when I came to Geographic I was 25 I was
the youngest photographer here through
through the the courage and foresight of
Bob gilga he he gave me opportunities
and I didn’t completely fall on my sword
on any of them and and I you know I just
had this opportunity to balance a crazy
career with a life and almost any time I
speak there’s there’ll be a young woman
in the audience who says can you really
do it and I and I say to them you know
if you mean can you have it all no oh
you know life is not without compromise
but can you find balance and and
whatever the priorities in your life are
can you can you bail us those with
something you love absolutely because if
I can do it with my crazy job and my
crazy family I think anyone can so I
would like to take you to see a little
bit of the wonderful stuff I’ve been
lucky enough to experience and I’m gonna
start by telling you a story that
happened to me when I was a very young
photographer it happened in 1980 and my
first trip to Africa was to a country
called Namibia and we set out to find a
very remote tribe the Himba tribe this
was at a time when there had been seven
years of drought and so this nomadic
tribe was particularly distant now and
trying to survive we got a special
vehicle to take us up to to try to find
them and the first people I saw after
looking for about four or five days for
a group of three women and two kids and
they were down in kind of a little
ravine and I went down the ravine and
they looked at me as though I had landed
by spaceship they just stared kind of
open-faced stared and I went down and in
those days back in the olden days when
we had Polaroids I pulled out a Polaroid
camera and by way of making friends with
them I took their picture no they didn’t
know what I was doing
and that I handed them the little white
square and they had no idea what I was
handing them but as their pictures came
up on the Polaroid all of a sudden the
women just fell to the ground rolled
literally rolling around laughing and
pointing and looking at each other and
giggling and the and and what I finally
recognized without a word of their
language was they were saying this is
you know yeah that’s that’s you yeah
that’s me because none of these women
had ever seen her own face before they
lived in a desert in a drought there
were no reflective surfaces and they
recognized their own jewelry and
clothing and bodies but they were seeing
their faces for the first time I spent
about 36 hours with this tribe because
it was really tough to get in and chop
to get out and I learned so much from
them so I’d like to take you to meet
them we that’s me on the left and you
can see why they were a little
frightened because really I mean they’d
never seen glass wasn’t it it turned out
that they had never seen a Caucasian
woman before and they thought I was ugly
you know because in their culture dark
you know ochre covered skin was a thing
of beauty and you know here I was
wearing these ridiculous clothes and I
had this thing on my head and I had
these things on my face and but what I
like about this picture is that it
doesn’t it look like it’s a couple of
girlfriends talking just chatting and we
were without the benefit of language and
from this encounter with these women
I learned that without language you can
tell anyone that their kids are
beautiful that you like their hair that
you know that you’re interested in them
you can express interest and you can
pantomime and it’s actually better than
having an interpreter because you’re
communicating directly with somebody
without a wall being set up that blocks
the communication so I’d much rather
make an idiot out of myself pantomiming
something then then have an interpreter
saying it correctly and having it fed
back to me so I learned a lot the
reality for these women was pretty rough
they they were trying to keep their
babies fed one of the ways they
communicated they held their breasts up
and pointed to their mouths and wondered
if I had some kind of magic potion or
something that would help their milk to
come in they lived in this beautiful
part of the world just beautiful the
Namib Desert but can you imagine finding
lunch and yet these people were master
survivors from generations and they
could find food and water where none of
us would ever have been able to do that
they lived side by side with wildlife
amazing wildlife and they had an
understanding that I could observe just
just the way they related to the
wildlife each knowing that the other
animal could kill them and when they
when they were lucky enough to to you
know kill some wildlife and get some
fresh meat they didn’t waste anything
and their clothing and everything was
used as part of their lives it’s a
beautiful country and and I was lucky
enough to go back last year for the
first time in almost 30 years and I
loved Namibia but my life started in the
Midwest this is my mother and this
picture was taken by my dad on I think
their first date
and what I love about this is my mother
grew up under the firm hand of a very
very strict Catholic Irish mother and
mom you know I don’t think I’ve told you
this but you’re wearing pants and and I
remember when I was growing up I could
never wear pants at Grandma’s house but
my mother this is you know this is fixed
well of her character she somehow
convinced this mother of hers to let her
go for the summer to Glacier Park and
wait be a waitress which is greater than
anything I’ve ever conquered I’ll tell
ya and out there she met dad and dad
took this picture and came back and
built a life these are my parents with
me when I was really little and this is
how I grew up I grew up classic
Midwestern good people hard work not you
know
it comfortable and happy we didn’t go
anywhere except up to our little lake
cottage which is still in the family I’m
happy to report this is you can tell I’m
the one in the white hat I’ve always had
quite a sense of style but we just had
you know this wonderful life but it
didn’t it didn’t include seeing the
world but I somehow I inherited my
mother’s wanderlust
mom wanted to go anywhere anytime this
is the picture that Marianne spoke about
that was from my beginning photo class
and it for many many years it was the
only photograph I hung in my home
wherever I lived because it changed my
life I who was always going to be a
writer I fell in love with a camera and
the things I could do with it and see
through it
and I changed my major after two weeks I
worked at the University paper and then
I went down to work for a really
terrific rural daily in southern
Minnesota that had a wonderful photo
history and you know interestingly
enough it was great preparation for
Geographic because we had no assignments
our job was to fill the paper with
things that were important and that’s
very much how we work now once we have
an assignment Geographic photographers
go off on their assignment and nobody
knows if they get out of bed in the
morning they just have to come back with
the stuff so this is a weather picture
this is an exercise class at a
retirement home also down there I
developed a love for the land and for
nature because it was really out on the
flat flat prairie and I came to love the
flat flat Prairie and and I just learned
that in the simplest places you really
have to be able to find a photograph
that make that communicates whether make
someone smile or cry or just read the
caption below it I’ve always said that
if you can meet a shy Norwegian farmer
and make it to his kitchen table then
you can conquer any culture on earth and
I learned that at the Worthington Daily
Globe
cuz Midwesterners are shy you know it’s
so funny that’s funny shy friendly you
know once you’re introduced they’re very
welcoming but initially they’re very shy
I learned this a lot I went to
photograph at a Hutterite colony and I
arrived the first day and I told them I
worked for National Geographic which
they had never heard of and that I was
interested in photographing their
community and they said well we don’t
believe in photography and I said okay
well can I spend some time with you and
they said sure and so they put me to
work in the garden and I went in and I
snapped peas and I helped cook and about
the second day they decided it would be
so terrible if I photographed their kids
you know because well it was just their
kids and they all wanted pictures of
their kids by the third day they were
bringing me cameras to repair because
the truth was they loved photography but
they weren’t about to let some stranger
waltz into their community and just
start snapping away I had to earn it and
that was a great lesson for life for me
that you really need to earn it with
people in national Geographics greatest
gift to the photographers and writers is
the time to do things new and well and
and to earn it to earn those photographs
I wish I could say it’s just because
we’re all so doggone talented but the
truth is hard work and time are the key
ingredients that talent can’t do without
this is the only manipulated picture in
my book and it was a such a privilege to
photograph this I did for our our kids
