海角大神

Clay Collins: The July 4th holiday in the United States is one of bright, bold visuals. It鈥檚 also a time for kicking back. As we slide from the Thursday holiday into the weekend, here鈥檚 an encore episode, from late 2023, celebrating the work of one of the Monitor鈥檚 great visual journalists.

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Clay Collins:聽That鈥檚 Melanie Stetson Freeman. Mel鈥檚 been a photographer at 海角大神 for 38 years. She鈥檚 captured images in more than 80 countries and from every continent. This episode of 鈥淲hy We Wrote This鈥� is more of a 鈥渨hy we shot this photo.鈥� We鈥檙e about to hear lots more from a real pro who is quite literally looking at the news through a Monitor lens.

This is 鈥淲hy We Wrote This.鈥� I鈥檓 Clay Collins. Welcome to the studio, Mel.

Stetson Freeman:聽Thank you. Nice to be here.

颁辞濒濒颈苍蝉:听Presenting news stories in any media format requires sensitivity and fairness. In photo depictions, you鈥檙e presenting the world and people in ways that can immediately confer meaning. That鈥檚 a huge responsibility, and we鈥檒l get into that.

But first, you鈥檝e been shooting for almost four decades, starting of course with black-and-white film. Can you talk a little about the formats and technologies you鈥檝e seen, and how you鈥檝e adapted to them?

Stetson Freeman:聽There have been a lot of changes. As you said, when I first started, it was all black-and-white.

You know, we鈥檙e shooting film, so there鈥檚 pretty much leeway in your exposures. And after I鈥檇 been here about three years, we overnight switched to full color and slides, which are not as forgiving. And I remember walking into the newsroom the day after we went color, and I got all teared up 鈥榗ause I love black and white so much 鈥� still do.聽

I finally got to where I like color, too, luckily, 鈥榗ause we鈥檝e been doing it ever since. But you know, I kind of miss the darkroom and the magic of the image showing up on the piece of paper. So after slides, we switched to digital, and in the beginning the cameras were not so good. The file sizes were quite small, so the images were kind of blurry.

But the first camera I had cost, I think, about $10,000. And that was in about 2000. So, I had an assignment overseas in Indonesia, and here I have this very expensive camera. I鈥檓 photographing students who are protesting at the government headquarters, and after a while the government stepped down and they were all celebrating and I had to decide: Am I gonna step into this huge reflecting pool of water with this $10,000 camera to get my photo? Or am I gonna stay safe here with my camera? Well, I did step into the pool. Luckily, I did not fall down and I got my photo.

颁辞濒濒颈苍蝉:听That鈥檚 amazing. When you came back from Namibia just recently, you said at a staff meeting that you were surprised by some of what you saw; I think it was kids carrying heavy loads. You鈥檝e been around a long time. You鈥檝e seen a lot. How often do you still get surprised on assignment?

Stetson Freeman:聽I probably get surprised fairly often, especially when I鈥檓 traveling overseas. In Namibia, we were asked to help some children get back to school, and it was about 40 kilometers away. There were four of them, and they started piling all their belongings into the back of our big pickup truck.

They were super heavy suitcases and backpacks, and I couldn鈥檛 believe they were gonna walk. So that was surprising. We were also there to do a story for a climate activist project we鈥檙e working on, and we鈥檇 been with this young man for quite some time. He was super impressive, and he said, 鈥淚鈥檇 like you to see where I live.鈥�

So we went to his home, and it turned out he lived in a one-room basement apartment with his mom. He slept on the floor. He had just a sheet he could pull down to give himself some privacy. But it was such a shock to see how people live. Sometimes you have no idea.

Collins:聽You used the words 鈥渨e鈥� and 鈥渦s鈥� in that answer, and I know you鈥檙e talking about the writer that you鈥檙e traveling with. You鈥檙e working with writers to jointly find the heart of a story.聽How do you do your work effectively when both you and the writer are essentially competing for the same time and access?

Stetson Freeman:聽Yeah, that can be a problem sometimes, especially if something is happening only once and I have to get it right then. The writer maybe can call back later and ask questions and fill in the blanks. So sometimes, I have to nicely yell at the writer, 鈥済et outta the way!鈥� And it鈥檚 kind of funny to watch 鈥� some of them will dive out of the way or hide in a doorway or something.

