

Spread the word

Go on Facebook and “like” the Nuru
project, don’t forget to tweet and pin!

Teru Kuwayama

“The Siachen Glacier has the dubious

distinction of being the world’s
highest and coldest theater of war. (...)
The glacier has no clearly identified
strategic value, and both sides concede
that there is no military solution to
the war.”

100 101
 INSPIRED EYE

portion of the end of last year to just hurricane Sandy

sales. We tried to funnel all of our sales into hurricane
Sandy relief and then we gave that money to the
American Red Cross.

So, that would be an example of doing that, after the

earthquake in Haiti we had some live events that were
specifically fundraising for Haiti. So we do some of
that but that is not the only reason that we exist. In the
same way that I went to Kenya to explore what is the
nature of everyday life, I think that it is important to
sort of just support these causes on a day-to-day basis
even when they are not in crisis mode.

Speaking of the earthquake, I lost like 12

members of my family in that thing, most
notably my mother. Not a happy time.

I am so sorry for your loss. This is another interesting

example, actually, now that you bring it up. We used to
have a print that a father in Michigan bought.

This is a father that adopted a Haitian girl after the

earthquake who had lost her family and she was an
orphan. This guy has been raising her in Michigan
“I was in Bangladesh to photograph its particular
vulnerability to climate change. On November 15th,
2007, one of the strongest cyclones ever to hit the
country slammed into the remote island of Dublar,
killing thousands of fishermen out at sea. Cycle
Sidr went on to destroy two out of every three
buildings along Bangladesh’s southern coastline,
displacing millions of people. When I traveled to
Dublar one year later, I found these fishermen
praying for a benevolent sea. The captain of one
small boat told me, “I’ve been fishing here for 22
years and these storms have never been as fre-
quent as now. Nowadays we get storms in winter
and not many in summer. I don’t understand
these things.” Rodney Dekker

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and there is not a lot of Haitian culture in
Michigan for him tap into but he wanted to give
her something to remind her of home.
On the one hand he did not want it to be so
upsetting to her that she would not be able to
engage with it. On the other hand, he did not
want it to be so soft that it sort of covered up the
challenges of the environment that she came
from. So he was looking for something which
struck that balance and he bought a Nuru project
print and he gave it to her.
He was kind enough to photograph the moment
when he gave it to her and report back to us
some of the comments that she made when
looking at it and it is pretty touching (Link
at article end). So that would be another
example of how these images give back more
directly to the communities, not just through
104
giving to non-profits but also through sort of
making connections across geographic and
socioeconomic divides.
Who is your typical buyer, if there is any?
We have a pretty good diversity. We have sold
prints in several different countries around the
world, even around the United States. We have
sold prints in a lot of different states, middle of
the country, costal. But if you are looking for the
most common demographic, I would say that it
is probably female, somewhat politically liberal,
costal, United States, 20 to 40 years old. But
again, pretty diverse customer base.
How was your life impacted by the Nuru
Project?
It is interesting. I thought when I started off
that I would want to be a sort of traveling
photographer, the McCurry type and I eventually
realized that I did not want that and I wanted
to have a more conventional life. I want to
have regular time at home with my family and
own a house, these sort of conventional things
that you sort of run away from when you are a
photographer.
So for me the Nuru Project has been really great
because it has been a way for me to develop my
experience as an entrepreneur and figure out
how do you create a product that is compelling to
people. How do you connect with them? How do
you market it to them? How do you listen to them
and improve it? Just all of those things.
It has been a great learning experience for me in
just a general entrepreneurial sense. It has also
allowed me to stay involved in the documentary
community without having to travel myself and
sort of live that life which I realized I kind of was
not willing to do. So it has allowed me to play
a very particular role, a role that is of service to
the photographer, of service to the communities
where those images are being shot and also an
innovative role.
There are other groups out there that are kind
of similar to Nuru Project but not really. At this
point we are still a relatively unique organization.
That has been very fun to create a new concept
within the field and get everybody’s response
to it.
Can anybody submit work to Nuru?
Yes, anybody is welcome to submit work. I look
at all of the work with another photographer,
Andrew Burton, who has been helping out at
Nuru Project. It is not real scientific process
at this point. Hopefully at some point we will
formalize it more. Basically photographers can
send me a link to their work and Andrew and I
will take a look at it and then reach out if we feel
that the work is a fit for what we do.
How long is the submission process?
We usually get back to people the same day or the
same week.
Do the photographers retain the rights
to their image? What is the legal stuff
behind everything?
They do, yes. We have the right to sell it but
you have the right to sell it at other places
and you have the right to pull it. So it is very
photographer-friendly agreement.
What are you guys looking for in a
photograph?
I think that we have to strike a very particular
balance between our mission, which is to bring
important stories that challenge our audience and
selling something that is going on the wall.
So it has to be something that you are willing to
live with, willing to look at everyday, willing to
share with people that come into your home or
your office or wherever you have it displayed.
So we are looking for images that walk that line.
Typically we have found that images that focus
on an individual or a group of people tend to be
popular with our audiences.
Images that are challenging but that also have
some sense of either struggle or overcoming or
inspiration. So they do not all have to be happy,
they can be dark, they can be challenging, they
can be rich, but we have found that just out and
out depressing images, people just do not buy
them unfortunately, so we do have to strike
that balance.
What is your most popular image?
I would say that there are three on our site right
now, which all sell well and about the same.
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“I followed this girl out into the water during Pongal, the Tamil New
Year festival. She was one of thousands if not millions, that day on
Chennai’s Marine Beach, the second longest in the world. On the third
106
and final day of the festival, families throng to the beaches, irrespec-
tive of socio-economic class. She was having a personal moment
away from the crowds and was unaware of me.”
-Kirk Mastin
There is a print by Jody MacDonald. There are two on
our site but there is one that she photographed in India
of an Elephant walking through the woods (last image of
article). It is a story about how these elephants used to be
used in the logging industry that does not exist anymore.
They have been trained to swim in the ocean which is
highly, highly unusual.
There is another one by Kirk Mastin, which is a
woman walking out into the Indian Ocean in the Bay
of Bengal (left). This is a sort of festival in India which
is unique because it is celebrated by people across the
socioeconomic spectrum.
On the one hand I think it is about that and on the other
hand I think that it can be read in a lot of different ways.
You have this mysterious moment with this woman
walking into the ocean and her hands signal a sense of
release, what is she thinking or why is she walking out
into the ocean?
There is all of this turbulence in the waves but she is very
calm and then there is this sort of sunset. So that one is a
bit more enigmatic. There is also the Alex Masi print that
I mentioned of Poonam in the rain in Bhopal.
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This image is pretty well known, I’ve seen