magazine and they were doing a story on
a wonderful little girl who was a young
lady who was a poet and a writer and a
musician but she was also born with Down
syndrome and she was 18 and she was at
an age where she was painfully painfully
aware that she was a little bit
different and yet she wanted the same
things that most eighteen year olds
wanted she wanted to be beautiful she
wanted to find love she wanted to be
seen as a grownup girl
the thing that was really terrifying to
her was the thought of being
photographed
so I actually spent three days with
Melissa before I could photograph her
because I just needed her to get to a
comfort level where she would allow me
to do so and it was like the last hour
of the last day I was there and I
finally sat down and I took her hands of
mine and I said Melissa you do not have
to do this you just don’t say she was
getting visibly upset because she felt
she was making you know disappointing me
and I said honey you don’t have to do
this it’s okay it’s okay we tried and
you know you did your best and it was
really interesting when I said that to
her and I gave the control to her she
said well I’m gonna go in my room for a
minute and so she went into her room and
she came out in this pink dress her
favorite dress and she was ready to be
photographed and not only would she let
me photograph her she had ideas and one
of her ideas was she said I feel like
dancing and so she ran I was up on the
porch and she ran down and she ran into
her backyard and she just started
dancing and these are three frames of
Melissa dancing and we just put them
together for my book because I to me it
was only together that they really
showed Melissa’s spirit this is a
graduating class of the high school in
North Dakota
I I am always laughing when I’m taking
pictures I just think life is so funny
and and I just makes me happy to find a
way to look at something that has a
little bit of a twinkle and this is
graduation at Annapolis the truth for
photographers is everything’s been
photographed it’s all been photographed
so our job is really to go out there and
find a way to take a new picture of
something that’s been photographed once
or a million times this is a from an
assignment I had I got I went out to
photograph a family branding out in
western Nebraska and they lived so far
out in the boonies that I had to get
there the night before in order to be
there in time for the branding which
started very early so they let me stay
in the ranch house and I woke up the
next morning looked out the window and
this amazing sky was happening I call
this a macro sky it was just gorgeous
and the horses were in the pasture so I
grabbed my camera and I ran down and ran
down to the fence started shooting
shooting shooting so happy you know
those things last for about three
minutes this guy started breaking up you
know I kind of gave a little cheer and I
turned around and that’s when I realized
there were four or five Cowboys leaning
up against the fence just looking at the
crazy lady and about that time I
realized that I was wearing a t-shirt
and underwear because I just saw this
guy and ran out there and so needless to
say I was not very intimidating to these
guys and the rest of the shoot went
rather well you know branding day at a
ranch is better than Christmas it’s just
great
this little guy came up to me in the
morning of a branding and started
tugging on my jeans he said you won’t
see me rustle steer
and I said absolutely honey I’m a little
busy right now but absolutely I want to
see you Restless dear and so then about
lunchtime and I was shooting and
shooting shooting he came up tugged up
my jeans even want to sleep me rest a
little steer and I said tell you what
end of the day when we’re all done I’m
all yours buddy I’ll I’ll photograph you
the whole time
so end of the day he walks over to this
little calf I said okay we’re ready to
go but he walks over his cab and he
wrestled and he wrestled and he wrestled
and this calf never moved a millimeter
was just like that you know and I this
is picture what’s him all sweaty after
he’d tried and I said to him well does
your little calf have a name he said to
Europe name is Michelangelo I thought
this is extremely cool out here in the
middle of nowhere he names his calf for
one of the finest artists who’s ever
lived he said I got some other ones back
at the barn name for the other Ninja
Turtles people are funny somewhere along
the way about a decade into this job I
met this guy this is my husband Don and
he was a writer here and I was a
photographer and eventually we tripped
over each other in really fast we were
married and we had the first one and
then we had the second one and you know
fortunately Don and I we were a little
bit older when we got married and we
really talked about how to make this
work because we wanted to have a family
and we didn’t want we didn’t want to
mess it up I guess and so we decided we
needed to set some boundaries so that
you know in this business you can just
get constantly have opportunities to
wonderful things so it’s really hard to
say no so we decided to set up some
boundaries and we did and I decided
anything that took me away for more than
two weeks I would take the kids with me
and in Don decided he would never be
away from them for more than a month and
that’s what we did
so the traveling belts
headed out all over the world the kids
have both been to every continent except
Antarctica and I really want to take
them there this is in the Galapagos
Islands Charlie’s favorite place on
earth I think this is Chinese opera this
is a New Zealand and when we traveled we
never stayed in hotels we all it was
cheaper and way better for the kids to
stay in neighborhoods in apartment on a
beach house we lived on a kibbutz once
and they just became fantastic travelers
I think I was really lucky but we also
did just really simple basic things to
make sure that they loved traveling you
know I just they were always comfortable
they always had their stuff they were
never just dressed about things and
there was a lot of bribery involved also
and you know they’re great travellers to
this day they’re incredibly flexible and
whether we were in you know Europe or in
the Middle East they just hunkered in
there like gypsies and join the other
children this is South America Canada
Britain Papua New Guinea
I have this thing for British man I’m
gonna confess it right now I mean I
married one see but I just find British
men delightful and and I’ve worked on a
couple different projects in Britain and
Ireland and this is an Irish farmer Mr
O’Sullivan and this has taken the day
that his 12th child came home from the
hospital that’s number 11 on his back
but look at the character there you know
I love that that Brits are hardworking
and have a great sense of humor and
they’re they enjoy bad weather I’m from
Minnesota you know
and they got a sense of humor too this
is the Calder Valley Mouse Club and it
is that you know a lot of people say
well how do you research your stories
you know well you know it is not much of
it is done in a library or online for me
some of it I mean depends on on the
subject matter but but you never stop
researching so I was in a little tiny
cafe in northern England and I was
having lunch and so I was reading the
bulletin board because I read everything
and talked to everybody
and there was literally a little recipe
card that said on it there will be a
meeting of the Calder Valley Mouse Club
at 10:00 a.m. on Wednesday so I went and
it’s just so quintessentially British
these guys raised mice in their back
garden and then they have little shows
and you’re looking at a champ there
because look at that tail and check out
those spot this is an Italy and this
adorable woman I was in a cemetery
photographing and I noticed her she had
her little blue detergent bottle filled
with water and she was walking around
watering her friend’s flowers and I
loved that there were all these pictures
on the tombs and where people were kind
of buried in drawers I thought that was
so cool so at one point she came near to
me and I I motioned her over and I said
in my appallingly bad Italian you know
could I take your picture
and she nodded and she walked over to
these two empty drawers sat down her
detergent file and assumed his post and
I couldn’t believe my little guy so I
was snapping away and then afterward she
came up to me and she said in Italian
and I finally understood her to be
saying could you send me this picture
for my grave which explains suppose she
wanted to look like an angel those days
you just don’t forget yeah this is my
family we spent about five years on and
off working in the Middle East when the
kids were growing up and it’s probably
the favorite chapter as a family that’s
Charlie on the right down in the middle
Lily on the left and this was taken in
the Kingdom of Jordan which I think if
you asked anybody in our family where
their favorite places we’ve ever worked
we would all say Jordan
it is just a magnificent country this is
in Petra see you right there see that
little disc right there in this
beautiful building there it is this is
