Pakistan: Brick-maker Image Overlooked
During the process of looking through our archived images of Pakistan for another grant proposal we are making, I came across this image that I had totally overlooked. I normally mark images with one, two or three stars in the editing phase. This image had none. Yet, it tells so much about the poor laborers [...]
Home: Alone and not liking it!
Normally, I am the one to go out of the country while my wife Vivian, who only sometimes travels with me, minds all of the day to day “stuff” of the home. This week I have not been adding loads of frequent flyer miles to my account. I have been at home by myself and [...]
Puerto Rico: Travel Glamour
It all seems glamorous…shooting a sunset of El Morro in Puerto Rico while enjoying warm tropical breezes. But behind that image are also the unglamorous underpinnings of travel: airline cancelations, rebooking and cancelations again…scrambling to find a last minute and expensive hotel…3:30 a.m. wakeup calls for a 6 a.m. flight that may or not happen [...]
Humanitarian Photographers Day 3
And now, for the final three, I want to introduce you to you Matt Powell, Matt Brandon and Esther Havens. If you read Day 1 or Day 2 just skip to the photos! Here is what I said yesterday. It still stands! “How in the world do you make a living as a humanitarian photographer?” [...]
Humanitarian Photographers Day 2
Today I want to introduce you to you Austin Mann, Lindsay Branham and David Johnson. Come back tomorrow for the last three photographers. No use laboring over saying something new. Here is what I said yesterday. It still stands! “How in the world do you make a living as a humanitarian photographer?” That is the [...]
Humanitarian Photographers Day 1
“How in the world do you make a living as a humanitarian photographer?” That is the question, implied or direct, that I get asked almost every week. My answers don’t always satisfy, so I asked nine photographers that specialize in humanitarian photography if and/or how they augment their earnings from this type of photography to [...]
Football: Entrance to the World
Soccer is the world’s game. It is a universal language. But don’t call it soccer. Call it football. Carry a ball with you to almost any part of the world, and once you bring it out you will be surrounded by kids. If you play the game well, you will be given immediate entrance to [...]
Panama: Teaching
Just returned from three days of teaching for Panama Photo Workshops. A teacher’s job is made so much easier when students ask great questions and draw from the teacher. This was a great class. Thanks to Tito Herrera and all of the students! This time-lapse of the class was shot at one frame every second [...]
Jerusalem: Christian
Tourist traps are anathema to me. I had never wanted to visit Jerusalem because of the envisioned legions of tourist buses crowding the historic sites. I was predisposed to look on cynically as thousands of Christians from all over the world come to the Old City of Jerusalem to “walk where Jesus walked.” And thousands [...]
Jerusalem: Muslim
Part 2. I lay on the floor of the mosque, trying to get a photograph of a man praying with his forehead to the carpet. As I got back on my knees I looked out the door to see a group of Christians carrying a cross down the Via Dolorosa. Such is the proximity of [...]
Jerusalem: Jews
The devotion of believers and tension between faiths is almost palatable as you walk the narrow and congested alleys of the old city in Jerusalem. The Muslim call to prayer is intertwined with the soft whispers of Catholics reciting the rosary as they walk the stations of the cross or Jews praying for the peace [...]
Turkish Republic of N. Cyprus: Imam
Just back from a great trip to Israel and the Turkish Republic of North Cyprus. The best part of this type of work is getting to meet so many intriguing people. A lot of stories will be flowing through here in the coming days, I but wanted to share a portrait of an Imam that [...]
Puerto Rico: Leaving a Legacy
Saso-Leaving a Legacy from gary s chapman on Vimeo. Juan Tulier, better known a “Saso,” has been playing and coaching soccer in Puerto Rico for more than sixty years. Saso was on the Puerto Rican national team for 28 years, first as a player and later as coach. Today, the physically fit 78-year-old continues coaching [...]
Home: Do you need a second passport?
Why would anyone other than Jason Bourne or James Bond need more than one passport? Can a regular person even legally have more than one passport? Yes, they can and there are two main reasons for applying for a second US passport: 1) Frequent travel necessitates having a second passport available to apply for visas [...]
Middle of the Ocean: Sailing
Five days of ocean sailing, long night watches with unimaginable starry skies, breaching whales, large waves, thunderstorms, calm sunset dinner cruises and great friends all have a way of clearing the mind and soul of the accumulated cobwebs of daily busyness. When you are just a speck floating on a huge ocean, the past and future [...]
Home: Scott Kelby Guest Blog
Many thanks to Scott Kelby for allowing me to guest blog for him. And also many thanks to everyone who took the time to read the post and comment. Here is the link to the Scott Kelby Guest Blog.
Haiti: “I will return”
Dr. Ines Espallargas from Barcelona, Spain, a general practitioner, spoke of her recent time in Haiti with the Christian aid group Manto de Guadalupe: My greatest desire was to be able to doctor and heal, or at least relieve, the physical suffering or raise the morale of all the people I could treat. However, my [...]
Haiti: Fasting and Praying
Worshipers gather daily outside the shell of the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Assumption to fast and pray. The cathedral, built in the 1800′s, was destroyed by the January 12th quake that also killed the Archbishop. (Canon 5D2, 24-105mm @24mm , 1/800 sec, f4.5, ISO320) Photo ©Copyright Gary S. Chapman 2010
Haiti: Hell on Earth
Just got back from Haiti. I did not spend much time in Port au Prince, really just passed through on the way to an orphanage way out in the country. The amount of debris and trash left on the streets in the capital is staggering. Months after the quake, many people, even now, consider life [...]
Kenya: Best Gift Ever
When was the last time you were overjoyed to receive a brand new toothbrush as a gift? This young orphan in Kenya responds with genuine delight. Moments like this are a constant reminder to me of how little we really NEED. We want more. We don’t NEED more. Often, we don’t even realize that by [...]
Atlanta: a Renewed Interest
A few weeks back, I was asked by Matt Brandon in an interview, why, if I cared for people so much, did I not also shoot local projects. He said, “You don’t have to be in Swaziland to help people. There are all kinds of people in your neighborhood you could help (with your photography).” [...]
Home: Hire Me! Yes Me!
A few weeks ago, author and blogger Donald Miler, wrote a great post about “The Single Most Powerful Question You Can Ask…What if?” He postulates that whenever a novel (or life, he later adds) starts to drag, “the writer simply has to ask this question, and suddenly life gets exciting again.” My question would have [...]
Pakistan: Life of Persecution
Persecuted by Gary S. Chapman | BOOK INFO The persecuted often suffer in silence, not knowing if anyone or even God cares for them. This book project on the persecuted church in Pakistan is an on-going effort to increase the western church’s understanding of what it means to suffer for the faith. What should our [...]
Home: A World Apart
Stock Photography from gary s chapman on Vimeo. Photographing spinning gears, happy couples running on a pristine beach, or creating the illusion of birds flying in a perfect arrow formation are a definite departure from my work as an NGO-humanitarian photographer. This is conceptual stock photography and a world apart from the images of human [...]