MARK EDWARD HARRIS
INTERNATIONAL AWARD-WINNING PHOTOGRAPHER
Los Angeles-based Mark Edward Harris is an awardwinning international photographer with over three decades of experience. He has traveled to over 100 countries so far and authored and published award-winning books focused on daily cultural life in Southeast Asia, China, North Korea, Japan, Iraq, and Iran. His photography work is being exhibited in impressive private collections, museums, and galleries around the globe. His editorial work has appeared in the most important publications worldwide, including The New York Times, The London Times Travel Magazine, National Geographic Traveler, Forbes, LIFE, Vanity Fair, GEO, The Los Angeles Times Sunday Magazine, The GOLD
LIST by Art Market Magazine, and many others.
Harris is also the recipient of numerous awards, including a CLIO Award for advertising photography, an Aurora Gold Award for commercial directing, and an ACE Award for directing and producing a video for television. Harris shares his photographic knowledge through teaching photography workshops around the globe.
In 2012, he was a keynote speaker in Yokohama at the International Travel Mart, presenting his series on Japanese ryokans and hot springs In the wake of the country's tsunami and at the Travel Photography Festival at the Royal Geographical Society in London.
In 2013, his first book on South
Korea and his second book on North Korea were released with a book tour, including stops at the Pacific Asia Museum in Pasadena, the
Korea Society in New York, and the Newseum in Washington, DC.
"North Korea" was named "Photography Book of the Year" at the International Photography Awards.
In 2017, Focal Press published
"The Travel Photo Essay: Describing a Journey Through Images."
A 3rd edition of "The Way of the Japanese Bath" was released in 2019. Mark's recent book, "The People of the Forest," is focused on orangutans.
It is a great pleasure to interview one of the most influential photographers in the world!
José Jeuland: Many thanks, Mark, for your time and effort to have an interview with Art Market Magazine. It's a pleasure to feature your magnificent work.
You are considered by many as one of the most influential photographers of our generation documenting unique cultural life and events.
How does it make you feel when you hear people describe you as one of the most influential photographers of our generation?
Mark Edward Harris: I'm not sure I deserve that high compliment, but the words are very much appreciated. I feel that many of the projects I do are an effort to put a human face on issues worldwide. Too often, I see people grouped "en masse" in the political arena as well as the media, and it's essential to see them as individuals.
I'm honored when publications such as Lens Magazine help me get the word out, that in essence, we're all the same. In my series on a fellow great ape, orangutans, my goal is to help bring attention to the serious issues they face in the wild due to habitat destruction in their native Borneo and Sumatra. Humans and orangutans share about 97 percent of the same DNA, and in the portrait part of the series, I hope to convey these highly sentient beings' individuality.
J. J.: Back in the 80's you graduated from California State University,
Los Angeles with a Master of Arts Degree in Pictorial/Documentary History and started your career as a professional photographer. Looking back at your academic study, would you say it's a "must" for photographers to have educational experience for having a successful career?
M. E. H.: Education comes in many ways. For some, such as my friends Sandro Miller and Joey Lawrence,
who goes by Joey L, that education comes from an incredible amount of street knowledge. Others, such as Sebastiao Salgado, have a formal education that very much informs their work. And that education is not necessarily in studying photography. In Salgado's case, his study of economics is shown in the types of long-term projects he takes on.
The more depth we have as individuals, the more depth we will have in our photographs.
There are many paths to get to the same place. I think assisting other photographers is extremely helpful in learning the tools of trade and better understanding the photography business.
J. J.: Your experience during the past three decades moves from travel photography, documentary, wildlife, advertising photography to even a television director.
This is unique and unusual; most photographers focus only on one field, but you also succeed significantly in each area, receiving international awards. What led you to move and develop in each of these fields?
M. E. H.: I'm very much driven by instinct rather than economics. If something feels right, I will often pursue it.
Some projects take hold while others feel like it might be best to shelve them. Photographers such as Jeanloup Sieff never let themselves be cubbyholed into a single genre. I do recognize that it can be confusing for photo editors or art directors when they're selecting
a photographer for an assignment to see a variety pack of images. Hence, I carefully divide my website into different categories as well as presenting a few of the same types of images at a time on Instagram. Therefore, there's a sense of cohesion. In terms of genres, documentary photography is definitely on the top of my list because of my endless fascination with history.
J. J.: Let's talk about your magnificent Orangutan series "Eyes Are The Window To The Soul." This project demonstrates the individuality of each primate as well as their clear awareness of self.
The series won at the 2018 Sony's World Photography Awards and the Prix De La Photographie State of the World 2020 Awards. Tell us about how it all started. Where did you find these orangutans, and what led you to do this project?
M. E. H.: I initially to use the title "Eyes are the Window to the Soul" after photographing the orangutans at the International Orangutan Center in Indianapolis. It became apparent immediately that there were sentient beings looking back at me through the opposite side of the lens. I ended up changing the title for my latest book to "The People of the Forest," which is what the word orangutan translates to in Malay and Indonesian. As I became more and more aware of the plight orangutans are facing in the wild due to habitat destruction, I began to delve deeper and deeper into the project including two trips to Borneo.
J. J.: From a technical aspect, how did you make them sit so calm in front of the camera? One of the portraits is even described as the "Orangutan Mona Lisa," with its emotional look and smile.
M. E. H.: It was entirely up to the orangutans whether they wanted to be photographed or not and whether they wanted to look at the camera. In reality, they would most often just sit down for a brief moment, look me over to see what I was up to, and then move on.