an amazed Petra is an amazing ancient
city where the entire city which at one
time numbered I believe thirty thousand
was carved from the sandstone of Petra
and it’s still there and it’s still
beautiful it’s one of the loveliest
trips you could ever make and it’s much
safer than Washington DC so people ask
me all the time you know were you
nervous taking your kids to the Middle
East and you know I did my homework I
these are my kids I would never take
them someplace dangerous and I can tell
you that apart from you know individual
horrible things like are is happening in
Iraq and the Middle East is a safe and
beautiful place and boy do they need
visitors to understand and bring back
the real knowledge of the Arab world
this was a story I did on Lawrence of
Arabia and I wanted you know Lawrence
traveled in the desert with Bedouins and
I wanted to go out with the Bedouin and
camp and go on the Bedouin police patrol
but they were very reluctant I couldn’t
quite understand what the problem was
and we actually ended up going through
King Hussein’s office because they were
very very reluctant about it and I was
trying to understand but then they were
you know they were told please take her
in and there were three guys and before
we left to go out in the desert for a
few days they spoke no English but first
one came up to me and a very rehearsed
English said you are our mother and I
and I said thank you and then the second
the second Bedouin policeman came up and
said exactly the same thing you are our
mother and at that point what I realized
was they thought I was terrified because
in their culture women don’t go out into
the desert with a
men and they were comforting me and
saying we will treat you the way we
would treat our mother and they did its
magic there they are
my guys my sons would make me the best
blanket and you know the first cup of
tea and a really nice camel and it was
great this is Charlie on the right and I
love this picture because you could take
a look at my son’s face you know he we
were at a Bedouins wedding and a big
dust storm came up and Don grabbed Lilly
and I looked over in Hamoudi our friend
hill Modi had grabbed Charlie and
wrapped him up in a cofee and headed out
and I was trying to hide cameras and
when the dust settled this is the scene
I found and you know honestly if you
look at Hamoudi he you know he could be
central casting for you know our highly
prejudiced terrorist films and and yet
look at who he really is and you know I
look at this picture of my son and my
friend and to me it reveals the culture
that I know the most welcoming culture
on earth and so of course it’s very hard
for me to see how much fear has been you
know forced upon us
there’s the camel that’s in the boat
there it is these are the kids I mean
they had the time of their lives you
know their milk and goats are running
around rocks are riding donkeys and
camels and and this is Lily learning to
write in Arabic the way the Bedouin kids
did with a stick that’s got a charcoal
tip and writing on a rock and mock
Buddhist teaching her to write her name
did a lot of work in Israel this is in
Jerusalem at the Mount of Olives Jewish
man Nava Ning on a very special day this
is the Muslim quarter of the old city in
the old city is just amazing it’s just
an amazing place and you go down these
skinny little alleys and you think
there’s nothing there but then somebody
takes you to their their home you go
into a little doorway this there’s a
whole home in there there’s look it’s
just a wonderful wonderful city this is
a very traditional Jewish
part of town and it it you know it looks
like it could be right out of a European
shadow and life is just wonderful to
observe a you know I I wish I had an
invisibility cloak when the kids and I
used to wonder about which superpower we
wanted to have I always said I want the
invisibility cloak because just to see
life going on you know in Israel you see
side-by-side religion and politics all
the time but it’s actually kind of hard
to get into a into a single frame the
comfort of it you know and then you see
tragedy you know this was in a town we
loved we’re actually there was some real
cooperation between the Palestinians and
the Israelis and then somebody blew up a
bus and this is the family of the driver
that breaks your heart and yet
everywhere you see this wonderful
commitment to faith and you see that
people come from all over the world
these are Christians from Brazil the
whole world seems sort of at least the
monotheistic part of the world is kind
of invested in this little tiny place
and I am Telling You you can stand on a
hill in Galilee and you see Jordan and
you see Syria and you see Lebanon right
there it’s so tiny and yet the source of
so much global angst this is a little
Greek Orthodox woman point praying at
the praetorium on Good Friday which is
the holiest place for the Greek Orthodox
the place where Christ was condemned to
die and then it’s funny you turn around
and it’s life this is I’m forum yeah
little guys misbehaving
and the humanity I mean what I really
what I hope I bring back is the humanity
I just I really want to humanize any
culture that I am lucky enough to be
embedded with and that’s how you feeling
it when you’re with working for
Geographic you’re kind of embedded if
you’re lucky this was a wonderful
ceremony in northern Israel and Galilee
very happy beautiful ceremony of
bonfires followed by the day that the
little Hasidic Jewish boys got their
hair cut for the first time and I really
wanted to go but it was gender specific
and there was nothing my religious Fixer
could do they just you know women
couldn’t be where the action was and
there’s a lot you know so many cultures
are divided by gender and you just have
to look at it not judgmentally but just
like okay we got a problem here what do
we do so when I realized that the answer
was no I just turned to my religious
advisor and I said so what if I went
looking at so much like a girl and he
said you know I love this idea so I just
went to the barbershop and got all my
hair cut off and I dressed in my
husband’s clothes and I just went and I
and said nothing but past as as a guy
and was able to get the photographs and
this is the next morning when the little
boys are carried from rabbi to rabbi and
the rabbi’s cut the cut their hair and
you know cut a little lock of their hair
and then give them the sweets and it’s
just it’s just beautiful security in
Israel is really a pain in the neck and
I can’t tell you how much time you spend
when you’re working over there just
getting permission to photograph things
and this was the final Friday prayer at
the end of Ramadan at the Dome of the
rock and the al-aqsa mosque and you know
it’s really scary for the Israelis to
know that two hundred thousand Muslims
are going to be drooping through the old
city and up to the Dome of the rock and
I couldn’t get any permission except
they said a military pilot could take me
if I would fly no lower than six
thousand feet well that’s all the access
I had so I just took a really big limbs
and did an aerial of it and you can just
see this prayer that last 10 minutes and
this many people are in perfect rows on
their on their carpets being you know
practicing their faith and it’s
extremely moving I also wanted to be
inside the Dome of the rock on the last
Saturday the last morning of Ramadan
went at sunrise Ramadan breaks and and
there are women all inside the dome well
I tried everybody for permission it just
wasn’t going to happen so they let my
last my last hope was the Imam of the
mosque so I went to his home and he was
busy seeing a lot of important guys but
I heard some noise in the kitchen so I
went in and his wife and his daughters
were making dinner so I just went in and
started chopping vegetables and talking
to them and they invited me to stay for
dinner and then the Imam came and sat
down with us and this lovely charming
highly educated family we had a really
nice time and at the end of dinner I
said you know I asked his permission to
be inside the dome and he said no
absolutely not
and so I I went back to my apartment a
little you know downcast and about 4
o’clock in the morning a woman came to
my apartment and knocked on the door and
said dress modestly bring one camera and
I followed her and she created a
diversion while I slid inside and a
group of women welcomed me into where
they were praying because the Imam had
said no but his wife said yes I really
think it’s a great advantage to be a
woman in this job I think people assume
that it’s a disadvantage and I just
think you’re less threatening you’re
more of an aberration and most
importantly for me in in gender divided
cultures you get to be with the girls
and they are having a good time and
they’re not covered very much this is up
on the Syrian border a place called the
shouting Mountain where when these you
know when Wars happen and artificial
fences are put up then people are
divided so these Druze families were
across from their neighbors and family
and friends in Syria and they literally
came with megaphones and
macular x’ and stood and yelled back and
