Taiwanese nuns chanting in a temple during the Chinese Ghost Festival

As many of you know, the International Guild of Visual Peacemakers (IGVP) launched recently. I am a keen supporter of this initiative and very excited about what the future holds for IGVP. One of the areas in the profile section of the site is the Peacemaker Interview, a series of eight questions that give visitors some further insight into the photographer’s mind and ideas. Below you’ll find my responses to the questions. I do encourage you to go to IGVP if you haven’t already and join.

What does visual peacemaking mean to you?
I’ve always believed that different cultures and ethnicities have more in common than they have differences. When the focus is on the differences, conflict is what ultimately results but when we see that in essence, we all want the same thing – love, happiness, security – peace naturally follows. Being able to share the world’s cultures through photography helps bring the world a little closer and creates a little more peace.

What motivates you to be a peacemaker?
It’s ingrained in me. For as long as I can remember, stretching back into childhood, I’ve been a supporter of peace, and an opponent of violence, both physical and emotional. Being a peacemaker to me is as essential to life as breathing.

Have you ever felt stereotyped?
I have red hair – that alone comes with a number of stereotypes, and I’ve heard them all so often that I barely even notice any kind of stereotype directed at me now. I guess being an expat in Asia, being married to someone from a different culture and not following a 9-5 career are also stereotypes I’ve come across.

How does your camera get you to reflect on your world and your life?
I see more through a camera than I do without one. When I’m photographing something that I’m passionate about, I’m existing completely in the moment. My camera is often a passport into other lives as I get to see and experience things and meet people that I ordinarily wouldn’t have an opportunity to. More importantly, seeing, meeting and experiencing that shows me the value in everyone and everything.

What do you like to photograph best?
Anything that lets me see and understand a different culture or subculture. A lot of modern subcultures are just as widely misunderstood as are “exotic” cultures on the other side of the world.

What technical aspect of photography do you find most challenging?
Most of the technical side of things comes fairly easily to me now by virtue of having learned photography in the pre-digital, all manual days. There is however sometimes a situation where I know what I want but can’t work how exactly how to get it from my mind to the finished product. That is usually when I’m experimenting with some kind of concept though and the whole process is a learning experience.

Is there a particular group you feel is misunderstood or stereotyped that you’d like to document common humanity amongst?
Unfortunately, there are too many groups that are misunderstood and stereotyped. Choosing just one is difficult. As a human being, I see all groups and cultures as equally valuable.

Do you have an idea worth sharing?
Instead of thinking of people as being from this place or of that group, start thinking of them simply as people. Then you’ll find the common humanity with out even trying. We’re all children of the Earth.

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