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| Morten Hvaal is an award-winning
international documentary photographer, writer and filmmaker.
It wasn't until he picked up an Olympus E-1 that he felt he
had a digital camera system with the right combination of image
quality, ruggedness and portability. In this recent exclusive
interview for PURSUIT, he talked about the background of his
career, journalism, and digital cameras. |
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| Morten
Hvaal (www.mortenhvaal.com) |
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Born in
Norway in 1963, Morten Hvaal is an award-winning international
documentary photographer, writer and filmmaker whose work
has been published by The Associated Press, Time Magazine,
Newsweek, USA Today, Der Spiegel, Stern, Paris Match,
Economist, BBC, CNN, and most major newspapers. Since
1982 Hvaal has covered mainly conflicts and humanitarian
crises all over the world.
He is a Member of the Nobel Peace Centre planning committee
and founder of the Board of Directors of Media
19 an independent organisation with a global operational
field whose overall objective is to promote Article 19
of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights i.e. the
right to freedom of speech and independent media. He is
represented by World Picture News. |
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 hat
was your first war-zone assignment? |
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| Unlike many of my colleagues,
I wasn't just thrown in at the deep end. I spent the early 1980s
taking unmemorable photographs and learning the ropes in several
conflict areas, starting with Lebanon. Working as a freelancer,
I was not under any pressure to deliver images, and could apply
very conservative risk assessments. |
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| Who briefs you? How
do you keep up with complicated and diverse political situations? |
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| Extensive background knowledge
is crucial in all documentary work. I read as much as I can
about the areas I work in, and have over the years established
a good network of people whose insights and judgement I trust.
Also, I try to be open to other cultures and opinions. Anything
to avoid too many unpleasant surprises, really. |
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| Are you
good at recognizing famous/important faces? |
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| Unfortunately,
being a photographer does not mean one has a photographic memory.
My memory seems to be highly selective, occasionally embarrassing
me when trying to photograph the correct politician or other
V.I.P. in a room full of supposedly important people. |
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| Do you
have one photo that in your opinion your best ever? |
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| I have a relatively
short list of images that I am reasonably satisfied with, but
I hope that my best work is still in the future. The many I
feel should have been better are more of a motivation for me.
Thinking back on a situation and the images I didn't quite get
is constructively frustrating. Not to mention seeing that other
photographers did a much better job. |
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Afghanistan
Makeshift School
An ethnic Hazara girl writes on a blackboard hanging from
a tree in an improvised outdoor classroom near Bamiyan, Afghanistan. Girls are now allowed
to receive an education for the first time since before
the rule of the Taliban, however, the only texts available
are Islamic religious books. |
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Africa AIDS
Orphans
A very sick young boy is cared for by his brothers in
Kitwe, Zambia. The brothers are
among more than 13 million African children who have been
orphaned by the the AIDS pandemic. Worldwide, more than
20 million people have died since the first cases of AIDS
were identified in 1981. |
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| Some say
you have to be crazy to do what you do (putting yourself in
the firing line so to say) – you’ve been shot more
than once and have surely been mentally traumatized by what
you have seen and experienced. Did you ever seriously think
of quitting? |
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| I'm very fortunate
to be able to pursue my personal goals. Some people take meaningless
risks because they are bored. I take carefully calculated risks
only when I feel they are absolutely necessary in order to try
and tell an important story. Obviously, living and working in
conflict areas can be rather unpleasant, but that's a result
of my conscious, considered choices. And I really can't imagine
doing something else with my life. |
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| What do
you do that others don’t? |
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| I don't think I
work all that differently from other photojournalists but I
can for instance be very patient and wait, sometimes for a very
long time, for what I hope will be a decent photograph. Spending
days and weeks with one subject does not really bother me, whether
the results are worth it or not. It's always a learning experience. |
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Afghanistan
International Security
A Pashtun man walks past an Austrian soldier with the
International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) manning
a checkpoint outside the capital of Kabul, Afghanistan. |
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Sarajevo Defenders
A Bosnian government soldier sits in a frontline position
on the perimeter of the besieged capital of Sarajevo. |
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| Some of
your photos capture people’s private and often tragic
moments. How do you justify this? Do you ever have a serious
moral dilemma about what you are doing? |
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| There is an important
distinction between photographing people's private tragedies,
and personal tragedies that represent an important issue. My
main motivation is to generate attention on problems causing
many to suffer. I try to always give people a chance to say
no, and have found that if I approach them with respect and
understanding, people usually consider the presence of a photographer
the least of their problems. |
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Media 19
– how did it start?
(www.media19.org) |
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| In addition to
my photographic work, I am honoured to be on the board of the
Media19 foundation, a charity that works for freedom of expression.
It started on a flight from London to Oslo. A young man sitting
next to me noticed my camera bag and asked if I, like him, was
a photographer. It turned out that we had many ideas in common,
and soon after we gathered some more friends and colleagues
and founded Media19. It's now active in several countries, and
has been involved in some of the most worthwhile projects I
have done, such as "Orphan Voices". |
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| Do you
have the right to be political? |
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| Not only do I have
the right to be political and subjective; I consider it a duty
to express myself freely through my images. There is no such
thing as objective photojournalism. Subjectivity begins already
at the point of selecting what to photograph. Then come the
issues of timing, technical choices, editing, and so on. The
finished image will always be the photographer's personal message
to the viewer. |
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Bosnia-Herzegovina
War Music
Two Bosnian government fighters sing and play guitar accompanied
by heavy incoming artillery bombardment in Sarajevo's
frontline suburb of Dobrinja, Bosnia-Herzegovina. |
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Afghanistan
Kabul Convoys
A Soviet Mi-24 "Hind" attack helicopter escorts
a fuel convoy on its way to the Afghan capital Kabul. Under siege for several years,
the regime in Kabul depends heavily on Soviet military
support. |
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| Digital
cameras: You use Olympus E-1 don’t you? Do you use only
digital cameras now? |
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I have only relatively
recently started using digital cameras, and still use film occasionally.
My very first camera was an Olympus OM-2, and though I've used
several different makes over the years, it wasn't until I picked
up an E-1 that I felt I had a digital camera system with the
right combination of image quality, ruggedness and portability.
It is a very reliable tool for my work. I consider the E-1 a
classic, and look forward to future developments. |
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Olympus
E-System Pro Gallery 