forth to each other and caught up on the
news it was wonderful
this is a beautiful Bedouin woman and
his hurt and we were at a wedding and
her little boy came up to me and said
would you photographed my mother she is
so beautiful that cute I said absolutely
and she is you know and she’s a classic
Bedouin woman tough as nails and a heart
of gold this was a Druze wedding and you
know I asked a lot of questions when I’m
gonna cover something and I was invited
to this wedding so I found out that the
bride would be at her dad’s house and
that when she heard the groom coming
because they play music and drums and
things that she must burst into tears
and cry hysterically in order to honor
her father and to say I don’t want to
leave dad you know and also as a sign of
modesty that she had no interest in
leaving with this other man and and sure
enough first bang of a drum and she just
cried her little eyes out and you can
see her girlfriends are like is she
doing a good enough job is this okay
Graham is laughing you know because you
know it’s this tradition but a really
important tradition and this woman
deserves an Emmy I am also really really
fortunate in that I got to a point in my
career where I was really comfortable
with my work and wanted and I think a
lot of us reached this point in our
careers whatever our careers are but you
get to a point where you want to give
back a little bit you want to do
something that adds depth to your life
and meaning and that that you know
honors something else besides yourself
and so this is a project that I did a
few years ago and this was sort of the
at the beginning of me really deciding
this was my priority in life
and I was called last Dan and my
girlfriend Barbara Kingsolver wrote
these beautiful essays and it was an
exhibit and a book and we through print
sales we managed to raise by a quarter
of a million dollars to help with
grassroots conservation efforts in the
United States and it’s so wonderful I
mean don’t you love it when you
take your job and you get to a point
where you say actually what I do could
make a little bit of a difference it was
so fun watching this wood stork with
this alligator because they did this
little dance you know the alligator
would move two inches the wood stork
wood thickest back that you know the
would get alligator go this way the wood
sterk would get a little closer they it
was choreography it was just amazing
choreography of survival I also started
working with my brother Bobby on
projects for Habitat for Humanity and
that led to some projects with
international aid organizations under
the umbrella of a wonderful organization
called Church World Service and they are
the fund raisers and then they partner
with aid groups all over the world and
what I love is that their focus is
mainly on women and children so this is
Uganda this is in Cambodia the day they
got clean water you know the day that
kept the well also in Cambodia my
nephew’s here and he’s his mom is
Cambodian see those family are are you
sleeping Mexico in the maquiladoras so
what what I do is every year I head out
usually in the spring and I go to about
3 countries where people are having a
hard time and and and I just like three
days per country and you just go and see
the amazing work that aid groups are
doing I mean I go it’s kind of rough for
a couple of days and then I go to leave
and I think oh my gosh these wonderful
people are here 24/7 for months and
years at a time
the Masai School in Kenya with his cane
workers in the Dominican Republic and
you know I remember early on in my
career I was a little nervous I think
women photographers were I remember I
remember Jody Cobb saying you know I
think they think we’re just going to
take little pink pretty pictures and I
do remember thinking actually really
sort of you know saying I can photograph
more than women and chilled
and now it is my distinct privilege to
spend time with photographing women and
children because in most places they’re
the people that need the help the most
and it’s very freeing
this is Hurricane Katrina and this was
this little woman who who lost her home
she wasn’t this was her 90th birthday
and they were the guys who were working
on her house brought her this cake and
then there you can see one of them’s up
on the roof fix it her roof this is also
from Katrina just what happened to
somebody’s photo albums it’s a great
tragedy you know what happens when you
marinate a city for about three weeks
it’s just it’s so it’s one of the
greatest tragedies I’ve ever seen in
terms of you know challenging this was
shot of a minister whose church was
burned down in South Carolina and the
only thing left was the baptismal font
so that’s what he was standing on you
can see back there where his church used
to be and this organization was helping
him build a new church this is in
Honduras after a hurricane and a lot of
people were coming for her health and
clinical aid was in a horrible horrible
refugee camp the saddest one I’ve ever
seen I’ve spent a lot of time in refugee
camps and they range from places that
give people dignity and hope to really
reduce tragedies and and this is up on
the Sudanese border and it it’s a tragic
place but about two years after I shot
this picture because I was really
worried about this woman and her
children I was in Richmond Virginia and
I was at a refugee office and I looked
up on the wall and this picture which
was made into a part of a calendar had
been taken out and pinned on the wall
and I said to the refugee guy boy that
picture looks kind of familiar to me and
he said yeah and she’s doing great and I
said you know her he said oh yeah she’s
one of they’re one of our families
they’re all doing great and she works at
Popeyes Chicken and her husband said you
know at Home Depot and I just tell ya it
just bowled me over
because if I’ve ever been in a hopeless
place this was it and they made it this
is the best refugee camp I’ve ever been
in this is a these are people who are on
the Thai border with Burma and there’s
been a civil war in Burma forever and
there are a lot of Burmese refugees who
come over but this wise aid organization
said these people just need food that’s
it they need a place to live in food and
so they turned the entire camp over to
the people and they had their chiefs in
there and it was like villages there
were no fences there was no security
there was no and they just they were
farming and they and food you know
supplemental food was being brought into
them and you can what a fat happy baby
you know it works
recently I was in Pakistan and I’m gonna
close with some pictures from there I
went there because of the earthquake I
went back after you know that they were
closing the refugee camps and the people
were trying to recover from it and I was
just there for four days and I bounced
all over Pakistan but I was so deeply
touched by these people and I was you
know what’s happening in Pakistan now is
really heartbreaking but look at this
little guy you know charlie you know you
know how many times I said okay go brush
your teeth and and this happens in a
refugee camp also you know that the
humanity and the the sort of common life
force that we all have it’s really
humbling and this was taken in a village
at the end of nowhere
and we bounced along in a truck without
roads I mean we we left a road and six
hours later we were still bouncing along
in the desert trying to get out to these
some of these aid projects and we were
so far out that there was no way we
would ever get back for any kind of
accommodation or anything so we were
pretty much at the mercy of the
villagers and in this little tiny
villager first of all they had nothing
and these women looked so beautiful
and here I was in like these khaki pants
and
is bad shirt and I’m trying to be modest
I got a horrible scarf on and and and
they all just had this incredible grace
and beauty about them and they were fun
and you know after a while I was with a
guide and she and I sat down we were
cooking around the fire and finally the
the women started laughing hysterically
and I said okay what come on what and
and that she said well they want to know
if you’re a man or a woman because I
look so awful and I said so I grabbed my
breasts I said and then I you know I
pulled out a picture and showed them a
picture of my children and and then they
laughed really funny because they just
thought it was hysterical that any man
would have me you know but that night
after they fed us and people who have
nothing give everything it’s just
extraordinary they fed us and and they
pulled some cots out for us to sleep
outside in the desert and at one point
my guide said they want to know if you
would like music and I said I would love
music and so the kids are all up on the
bed with us you know and this little
parade of man about eight men came in
with handmade instruments and they sat
down all around our beds and they
started playing traditional music until
we fell asleep under an unbelievable sky
and I you know is one of those things I
get to do that make life worth living
thank you very much
