Milestones and projects - Books by Eric Douglas

“Your first 10,000 photographs are your worst.” Henri Cartier-Bresson

Over the weekend, I passed the 10,000 photograph milestone on my current camera body–not in general. I wouldn’t even begin to guess when I passed that milestone as a photographer, but I am sure it was sometime in the early 90s. And, ironically (or appropriately) the 10,000^th photograph on this camera wasn’t taken in some far flung location, but rather in my hometown. It was of a friend’s daughter at the local ice rink playing with my own daughters.

And while numbers are simply numbers, it made me think about photographs taken and lives touched by them. An image may be technically perfect and still leave viewers flat. Other times an image with technical flaws (backlight, exposure, composition) can touch people in ways you never expected.

The last two months I’ve been staying fairly close to home to complete a certificate program at the Center for Documentary Studies at DukeUniversity. I began the program several years ago, but then life and travel got in the way of completing it. In a way, though, it seems as if the delay worked out for the best. I am in a much better place in my life and career now and much more able to put together a final project of the level necessary for completion of the program.

The most important and significant portions of this certificate program for me have been the things I have learned from my peers (see Conversations with Peers). In these last two programs, my “style” wasn’t even remotely similar to any of my classmates. We all worked in different genres and used different techniques. Alternately, their work left me flat or blew me away. Sometimes those reactions changed week to week. But every class I learned something from them and realized things about their images and stories that touched me and moved me.

Tomorrow, I will present a multimedia documentary presentation of the Harvesting Diver project, called “For Cheap Lobster”, showing the devastating affect that diving has on these groups of men who harvest the sea. Thiswill be final presentation as part of the CDS Certificate program and where Iwill receive my Certificate in the Documentary Arts.

Probably one of the most interesting things about this project for me, in the context of CDS, has been the reactions my classmates have had to the images. They have wanted to know more about what was going on, even though not a single person in either class was a diver. They wanted to know if there was anything they could do or what steps we were taking to help the divers out.

And ultimately, that is the power of the photograph. To tell a story. To make a connection. To make the abstract real. It is possible as a writer to tell a story and elicit that visceral reaction from a reader. It can be done, but it’s difficult. The reader has to pay attention and focus on what you’re writing.

Photography has the amazing ability to connect the viewer to the subject in seconds. The reaction is usually immediate and profound. That is the power of photography. The words tell the story and explain what is happening in the image, but the image itself has the power to touch the viewer on a deeper, more personal level.

Now that this phase of the project is done and the certificate program is complete, it’s time to get back out on the road. Time to make more images and tell more stories..