I love photography and feel so privileged to have had the opportunity to make a living from something that I love to do. I am living my passion. Every day I am learning new things and every assignment is unique. I am challenged every day.

For the past 8 years I have been building a destination wedding photography business on Maui, and before that had a photo studio in Portland, Oregon with Nike as my main client for over 15 years, but by far the most rewarding and enjoyable assignments I have had have been going to troubled parts of the world and documenting the children that live in tragedy. To see images you have shot being used to help others is more rewarding than I can put into words.

No matter how much you love what you do, there are times you can fall into a routine and need to get refreshed again about what you are doing. There are so many newer wedding photographers I have met that have only shot weddings and have not really explored the amazing world of photography beyond their comfort zone. I think there is a need for them to go what I call Beyond weddings. There is so much to learn and give, and every thing that is done on this assignment will be something that will help each participant in their wedding photography career as well as their personal life.

I have been given the opportunity to use my photography in so many ways to help people around the world and am always looking for new ways to give back.

I am a firm believer in pushing yourself to be the best you can be. To go Beyond yourself and use your gifts to help others. This is where the most passion is found for me. When I am able to capture the pure emotion of a homeless child in need of a home; or am able to show the hope and joy in the face of someone that is just happy that someone has stopped to take time to spend with them even though they may be deathly ill or starving; or even have the courage to show the world things they do not want to see in a way that makes them do something to help. There is nothing like it. I have been able to travel to El Salvador, Mexico, India and even Uzbekistan on assignments to photograph kids for various organizations to use in fundraising efforts and journalistic presentations to expose tragic situations in the world. I have taken over a dozen of these trips, and in an effort to go Beyond once again, I came up with a new idea on a much grander scale.

My first goal is to always make sure that whatever I do will make a difference to the people we shoot. If we are going to tackle a larger project than ever before I want to make sure that more will go to the people in need than ever before.

I want to touch people´s lives. I want to teach them new things that will change their lives for the better. I want to bring images to the world that will change the world´s view of these people for the good. I want to change the heart of everyone that takes the time to view the images from this project.

Here is how I see it working...

I want to take a select group of my photography peers to a remote part of the world, a place without any media contact... no radios, TVs, movies, or internet; no electricity; no modern conveniences at all. I want this to be one of the most isolated places on earth, a place that has never seen a camera and has no idea what that little box is for. 

With the help of interpreters, each team member will be assigned a young person to mentor and teach how to take pictures with a simple point and shoot camera. Everyone will be shooting with the same model of camera so that we can all help each other. The challenge is to teach each young person to use the camera and take good pictures in just five days. Each night after we spend a day of shooting with our students, we will all come together and share images on laptops for a fun and educational evening of sharing.

The goal is to teach each student to be proficient enough after several days of personal attention from their teachers that when we leave they will be able to continue to shoot for an extended period of time to show us how they see their culture...what they think is funny, sad, joyous, and beautiful. I want to get a picture of that society from the pictures the young people take, pictures from young adults who did not even know what a camera was until we put one in their hands.

All the images they take will be sent to their photographer mentor. The photographers will take the images and get them ready for print to be used in a traveling photo exhibit and a coffee table book. Our goal is to show images that are unique to their society and tell a story of their lives in pictures. The good parts, sad parts, funny parts, even the tragic parts in order to get a snap shot of their society.

The vast majority of the proceeds from this project will go back to these people by providing medical help, clean water, and mostly ways to help the children, both the young children and the forgotten older children.

I think this is a very unique way to make a difference in a society and at the same time, be able to help a group of photographers grow and go Beyond themselves by sharing what they know with others.

Another project we are looking into would be to take on an inner-city location in the United States. This would be the extreme opposite of what we are currently doing - we would be taking kids who are saturated with media but have never left their neighborhood.

This is a big idea, but I feel it is a unique and worthy project. Please consider getting involved.

Please consider helping with this project.

Mahalo,

David Hessemer

Director of Through Their Eyes