Born in San Francisco, David Alan Harvey was raised in Virginia. He discovered photography in 1956 at the age of 11 when he purchased a used Leica with savings from his newspaper route and began photographing his family and neighborhood. When he was 20 he lived with and documented the lives of an African American family living in Norfolk, Virginia, and the resulting book, Tell It Like It Is, was published in 1966. He was named Magazine Photographer of the Year by the National Press Photographers Association in 1978. Harvey went on to shoot over forty essays for National Geographic magazine. He has covered stories around the world, including projects on French teenagers, the Berlin Wall, Mayan culture, Vietnam, Native Americans, Mexico, Naples, and Nairobi. He has published two major books, Cuba and Divided Soul, based on his extensive work on Spanish cultural migration to the Americas, and his book Living Proof (2007) deals with hip-hop culture. His work has been exhibited at the Corcoran Gallery of Art, the Nikon Gallery, the Museum of Modern Art in New York, and the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts. Workshops and seminars are an important part of his life. Harvey is founder and editor of the award-winning Burn Magazine, featuring iconic and emerging photographers in print and online. His latest book (based on a true story) was published by Burn in 2012. Harvey joined Magnum as a nominee in 1993 and became a full member in 1997. He lives in New York City.
Young Thai boxer in Bangkok. It struck me that this young boy wore no protective headgear which seems dangerous even though he's taking punches from another young boy. This is part of my photo essay "Dream Hotel" which should be a zine by early spring. I will be going to Bangkok soon to finish this project started 4 years ago. I will be joining @jacobauesobolnew for a Magnum workshop in Bangkok at the end of this month. We will each have our own separate classes, yet with some shared sessions. Surely added value for those we will mentor. For details go to: magnumphotos.com
Tonight I took my Burn workshop team to meet the iconic photographer extraordinaire Eugene Richards at his opening at the Bronx Documentary Center. I gotta tell you the BDC @bronxdocumentarycenter the coolest photo gallery in New York. In the original real New York. Gene's show is stunning. A must see. (at Bronx Documentary Center)
Gabi Perez is sliced by a piece of late afternoon light in my New York studio . She's running the show at my photo workshop running all next week. Hence an afternoon prep and check. These New York workshop weeks always border on out of control. In a good way. Artists can't be boxed. Must work the edges. That's what I do in my life and work and mentoring. I view each workshop group as a whole new piece of clay. To be shaped totally dependent on who THEY are. My only job is to get them fired up. I don't seek clones. I seek new voices. I think we will try to put the results online. Also keep your eye on Snapchat and IG Stories for a taste of the process.
A warm afternoon breeze flows through my New York studio. This will be the scene for my next photo workshop September 25-30. This is my second and last workshop in New York for 2016. We've got one space left for potential admission. Portfolio review and Facetime interview with me required. My goal with the NYC classes is to have students shooting their individual essays as well as being introduced to top curators, editors and iconic pro photographers alike. Link in my profile here. It works. The loft workshops always rock it. I try to do only 4 workshops per year in various parts of the world ( next is Bangkok) but the New York class is always one to remember. The whole point of my mentoring is to help photographers find their visual "voice". This isn't easy and not for the feint of heart. Yet in the world of photography today absolutely imperative IF you imagine publishing a book, getting a show, or receiving a top commission. Sure you can do all those things without mentoring. Some don't need it. Yet most people need a push, a key, and a sense of who they really are as a creative person. I don't teach from my past. I teach for NOW. I can only mentor if I'm also doing those very things many aspire to do. Can I guarantee your success? No of course not. Yet for those who really listen and shoot their heart out and push their freedom to the limit , they stand a very good chance. I certainly give the tools to do so. My former students have a great track record. We will produce a collaborative show at the end for special invited guests from New York photo land . If you can shoot with the best, you will be noticed by the best. A fresh breeze flows.
Like everyone else I've had a very hard time dealing with the attack on the World Trade Center 15 years ago. Only recently have I been able to look at the pictures I took on 9/11. Shooting for Magnum I just happened to be in New York on that absolutely gorgeous September day. This photograph of a doctor from Roosevelt Hospital walks away in frustration from the horror behind him. One tower had just fallen and of course we all just waited for the second one to go. My assignment from Magnum was to stake out the hospital and wait for the injured. Nobody came. Later I got into ground zero, yet soon I rushed to Washington where another plane carrying two friends of mine from NatGeo and a group of students with them had disintegrated into the Pentagon on board AA flight 81. I was numb then and I'm numb now even writing this caption. I'm not a news photographer. Yet I was obligated to shoot news on that day and besides it's the only thing I could actually DO. As many have reported prior New Yorkers rose high at a low point of human experience. It was after all war. Conducted directly at civilians just starting work at their offices that beautiful September day. There are more dramatic pictures than mine of 9/11. Yet this lone doctor waiting for injured that never came becomes in hindsight more poignant than some of my work at ground zero. Compared to others I was far away from the falling towers. Yet all of us have scars including those who saw it on tv. So much has happened worldwide in the last 15 years as a direct result of what we see in my photograph. I think we will see even more in the next 15. 9/11 is sadly with us forever. I long for the moments prior when I was having a jovial breakfast with my photo colleague Ira Block and the waitress came over and said " I think a plane accidentally flew into the Trade Center". The age of innocence was over. I'm an optimist by nature, yet it's very hard to put a good face on the evolution of events triggered by 9/11.
About 10 minutes before Bryan, Lyla, and Michelle were to walk up into the dunes for their marriage ceremony last week, the rains came. Not just a sprinkle, but a full on tropical storm. Plans that had been made for weeks were suddenly over. The whole wedding and reception plan following was 90% outside. Not anymore. Yet the storm added an excitement and a bonding. Everybody piled into my house, the music cranked up, the booze flowed (etc) and well by the time there was enough of a rain break to do the ceremony it was flat out the big warm. Wonderful wonderful wedding ceremony by all accounts. It was very warm, so dancing in the rain was seriously romantic,sensuous, electric . Weeks of planning ruined? No way. The spontaneity vibe made up for a plan tweak. Only Michelle knows what coulda shoulda woulda. For everyone else a wedding remembered forever. The vibe in the end could never have been planned. After all, m agic is magic.
It's gonna start blowing hard here in the outer banks. Within the hour we are expecting 50-80mph winds. Not too bad for down here, yet exciting nevertheless. Threatening, powerful. I love it. It's bedtime for me, yet I won't sleep. The Stinson cottage pictured here was once destroyed in hurricane Irene and rebuilt. Part of our family gathered for our wedding fiesta is staying in this cottage tonight. It's on stilts and over the water. She might shake a bit, yet I'm sure all is well. It's an all nighter for me. #happilyeverharveyobx #obx #nagshead
Like father like daughter. Bryan and Lyla Harvey check the surf conditions in the outer banks. There's a tropical storm headed our way which will bring powerful waves, yet could also alter the out on the dunes wedding plan of Bryan and Michelle and Lyla scheduled for tomorrow. So Bryan, filmmaker and avid surfer, is torn between being excited by the upcoming surf and yet realizing their wedding could be ripped by 40mph winds and driving rain. As the designated photographer for this wedding I'm not too worried.I'm guessing the "bad weather" is only going to make for magic light and for sure the party at my house will be one to remember rain or shine. I learned long ago that plans and expectations are mostly in our head and serendipity rules. Yet for sure whatever nature brings us with weather will be secondary to what nature has clearly already made for Bryan and Michelle. 🎈🎉