it in different places

It is on the cover of a book right now. They cut

her out and put her over a scene from Mumbai.
The book is called “Behind The Beautiful
Forevers”, which is a best seller and is about
Mumbai and they used this girl to illustrate the
main character on the cover. It is interesting. You
should check it out.

Are you fine with images from the US or

is it exclusively exotic imagery?

No, in fact we are trying to build that out. We

have our first two prints from the US that are
by Justin Maxon. They are photographs from
Chester, Pennsylvania, from a low income
community that has had some problems with
violence and his prints are about how the
community has responded to that violence. He
just won a grant from Magnum, we are honored
to have his prints on our site as our first work
from the US.

Do photographers give you the finished

photograph and you guys take care of
printing, and mounting?

Yes, photographers give us print ready files and

then we handle everything from there.

Thank you for your Time J.B, it was great

talking to you. Many photographers
will love the Nuru project. Any closing
comments?

Thank you Olivier, I appreciate it. Our biggest

challenge as a very small company with very, very
limited resources is getting the word
out there.

We cannot afford to advertise so projects like WEBSITE | BLOG | FACEBOOK | POST ABOUT HAITIAN GIRL
yours help us to get in front of people and that is
very valuable. Thank you so much.

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 INSPIRED EYE
Every Thousand Mile
JOURNEY
Start with a first step. Here’s what we have planned
You have reached the end of the first issue
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beginning of the journey. Here’s what to look
forward to from IE:
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Every Issue will have more interviews from
photographers of diverse background. We are
looking to present photographers of different
nationality, personality, level and type of work.
We have a two step process for interviews where
we interview a photographer once so that the
readers can familiarize themselves with the
photographer, and a second interview where we
question at a deeper level.
In the Streets with Streetshooter
Each issue will contain this section, with the idea
to expose the rationale behind shots of a street
photographer. Written by a Photographer with
works in various museums.
The purposeful frame
Just like the above, this section explores design
basics and principles for photographers. Written
by Inspired Eye’s designer.
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