the youngest photographer here through
through the the courage and foresight of
Bob gilga he he gave me opportunities
and I didn’t completely fall on my sword
on any of them and and I you know I just
had this opportunity to balance a crazy
career with a life and almost any time I
speak there’s there’ll be a young woman
in the audience who says can you really
do it and I and I say to them you know
if you mean can you have it all no oh
you know life is not without compromise
but can you find balance and and
whatever the priorities in your life are
can you can you bail us those with
something you love absolutely because if
I can do it with my crazy job and my
crazy family I think anyone can so I
would like to take you to see a little
bit of the wonderful stuff I’ve been
lucky enough to experience and I’m gonna
start by telling you a story that
happened to me when I was a very young
photographer it happened in 1980 and my
first trip to Africa was to a country
called Namibia and we set out to find a
very remote tribe the Himba tribe this
was at a time when there had been seven
years of drought and so this nomadic
tribe was particularly distant now and
trying to survive we got a special
vehicle to take us up to to try to find
them and the first people I saw after
looking for about four or five days for
a group of three women and two kids and
they were down in kind of a little
ravine and I went down the ravine and
they looked at me as though I had landed
by spaceship they just stared kind of
open-faced stared and I went down and in
those days back in the olden days when
we had Polaroids I pulled out a Polaroid
camera and by way of making friends with
them I took their picture no they didn’t
know what I was doing
and that I handed them the little white
square and they had no idea what I was
handing them but as their pictures came
up on the Polaroid all of a sudden the
women just fell to the ground rolled
literally rolling around laughing and
pointing and looking at each other and
giggling and the and and what I finally
recognized without a word of their
language was they were saying this is
you know yeah that’s that’s you yeah
that’s me because none of these women
had ever seen her own face before they
lived in a desert in a drought there
were no reflective surfaces and they
recognized their own jewelry and
clothing and bodies but they were seeing
their faces for the first time I spent
about 36 hours with this tribe because
it was really tough to get in and chop
to get out and I learned so much from
them so I’d like to take you to meet
them we that’s me on the left and you
can see why they were a little
frightened because really I mean they’d
never seen glass wasn’t it it turned out
that they had never seen a Caucasian
woman before and they thought I was ugly
you know because in their culture dark
you know ochre covered skin was a thing
of beauty and you know here I was
wearing these ridiculous clothes and I
had this thing on my head and I had
these things on my face and but what I
like about this picture is that it
doesn’t it look like it’s a couple of
girlfriends talking just chatting and we
were without the benefit of language and
from this encounter with these women
I learned that without language you can
tell anyone that their kids are
beautiful that you like their hair that
you know that you’re interested in them
you can express interest and you can
pantomime and it’s actually better than
having an interpreter because you’re
communicating directly with somebody
without a wall being set up that blocks
the communication so I’d much rather
make an idiot out of myself pantomiming
something then then have an interpreter
saying it correctly and having it fed
back to me so I learned a lot the
reality for these women was pretty rough
they they were trying to keep their
babies fed one of the ways they
communicated they held their breasts up
and pointed to their mouths and wondered
if I had some kind of magic potion or
something that would help their milk to
come in they lived in this beautiful
part of the world just beautiful the
Namib Desert but can you imagine finding
lunch and yet these people were master
survivors from generations and they
could find food and water where none of
us would ever have been able to do that
they lived side by side with wildlife
amazing wildlife and they had an
understanding that I could observe just
just the way they related to the
wildlife each knowing that the other
animal could kill them and when they
when they were lucky enough to to you
know kill some wildlife and get some
fresh meat they didn’t waste anything
and their clothing and everything was
used as part of their lives it’s a
beautiful country and and I was lucky
enough to go back last year for the
first time in almost 30 years and I
loved Namibia but my life started in the
Midwest this is my mother and this
picture was taken by my dad on I think
their first date
and what I love about this is my mother
grew up under the firm hand of a very
very strict Catholic Irish mother and
mom you know I don’t think I’ve told you
this but you’re wearing pants and and I
remember when I was growing up I could
never wear pants at Grandma’s house but
my mother this is you know this is fixed
well of her character she somehow
convinced this mother of hers to let her
go for the summer to Glacier Park and
wait be a waitress which is greater than
anything I’ve ever conquered I’ll tell
ya and out there she met dad and dad
took this picture and came back and
built a life these are my parents with
me when I was really little and this is
how I grew up I grew up classic
Midwestern good people hard work not you
know
it comfortable and happy we didn’t go
anywhere except up to our little lake
cottage which is still in the family I’m
happy to report this is you can tell I’m
the one in the white hat I’ve always had
quite a sense of style but we just had
you know this wonderful life but it
didn’t it didn’t include seeing the
world but I somehow I inherited my
mother’s wanderlust
mom wanted to go anywhere anytime this
is the picture that Marianne spoke about
that was from my beginning photo class
and it for many many years it was the
only photograph I hung in my home
wherever I lived because it changed my
life I who was always going to be a
writer I fell in love with a camera and
the things I could do with it and see
through it
and I changed my major after two weeks I
worked at the University paper and then
I went down to work for a really
terrific rural daily in southern
Minnesota that had a wonderful photo
history and you know interestingly
enough it was great preparation for
Geographic because we had no assignments
our job was to fill the paper with
things that were important and that’s
very much how we work now once we have
an assignment Geographic photographers
go off on their assignment and nobody
knows if they get out of bed in the
morning they just have to come back with
the stuff so this is a weather picture
this is an exercise class at a
retirement home also down there I
developed a love for the land and for
nature because it was really out on the
flat flat prairie and I came to love the
flat flat Prairie and and I just learned
that in the simplest places you really
have to be able to find a photograph
that make that communicates whether make
someone smile or cry or just read the
caption below it I’ve always said that
if you can meet a shy Norwegian farmer
and make it to his kitchen table then
you can conquer any culture on earth and
I learned that at the Worthington Daily
Globe
cuz Midwesterners are shy you know it’s
so funny that’s funny shy friendly you
know once you’re introduced they’re very
welcoming but initially they’re very shy
I learned this a lot I went to
photograph at a Hutterite colony and I
arrived the first day and I told them I
worked for National Geographic which
they had never heard of and that I was
interested in photographing their
community and they said well we don’t
believe in photography and I said okay
well can I spend some time with you and
they said sure and so they put me to
work in the garden and I went in and I
snapped peas and I helped cook and about
the second day they decided it would be
so terrible if I photographed their kids
you know because well it was just their
kids and they all wanted pictures of
their kids by the third day they were
bringing me cameras to repair because
the truth was they loved photography but
they weren’t about to let some stranger
waltz into their community and just
start snapping away I had to earn it and
that was a great lesson for life for me
that you really need to earn it with
people in national Geographics greatest
gift to the photographers and writers is
the time to do things new and well and
and to earn it to earn those photographs
I wish I could say it’s just because
we’re all so doggone talented but the
truth is hard work and time are the key
ingredients that talent can’t do without
this is the only manipulated picture in
my book and it was a such a privilege to
photograph this I did for our our kids
magazine and they were doing a story on
a wonderful little girl who was a young