We do discuss the story ahead of time. Often it鈥檚 the writer who鈥檚 the lead. So I鈥檓 trying to visually tell their story. So sometimes I鈥檒l take photos while the writer is doing an interview because someone鈥檚 telling a story. They can get very emotional rather than just standing in front of me with my camera, so that sometimes can get some very nice portraits.聽

But then I sometimes have to ask for more time at the end 鈥榗ause I鈥檒l want a different background, and it鈥檚 a balancing act, because we sometimes don鈥檛 need the same things, but a lot of the writers that I work with understand that it鈥檒l add to their story.

Collins:聽Besides your interfacing with the writer you鈥檙e working with, you鈥檙e obviously interfacing with people 鈥� civilians, if you will. Your work means being conscious of the specific context in which you鈥檙e depicting someone because that can color perceptions and you need to know when not to shoot, and about how to handle shots of identifiable children, and that sort of thing.

Stetson Freeman:聽Right. It鈥檚 really important to know when not to shoot. It鈥檚 especially difficult for a writer or a photographer to walk up to somebody cold on the street who doesn鈥檛 know you鈥檙e gonna be asking them a question for a journalistic reason.

I often just let the writer start and ask their questions, and sometimes I can kind of get a feel if somebody鈥檚 gonna be OK having their photo taken.聽So I鈥檒l slowly lift the camera, and if they duck or put their hands in front of their eyes, I know, OK, they don鈥檛 want their photo taken. But I don鈥檛 wanna scare people off before the writer gets what they need.聽

The most extreme example of that: I was in Rwanda with one of our correspondents, and we were doing a story on reconciliation. It was after the massacre where the Hutus had killed millions of Tutsis.聽[Editors鈥� note: The estimated death toll of the Rwanda genocide was 800,000 to 1 million, a figure that included moderate Hutus.]聽We were following a Tutsi woman named Janine, and her whole family had died.聽But she inherited all their coffee plantations. Plantation is a highfalutin word; really they were just some small fields. But the people who worked her fields were the Hutus that had killed her family.

Collins:聽Oh my gosh.

Stetson Freeman:聽So she introduced us to one man in particular that was still there, and she knew he was one of the killers.聽He was in a little hut. She introduced us. She said: 鈥淭hese people would like to ask you some questions. Don鈥檛 be afraid.鈥� We sat down, and we had a young man from the college as our translator. He was sitting on one end of the bench, and then the writer, and then me, and across from us was this man.

So I did not wanna scare this guy. Of course, this was a huge part of the writer鈥檚 story. After some time passed, I asked the writer, 鈥渨hat do you think? Can I take a photo?鈥� So he asked the translator, he said, 鈥渘ot yet.鈥�

Collins:听贬尘尘.

Stetson Freeman:聽So I waited a little longer. And then I asked again, 鈥渨hat do you think now?鈥� And the translator鈥檚 like, 鈥測es, now.鈥�

So I slowly lifted the camera. I took some photos and the guy just kinda laughed 鈥榗ause I had taken a few and it was all fine, but he looked so ashamed about what he鈥檇 done. It came through in the photo. But again, I鈥檓 just so glad I knew how to wait for my moment to take the photo.

颁辞濒濒颈苍蝉:听Mel, what, to you, is a Monitor photo? Is it just one that really humanizes a story or an individual, as in that example you just cited, or is there something more?

Stetson Freeman:聽Well, I think Monitor photos have light, and I mean that literally and figuratively. Of course, you need light in order to take a photograph, but we鈥檙e always looking for the good.

And there鈥檚 good, even in the worst situations, there鈥檚 always good to shine through. I mean, I admire my colleagues who have to shoot the negative side of this and the sadness, but that鈥檚 not what we do. We鈥檙e gonna show you who鈥檚 problem-solving.

颁辞濒濒颈苍蝉:听Everyone in the newsroom probably has a favorite Mel shot. There鈥檚 one conference room where there鈥檚 a photo of two men in a rice field in Madagascar. On the Clearway Street side of the newsroom there鈥檚 that train station image from Mumbai in 2010.聽And when I was Weekly editor, I asked to hang in my workspace a Belfast shot of yours 鈥� there are two little Northern Irish kids interacting with a British soldier. I鈥檓 not gonna ask you to pick a favorite because I know that鈥檚 an impossibility, but was there an assignment on which you took a shot that you knew at once was really special?