The magic of photography is that this 1/250th of a second exposure makes it feel that we're having a long engaged session. That is not the reality.
In some locations I was shooting through a mesh fence, in others through a glass divider. At the Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation and in the Singapore Zoo, they were sitting on a tree stump or table I had covered with a black backdrop, and there was no divider between us. When the orangutans decided the session was over, it was over.
J. J.: How do you arrange the light for this project?
M. E. H.: StellaPro as a constant light source and Profoto strobes for flash situations when I need to completely overwhelm the ambient light. I need to handhold the light on a monopod and move around to get the angle on the orangutans' faces since they are constantly moving.
In places where it is possible to put up a back/sidelight, I put a head on a stand held down by a Matthews FlyAway Sandbag, which I can fill up on the location.
I just got their small C-Stand, which breaks down and fits into my Think Tank Production Manager rolling bag with my lights and other stands, making the projects I'm shooting solo on the road more feasible.
J. J.: From your experience during the years, what is the most challenging part about being a photographer for you?
M. E. H.: The freelance life can yield incredible rewards but comes along with its own set of stresses. Assignments come and go, editors change at publications, technology is always evolving.
Freelancers have to stay on top of this constant flux.
I learned from Eve Arnold years ago that it was important for a freelance photographer to have long-term projects that would smooth out the times between being overwhelmed with assignments and sitting around waiting for the phone to ring.
Her major book, "In China," was the result of that approach. I think my North Korea, Japanese hot spring, photographer portrait series, and orangutan projects, in particular, comes out of that kind of approach to a life in photography.
J. J.: What motivates you to continue taking pictures economically, politically, intellectually, or emotionally?
M. E. H.: My endless fascination with history is constantly opening up new opportunities. I'm especially interested in the asides of history, the lesser-known stories surrounding significant events.
J. J.: What does the future hold? (Exhibitions/workshops/ new projects) Is there any specific project you would like to focus on in the upcoming years?
M. E. H.: I'm teaming up with some other photographer friends to teach workshops, including Michelle Valberg, whom I co-taught with in the Arctic Circle on a ship, and Sandro Miller who I taught with in India and China.
Deanne Fitzmaurice, Nick Ut and I plan to pick up where we left off to do some workshops in Europe once the pandemic gets under control. I learn so much from these other photographers as well as from all the photographers I've interviewed, which fits into my interest in documenting history.
I list my workshops on my website and have a bunch more that will be
released soon. As for exhibitions, I plan on doing a worldwide tour of the orangutan series to coincide with the release of the orangutan book. I'm also anxious to get back to Japan to update my onsen (hot spring) series and document the Tohoku region's recovery efforts.
J. J.: What type of cameras do you shoot with?
M. E. H.: I've been a dedicated Nikon photographer for many years, ever since I bought my first FM2.
These days I'm shooting mostly with a Nikon D850 and did have a lot of success in Borneo's jungles with the Nikon Z7. Eventually, I'll migrate over to the mirrorless system.
J. J.: What advice do you have for young photographers who want to succeed in the field?
M. E. H.: Work hard and never have excuses. I grew up with a father who had a severe case of polio but never let that get in his way. He had a great career behind the scenes in the radio and television business. He was a very good photographer despite having only one usable arm to make all the necessary manual adjustments at the time.
One of the greatest lessons I learned early on was when my mother suggested that I write my own stories rather than always trying to find a writer to work with. That's opened up countless opportunities.
Art Market Magazine
One of the greatest lessons I learned early on was when my mother suggested that I write my own stories rather than always trying to find a writer to work with. That's opened up countless opportunities." - MARK EDWARD HARRIS
The ideal is still to team up with a great writer such as I have with Pico Iyer for a Vanity Fair story on North Korea, Tim Neville, for a story in Kurdish Iraq for the New York Times, Drex Heikes for a story on the Yangtze for the LA Times Magazine.
Still, I don't have to be dependent on it.
Young photographers might also find inspiration by reading the path that Gordon Parks took in his book, "Voices in the Mirror." I think it should be on every high school reading list regardless as to whether they are interested in becoming photographers or not. It's about his life's journey of rising above omnipresent racism.
I've also gained immeasurably from working in a darkroom during my formative photography years. You really feel the exposures when you're dialing them in on an enlarger. I haven't loaded a roll of film into a camera in 15 years and haven't stepped into a darkroom this century, but I think it's great that a number of younger photographers are working with film.
I would like, however, to see them go the full distance with it. That is, put their negatives in an enlarger and witness the true magic of an image revealing itself in the developer tray.
That feeling and sense of awe about photography and its ability to freeze a moment in time have never left me.
Jose Jeuland, Ex-Professional Triathlete turned Professional Photographer and a photojournalist contributor at Lens Magazine.
Jose is an ambassador for The North Face, a FUJIFILM X-Photographer, and supported by EPSON, Manfrotto, BenQ, and Gravity Backdrops.
He also collaborates and creates content for these brands. Now based in Singapore, Jose is managing COCO Creative
Studio, where he produces commercial photography and videography work.
Jose works with international clients as JW Marriott, Shangri-La, The Fullerton, Grab, Amazon, Expedia, etc.
Website: www.josejeuland.com
Website: www.cococreativestudio.com
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Work hard and never have excuses. Young photographers might also find inspiration by reading the path that Gordon Parks took in his book, "Voices in the Mirror." - MARK EDWARD HARRIS