F8 and be there.
Despite all the changes to photography over the decades this old maxim still holds true today. In photojournalism you must be there to bear witness and record the moment.
I grew up watching my father make black and white prints in a darkroom he created in our basement. Even today, I close my eyes and the smell of fixer is like a time machine. Fast forward 10 years and my friend has convinced me photography was a good way to meet girls. I am not so sure about that, but I was hooked.
After the requisite few years of learning the craft and struggling to get a foot in the door, I landed an opportunity to shoot an NHL game in Vancouver. Every frame was out of focus. I learned there were many things I still had to learn. So back to school to take this hobby more seriously. And then the leap of faith.
In an act of enormous bravado, I called Reuters News Pictures headquarters in Asia and told them I was coming and was there any work. There was. The elections in Sri Lanka were a couple of months away and they needed a stringer in Colombo. Three months later, having not messed up too badly, I was offered a staff position as a photographer/sub-editor in Hong Kong. So the journey began.
I have since worked for Reuters in Hong Kong, Beijing, London, Washington and Singapore as both photographer and editor.
In the summer of 2010 I received an email from the Globe and Mail. The journey has come full circle.