Stetson Freeman:聽I can think of one fairly recently. We were doing a story on this black bear expert, Dr. Lynn Rogers. He鈥檚 up in Minnesota, and he鈥檚 been studying black bears his whole career. He鈥檚 in his eighties now, and he was giving a class to people teaching them about black bears and a lot of these folks come back year after year.

He can hand feed these wild black bears. I was able to do that, too. It鈥檚 one of the thrills of my career.聽

But I had photographed the class and going out in the wilderness and people feeding these bears, but I didn鈥檛 have my cover shot of him, and I knew I wanted him with a bear.

So this bear named Gus was nearby. So he grabbed some hazelnuts, and he sat on the ground and Gus came ambling over and I just got him in the corner of the shot and Dr. Rogers looked straight at me with just the most loving expression, completely calm with this huge black bear right beside him.

And I knew. I knew right then I had that shot. You don鈥檛 always know, but I knew that time.

颁辞濒濒颈苍蝉:听The hazelnuts, wow. Gus is a bear of refined taste, I鈥檒l have to say.

Stetson Freeman:聽[Laughs.] Yes.

颁辞濒濒颈苍蝉:听Can a spectacular photograph come out of a fairly mundane assignment?

Stetson Freeman:聽Photographers walk into a space they鈥檝e never seen before and have to make an image that鈥檚 worth showing to our readers.

Usually, we鈥檝e never been there before. Sometimes it鈥檚 a conference room and you have to make something happen 鈥� that鈥檚 your job. And that鈥檚, to me, what separates the pros from the amateurs. So I was in a conference room in Namibia recently with this beautiful young woman and I鈥檓 thinking, okay, well I鈥檓 gonna have to take her somewhere else after. But then I noticed the sunlight was coming in the window and it was bouncing off the table and just creating this beautiful light on her face. So as I said, sometimes I shoot during an interview and I did that that time, and it turns out that鈥檚 one of my favorite photos.聽

颁辞濒濒颈苍蝉:听[Was there] ever a shoot that you just wanted to do over?

Stetson Freeman:聽There was one in particular that鈥檚 so embarrassing.

I was sent out to photograph the new Archbishop of the Boston Diocese of the Catholic Church, and there was this huge procession and they had their outfits on with the robes and the hats and everything.

And I asked one of the photographers next to me, 鈥渨hich one is the main guy?鈥� And he pointed to somebody, and I thought I had the right guy. I took all these pictures of him and I got back to the newsroom. It was the wrong guy.

So my photo editor at the time was very nice. He didn鈥檛 tell anybody this, and I guess they used a wire service photo 鈥榗ause they were there, too.

颁辞濒濒颈苍蝉:听I have to ask you one more thing 鈥� something anyone who鈥檚 worked with you would want to let you talk about. Animals as subjects, whether it鈥檚 Gus or a lion on the Maasai Mara, you really see a special nobility there, don鈥檛 you?

Stetson Freeman:聽I do. I鈥檓 just a huge animal lover, wild and domestic.聽I鈥檒l report as many animal stories as I can on a trip. As many as the editors will let me. And my photo editor often says, 鈥渘ot another animal story!鈥澛�

But you know, I鈥檒l bide my time and then I鈥檒l give them another one. So, um, as I said, one of my favorites was feeding the black bears with Doc Rogers. Um, but I鈥檝e also seen the mountain gorillas in Rwanda and I鈥檝e been to chimp sanctuaries in the United States and in Uganda.聽I鈥檝e met the cheetah lady in South Africa, and hopefully there will be many, many more.

Collins:聽Mm-hmm. Mel, we could easily serialize this conversation. You鈥檝e got so many stories to go along with a remarkable body of work.聽Thanks for coming on the show, for all of the assignments you鈥檝e taken, and for the many shoots yet to come.

Stetson Freeman:聽Thank you.

颁辞濒濒颈苍蝉:听Thanks for listening. Find our show notes with links to stories featuring Mel鈥檚 work at CSMonitor.com/WhyWeWroteThis. This episode was hosted by me, Clay Collins, and produced by Mackenzie Farkus and Jingnan Peng. Our sound engineer was Alyssa Britton. Original music is by Noel Flatt.聽Produced by the 海角大神 Science Monitor. Copyright 2023.