My career as a photographer has taken me all over the world -- in fact, it has taken me to about 80 countries around the world -- about 27 times. I mention this because I don't work out of a conventional studio. My studio is wherever my work takes me and several locations lack many of the luxuries we take for granted such as electricity or clean drinking water. Places like Sudan, Rwanda, parts of the Middle East and most recently the Arctic Circle and Antarctica offer incredible opportunities for me to tell a story and each location has attracted me to visit not once, but many times. The stories I bring back from these locations are very different but in the end, the goal is always the same -- come back with images, no excuses. And for me, especially in the case of Darfur in Sudan, my photographs represented proof that atrocities and unimaginable events against humanity had occurred, and continue to this day.

As a photojournalist, I’ve learned to use whatever is available to me to capture the images I’m looking for. There aren’t any “props” when photographing news or the environment that surrounds me. It’s life as I see it with no additives to make it funnier, prettier, more dramatic or more exciting. The same holds true with my light source. I rarely have the luxury of bringing portable strobes on my shooting assignments – even on my commercial advertising jobs. My commercial clients are looking for something natural, not something set up and oftentimes that includes natural light, or at least natural “looking” light. I have used strobes in the studio when I’m trying to achieve a particular look for a client, but I normally don’t have the luxury of finding myself in a controlled environment so I have to work around the light source (the sun) rather than the other way around.

Keeping the lighting simple is something I always try to emphasize when teaching workshops or giving lectures. Whether it’s in the studio or on location, keeping the lighting very simple minimizes complications and forces you to look at your subjects from varying angles and perspectives. Many of my best shots were produced because I was forced to move around a subject and change my perspective when the only light source I had could not be changed. The light was stationary and I was the one that needed to move. It is a great exercise and one I am constantly sharing with students in my workshops.

I especially like backlighting my subjects. This is a personal preference on my part but feel it gives my subjects an added, unique dimension and has become somewhat of a “signature” of my style of work if there is such a thing. The point is to be creative, find your own space and use the light to create something that is unique to you. With some practice you will discover a look that is indicative of your own personal shooting style.

Because the sun is my only light source most of the time, I find myself moving around my subjects to get the look I want, assuming I have the luxury of moving at all. While photographing icebergs in Antarctica, I kept the captain pretty busy so I could properly position myself around my subject based on the light. This was also the case in the Arctic Circle where the Polar Bear was my primary subject.

While much of my work over the past 20 years has been as a documentary photographer, I have used my "shooting style" as a journalist and applied it to the world of advertising. Whether it's advertising or documentary, my studio continues to be the world around me and I can't afford any malfunctions with my gear, which is why I choose my equipment very carefully.

I can't stress enough the need to prepare for any assignment you’re given, even if the assignment is photographing your child's Little League baseball game. Whether it’s researching your subject’s background, personal interests, accomplishments, etc. or simply having a “Plan B” in case “Plan A” doesn’t pan out the way you anticipated -- a backup plan, if you will. The same could be said for protecting all the photographs residing on your memory cards. For me, and the type of work I do, I don't have the luxury of do-overs. And parents who are busy capturing many of life's "firsts" don't have the luxury of do-overs either. Life comes at us pretty fast and presents itself before my camera and either I capture it or I don't. A student once asked me if there was anything worse than not getting the shot. "Yes," I said. "Getting the shot and then losing it." That is the worst feeling any photographer could have and is why I protect all my photos and documents by backing them up on Western Digital storage drives.

I use WD drives for one simple reason -- they have never failed me, even in the most challenging circumstances including my recent trip to the Arctic Circle to photograph Polar Bears. With temperatures at -30°F and spending 8-10 hours in a Tundra Buggy miles from anything, backing up my images to Western Digital My Passport drives is not only a part of my daily workflow process, it was by far the most critical.

Someone once said that photography is 20% taking pictures and 80% problem solving and I certainly concur. But there is one constant throughout all my projects that I knew I could count on, even when we couldn’t count on anything going exactly according to plan – the flawless performance of my Western Digital desktop drives. For my office I use WD's My ShareSpace NAS (Network Attached Storage) drives. The NAS drives allow me, and my assistants, to access anything on these drives from anywhere in the world. This is critical for me because requests from art directors and art buyers often come when we're out of the country and they have deadlines too. The NAS system allows me, or my staff, to access images from anywhere.

At any given time I have at least four Western Digital My Passport portable drives with me on my assignments but never keep them together or in one location. I always have one in my camera bag and keep the others at various locations such as my hotel room, car, or boat (in Antarctica). This is additional security for my photos so if my camera bag is stolen (it happened) or someone breaks into my hotel room (it happened), I will have another copy of my work safely stored somewhere else. Whether it's just smart business or good old-fashioned paranoia, I know my images are safe.