lady who was a poet and a writer and a
musician but she was also born with Down
syndrome and she was 18 and she was at
an age where she was painfully painfully
aware that she was a little bit
different and yet she wanted the same
things that most eighteen year olds
wanted she wanted to be beautiful she
wanted to find love she wanted to be
seen as a grownup girl
the thing that was really terrifying to
her was the thought of being
photographed
so I actually spent three days with
Melissa before I could photograph her
because I just needed her to get to a
comfort level where she would allow me
to do so and it was like the last hour
of the last day I was there and I
finally sat down and I took her hands of
mine and I said Melissa you do not have
to do this you just don’t say she was
getting visibly upset because she felt
she was making you know disappointing me
and I said honey you don’t have to do
this it’s okay it’s okay we tried and
you know you did your best and it was
really interesting when I said that to
her and I gave the control to her she
said well I’m gonna go in my room for a
minute and so she went into her room and
she came out in this pink dress her
favorite dress and she was ready to be
photographed and not only would she let
me photograph her she had ideas and one
of her ideas was she said I feel like
dancing and so she ran I was up on the
porch and she ran down and she ran into
her backyard and she just started
dancing and these are three frames of
Melissa dancing and we just put them
together for my book because I to me it
was only together that they really
showed Melissa’s spirit this is a
graduating class of the high school in
North Dakota
I I am always laughing when I’m taking
pictures I just think life is so funny
and and I just makes me happy to find a
way to look at something that has a
little bit of a twinkle and this is
graduation at Annapolis the truth for
photographers is everything’s been
photographed it’s all been photographed
so our job is really to go out there and
find a way to take a new picture of
something that’s been photographed once
or a million times this is a from an
assignment I had I got I went out to
photograph a family branding out in
western Nebraska and they lived so far
out in the boonies that I had to get
there the night before in order to be
there in time for the branding which
started very early so they let me stay
in the ranch house and I woke up the
next morning looked out the window and
this amazing sky was happening I call
this a macro sky it was just gorgeous
and the horses were in the pasture so I
grabbed my camera and I ran down and ran
down to the fence started shooting
shooting shooting so happy you know
those things last for about three
minutes this guy started breaking up you
know I kind of gave a little cheer and I
turned around and that’s when I realized
there were four or five Cowboys leaning
up against the fence just looking at the
crazy lady and about that time I
realized that I was wearing a t-shirt
and underwear because I just saw this
guy and ran out there and so needless to
say I was not very intimidating to these
guys and the rest of the shoot went
rather well you know branding day at a
ranch is better than Christmas it’s just
great
this little guy came up to me in the
morning of a branding and started
tugging on my jeans he said you won’t
see me rustle steer
and I said absolutely honey I’m a little
busy right now but absolutely I want to
see you Restless dear and so then about
lunchtime and I was shooting and
shooting shooting he came up tugged up
my jeans even want to sleep me rest a
little steer and I said tell you what
end of the day when we’re all done I’m
all yours buddy I’ll I’ll photograph you
the whole time
so end of the day he walks over to this
little calf I said okay we’re ready to
go but he walks over his cab and he
wrestled and he wrestled and he wrestled
and this calf never moved a millimeter
was just like that you know and I this
is picture what’s him all sweaty after
he’d tried and I said to him well does
your little calf have a name he said to
Europe name is Michelangelo I thought
this is extremely cool out here in the
middle of nowhere he names his calf for
one of the finest artists who’s ever
lived he said I got some other ones back
at the barn name for the other Ninja
Turtles people are funny somewhere along
the way about a decade into this job I
met this guy this is my husband Don and
he was a writer here and I was a
photographer and eventually we tripped
over each other in really fast we were
married and we had the first one and
then we had the second one and you know
fortunately Don and I we were a little
bit older when we got married and we
really talked about how to make this
work because we wanted to have a family
and we didn’t want we didn’t want to
mess it up I guess and so we decided we
needed to set some boundaries so that
you know in this business you can just
get constantly have opportunities to
wonderful things so it’s really hard to
say no so we decided to set up some
boundaries and we did and I decided
anything that took me away for more than
two weeks I would take the kids with me
and in Don decided he would never be
away from them for more than a month and
that’s what we did
so the traveling belts
headed out all over the world the kids
have both been to every continent except
Antarctica and I really want to take
them there this is in the Galapagos
Islands Charlie’s favorite place on
earth I think this is Chinese opera this
is a New Zealand and when we traveled we
never stayed in hotels we all it was
cheaper and way better for the kids to
stay in neighborhoods in apartment on a
beach house we lived on a kibbutz once
and they just became fantastic travelers
I think I was really lucky but we also
did just really simple basic things to
make sure that they loved traveling you
know I just they were always comfortable
they always had their stuff they were
never just dressed about things and
there was a lot of bribery involved also
and you know they’re great travellers to
this day they’re incredibly flexible and
whether we were in you know Europe or in
the Middle East they just hunkered in
there like gypsies and join the other
children this is South America Canada
Britain Papua New Guinea
I have this thing for British man I’m
gonna confess it right now I mean I
married one see but I just find British
men delightful and and I’ve worked on a
couple different projects in Britain and
Ireland and this is an Irish farmer Mr
O’Sullivan and this has taken the day
that his 12th child came home from the
hospital that’s number 11 on his back
but look at the character there you know
I love that that Brits are hardworking
and have a great sense of humor and
they’re they enjoy bad weather I’m from
Minnesota you know
and they got a sense of humor too this
is the Calder Valley Mouse Club and it
is that you know a lot of people say
well how do you research your stories
you know well you know it is not much of
it is done in a library or online for me
some of it I mean depends on on the
subject matter but but you never stop
researching so I was in a little tiny
cafe in northern England and I was
having lunch and so I was reading the
bulletin board because I read everything
and talked to everybody
and there was literally a little recipe
card that said on it there will be a
meeting of the Calder Valley Mouse Club
at 10:00 a.m. on Wednesday so I went and
it’s just so quintessentially British
these guys raised mice in their back
garden and then they have little shows
and you’re looking at a champ there
because look at that tail and check out
those spot this is an Italy and this
adorable woman I was in a cemetery
photographing and I noticed her she had
her little blue detergent bottle filled
with water and she was walking around
watering her friend’s flowers and I
loved that there were all these pictures
on the tombs and where people were kind
of buried in drawers I thought that was
so cool so at one point she came near to
me and I I motioned her over and I said
in my appallingly bad Italian you know
could I take your picture
and she nodded and she walked over to
these two empty drawers sat down her
detergent file and assumed his post and
I couldn’t believe my little guy so I
was snapping away and then afterward she
came up to me and she said in Italian
and I finally understood her to be
saying could you send me this picture
for my grave which explains suppose she
wanted to look like an angel those days
you just don’t forget yeah this is my
family we spent about five years on and
off working in the Middle East when the
kids were growing up and it’s probably
the favorite chapter as a family that’s
Charlie on the right down in the middle
Lily on the left and this was taken in
the Kingdom of Jordan which I think if
you asked anybody in our family where
their favorite places we’ve ever worked
we would all say Jordan
it is just a magnificent country this is
in Petra see you right there see that
little disc right there in this
beautiful building there it is this is
an amazed Petra is an amazing ancient
