HAITI – A DEFINING MOMENT

Every semester class I teach I talk about Henri Cartier-Bresson, the French photographer considered the master of candid photography, and an early user of 35 mm film. More specifically, the phrase he coined ‘The Decisive Moment’ – which, I am hoping you know all about. And sorry to bore you – I think I may have written from this direction before.
Unlike The Humans of New York by Brandon Stanton, Cartier-Bresson did not need a story to support his images. Perhaps that’s what we want now, more of a story to guide the viewer’s imagination further. And perhaps that’s a smart evolution of imagery to include the editorial on the image.

Haiti is an amazing country – the people, the landscape, the culture – and every breath I took there was filled with all of that. I was flown out to document several schools in various states and stages of development. A small group I traveled with were going there to teach classes, train teachers, plan for wells to be dug at the schools. The Haitian students were so wonderful to be around. First of all, they all dress so smart, love learning and going to school – they are all so happy. And then second of all, once they got used to this tall, white, stranger they were so playful – making fun faces for the camera – constantly posing and, pulling friends into group photos – for hours.

I shot with my Mark III and this new Fuji mirror less camera I’m still testing out. The Fuji has several interesting tricks and in camera processing (hence the harshness of some of the color images). I am still divided about robbing many images of color, but there’s no turning back with the Fuji (unless you shoot in RAW) – so for the massive amount I had to shoot, I’d change modes several times from black and white to processed to natural. I took several thousand images: a series of The Teachers, a series of The Classrooms, many panoramic photographs of the landscape, and a ton of street photography. I think this is my largest broad edit I have every shot and it will take ages to organize. This set posted are my favorites for the terms of my phrase, ‘A Defining Moment’ – an image you hope effects a viewer as much as it did you when you took it.

The boys in yellow and blue were not from the school I was working with. They came from a neighboring school, and were so curious and excited to see what was going on. They posed for ages and ages in this abandoned truck. I suspect these kids are rarely the subject of many photo shoots, let alone see themselves immediately on the camera’s screen. Not much of a ‘selfie’ generation to worry about in this part of Haiti, they have many other concerns – such as doing well in their exams. The future of education in Haiti is in good hands, thanks to the three selfless and tireless teachers that asked me to document one of their continual visits to a country rebuilding itself.

Visit Haiti.