A hands-on discussion of how the author sees his vocation as a photographer. The author, David duChemin, is a pro who shoots a lot of NGO work and who has some interesting ideas about sponsorship and funding. His basic message is “shoot what you’re passionate about” and “don’t shoot the same as everyone else if your passions take you down a different route”. He also advocates trying to carve out a new niche if there isn’t a niche market for the sort of thing you shoot already. If you already have access to communities and specialist shooting opportunities, then use them. And finally, he very much encourages people to make the leap if they possibly can, because if you don’t try it, you’ll never know if you could have done it. After all, no-one ever regretted not spending more time in the office on their death-bed…

He has some interesting ideas about sponsorship and tackling the issue of shooting for free that exercises many in the industry. (Like me, his view is "do it if YOU want" but don't believe the regular lies trotted out by those who are only looking to exploit you.) If I have an issue with this book, it is that David admits that if he was better with words, he probably wouldn't have been a photographer but would have written instead. And in a few places, this shows. The other thing is that he wears his Christian heart on his sleeve, and from time to time this comes over a bit strongly. I also have a bit of an issue with the gap between talking the talk and walking the walk. David talks about "building a visual style" but all his examples (both from his own photography and the selected pros he makes the subject of case studies) seem to be blandly slick. Nothing edgy here. David's own pictures, mainly shot in the Third World, all seem to fall into the category of "poor but happy colourful locals". His advice is good but I think you should follow it rather than take his work as an example.

And in the USA, this is a $45 book! I certainly paid nowhere near that in the UK, even at current exchange rates. And I wouldn't want to. ( )