There are two essential things I can always count on when I’m out taking pictures. The first is that the sun will rise and give me the light I need to capture my images, especially the early morning and late afternoon “golden light” opportunities of each day. The second thing I can count on are my Western Digital storage drives doing what they do best – safeguarding my life's work.

He is currently working on several projects on the environment and will be heading back to Haiti later this month on a humanitarian effort as well as a photojournalist. this will mark his sixth trip to Haiti since 1991.

Question
Hi Colin! As you know I'm a huge fan of your work. I wanted to know how do you deal with the emotions of having to photograph other people’s suffering and pain?

Answer
It’s not about me. I am the one who chooses to get on a plane to make the photographs that I make. Personally, I myself must be emotionally vulnerable otherwise the photographs are shallow and cold and I’m only using people as exercises in geometric compositions, not images filled with empathy and dignity. This is the chasm we all must cross. The world may provide this to you in its own way. A new term, but here it goes, Method Photography. Do you have to know your own pain to best photograph it in others? The question becomes whether or not I feel their pain. The answer is yes. Do I ever turn away? No. I have a responsibility to the people that I photograph, and in the creation of that image there is an unspoken agreement -- a commitment on my part -- to tell the story of their life and its tragedy.

Question
Can you give us some tips on preparation needed to capture the impactful moments you do without the luxury of set up time?

Answer
It's a matter of completely living in the moment, and having total confidence in your equipment. Thinking about that, has to be the last thing on your mind. Also every single photograph you have made in the past has prepared you for this one moment.

Question
Do you let your emotions come through in the moment of capturing the image? Do you ever turn away?"

Answer
No, I don't turn away but I sometimes cry in back of the lens, it's sort of unavoidable in certain situations. I have cried once behind the camera while I was in Vietnam. Emotion is a part of everything. As a photographer you have to be completely open and vulnerable, or you are capturing nothing more than a reflection of a person not a photograph.

Question
There have been many images coming in from Haiti – some of them really powerful, amazing photographs. Like with every great tragedy, those who remain thousands miles away, will initially look in awe. Most will be moved. Some will donate money. Yet, after x number of days and after x number of photographs, a lot of people start feeling overwhelmed and numb. They do not want to see yet another photograph from Haiti.

As a photographer, do you sometimes feel discouraged? What do you hope to accomplish by going there now (three weeks after the earthquake)?

Answer
Discouraged and encouraged at the same time. Discouraged at what you're witnessing and encouraged by humanity and the efforts from all over the world. for me, going there 3 weeks after the earthquake is everything. I am much more interested in photographing recovery and hope and personally have no interest in photographing corpses. that event I can't change and I work with many different relief agencies. That's who I share my work with and where it becomes most beneficial. My photo on the cover of TIME magazine won't raise any money for these folks but working with International Medical Corps and having my images associated with their efforts will hopefully making a difference.

Question
How do you plan to share the photos and eyewitness experience you had from your trip to Haiti? What do you hope to accomplish by sharing your experiences?

Answer
Once the international media has turned its spotlight in a different direction, I will be able to go in there and concentrate on the recovery aspect of this tragedy. Thanks to liveBooks I will be producing a separate website of images based on my upcoming trip as well as images from the 5 times I have been to Haiti since 1991. The idea is to produce images that tell a story of triumph over tragedy while expressing the fears and hopes of Haitians as they literally and figuratively rise above the rubble.

Question
Your book Testify, a collection of your images during your career, won “Best Book of 2007” by Pictures of the Year International (POYi). Did winning this honor make you feel that the suffering around the world was finally getting the attention it needed and deserved or did you feel that you are receiving accolades based on other people's suffering?

Answer
Actually, when it comes down to it; in bringing attention to the world’s suffering my photographs are but a small part. Rather, it is the collective voice, the vision that both myself and my colleague’s bring to the consciousness and awareness of a story.

Question
I returned a little over a week ago from photographing in Port-au-Prince, having arrived four days after the initial earthquake. It was my first experience covering a humanitarian crisis of this magnitude. I went spontaneously without the support of any publication or organization, self-funding the trip because I fell in love with Haiti from a previous trip and wanted to document what was happening there. I am interested in returning to focus more on the recovery and rebuilding effort. As Haiti begins to fall off the media radar, do you have any suggestions for an emerging photographer in partnering with relief organizations or getting funding to continue working there? What is the process?

Also, I was struck by how quickly people seemed to adapt to such horrific circumstances. Perhaps people were in a state of shock, but I didn't see as much intense emotion as I expected. There seemed to be a sort of resignation to it all, and I was amazed by how resourceful many were in salvaging anything they could find from the wreckage with an eye toward rebuilding. I know the Haitian people are renowned for their stoicism and resilience, but is this sort of response something you've experienced photographing conflicts and humanitarian crises throughout your career?