city where the entire city which at one
time numbered I believe thirty thousand
was carved from the sandstone of Petra
and it’s still there and it’s still
beautiful it’s one of the loveliest
trips you could ever make and it’s much
safer than Washington DC so people ask
me all the time you know were you
nervous taking your kids to the Middle
East and you know I did my homework I
these are my kids I would never take
them someplace dangerous and I can tell
you that apart from you know individual
horrible things like are is happening in
Iraq and the Middle East is a safe and
beautiful place and boy do they need
visitors to understand and bring back
the real knowledge of the Arab world
this was a story I did on Lawrence of
Arabia and I wanted you know Lawrence
traveled in the desert with Bedouins and
I wanted to go out with the Bedouin and
camp and go on the Bedouin police patrol
but they were very reluctant I couldn’t
quite understand what the problem was
and we actually ended up going through
King Hussein’s office because they were
very very reluctant about it and I was
trying to understand but then they were
you know they were told please take her
in and there were three guys and before
we left to go out in the desert for a
few days they spoke no English but first
one came up to me and a very rehearsed
English said you are our mother and I
and I said thank you and then the second
the second Bedouin policeman came up and
said exactly the same thing you are our
mother and at that point what I realized
was they thought I was terrified because
in their culture women don’t go out into
the desert with a
men and they were comforting me and
saying we will treat you the way we
would treat our mother and they did its
magic there they are
my guys my sons would make me the best
blanket and you know the first cup of
tea and a really nice camel and it was
great this is Charlie on the right and I
love this picture because you could take
a look at my son’s face you know he we
were at a Bedouins wedding and a big
dust storm came up and Don grabbed Lilly
and I looked over in Hamoudi our friend
hill Modi had grabbed Charlie and
wrapped him up in a cofee and headed out
and I was trying to hide cameras and
when the dust settled this is the scene
I found and you know honestly if you
look at Hamoudi he you know he could be
central casting for you know our highly
prejudiced terrorist films and and yet
look at who he really is and you know I
look at this picture of my son and my
friend and to me it reveals the culture
that I know the most welcoming culture
on earth and so of course it’s very hard
for me to see how much fear has been you
know forced upon us
there’s the camel that’s in the boat
there it is these are the kids I mean
they had the time of their lives you
know their milk and goats are running
around rocks are riding donkeys and
camels and and this is Lily learning to
write in Arabic the way the Bedouin kids
did with a stick that’s got a charcoal
tip and writing on a rock and mock
Buddhist teaching her to write her name
did a lot of work in Israel this is in
Jerusalem at the Mount of Olives Jewish
man Nava Ning on a very special day this
is the Muslim quarter of the old city in
the old city is just amazing it’s just
an amazing place and you go down these
skinny little alleys and you think
there’s nothing there but then somebody
takes you to their their home you go
into a little doorway this there’s a
whole home in there there’s look it’s
just a wonderful wonderful city this is
a very traditional Jewish
part of town and it it you know it looks
like it could be right out of a European
shadow and life is just wonderful to
observe a you know I I wish I had an
invisibility cloak when the kids and I
used to wonder about which superpower we
wanted to have I always said I want the
invisibility cloak because just to see
life going on you know in Israel you see
side-by-side religion and politics all
the time but it’s actually kind of hard
to get into a into a single frame the
comfort of it you know and then you see
tragedy you know this was in a town we
loved we’re actually there was some real
cooperation between the Palestinians and
the Israelis and then somebody blew up a
bus and this is the family of the driver
that breaks your heart and yet
everywhere you see this wonderful
commitment to faith and you see that
people come from all over the world
these are Christians from Brazil the
whole world seems sort of at least the
monotheistic part of the world is kind
of invested in this little tiny place
and I am Telling You you can stand on a
hill in Galilee and you see Jordan and
you see Syria and you see Lebanon right
there it’s so tiny and yet the source of
so much global angst this is a little
Greek Orthodox woman point praying at
the praetorium on Good Friday which is
the holiest place for the Greek Orthodox
the place where Christ was condemned to
die and then it’s funny you turn around
and it’s life this is I’m forum yeah
little guys misbehaving
and the humanity I mean what I really
what I hope I bring back is the humanity
I just I really want to humanize any
culture that I am lucky enough to be
embedded with and that’s how you feeling
it when you’re with working for
Geographic you’re kind of embedded if
you’re lucky this was a wonderful
ceremony in northern Israel and Galilee
very happy beautiful ceremony of
bonfires followed by the day that the
little Hasidic Jewish boys got their
hair cut for the first time and I really
wanted to go but it was gender specific
and there was nothing my religious Fixer
could do they just you know women
couldn’t be where the action was and
there’s a lot you know so many cultures
are divided by gender and you just have
to look at it not judgmentally but just
like okay we got a problem here what do
we do so when I realized that the answer
was no I just turned to my religious
advisor and I said so what if I went
looking at so much like a girl and he
said you know I love this idea so I just
went to the barbershop and got all my
hair cut off and I dressed in my
husband’s clothes and I just went and I
and said nothing but past as as a guy
and was able to get the photographs and
this is the next morning when the little
boys are carried from rabbi to rabbi and
the rabbi’s cut the cut their hair and
you know cut a little lock of their hair
and then give them the sweets and it’s
just it’s just beautiful security in
Israel is really a pain in the neck and
I can’t tell you how much time you spend
when you’re working over there just
getting permission to photograph things
and this was the final Friday prayer at
the end of Ramadan at the Dome of the
rock and the al-aqsa mosque and you know
it’s really scary for the Israelis to
know that two hundred thousand Muslims
are going to be drooping through the old
city and up to the Dome of the rock and
I couldn’t get any permission except
they said a military pilot could take me
if I would fly no lower than six
thousand feet well that’s all the access
I had so I just took a really big limbs
and did an aerial of it and you can just
see this prayer that last 10 minutes and
this many people are in perfect rows on
their on their carpets being you know
practicing their faith and it’s
extremely moving I also wanted to be
inside the Dome of the rock on the last
Saturday the last morning of Ramadan
went at sunrise Ramadan breaks and and
there are women all inside the dome well
I tried everybody for permission it just
wasn’t going to happen so they let my
last my last hope was the Imam of the
mosque so I went to his home and he was
busy seeing a lot of important guys but
I heard some noise in the kitchen so I
went in and his wife and his daughters
were making dinner so I just went in and
started chopping vegetables and talking
to them and they invited me to stay for
dinner and then the Imam came and sat
down with us and this lovely charming
highly educated family we had a really
nice time and at the end of dinner I
said you know I asked his permission to
be inside the dome and he said no
absolutely not
and so I I went back to my apartment a
little you know downcast and about 4
o’clock in the morning a woman came to
my apartment and knocked on the door and
said dress modestly bring one camera and
I followed her and she created a
diversion while I slid inside and a
group of women welcomed me into where
they were praying because the Imam had
said no but his wife said yes I really
think it’s a great advantage to be a
woman in this job I think people assume
that it’s a disadvantage and I just
think you’re less threatening you’re
more of an aberration and most
importantly for me in in gender divided
cultures you get to be with the girls
and they are having a good time and
they’re not covered very much this is up
on the Syrian border a place called the
shouting Mountain where when these you
know when Wars happen and artificial
fences are put up then people are
divided so these Druze families were
across from their neighbors and family
and friends in Syria and they literally
came with megaphones and
macular x’ and stood and yelled back and
forth to each other and caught up on the
