Pop Photo: My Interview


What is it Like to be a...Travel Photographer?

That's the question I was asked by Carolina Hidalgo of Popular Photography, who talked to me a few weeks ago, part of an ongoing project in which she interviews several professional photographers about how they landed their dream jobs.

I often remember Costa Manos' admonishment that I needed to 'complicate' my photographs...to make them less simple, and to have them tell a story. Some 10 years ago in Old Havana where he was teaching a street photography workshop, he was the one who planted the seed of storytelling in my consciousness. I recall my ego being badly bruised at first, but it quickly recovered when I realized he was exactly right.

Popular Photography & Imaging, also called Popular Photography or Pop Photo, is a monthly American consumer magazine founded in 1937 and the world's largest imaging magazine, with an editorial staff twice the size of its nearest competitor. It has a rate base (subscription and single copy sales) of 400,000 with a total audience of 2,085,000.