Answer
The first thing you should do is build your portfolio from your past work and add your most recent work from Haiti. You need to then partner or identify relief agencies that you might want to work for. Before the earthquake there were 10,000 Non-Governmental Organizations (NGO's) in Haiti, the most of any other country in the world. You will want to speak with the marketing people at these NGO's and explain what you'd like to do -- and that you'd like to partner with them. Save the Children, CARE, and Doctors without Borders are a couple of examples of outstanding NGO's you may want to research.

There is a very strong sense of survival, Haitians in particular, considering the number of coups they have been through over the years. I think the ability for Haitians to deal with these types of disasters than other parts of the world comes from constantly having to face many disasters and this becomes another obstacle in a life that has known many. They constantly face starvation and poverty, military and government issues. The people of Sarajevo, for example, lived perfectly normal lives until everything happened. The same could be said about Darfur. But Haitians have almost become accustomed to facing hardship in one form or another. Some might say they are numb but I believe they are in absolute survival mode and face their demons head-on.

Question
Several people involved in the relief efforts whom I spoke to, all said the same thing: the most important and most difficult process will begin once the initial shock is gone, once the emergency crews are gone, and once the world's attention fades away. It will take many many years for the wounds to heal, for houses/communities to be rebuilt... Many years, a lot of effort and resources! Good luck in all your endeavors and looking forward to seeing your work. Thank you!

Answer
I have been compiling my thoughts on Haiti over the past three weeks, and looking back at my work there over the years. This is one of the many passages.

The people of Haiti are so strong in spirit because collectively suffer together. When it was learned that the largest living organism on earth was an Aspen grove in Colorado it changed everything. What we thought were thousand’s of separate trees, were really an offshoot of roots from one single tree. They breathe and pollinate as one. The mother in City Solei who was crushed in her doorway, used her life to protect her fifteen day old so that she might live. It must be the possibility of a different sun, one of equality, of justice, of love. The sun of Haiti, it burns too close to the ground.

Question
Any advice to my daughter who has a passion to use photography to tell a story and is starting to pursue an education/career in photojournalism?

Answer
Pursuing a career in photography and photojournalism today is a very long haul. It is similar to being a Journeyman. I have been shooting for nearly 20 years and am just now beginning to discover my direction, what I want to do with my camera, and with my career. The ability to effectively tell a story with your camera, and tell the story with emotion and conviction, is unto itself, an art. The only advice I could really give would be for your daughter to follow her heart. If she loves photography and wants to use the camera as her communications vehicle, I say go for it. If this is her dream she should follow it and put everything she has into it, much like any other relationship, because that's what it is. And never let anyone tell her she "can't" do something, no matter who it is. I wish your daughter well.

Question
What sort of assistance do non-profit organizations provide to photographers with whom they partner, and what does the photographer give back in return? Could you elaborate a little bit about these relationships?

Answer
Sometimes they provide access to a clinic they are operating, sometimes it's a roof over your head with a car and a driver, and sometimes they pay for your airfare and give you a fee for your work. It all depends on the agency. You would provide them with your images for online, corporate reports and or funding situations. You should though make sure that you retain sole ownership of your work.

Question
Do you keep a written diary of your experiences? People you meet, places you go?

Answer
I have been compiling my thoughts on Haiti over the past three weeks, and looking back at my work there over the years. This is one of the many passages.

The people of Haiti are so strong in spirit because collectively suffer together. When it was learned that the largest living organism on earth was an Aspen grove in Colorado it changed everything. What we thought were thousand’s of separate trees, were really an offshoot of roots from one single tree. They breathe and pollinate as one. The mother in City Solei who was crushed in her doorway, used her life to protect her fifteen day old so that she might live. It must be the possibility of a different sun, one of equality, of justice, of love. The sun of Haiti, it burns too close to the ground.

Another Passage from my Diary...
I am now en route physically; spiritually I have been there since Tuesday. The airline of America will deposit me, but this time, I travel first as a humanitarian and second as a photographer. The serpent would like the lens to chronicle his mastery, but I refuse. There are too many hands first, which need to be held. It is comfort and the compassion that needs to be given, without my glass eye. The camera now, is an embarrassment. This is the liberation I felt in Vietnam, when I was photographing the young children surviving with Agent Orange. When I went back into their room without my camera, when I joined them spiritually and emotionally. Thanking each of them for their courage, in a subtle language that only the soul speaks. That is the freedom, that is, what it means to be human, to be present, alive and holding a moment of refined grace with the infinite love of the universe. I am one. We are one.