news it was wonderful
this is a beautiful Bedouin woman and
his hurt and we were at a wedding and
her little boy came up to me and said
would you photographed my mother she is
so beautiful that cute I said absolutely
and she is you know and she’s a classic
Bedouin woman tough as nails and a heart
of gold this was a Druze wedding and you
know I asked a lot of questions when I’m
gonna cover something and I was invited
to this wedding so I found out that the
bride would be at her dad’s house and
that when she heard the groom coming
because they play music and drums and
things that she must burst into tears
and cry hysterically in order to honor
her father and to say I don’t want to
leave dad you know and also as a sign of
modesty that she had no interest in
leaving with this other man and and sure
enough first bang of a drum and she just
cried her little eyes out and you can
see her girlfriends are like is she
doing a good enough job is this okay
Graham is laughing you know because you
know it’s this tradition but a really
important tradition and this woman
deserves an Emmy I am also really really
fortunate in that I got to a point in my
career where I was really comfortable
with my work and wanted and I think a
lot of us reached this point in our
careers whatever our careers are but you
get to a point where you want to give
back a little bit you want to do
something that adds depth to your life
and meaning and that that you know
honors something else besides yourself
and so this is a project that I did a
few years ago and this was sort of the
at the beginning of me really deciding
this was my priority in life
and I was called last Dan and my
girlfriend Barbara Kingsolver wrote
these beautiful essays and it was an
exhibit and a book and we through print
sales we managed to raise by a quarter
of a million dollars to help with
grassroots conservation efforts in the
United States and it’s so wonderful I
mean don’t you love it when you
take your job and you get to a point
where you say actually what I do could
make a little bit of a difference it was
so fun watching this wood stork with
this alligator because they did this
little dance you know the alligator
would move two inches the wood stork
wood thickest back that you know the
would get alligator go this way the wood
sterk would get a little closer they it
was choreography it was just amazing
choreography of survival I also started
working with my brother Bobby on
projects for Habitat for Humanity and
that led to some projects with
international aid organizations under
the umbrella of a wonderful organization
called Church World Service and they are
the fund raisers and then they partner
with aid groups all over the world and
what I love is that their focus is
mainly on women and children so this is
Uganda this is in Cambodia the day they
got clean water you know the day that
kept the well also in Cambodia my
nephew’s here and he’s his mom is
Cambodian see those family are are you
sleeping Mexico in the maquiladoras so
what what I do is every year I head out
usually in the spring and I go to about
3 countries where people are having a
hard time and and and I just like three
days per country and you just go and see
the amazing work that aid groups are
doing I mean I go it’s kind of rough for
a couple of days and then I go to leave
and I think oh my gosh these wonderful
people are here 24/7 for months and
years at a time
the Masai School in Kenya with his cane
workers in the Dominican Republic and
you know I remember early on in my
career I was a little nervous I think
women photographers were I remember I
remember Jody Cobb saying you know I
think they think we’re just going to
take little pink pretty pictures and I
do remember thinking actually really
sort of you know saying I can photograph
more than women and chilled
and now it is my distinct privilege to
spend time with photographing women and
children because in most places they’re
the people that need the help the most
and it’s very freeing
this is Hurricane Katrina and this was
this little woman who who lost her home
she wasn’t this was her 90th birthday
and they were the guys who were working
on her house brought her this cake and
then there you can see one of them’s up
on the roof fix it her roof this is also
from Katrina just what happened to
somebody’s photo albums it’s a great
tragedy you know what happens when you
marinate a city for about three weeks
it’s just it’s so it’s one of the
greatest tragedies I’ve ever seen in
terms of you know challenging this was
shot of a minister whose church was
burned down in South Carolina and the
only thing left was the baptismal font
so that’s what he was standing on you
can see back there where his church used
to be and this organization was helping
him build a new church this is in
Honduras after a hurricane and a lot of
people were coming for her health and
clinical aid was in a horrible horrible
refugee camp the saddest one I’ve ever
seen I’ve spent a lot of time in refugee
camps and they range from places that
give people dignity and hope to really
reduce tragedies and and this is up on
the Sudanese border and it it’s a tragic
place but about two years after I shot
this picture because I was really
worried about this woman and her
children I was in Richmond Virginia and
I was at a refugee office and I looked
up on the wall and this picture which
was made into a part of a calendar had
been taken out and pinned on the wall
and I said to the refugee guy boy that
picture looks kind of familiar to me and
he said yeah and she’s doing great and I
said you know her he said oh yeah she’s
one of they’re one of our families
they’re all doing great and she works at
Popeyes Chicken and her husband said you
know at Home Depot and I just tell ya it
just bowled me over
because if I’ve ever been in a hopeless
place this was it and they made it this
is the best refugee camp I’ve ever been
in this is a these are people who are on
the Thai border with Burma and there’s
been a civil war in Burma forever and
there are a lot of Burmese refugees who
come over but this wise aid organization
said these people just need food that’s
it they need a place to live in food and
so they turned the entire camp over to
the people and they had their chiefs in
there and it was like villages there
were no fences there was no security
there was no and they just they were
farming and they and food you know
supplemental food was being brought into
them and you can what a fat happy baby
you know it works
recently I was in Pakistan and I’m gonna
close with some pictures from there I
went there because of the earthquake I
went back after you know that they were
closing the refugee camps and the people
were trying to recover from it and I was
just there for four days and I bounced
all over Pakistan but I was so deeply
touched by these people and I was you
know what’s happening in Pakistan now is
really heartbreaking but look at this
little guy you know charlie you know you
know how many times I said okay go brush
your teeth and and this happens in a
refugee camp also you know that the
humanity and the the sort of common life
force that we all have it’s really
humbling and this was taken in a village
at the end of nowhere
and we bounced along in a truck without
roads I mean we we left a road and six
hours later we were still bouncing along
in the desert trying to get out to these
some of these aid projects and we were
so far out that there was no way we
would ever get back for any kind of
accommodation or anything so we were
pretty much at the mercy of the
villagers and in this little tiny
villager first of all they had nothing
and these women looked so beautiful
and here I was in like these khaki pants
and
is bad shirt and I’m trying to be modest
I got a horrible scarf on and and and
they all just had this incredible grace
and beauty about them and they were fun
and you know after a while I was with a
guide and she and I sat down we were
cooking around the fire and finally the
the women started laughing hysterically
and I said okay what come on what and
and that she said well they want to know
if you’re a man or a woman because I
look so awful and I said so I grabbed my
breasts I said and then I you know I
pulled out a picture and showed them a
picture of my children and and then they
laughed really funny because they just
thought it was hysterical that any man
would have me you know but that night
after they fed us and people who have
nothing give everything it’s just
extraordinary they fed us and and they
pulled some cots out for us to sleep
outside in the desert and at one point
my guide said they want to know if you
would like music and I said I would love
music and so the kids are all up on the
bed with us you know and this little
parade of man about eight men came in
with handmade instruments and they sat
down all around our beds and they
started playing traditional music until
we fell asleep under an unbelievable sky
and I you know is one of those things I
get to do that make life worth living
thank you very much
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